Mail Bag #8: More Questions Answered
Posting my answers to yesterday’s questions inspired people to shoot me a few more. Keep them coming! I can’t promise that I’ll answer every single question, depending on how personal it is, but all questions–including personal ones–are welcome.
With all [the things in your life] going on, to implement these things in your characters in your books? I would think it difficult not to have some of them be you just in a different era?
And that’s the magic of it–no! It’s a difficult thing to explain, but characters come alive. Each one is different and they’re as real to me, often, as real people. Or more so, in some cases. What you read about them doing and saying and thinking, that’s the tip of the iceberg; I know what their favorite foods are, I know what their favorite colors are. You have to, know, to really know, to write effectively. Your characters. Your settings. A character who’s only as fleshed out as the events of a particular chapter is never going to seem real. Never going to be real, to the reader. For them to be real to you, they have to be real to me, first. I spend a great deal of time brainstorming, before I ever put keys to keyboard. After which point…
At some point, a mysterious alchemy occurs. They go from being real in theory to being real in fact. Which is one of the reasons I don’t outline: sometimes, I’ll have an idea in mind for what a particular character might do and then, later on, realize that that character wouldn’t do that at all. In some of my books, characters originally intended to be minor have become much more–and visa versa.
There is some of me in my stories, in some more than others, but not in the sense of “this is me but I gave myself a different name.” Rather, it’s inevitable I think that an author’s point of view is going to creep in. You write how you see the world and, in a more attenuated sense, you write what you know. Themes of loss, alienation, and change are common in my work, because those things are things that I’ve experienced. I don’t, and probably couldn’t, create characters with whom I couldn’t identify–not as carbon copies of myself but as friends with whom, at some point, I might like to grab a beer.
As to the question about my schedule–this question came in the context of a broader discussion on life challenges and time management–no writer’s schedule is easy. No professional’s is easy, I think. Different jobs require different things of us and one thing that writing professionally requires is a huge time commitment. It’s an every day, all day kind of thing: writing 2,000 words, or 2,500 words, or whatever your daily goal is, and then doing all the other career-related things you have to do (everything from blogging to working on your Facebook page to approving cover art and ad campaigns and who knows what else), and then doing the same thing the next day until eventually 2,000 words and 4,000 words and 6,000 words becomes a 140,000 word manuscript. After which point the cycle begins again with editing, etc. It’s a marathon, not a sprint and, as with any career, you’re going to get, at least to some extent, what you put in.
Some people are under the impression that writing is easy, because it seems like so much fun: lounging around, in your chair, drinking coffee and watching the world go by. They forget that it also means working when working is the last thing you feel like doing, just like at any other job. Writing, like a lot of things, makes a great hobby and there is absolutely no diminishment in doing something purely for love. In fact, it’s just about the greatest thing ever. But, however much you love something, you have to treat it a little differently if you want it to pay the bills.
My husband’s schedule is, at times, crazier than mine. Before we were parents, that was fine; we’re both quite independent-minded people but, at the same time, we were on the same page about prioritizing spending time together. Now that we’re a family of three, teamwork is even more essential. I couldn’t do any of the things I do without my husband’s love, encouragement, and support.
Where do you live and does that help you with your writing?
We’re privileged to live in one of the most beautiful spots on earth: Massachusetts’ glorious North Shore. I don’t like to give exact locations because, after all, this is the internet, but we’re in close proximity to Salem, home of the witches. This is our view:
And yes, it’s awesome. My husband took this picture with the good camera. Which our son has, incidentally, decided should belong to him! And while I do find my location inspiring, the truth is, I find what’s inside my house much more inspiring. I met my husband eleven years ago this last Wednesday; even now, I wake up every morning blissfully happy that I slept through the night in safety. That I had, and have, a roof over my head. That no one is beating me, or forcing me to do something I don’t want to do. I left a life that was…not a life, and that’s really helped me to appreciate the so-called little things. Which are really the big things.
Returning to the first question, the only real autobiographical details, if you can call them that, in my books are in The Price of Desire and The Prince’s Slave. Again, it’s not a one to one comparison but certain situations I’ve written about are situations I’ve lived. Which I think, to some extent, may be why my prose at times doesn’t always match up with reader expectations. Because actually living something is different than picturing “what if” from the comfort of your living room.
To write, to create anything, to really be inspired I think you have to feel safe. Safe, and valued. All the scenery in the world can’t help if you aren’t surrounded by love and acceptance where it counts. I love where I live but I’d be just as happy living anywhere with my husband and son, because they’re what make home, home. And while we’re lucky enough to live a certain lifestyle, the absolute truth of the matter is that, almost from the moment I met him, I would have been equally happy living with my husband in a cardboard box.
How do you come up with the ideas for your books?
It depends on the book. I came up with the idea for The Demon of Darkling Reach and, indeed, the entire trilogy while receiving treatment for a serious illness. But most of my inspirations are more attenuated, harder to pin down. Some of The Price of Desire was about exorcising personal demons but there was more: a love of the history of the British Raj, combined with a keen sense of the injustices perpetrated against India. And, then, that alchemy: one day, characters who were just there.
I have so many ideas for so many books, the challenge isn’t coming up with ideas but somehow getting them all down on paper.
