Belle Faye
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Hello, Lois McMaster Bujold. I'm Jenibelle and I would like to ask some questions. Here are my questions. Do you find it hard writing books?, Where can you find most of your ideas?, And for most of your stories, Do you see yourself as the main character? I hope I get a response.
Lois McMaster Bujold
Hi Belle --
See also my answers to your classmates, some of which I will cross-link. https://www.goodreads.com/questions/1...
"Do you find it hard writing books?"
Yes.
"Where can you find most of your ideas?"
Answered here, among other places: https://www.goodreads.com/questions/1...
"And for most of your stories, Do you see yourself as the main character?"
No, my stories are not written as self-inserts. Most of them explore very different lives than my own. That said, all my characters, major and minor, hero or villain, have to come in some sense out of my own mind, experience, and knowledge. Until I have internalized a character to some degree, I cannot know what they will say when they open their mouth to speak, let alone what they will do or how they will react in a given situation.
I've also described this as stepping into a character's skin/body/mind and wrapping it around me, but it's their skin, not mine.
Best of luck to you in your reading and writing...
Ta, L.
(Wow, whichever kid has the bad luck to be last in the queue is going to get short shrift. Must try to even it up somehow...)
See also my answers to your classmates, some of which I will cross-link. https://www.goodreads.com/questions/1...
"Do you find it hard writing books?"
Yes.
"Where can you find most of your ideas?"
Answered here, among other places: https://www.goodreads.com/questions/1...
"And for most of your stories, Do you see yourself as the main character?"
No, my stories are not written as self-inserts. Most of them explore very different lives than my own. That said, all my characters, major and minor, hero or villain, have to come in some sense out of my own mind, experience, and knowledge. Until I have internalized a character to some degree, I cannot know what they will say when they open their mouth to speak, let alone what they will do or how they will react in a given situation.
I've also described this as stepping into a character's skin/body/mind and wrapping it around me, but it's their skin, not mine.
Best of luck to you in your reading and writing...
Ta, L.
(Wow, whichever kid has the bad luck to be last in the queue is going to get short shrift. Must try to even it up somehow...)
More Answered Questions
Maadh
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I want to start reading, but I do not know how to use the site to read the book?
Strangeattractor
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
What helps with figuring out how to tell a type of story that isn't told often? For example, when you were working on the Sharing Knife books and realized you had set up demographic and long-term problems that your characters would tackle in books 3 and 4, what helped you come to grips with how to do it? How did you bridge the gap between wanting to write a story with an unusual shape and actually doing it?
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more