Elzbieta Tibai
asked
Josh Lanyon:
Are you the one in control of your stories or do you find that your characters create themselves and write their own stories?
Josh Lanyon
I stay in control. I've never had a book go in a direction I didn't plan, although there are always surprises and adjustments--and those are usually character driven.
When you start a project you really don't know the characters. No matter how much planning and research you do ahead of time, they grow and change through the course of the story and their interactions with other characters. It's part of the creative process and it's a good thing!
That said, sometimes I'll intend for a book to be funny, and it just ends up being a lot more serious and poignant -- or the opposite! So in that sense, every book holds a few surprises.
When you start a project you really don't know the characters. No matter how much planning and research you do ahead of time, they grow and change through the course of the story and their interactions with other characters. It's part of the creative process and it's a good thing!
That said, sometimes I'll intend for a book to be funny, and it just ends up being a lot more serious and poignant -- or the opposite! So in that sense, every book holds a few surprises.
More Answered Questions
Azu
asked
Josh Lanyon:
Dear Josh. Sam is quite jealous of Sipka, the reporter, and Alexander, the art teacher. I wonder if he is also jealous when it comes to Ethan. Sam's preference is for sensitive and beautiful young men, but can't you think that he actually has a complex about his own appearance as a strong man? P.S. Ono, are you from Yoko Ono? I was surprised because it was a Japanese surname.
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