Ask the Author: Link Neal
Answered Questions (6)
Link Neal
I'd love to hang out with the retired Bilbo Baggins at Rivendell.
Link Neal
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Link Neal
I'm not going to say we didn't have writer's block, but the fact that our writing process was so deeply collaborative; I think that helped us sidestep the blocks that I hear are common when writing alone. Rhett and I have collaborated on pretty much every creative endeavor we've worked on. And we've grown pretty adept at spurring one another on when the creative momentum lulls. Usually, one of us can provide a creative spark when the other hits an impasse. Plus, with most every project, at the outset we seek to get as detailed as possible in articulating and shaping our ideas into one cohesive vision. With the novel, that meant detailed world-building and story outlining before we really got too far into actually writing. Since we knew where the story was going from the outset, I think that really helped us clear a lot of the potential for prolonged writer's block.
Link Neal
For us, pulling from our memories growing up the small town of Buies Creek, NC inspired us to build the world of Bleak Creek as well as the characters of Rex and Leif. The river, the Tree, and the conversation rocks are real places from our childhood.
Link Neal
Oh yeah! (Have you read the ending?)
Link Neal
Much like Rex and Leif, we had a dream from a young age to be filmmakers. The idea of crafting a story that captures an audience has always been our loftiest goal. And we always thought that would happen as a movie or a series. But after writing our first book, The Book of Mythicality, I think we caught the writing bug. We began developing a concept for a re-imagining of the Hardy Boys, but infused with our humor and experiences entering high school in the South.
Link Neal
We were very excited to begin work on our first novel, but, yes, I'll say I was also a bit nervous. We knew it would be an ambitious undertaking and it turned out to be just that (we began work on The Lost Causes almost two years ago!). I believe we really benefited from collaborating from the get-go. If one of us wasn't particularly motivated, the other would spur the work on. We started by developing a detailed outline of the entire story and once that was in place, I really feel like we were off to the races.
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