Ask the Author: Cole Poindexter

Answered Questions (8)

Sort By:

An error occurred while sorting questions for author Cole Poindexter.

Cole Poindexter I'm so glad you asked! I'm currently working on the sequel to my first novel, Inherit. I have the plot, the front cover, and the title already figured out. I've already written chapter one. Now it's just filling in the blanks! I'm very excited to continue Parker's story, because I still feel like she had so much more to tell. I'm excited where this novel is going to take us, which is going to be so different from the first one. I've read about five books since I finished Inherit, which I feel helped my writing grow so much. I'm hoping to find a publisher for the next one, because I self-published the last time. I'm really hoping to work with The Wild Rose Press - I've been looking at them for a long time, and I feel like what I write would fit in with everything they've put out. It's a really diverse publisher. So, that's my hope, and I'm sure I'll be done with it sometime this year. I try to write for a few hours everyday. I have some other projects that I started but are on the backburner for the moment - I felt it was very important to get Parker's story out there first!

flag

like
Comment

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Cole Poindexter It's always good to take a break and come back to it. Usually if I'm away from it for about 16 hours apart, I'll have something new to add. So it's good to step away from a project a little every day, go listen to music, go to work, go watch TV...anything to put you in a different headspace.

flag

like
Comment

How do you get inspired to write?

Cole Poindexter I love going back to old movies or old TV shows that I grew up watching and loving. I like to analyze what I loved about those shows and films and try to figure out ways to put that into a new story. When I'm writing and I'm stuck on a chapter, sometimes I'll listen to music that fits the mood of the story. I also look at what might be trending on things like Netflix or something similar to that and see what kinds of stories people are telling.

flag

like
Comment

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Cole Poindexter Just keep writing. You are going to get so many "No"'s. No's when you start out, no's when you are an established writer. Not everything you write will be "commercial" or "marketable." That's okay. Put it away, save it, and hold onto it. You never know what pieces you can use for some project down the road. You can get a hundred no's but all you need is one yes. There's another saying: You can fall down seven times and still get up 8. Just keep going for it. Write as many different things as you want to. I think the idea of fitting into a certain genre or finding a particular audience is so outdated. People read all kinds of different genres and have different books that they love different things about. The world needs more literature. We need less cell phones and more books! Go for it.

flag

like
Comment

Can you tell us a two-sentence horror story?

Cole Poindexter Ooh, a challenge. Here it goes:

I closed my eyes and shifted slightly in the bed, scooting over as I felt my husband get in beside me. "Are we out of ice cream?" I heard him call from the kitchen.

flag

like
Comment

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Cole Poindexter Inherit just kind of came to me overnight. I had spent a few days on vacation in a little town right next to Broken Bow, Oklahoma. It was so beautiful there and so different from what I'm used to - temperamental Louisiana swamp. I started thinking about a sort-of old-fashioned money mystery that would take place in the beautiful Arkansas Ozark landscape. I had this idea of a red-haired female protagonist who would seem really timid on the outside, but be really strong internally. And while I was still writing the story I was looking for a cover image and I came across the one that I ended up using. I was like, "That's Parker!" And then the book just wrote itself at that point. I also knew I wanted to use a beagle. I have a beagle in real life. Her name is Molly. I love her in the way it must feel to love a human child!

flag