Ask the Author: Francesca Forrest
Answered Questions (6)
Francesca Forrest
I wanted to go to book worlds a lot more when I was a child; in fact, most of third grade was spent trying to get to the land of Oz--not the MGM studios version of Oz, but the Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books. Then in middle school and high school, I used to daydream endlessly about Greensky from Zilpha Keatley Snyder's trilogy of that name. I wanted to glide from branch to branch of the towering trees, and I wanted to sing and dance greetings--in fact, I made up some and for a while used to sing the songs and do the dances. But a lot of the books I've loved since then have featured worlds that aren't really places you'd want to go touristing in. I might want to meet the characters, but I'm not so sure about visiting the places. Maybe China Mieville's Railsea? It was so weird and vivid that I have a really clear picture of it, but I'd love to be able to feel/smell/touch/hear it as well.
Francesca Forrest
When we lived in Japan, we were way out on the border between suburbs and countryside. Nearby we discovered a place where houses had been demolished, but on the cement blocks they had been built on, there were little stacks of plates, cups, saucers, bowls. We learned that the houses had been demolished to make way for a development that had then stalled ... but why had the residents left the cups and saucers there like that. There's no doubt a mundane reason, but we felt various supernatural ones lingering offstage, too--and the whole thing felt very mysterious.
Francesca Forrest
This is a hard question to answer because I'm not very focused on the coupled-ness of people and I haven't read that many stories centered on a romantic relationship. I really like the relationship between Echo and DJ in Prisoner and Partner by Lia Silver. Both characters are interesting and competent and likable, and the way they interact is just so tender and supportive and full of love--and also humor. It's the type of relationship you can look at longingly.
Francesca Forrest
I try to turn my energies to other things that are important to me, plunge into them, and trust that the mojo will come back. Sometimes your creative batteries just need a chance to recharge. (I'm talking about casual, everyday writer's block. There can be more hardcore sorts of writer's block, which have more complicated causes and more complicated solutions, but I haven't faced those yet.)
Francesca Forrest
Read widely, so you're exposed to all sorts of different ways of telling a story. It's amazing what words can do, what people have made words do. The rest, I think, really varies from person to person. We (I still feel like I'm aspiring) just have to keep at it, keep trying, and not let self-doubt hobble us.
Francesca Forrest
Mermaid's Hands, and Em's message in a bottle, came into my head one day at random. When I thought about who might write back, I recalled two dreams I'd had--one about a prisoner/priestess and a volcano, and one, long ago, about a request from a witch or goddess, to make a fire festival. The rest of the story grew organically, over a long time--I talk a little about it here.
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