Ask the Author: Emily Roberson
Answered Questions (11)
Emily Roberson
Where I put down my car keys or my Air Pods or my phone?
Emily Roberson
The character on LIFESTYLES OF GODS AND MONSTERS who refused to leave my head was Icarus. His scenes with Ariadne were so fun to write that I could have had the whole book solely consist of Icarus and Ariadne bantering. He ended up having a bigger role in the book than I had at first imagined because he had so much to say.
Emily Roberson
The idea for LIFESTYLES OF GODS & MONSTERS surprised me. I was thinking about celebrity and how our reality TV stars are in some ways similar to the people in Greek myths, famous for being famous. And then I started wondering what it would be like if there had been paparazzi filming in those ancient stories. And the next thing you know, I had written the first chapter of LIFESTYLES. It took a while after that to figure out what the story was, but the seed of the idea was imagining those photographers in the trees, watching an ancient shocking story.
Emily Roberson
This summer I have been reading a bunch of books fall debuts by my fellow #Novel19s - Sara Faring's THE TENTH GIRL, Sofiya Pasternack's ANYA AND THE DRAGON, Kelly Coon's GRAVEMAIDENS, Jacqueline Firkins's HEARTS, STRINGS, AND OTHER BREAKABLE THINGS. These have been wonderful, but I've also been cheating with them with romance novels. Sarah Maclean has a new one, BRAZEN & THE BEAST, which I read at high speed. But my current books of choice are the entire Georgette Heyer Regency Romance catalog. I've read most of them before, but it's like revisiting old friends.
Emily Roberson
I have such mixed feelings about visiting fictional worlds - I'm always like, wait, who would I be in said world? Because the world of Harry Potter sounds amazing if I'm Professor McGonagall (how awesome would that be, btw?), significantly less so if I'm some random Muggle kid who doesn't get a Hogwarts letter. So, with that being said, (and assuming that I did get my letter) I would choose Hogwarts because I would love to study and do magic and the feasts at the Great Hall always sound like they would be great. (Or brilliant, as a would say, if I were a student at Hogwarts).
Emily Roberson
Right now, I'm working on a secret project that is a retelling of a different Greek myth than the Minotaur. I'm taking the same approach that I did in LIFESTYLES OF GODS AND MONSTERS of looking at it from the perspective of a character that isn't the central character in the original myth. It's in the same world as LIFESTYLES, but new characters and settings. It's very fun so far, but I'm still finding the heart of it.
Emily Roberson
Reading and being outside are my two biggest inspiration sources for writing. I find that if I'm out on a walk, I'll often have ideas just appear to me. I also get very inspired by traveling.
Emily Roberson
Yes, definitely, I don't feel even close to done. In fact, my current (secret) WIP is another myth, one of my oldest favorites. The challenge is figuring out a way into them. I want to tell the story in a way that hasn't been done before. For LIFESTYLES, the key was Ariadne. Her voice came to me from the beginning, and I knew with absolute certainty that she wasn't someone who would fall instantly in love with Theseus. Not that she wouldn't think he was cute, but that there was no way she was handing over her thread right away. For the new one, I'm still finding my way.
I have so many ideas. One of my back burner, someday/maybe goals is to do a retelling of the story of the origins of the Trojan War. I have many thoughts about the generals and Iphigenia and the rush to war, but I don't quite have my way into that one yet.
I have so many ideas. One of my back burner, someday/maybe goals is to do a retelling of the story of the origins of the Trojan War. I have many thoughts about the generals and Iphigenia and the rush to war, but I don't quite have my way into that one yet.
Emily Roberson
It's so hard because advice that is helpful at one point in your career is really bad at a different point. For example, I think everyone should find really good critique partners, it's been immeasurably helpful to me. But. If you get them at the wrong time or the wrong people, they can kill the spirit of your writing, pour water on your flame, and generally derail you for ages. So - my biggest advice would be to carefully find people to read and comment on your writing. Make sure they are people who already like to read what you want to write. If you want to write romance, the absolute worst person to read your work is someone who hates the genre. Because even if they love you, they won't like your stories, because they don't like what you write, no matter who writes it. For example, I don't enjoy true, gory horror. I'm a terrible reader for it. Therefore, I don't critique it. Also, be very clear about what you need from people. Sometimes I want real critique warts and all, and sometimes, I just want to know that it doesn't suck. Last of all, in general, I would avoid family or close friends. The best thing about my critique partners is that I didn't have a history with them outside of writing, so when they are critiquing what I wrote, we don't have any other backstories to get in the way. They aren't jealous. It has nothing to do with what they wish I wrote, and nothing to do with something that happened in elementary school. We can just get down to the business of helping each other improve.
Emily Roberson
the best way for me to deal with writer's block is to take a walk. I often find that whatever was giving me trouble works itself. I have also figured out that writers block is often a sign that there is something wrong earlier on in the book. So the problem isn't the pages I'm on, it's five or ten or twenty pages before, when I lost track of my characters and what they want.
The other thing I've learned (and this goes back to when I was working as a newspaper reporter) that often when I'm stuck, my best tool is a notepad and pen. Often I can find my way through more easily by writing something by hand than by typing.
The other thing I've learned (and this goes back to when I was working as a newspaper reporter) that often when I'm stuck, my best tool is a notepad and pen. Often I can find my way through more easily by writing something by hand than by typing.
Emily Roberson
My favorite thing about being a writer is getting to imagine a world, and then share it with other people. I have been making up stories - whether they were with words or paper cutouts or plays that I forced other people to perform - since I was a kid. And now, I get to do it for my job. (Also, I get to play around with graphics, which I totally love).
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