Ask the Author: Laurel Saville
Answered Questions (5)
Laurel Saville
Hi Colleen, Thanks so much for writing. Postmortem is actually out of print. It was indeed an earlier version of Unraveling Anne. They are almost identical and the memoir was just renamed and edited slightly when a new publisher picked it up. I've actually tried to get Postmortem off my book list to avoid confusion, but the internet gods and goddesses won't let me. ;-)
Thanks for your interest in my work!
Thanks for your interest in my work!
Laurel Saville
My current work-in-progress is turning out to be rather dramatically different. It's sometime in the sci fi future on a distant planet. The opening scene I cut from "North of Here" has shown up in this new novel. In this case, the snowmobile ride and the blue light in the windows starts my young protagonist on a journey that goes farther than I ever imagined I could take one of my characters.
Laurel Saville
It's harder, will take longer, and make you less money than you hope -- most likely, anyway. This is no reason to quit, though! Just be realistic and keep at it. Especially the revising. People sometimes send me their work, and it's pretty clear they don't really want feedback or advice, but are just hoping for connections. If someone takes the time and interest to read your work, pay close attention to their impressions, try and learn from their feedback, and keep editing and improving your work.
Laurel Saville
Inspiration is overrated! Writing is just sitting down and working it out -- it's an act of will and discipline. As well as ruthlessness when it comes to editing. You must be willing to cut and revise and rework, over and over and over again. That process is really the craft of turning words and ideas into something that's worth reading.
Laurel Saville
I would say that all of my books and stories start with some moment that seems resonant to me, some image, experience or scene that keeps coming back to me. The writing is a process of figuring out how that moment came to be. That’s the imaginative aspect of the work of writing. With "Henry and Rachel", it was wondering why Rachel would leave her husband and oldest son in Jamaica when she fled with her other children for New York. In “How Much Living Can You Buy,” it began with the image of a stolen jewelry box in an anecdote from a friend. With "North of Here", I had a mental picture of a young girl on the back of a snowmobile, in the woods at night, wondering about the blue light coming from the windows of the houses she passed. That scene was eventually cut from the book, but it is where it began. I wanted to know who she was and how she got there. To answer that question, I started writing about the adults that I envisioned as her parents first, and that story became the book.
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