Ask the Author: Julia French
Answered Questions (6)
Julia French
When I feel blocked, there's usually something wrong with the story that I wasn't consciously aware of but that my subconscious mind is trying to tell me. I take a day off to rest, then I go back and re-read the material. Most times I can tell right off what's wrong and how to fix it. It's important to listen to your subconscious mind -- it can tell you a lot.
Julia French
The best thing about being a writer is that I am the only one in charge of myself. No one can tell me what to write or not write. The second best thing is I can set my own hours. I can get my daily work done at 3:00 a.m. or 2:00 p.m., whatever I decide. I have to add that that's also a drawback, as it's really easy to keep putting off writing with excuses if I don't feel in the mood that day. Suddenly the dishes must be done right now, the laundry has to be started immediately, I have to run out to the store and buy leeks for leek soup which I'm not planning on making for a couple days but now feels like a good time to do that. I have to be firm with myself and stick to my writing hours, but it's totally worth it.
Julia French
Read everything you can get your hands on – fiction, nonfiction, books, magazines, newspapers, blogs. You will absorb a storehouse of ideas that you can develop in your writing. Also, the more you read the more you will unconsciously soak up good grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and word choices. You will find yourself wording a sentence in a particular way that feels right even if you don't know exactly why. To that I want to add, write a lot. Write every day, make a habit of it. A lot of writing comes from self-discipline and habit. You might write crap one day and a genius story the next, but keep going whatever you do, and don't stop.
Julia French
I am currently editing and formatting my novel Hill Magick, a fiction novel about folk magic and the people who wield it, for release this fall. I am also working on my fourth book, The Dragon's Tail, the second of a two-part series. In The Dragon's Tail I am seeking to illustrate how the past can reach out to the present and affect the future.
Julia French
I stare at my keyboard and say to myself, "okay, bitch, write something!" Well…not really…or not mostly…but occasionally. Seriously, something that inspires me is when I have a weird situation I want to explore, like what it would be like to live on an actual body farm. Since I write horror fiction, I think of things that horrify me, and write about those. Reading online news and watching tv and movies often sparks the idea machine for me. If all else fails, I get out my copy of one of the worst novels ever written. I read a few pages and think to myself, I can write better than this! And then I go to the keyboard and do it.
Julia French
The idea for the title story of my anthology, "The Retrievers," came to me one day when I was sitting at the keyboard and looking out the window at the cold, gray November sky. Then it started to rain and I wondered who, if anyone, would ever be outside there in that unwelcoming weather. The story grew from there.
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