Ask the Author: Sam Wiebe
Answered Questions (5)
Sam Wiebe
"Weeb" or "Webb" or even "Ve-buh" are fine. Please not "Wee-bee."
And please oh please, i before e.
And please oh please, i before e.
Sam Wiebe
Influence and inspiration are tricky. You'd think you'd know what inspires you, wouldn't you? But there are unseen forces at work; writing is still somewhat mystical.
For LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS, obviously the crime and detective novel tradition, from Doyle and Chandler on to Grafton, Mosely, Josephine Tey, is very important. But it's a novel set in Vancouver, focused on young people trying to stay afloat in the businesses they love. Real life and experience has to enter in somewhere.
Then there are philosophical questions that power a novel. William James differentiated evil actions into those which are "ministerial to higher forms of good," and those for evil's own sake. But how would someone ever know the difference?
Similarly, Kierkegaard defined a hero as someone willing "to risk unreservedly being oneself, an individual human being...alone in this enormous exertion and this enormous accountability.” What would that mean in 2014, when owning a house or keeping your small business alive is a semi-heroic endeavor?
Once the conversation works round to Kierkegaard, you know it's in trouble.
The short answer is, I read a lot and try to keep my ears open.
For LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS, obviously the crime and detective novel tradition, from Doyle and Chandler on to Grafton, Mosely, Josephine Tey, is very important. But it's a novel set in Vancouver, focused on young people trying to stay afloat in the businesses they love. Real life and experience has to enter in somewhere.
Then there are philosophical questions that power a novel. William James differentiated evil actions into those which are "ministerial to higher forms of good," and those for evil's own sake. But how would someone ever know the difference?
Similarly, Kierkegaard defined a hero as someone willing "to risk unreservedly being oneself, an individual human being...alone in this enormous exertion and this enormous accountability.” What would that mean in 2014, when owning a house or keeping your small business alive is a semi-heroic endeavor?
Once the conversation works round to Kierkegaard, you know it's in trouble.
The short answer is, I read a lot and try to keep my ears open.
Sam Wiebe
Knowing that nothing that ever happens to you will ever truly be a waste--which is also true if you're not a writer.
Sam Wiebe
Think of it this way: your first act poses problems for your protagonist (or 'main character,' in mugglespeak).
The second act solves those problems, but introduces newer, harder problems. And the third act resolves those problems, happily or otherwise.
At which stage do you usually get blocked? The second act. Which means you haven't found honest, satisfactory solutions to those problems.
So you have two choices: you can deus ex machina those problems, (or as Chandler says, "Have someone with a gun walk into the room.") Or you can work through them. The second way is harder, and, I think, more honest.
You the writer, in other words, are in the same position that your hero is. Solving her problems will solve yours.
So think outside the box. Do something you wouldn't normally do, something that will wake up the problem-solving mechanism. Read, take a long exhausting walk, a day trip, go see a play. When the answer comes, you'll know it.
None of this will actually SOLVE writer's block, mind you--sometimes it's just nice to understand our afflictions.
The second act solves those problems, but introduces newer, harder problems. And the third act resolves those problems, happily or otherwise.
At which stage do you usually get blocked? The second act. Which means you haven't found honest, satisfactory solutions to those problems.
So you have two choices: you can deus ex machina those problems, (or as Chandler says, "Have someone with a gun walk into the room.") Or you can work through them. The second way is harder, and, I think, more honest.
You the writer, in other words, are in the same position that your hero is. Solving her problems will solve yours.
So think outside the box. Do something you wouldn't normally do, something that will wake up the problem-solving mechanism. Read, take a long exhausting walk, a day trip, go see a play. When the answer comes, you'll know it.
None of this will actually SOLVE writer's block, mind you--sometimes it's just nice to understand our afflictions.
Sam Wiebe
Boil your tap water.
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