Ask the Author: Jamie Kain
Answered Questions (4)
Jamie Kain
Thank you, Mariana! I was inspired partly by the setting in which I lived at the time--the real version of the fictional town in which the story is set. I also wanted to write about the complexity of sister relationships, and once I put those two elements together the story came to life on its own.
Jamie Kain
I've had every form of writer's block imaginable, so I have various ways of dealing with it. When it's just a minor case and I'm stuck on a scene or not sure where to go next with the story, I most commonly switch to a different part of the story that I'm more excited about writing. Sometimes I write out questions to myself about the story and then write out the answers. I like to shoot for 20 possible answers, but I usually come across the solution I need by answer 10 or 12 or so. I also like to skip to working on the end of the story and make sure I've got my destination (the ending) fully envisioned so that I know where I'm headed. Sometimes I take a break from writing to go for a run or walk with the dog. Sometimes I meditate. If it's a more difficult/prolonged struggle with writer's block, I might switch to working on an entirely different project, or I might just feel terrible and write nothing at all for a while (a more productive version of this is to just turn to other tasks that need attention). I once found myself blocked so badly, due to some major life stressors, that I stopped writing for a couple of years and went to graduate school, then taught for a few years. Finally I found myself nagged so much by the desire to write that I had to stop teaching and return to writing. It was terrifying to stop writing completely and tell myself that I might never go back to it, but I can look back now and see that it was ultimately a good thing. I experienced joy and pain and growth during those years that ultimately made me a much better and more insightful (I hope!) writer.
Jamie Kain
I'm currently working with my editor to put the final touches on a book that will come out in 2015, called Instructions for the End of the World. It's a story of two sisters (hmm, maybe I have a thing about sister relationships?!) whose doomsday prepping father moves them to a dilapidated property in the Northern California wilderness. Soon after, their parents disappear, leaving them to fend for themselves for a summer as they get entangled with a group of kids from a neighboring hippie commune and experience the pleasures and dangers of true freedom for the first time.
Jamie Kain
Hi Melissa! Good question. It was both difficult at times and easy at times to write in three points of view. When writing the first draft, I enjoy shifting around a lot to different characters' perspectives, because it gives me a wider view of the story world. It also keeps things fresh and moving along when I'm not sure where one character's story is going. During revisions though, it was quite a challenge to make sure each sister's voice was uniquely hers and could be distinguished easily by the reader without sounding like I was trying too hard to make them unique. It was also very difficult to decide in which order the different characters' POV scenes should go--a bit like putting together a puzzle. Asha's point of view came most naturally to me--probably because of all the characters, she is the one I most identify with--while Sarah's was the most interesting to write and the one I'm happiest with in the end.
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