Ask the Author: Aften Brook Szymanski
Answered Questions (7)
Aften Brook Szymanski
My great grandmother was an orphan and never spoke of her past. Very mysterious.
Her husband was also an orphan and when they married he left the family after they had kids—my great grandma never spoke I’ll of him but also never allowed questions. When she died we found a box of letters she and my great grandad had written to each other over all the years they were apart. Love letters. It was very bizarre. Also very sweet. And something the kids were entirely conflicted about.
Her husband was also an orphan and when they married he left the family after they had kids—my great grandma never spoke I’ll of him but also never allowed questions. When she died we found a box of letters she and my great grandad had written to each other over all the years they were apart. Love letters. It was very bizarre. Also very sweet. And something the kids were entirely conflicted about.
Aften Brook Szymanski
Lots of gummi bears and guacamole.
Staring at screens, watching favorite story tellers and comedians.
I often think, "so this is it--the end of my writing ability is murdered by this single scene in this one stupid book that might not be worth publishing once it's finished" (I can be dramatic)
Sometimes I'll start a new project, which is also really frustrating because it might kill the blocked story by having more momentum than that one, or it might breathe the life I'm searching for into the blocked story.
I guess I do whatever I can--any option I can come up with, to deal with it often forgetting I'm struggling with writers block until I'm confronted with it again.
Staring at screens, watching favorite story tellers and comedians.
I often think, "so this is it--the end of my writing ability is murdered by this single scene in this one stupid book that might not be worth publishing once it's finished" (I can be dramatic)
Sometimes I'll start a new project, which is also really frustrating because it might kill the blocked story by having more momentum than that one, or it might breathe the life I'm searching for into the blocked story.
I guess I do whatever I can--any option I can come up with, to deal with it often forgetting I'm struggling with writers block until I'm confronted with it again.
Aften Brook Szymanski
I have a distractible mind. Writing has taught me how to focus a thought and follow it through--something I used to think I wasn't capable of.
It gives me clarity in my every day thinking (particularly when I revise--I learn how to think in fresh ways)
Writing helps me deal with my own flaws more gently.
It's also my favorite day dream time--to write.
It gives me clarity in my every day thinking (particularly when I revise--I learn how to think in fresh ways)
Writing helps me deal with my own flaws more gently.
It's also my favorite day dream time--to write.
Aften Brook Szymanski
Give yourself, and your characters, permission to fail.
Then--fix it. Seek readers outside your immediate family and friends--people who aren't afraid to be honest with you about the flaws in the writing.
Then, let yourself feel whatever it is you feel when you get feedback--that soul crushing reality of realizing how much work still lies ahead--and start fixing it using your preferred method of organizing your fixes.
And my personal motto:
Embrace your Quirks
Pursue your Talents
Define your Potential
Then--fix it. Seek readers outside your immediate family and friends--people who aren't afraid to be honest with you about the flaws in the writing.
Then, let yourself feel whatever it is you feel when you get feedback--that soul crushing reality of realizing how much work still lies ahead--and start fixing it using your preferred method of organizing your fixes.
And my personal motto:
Embrace your Quirks
Pursue your Talents
Define your Potential
Aften Brook Szymanski
With my sci-fi being prepped for publication, I'm focusing my writing time on a new story loosely based on my great-grandfather who was a two-generation bastard, descended of a plantation slave. He was raised during the depression and came of age as America entered world war 2.
The main character of my story has a compass of conflicts pressing on all of his actions. The pull for identity, which he lacks, comes from religion and race of those around him.
It's actually a really scary story to write. I give my characters permission to be wrong, make mistakes, and have limited world views, with the condition that they must do better by the end. There are a lot of strong feelings around many of the topics dealt with in this story.
The main character of my story has a compass of conflicts pressing on all of his actions. The pull for identity, which he lacks, comes from religion and race of those around him.
It's actually a really scary story to write. I give my characters permission to be wrong, make mistakes, and have limited world views, with the condition that they must do better by the end. There are a lot of strong feelings around many of the topics dealt with in this story.
Aften Brook Szymanski
In general, I draw from things that trigger my anxiety.
I'm riddled with anxiety and often fear that anticipation toward something unpleasant will draw those ill omens to me--so I write it.
Sort of like a 'worst case scenario' therapy. If I can write a character through the worst things, maybe I can get through those things too.
I'm riddled with anxiety and often fear that anticipation toward something unpleasant will draw those ill omens to me--so I write it.
Sort of like a 'worst case scenario' therapy. If I can write a character through the worst things, maybe I can get through those things too.
Aften Brook Szymanski
Totally cliché method of getting a story idea--I had a vivid dream.
In my dream, transplant program for organ donors extended to human brains--being transplanted to robotic bodies in order to ensure artificial intelligence of the future would be fitted with human motives--and thus less likely to turn on the biological population.
I had a lot of questions when I woke up--like how would that work? and all the ways it might go wrong.
In my dream, transplant program for organ donors extended to human brains--being transplanted to robotic bodies in order to ensure artificial intelligence of the future would be fitted with human motives--and thus less likely to turn on the biological population.
I had a lot of questions when I woke up--like how would that work? and all the ways it might go wrong.
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