Ask the Author: C.L. Clark
Answered Questions (14)
C.L. Clark
Going to give this an answer now that I'm finally dealing with this myself. (I'll probably make a longer post about this in my newsletter soon.)
So, if you're in a writer's block-ish mood that lets you read, I'd say 1000 Words of Summer by Jami Attenberg helps me. She gets a bunch of writers in to give you these mini essays about process at various points (ideation, prepping, going fallow, output) and if you're just looking for the company of other writers who have Been There, I definitely recommend it. I pop in for a visit whenever I need a pick-up.
But I've also been wallowing after a big year of grinding through a couple big books (and a small book) and their deadlines, and I'm trying to shake off the rust. I took an entire month off and didn't know how to come back to a new world, new story. All my old processes didn't fit, my mind was rebelling. So I did what I've always enjoyed--went back to my story engine suite and drew cards just to see what fun stuff popped up, with no pressure to use any of it.
It reminds me that I used to just do this for fun! shits and giggles! to make up characters I want to see! to make sword lesbians kiss and stab and kiss again! and I've had to remind myself of that the last couple of weeks, too, as I try to break into new ground on Warmongers that is very very solid and unyielding. I've also lowered the stakes--instead of demanding 2000 words minimum, it's one 30 min sprint. And maybe it's not a sprint but a jog, I just have to do it for 30. And that's easily reduce-able if necessary.
The book The 7 Secrets of the Prolific by Hillary Rettig has also been a helpful reminder of things I've learned over the last few years (as an athlete and a writer), and if you're just starting and getting stuck regularly, I definitely definitely recommend it. It could also be good if you're a vet of the industry. (Granted, I can't say I agree with everything in it, just that I found it had useful reminders.)
I also do writing exercises. Craft or narrative (usually both, they go hand in hand!), just to force myself to write something even if I don't have ideas. Sometimes, the exercise will spark something that I'll want to try with the WIP, but sometimes it'll just be a bit for the exercise itself. A good few books for exercises: Refuse to be Done by Matt Bell (if you're writing a novel); 3 AM Epiphany by Brian Kitely; Steering the Craft by Ursula K. LeGuin.
And of course, read your favorite books! The ones that inspired you to pick up a pen in the first place.
So, if you're in a writer's block-ish mood that lets you read, I'd say 1000 Words of Summer by Jami Attenberg helps me. She gets a bunch of writers in to give you these mini essays about process at various points (ideation, prepping, going fallow, output) and if you're just looking for the company of other writers who have Been There, I definitely recommend it. I pop in for a visit whenever I need a pick-up.
But I've also been wallowing after a big year of grinding through a couple big books (and a small book) and their deadlines, and I'm trying to shake off the rust. I took an entire month off and didn't know how to come back to a new world, new story. All my old processes didn't fit, my mind was rebelling. So I did what I've always enjoyed--went back to my story engine suite and drew cards just to see what fun stuff popped up, with no pressure to use any of it.
It reminds me that I used to just do this for fun! shits and giggles! to make up characters I want to see! to make sword lesbians kiss and stab and kiss again! and I've had to remind myself of that the last couple of weeks, too, as I try to break into new ground on Warmongers that is very very solid and unyielding. I've also lowered the stakes--instead of demanding 2000 words minimum, it's one 30 min sprint. And maybe it's not a sprint but a jog, I just have to do it for 30. And that's easily reduce-able if necessary.
The book The 7 Secrets of the Prolific by Hillary Rettig has also been a helpful reminder of things I've learned over the last few years (as an athlete and a writer), and if you're just starting and getting stuck regularly, I definitely definitely recommend it. It could also be good if you're a vet of the industry. (Granted, I can't say I agree with everything in it, just that I found it had useful reminders.)
I also do writing exercises. Craft or narrative (usually both, they go hand in hand!), just to force myself to write something even if I don't have ideas. Sometimes, the exercise will spark something that I'll want to try with the WIP, but sometimes it'll just be a bit for the exercise itself. A good few books for exercises: Refuse to be Done by Matt Bell (if you're writing a novel); 3 AM Epiphany by Brian Kitely; Steering the Craft by Ursula K. LeGuin.
And of course, read your favorite books! The ones that inspired you to pick up a pen in the first place.
C.L. Clark
I would travel to the Realm of the Elderlings world (Robin Hobb) and go looking for a Wit-beast to bond with.
C.L. Clark
The advice I most want to give to writers changes periodically, but what has been on my mind recently is this:
Don't flatten the world we live in by insisting on remaining "unproblematic" or insisting that the books you read (or the books published) be unproblematic or morally unblemished. Don't toss out classics because they were written in a time of racism, as if they have nothing else to teach us. Don't become so dogmatic about a "correct" moral stance that your story becomes a watered down polemic with characters whose complexity is as deep as a teaspoon.
And please, please, please, don't explain every thought and occurrence in the characters' head before they act on it. Especially the obvious ones.
Also, read older books. It's good to know your contemporaries, but it's also good to not sound exactly like them.
Don't flatten the world we live in by insisting on remaining "unproblematic" or insisting that the books you read (or the books published) be unproblematic or morally unblemished. Don't toss out classics because they were written in a time of racism, as if they have nothing else to teach us. Don't become so dogmatic about a "correct" moral stance that your story becomes a watered down polemic with characters whose complexity is as deep as a teaspoon.
And please, please, please, don't explain every thought and occurrence in the characters' head before they act on it. Especially the obvious ones.
Also, read older books. It's good to know your contemporaries, but it's also good to not sound exactly like them.
C.L. Clark
This is an ancient question and I never knew how to answered it because the answer is partly--everything around me, all the time, every landscape, every song, every spark of anger, or frisson of [redacted]. But also, for the last couple years, I've also enjoyed playing with the Story Engine Deck (including the Deck of Worlds and the Lore Deck). They give me ideas/situations that shake me out of my normal groove of usual obsessions.
C.L. Clark
Mmm. It's been a while, and a lot of the thinking was synthesized from courses I was in, but a few works/authors off the very top of my head: Wretched of the Earth, Decolonizing the Mind (Ngugi wa Thiong'o), Harlem Hellfighters (Max Brooks), excerpts from Orientalism...works from Algerian and Senegalese authors...There's a lot, since everything builds up to create a whole.
C.L. Clark
Not really! The closest thing I have is goodreads, which, at the moment, is where I flag all the books I'm interested in reading but don't own yet. When I need to look for a new book, I'll pop into my list and see what's up. There are also publishers/authors I follow so I know what to keep on my radar. I'm a big mood reader, though, so I don't always get to what's new...when it's new.
C.L. Clark
I love when a work comes out of me and the characters and the language feel like they're doing everything I intended. I also love seeing when my stories touch readers, or teach them something about themselves, the world. Made someone laugh, made someone angry, anything.
C.L. Clark
This answer contains spoilers…
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C.L. Clark
I'm currently working on the third and final book in the Magic of the Lost trilogy, while also preparing for Warmongers, a standalone novel in a different world. I might also work on a few shorter things in the meantime whenever I need to cycle projects to give my brain a rest.
C.L. Clark
I wanted to live a lot of lives I couldn't! I wanted to have more power over my life, I wanted adventure in the woods and the mountains and the ocean, I wanted dashing romance, I wanted a sword! and a horse! and a talking lion! And so eventually, I realized I could either act and make it big on screen to get all these in some way, or I could write. So here I am! (I'm still not against the acting bit, though; I studied it just in case. ;))
C.L. Clark
That's a tough one, honestly. So many standouts and I did a lot of comfort reading and a lot of inspiration/research/learning reading...so Tyrant Baru Cormorant was a pretty big deal for me but also I loved a lot of great sapphic books that hit a niche I've been craving all my life. One I'm thinking about revisiting though is LADY HOTSPUR by Tessa Gratton. I loved loved loved it.
C.L. Clark
Hi! Glad you're enjoying The Unbroken! In theory, Book 2 is supposed to come out in March 2022, but I have a feeling it'll over shoot that. Probably some time in 2022, though.
C.L. Clark
Well, you can find the answer to this for The Unbroken in countless interviews. And then book 2 is...well, it's book 2. But! The next book I want to write and have been mulling over came from The Story Engine deck. I really like what it's grown into so hopefully I'll get a chance to flesh it out one day.
C.L. Clark
A few things I've already read and loved:
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliot
Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner
Things I'm reading now and/or looking forward to:
Empire of Gold by S. A. Chakraborty
Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson
Maybe...Pachinko by Min Jin Lee? I'll take suggestions...
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliot
Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner
Things I'm reading now and/or looking forward to:
Empire of Gold by S. A. Chakraborty
Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson
Maybe...Pachinko by Min Jin Lee? I'll take suggestions...
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