Ask the Author: Eleanor Herman
Answered Questions (6)
Eleanor Herman
I am always inspired to write. It's such a joy to take ideas and pour them onto the page and end up with something amazing. I feel like I'm a silversmith pouring molten silver into a mold and ending up with this really gorgeous cup. There are always times when I look at a manuscript and hate it. I was really worried about that with my first book but now I know it's just part of the process.
Eleanor Herman
I have been writing non-fiction history for years--mostly Renaissance to the present--but I know so much about the ancient world I really wanted to use that heretofore useless knowledge. I mean, I was always a great hit at cocktail parties with my charming little stories, but it is nice to turn that into a career. Alexander the Great changed so much, created so many possibilities, achieved so much. He was like a meteor streaking across history. What was he like at sixteen? Legacy is the answer.
Eleanor Herman
Legacy of Kings Book One will come out in September of 2015. Now I am working on Book Two, to come out in September 2016 and a novella to come out some time in between.
Eleanor Herman
Read read read. Write write write. Take classes. Go to writers' conferences. Ask people's unvarnished opinions. Toughen up your skin. Take advice seriously; it can really make you a better writer. Learn from it and try again.
Eleanor Herman
Where do I start? I love creating worlds. What does it look like, smell like, taste like, sound like? I love creating people. I love re-creating historical times and thought processes. Also, I'm not very good at anything but writing. We live in such a techno-centric world--even as a journalist these days, which is what I trained to be--you need to be a computer expert. Half the time when I turn on a lamp the bulb explodes. So it's really good I found something I'm good at that doesn't require a doctorate in computer technology. I can also dance a mean funky chicken but I can't imagine anyone would pay me to do that.
Eleanor Herman
Some day's you're just not in the mood to be brilliant with your writing. But you can't wait for the Muses to inspire you. You're on a deadline. So on those days I edit--which is more mechanical and less creative than writing form scratch--or I do social media or historical research. Or sometimes when my mind is a fog I just force myself to write what I can and go back to edit it on a really clear-minded day.
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