Charles Todd
CHARLES AND CAROLINE: We don’t really believe in writer’s block. What really happens is you’ve made a wrong turn somewhere and lost your way. What you have to do then is go back to where the book was working well, and look for what went wrong. It may be that a character is out of touch, or the plot took an awkward turn, or your view of the book is off track. And you may have to rip out anywhere from a few to a lot of pages to get back to where you want to be. But once you find that point, and ruthlessly cut out the mistake(s), you’ll feel better about what you’re trying to accomplish. If you can’t find that point, it may be that you need to rethink the whole concept. There’s a big difference between a great idea and a great story. Some ideas just don’t pan out, and you need to rethink them.
CHARLES AND CAROLINE: We don’t really believe in writer’s block. What really happens is you’ve made a wrong turn somewhere and lost your way. What you have to do then is go back to where the book was working well, and look for what went wrong. It may be that a character is out of touch, or the plot took an awkward turn, or your view of the book is off track. And you may have to rip out anywhere from a few to a lot of pages to get back to where you want to be. But once you find that point, and ruthlessly cut out the mistake(s), you’ll feel better about what you’re trying to accomplish. If you can’t find that point, it may be that you need to rethink the whole concept. There’s a big difference between a great idea and a great story. Some ideas just don’t pan out, and you need to rethink them.
More Answered Questions
Bonnie Bailey
asked
Charles Todd:
Why don’t you list a cast of characters when there are so many generations in the back-story of your characters? Back-stories help (Simon particularly) character development for me, & that’s my #1 interest in any book series. Often though, I find all the names & generations confusing.
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