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Sarah Parker
1) We are all very active in groups which support and encourage writing. What pleasures does this bring?
I find a lot of authors to be articulate, well read, and interesting. I love talking to people and love hearing people working on projects and ideas.
2) What is your favourite writing activity?
I think I still love first draft. I'm learning to love editing, but second draft still seems like an awful hard slog right now. I'm putting some effort into rediscovering the joy of words, so I expect I'll learn to love editing at some point!
3) What is your favourite writing website, book or information resource?
I'm really getting a kick out of 'Word Magic For Writers,' by Cindy Rogers. It's teaching me a lot about the gritty parts of English, and I've been using it to play with my work. It's been very helpful so far!
4) Who do you go to when you have writing problems that need a sympathetic ear (if it's not us of course!) and why?
I whine at pretty much any one standing still long enough. I have enough friends that no one is getting too overloaded! (They are all still talking to me, in other words!)
Satima Flavell
1) We are all very active in groups which support and encourage writing. What pleasures does this bring?
The sheer joy of being with like-minded people. So like-minded that sometimes it's downright weird! The scribing trades do, in fact seem to attract people who, if you run a Myers-Briggs on them, will test out as Intuitive Feelers, usually of the introverted persuasion. Obviously, we all love words and their use, but over and above that we find other common ground:
- Most writers have worked in a wide variety of jobs, rather than choosing one profession and sticking with it
- Many writers suffer from migraines and/or depression
- Many writers have travelled widely - and the ones that haven't, want to!
- Most writers seem to love animals
- Many had troubled childhoods
Those five things alone encourage interesting and mutually sympathetic conversations: add your angst about the current WIP and it's apparent that the best company for writers is other writers!
2) What is your favourite writing activity?
I enjoy the whole process – planning, research, writing and editing.
3) What is your favourite writing website, book or information resource?
There are so many good websites it's hard to pick favourites! The writerly blogs I check regularly include http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/, http://writerunboxed.com/, http://madgeniusclub.blogspot.com/, http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com/, http://ripping-ozzie-reads.blogspot.com/, http://callmyagent.blogspot.com/, http://howpublishingreallyworks.com/, and http://accrispin.blogspot.com/ (the writer Beware blog). That's not counting the many individual authors whose blogs and web sites I like to follow.
Book-wise, you're probably fed up with my singing the praises of Robert Olen Butler's From Where You Dream, but that book did do much to help me understand my own writing process that I recommend it above all others. His basic premise, as I understand it, is that in order to write well, you must be in a mind-space where the unconscious can come to the surface, and the best time to do that is immediately up waking in the morning. It certainly works for me.
4) Who do you go to when you have writing problems that need a sympathetic ear (if it's not us of course!) and why?
I know I can talk to anyone in any of the three writing groups I belong to and I will always find a ready listener and often useful suggestions, too. Some of the best ideas in my plots were actually suggested by fellow writers!
Thank heaven for writers groups!
Helen Venn
1) We are all very active in groups which support and encourage writing. What pleasures does this bring?
When I joined my first writing group I was overwhelmed by the generosity of its members to a someone who was very much a newbie. At that stage I had only done half a year of a creative writing course. They showed me so much that I was ignorant of with enormous patience and acceptance that made it a joy to be with them. As I learned they celebrated my successes and encouraged me when I failed. That generosity of spirit and support has been the same in all the writing groups I've belonged to. As well we all share a love of language and telling a good story and how they work together in a way that non-writers can't understand. What more could I ask for?
2) What is your favourite writing activity?
That's really hard to say. All aspects have their joys and irritations. love those times when the story just flows on to the page, seemingly without my directing it but, even when it's hard and the words won't co-operate, there's immense satisfaction in the
process. But I enjoy editing too. All that playing with words, fitting each into its proper place.
3) What is your favourite writing website, book or information resource?
I don't have any real favourites. I tend to flit around the internet following links from blogs and my friends apart from sites like ralan.com - www.ralan.com - and duotrope - www.duotrope.com -which are invaluable in market research. For other writing information there's a lot of useful information on the SFWA website - www.sfwa.org.
4) Who do you go to when you have writing problems that need a sympathetic ear (if it's not us of course!) and why?
I have a few friends with a gift for picking up faults in my writing and telling me exactly what the problem in the nicest possible way. I don't know where I'd be as a writer without them.
Joanna Fay
1) We are all very active in groups which support and encourage writing. What pleasures does this bring?
Constant pleasures! The pleasure of having interested, like-minded companions on the writing journey to share, learn, encourage, and brainstorm with. Becoming a member of three writing groups during the last couple of years has been so important in improving my writing craft in all areas, and the opportunity to read and critique the work of other writers, as well as being a privilege in itself, is a wonderful learning experience.
2) What is your favourite writing activity?
It varies. Right now, writing fresh - the first draft of a novel (third in the Quartet..yay!!). Two weeks ago, I was engrossed in editing and rewriting bits of an earlier novel in the series. Occasionally, a bright flash of a poem wings in and makes me stop everything else for a moment to get it down. Poetry is imperious, demanding....catch me now or I'm gone forever. Novel writing is more consistent and, for me, much more structured and routine. They each have their place...I love them both!
3) What is your favourite writing website, book or information resource?
My writing resources are varied. I dip into a number of sites and blogs, if somewhat erratically.
As far as books go, I've read bits of a few 'how to' manuals, some of which have been very helpful, but at present I'm finding particular novels are my best teachers - looking at how different authors tackle characterisation and structure, looking at aspects of style and seeing my own more clearly in the light of the differences and similarities I find. This helps define what elements of style I want to develop - or discard - in my own writing.
Then there are internal resources, but that's another question!
4) Who do you go to when you have writing problems that need a sympathetic ear (if it's not us of course!) and why?
Well, being a member of several writing groups means there are always helpful, supportive ears close at hand, so to speak. Thank goodness! They are invaluable! Some problems, I work through on my own - they might just need concentrated inward focus. But at other times, one small suggestion from outside can be exactly what is needed to open a whole new process, move past a groove I've got stuck in, or reassure that the track I'm on is workable after all.
Carol Ryles
1) We are all very active in groups which support and encourage writing. What pleasures does this bring?
Many pleasures. The joy of having people to read my work when I need. The advantage of being in a group is that at least one person will have time enough to do a quick read if I want. It doesn't matter if they are a beginner or semi-pro. For me, a reader response is the best way to figure out if my writing is working or not. I've been an active part of writing groups for over ten years, and it's been great to see people's work get better and better before leading to their first publication. People who started out as readers and critters are now very good friends. I can't ever see myself not wanting to be in a writers group of some kind. Writing is an isolated occupation as it is. Sometimes I just need to get out and show people "Look what I've done." Also my teacher side enjoys critting as much as my student side benefits from receiving them.
2) What is your favourite writing activity?
I much prefer second drafting. My first drafts are usually all over the place and. for me, harrowing because I have all these different narrative threads going everywhere with nothing connecting. It takes me until the end of a first draft to get to know my characters enough for them to feel real. First drafts are all work, like looking for a lost book in crowded book shelf. Second drafts are much more fun. I put my first draft away and start from scratch. I know who my characters are and all those unrelated narrative threads fall into place and interconnect. My story or novel stops feeling like a broken puzzle and starts feeling like something that works.
3) What is your favourite writing website, book or information resource?
I don't really read anything regularly on the internet, so I tend to flit from place to place. I do like Richard Harland's 145 pages of free writing tips -- excellent value at: http://www.richardharland.net/WRITING%20TIPS/indextop.htm and Project Guttenberg. I love Project Guttenberg: http://gutenberg.net.au/
4) Who do you go to when you have writing problems that need a sympathetic ear (if it's not us of course!) and why?
I have writing problems every day, so I save the important ones for my writing groups and my uni supervisor, and just talk to myself for the small stuff. Or go walking and listen to an audiobook and let someone else talk to me through their fiction. Sometimes the trickiest writing questions are answered by just listening to different types of fiction. And it's nice to rest my eyes and let my ears do the work.
You!
1) We are all very active in groups which support and encourage writing. What pleasures does this bring?
2) What is your favourite writing activity?
3) What is your favourite writing website, book or information resource?
4) Who do you go to when you have writing problems that need a sympathetic ear (if it's not us of course!) and why?
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Sarah
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