10 COMMON QUESTIONS FOR AUTHORS

Having attended several Author Conferences, watched Brandon Sanderson on stage, and even had a fair share of my own Q&As during the launch of my short story in the Voices of the Future Anthology, I have heard many a question concerning authors. There are a lot that are common, but answers vary from author to author.

So today, I thought it would be fun to answer ten common questions that authors get asked!

So, without further ado, let's jump in! 

Q&A

1. Where do you get your ideas?

   My answer: Oh, all over the place! Usually it’s from a new book I read, a video game I played, or a movie/show that I watched. There will always be a tiny grain of an idea pulled from one or two elements of those stories that jump out at me. A little “what if…?” Those little seeds then slowly grow into a full story.  

   
   

2. What’s the hardest part of writing? 

   My answer: Consistency and sticking to it in the midst of writer’s block and low motivation. Especially if you want to be an author, you can’t afford to stop writing during those times.  

   
   

3. How long did it take you to write a book? 

   My answer: Anywhere from a month to a year depending on my workflow, how many projects I am balancing, and deadlines. It also depends on how long the book ends up being (since mine always end up being longer than planned).

   
   

4. What inspired your characters? 

   My answer: So many things. People I meet, characters I love, occupations I find interesting, artwork I see, etc. I am also a fan of building characters as a group. How does that work? Well, I intentionally find opposing personality combinations that would be interesting as a group and craft the individual characters accordingly.

   
   

5. Do you listen to music while you write? 

   My answer: Yes. I actually have playlists for different “moods.” Battles, emotional moments, terrifying encounters, etc. I also have playlists for specific projects to get the specific “feel” I am going for. All instrumental, though. I get too distracted if I listen to music with words. 

   
   

6. What is your writing process? 

   My answer: I write down the concept, draft a synopsis, outline the story (usually by chapter), somewhere in there, or occasionally even before the concept stage, I start worldbuilding (this process can continue into the drafting stage), then I start drafting. After drafting a chapter, I go through it briefly to spot-edit before I move on. What do I mean by that? Well, noticing my egregious misspellings and any big-picture story issues. But this should only take thirty minutes tops and should only be done ONCE. No getting caught in the “perfecting the chapter” loop. After that, it’s handed over to alpha readers, edited, critique partners, edited, developmental editor, edited, etc, etc.

7. Is any character based on you? 

   My answer: Yes. A lot of my main characters have a piece of me. Either one trait among many, a struggle we share, my inner voice/opinions are their actual voice and personality, my sense of humor, etc. They are all so different, but like humans, characters are made up of several things, and usually at least one of those things comes from me.

   
   

8. What authors or books have influenced you? 

   My answer: Oh, this is easy! C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia made me fall in love with fantasy. J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings made me choose to become an author. Cressida Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon influenced my portrayal of humor and the balance of lightheartedness and darkness on the page, and Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians changed the way I approach character voice. 

   
   

9. How much research goes into your books? 

   My answer: A lot. From the initial world-building research that spans anything from clothing to mannerisms inspired by real-world cultures, to researching on the fly what certain teas taste like and pair well with because, to me, tea is nothing more than hot leafy juice, I am always diving into books and websites (or a quick Google).

   
   

10. Did you always know how the story would end?

    My answer: No. Some story ideas come to me with the beginning and nothing else. Some are the middle section and nothing else. Some do come with the end and nothing else, and more rarely are the times when I know how everything will go from beginning to end. Most of the time, I have to discover the story as I write the synopsis and outline, and even then, ultimately, things could change when I actually draft the project. It all depends.