Well… Not Necessarily Any PARTICULAR Famous Authors
By Jeff Salter
This week we’re blogging about three questions we might ask a famous author. This topic may refer back to a week (early July 2016) in which we discussed one or more famous authors that we HAD met. But it’s also possible this week’s topic links to a different week, further back, in which we discussed famous authors we WANTED to meet. Whichever.
As I sometimes do, I’ve decided to kinda veer off on a tangent. [sorry]
Two of the three Foxes (so far this week) posed questions for particular authors: Patricia for Debbie Macomber and Angela for R.L. Stine. Joselyn’s column, yesterday, had one question for Jane Austen and then a few general questions.
My Questions
I guess my three questions are more phrased for famous authors in general. Anyway, here goes!
- Did any of your characters ever surprise you with what they said… or how they acted / reacted to the situations you wrote for them?
- Did you ever create a portion of your major character’s back-story that later caused you problems? [Especially if you wrote a series.]
- Have you ever pushed your hero / heroine to do things that are almost completely unbelievable… and way beyond the abilities of almost any ‘normal’ mortal? [I’m thinking of John McClane in Die Hard… among many others.]
And, in case we had additional time to chat, here’s my FOURTH question:
- Is there any particular title you’ve released that you wish you hadn’t? [Most movie stars have at least one film performance that makes them cringe — Paul Newman famously HATED 1954’s “The Silver Chalice”.]
And, by the way, here’s my blog from that week when we discussed famous authors we HAD met — and the one I featured was Alex Haley.
https://fourfoxesonehound.wordpress.com/2016/07/07/alex-haley-would-not-have-remembered-me/
[JLS # 385]
Angela Schroeder
Patricia Kiyono
Elaine Cantrell
Jeff Salter
Joselyn
Tonette Joyce
Great questions, Jeff.
My question would be: Would you please be my mentor? OH! Or better still: Could you pimp me out and name drop to all your fans and connections?
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yeah, I think that second question may be on the minds of nearly every author who has not yet made the big leagues. “Can you mention my name to your buddies in the Big Six?”
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A little desperate sounding, I know. But this business keeps getting tougher and tougher will all the insane, mysterious algorithms and cheating.
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Not desperate, just realistic. The market is glutted and we need something or someone to briefly shine a light on us or our stories… in order for them to be seen.
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Great questions. I especially like the one about if there is any book that they regret putting out.
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we both know several author who write under contracts which require MANY titles per year and often on very tight deadlines. I would guess that most of those authors have at least one title they had to shove out the door, just to meet deadline, and later wished they could have it back for another six weeks of work.
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If you were to ask me these questions, my answers would be yes, yes, no, and no. Unless you plan your books in detail, I think #1 is something that happens to most authors. But sometimes these surprises are good ones! #4 is a great question, and it would be interesting to see the answers and reasons behind them.
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I love the surprises my characters spring on me. That’s one of the many wonderful things about our weekly sprints — as I’m cranking out the words (with my internal editor locked out of the room), it frees up my characters to do and say what they wish. Many times, very pleasant surprises to me.
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When a writer recently posted on FB about writing being ‘like magic’, I had to agree, and added “Especially when your characters do or say something that surprises you”. She posted back “YES!”, and had wondered the first time it happened if she was sane! I have no idea how it happens, but it certainly does, that characters do what they want to do, say what they want to say and will give you a hard time if you try to get them to do otherwise. I wonder if all who try to string words together experience this?
Frankly,I think it is easier to WATCH some actors do unbelievable things. I about lost it when Rambo , (who did enough of this on his own), needed to rescue his old mentor,(played by Richard Crenna), who had been torture, deprived of sleep, food and water, a man no longer young, but when Rambo showed up, he untied him and got him to climb a rope, hand-over-hand, way up out of the place where he was kept, to g through a lot more just to get out of there.I don’t think he could have done any of that! But reading about it, especially when it isn’t a particularly action-based story, is rough.
Good points all the way around, Jeff!
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I would love to hear the answers and comments on the fourth question. What did they do with the book when the rights reverted?
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yeah, would be fascinating to know. I’m guessing it was heavily revised (at least) and then re-titled.
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