Ask the Author: Brian Yansky
Answered Questions (3)
Brian Yansky
He was pushed down the stairs and he died. As his spirit was pulled out of his body, he looked up and at the top of the stairs and saw the very last person in the world he would expect to see.
Brian Yansky
When people ask what my one piece of advice would be to new writers, I always say get a dog. A dog makes you take walks. And walks are excellent places to think. And what you will think about it is often what you're working on--the first draft and many subsequent drafts and revisions and so on. The problems, the different kinds, encountered at all stages of writing will be worked on when you walk. So that would be my number one piece of advice. Get a dog. Very important.
My number two would be the tried and true-- which lives up to its billing both as tried (you can't be writer if you can't write--a pretty photo won't do it) and true--it just is--write and also read, which sounds kind of uninspired except that it is REALLY the best advice. Writers become writers by writing. They learn by writing. They learn by their mistakes and they figure out things and they become better. Reading helps. You have to read, but writing is #1 way to get better.
I wrote five novels before I was published. I wrote five novels where I was learning how to write. I thought they were good at the time. I loved writing them. But they weren't really very good. When I figured out why, little by little, I got better. I'm still working on getting better with everything I write.
I was looking at this youtube by Brandon Sanderson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pLdI...
Check it out for inspiration. He wrote 12 novels and hadn't made a penny off of them. He thought the first five were practice but he thought the sixth was very good and he felt like he knew what he was doing. He felt that way about the subsequent novels he wrote, too. But none of them were published. Finally, though, someone did agree to publish #6 which was called Elantris and it became a big hit. Now he's a bestseller.
We've all heard these stories. They're rare but what I like about Sanderson's is that he just kept writing. Twelve books. Whether you traditionally publish or publish independently, you still have to deal with finding an audience. That can be hard. A lot of it is random. A lot of it is luck. What you can control though is your work, your writing, your learning how to write better each book. So the simplest advice---keep writing--is still the best as far as I'm concerned. Write what you love and what you really want to write. Be aware that your writing isn't perfect and keep looking for ways to improve. You'll find your way and you'll love what you're doing.
My number two would be the tried and true-- which lives up to its billing both as tried (you can't be writer if you can't write--a pretty photo won't do it) and true--it just is--write and also read, which sounds kind of uninspired except that it is REALLY the best advice. Writers become writers by writing. They learn by writing. They learn by their mistakes and they figure out things and they become better. Reading helps. You have to read, but writing is #1 way to get better.
I wrote five novels before I was published. I wrote five novels where I was learning how to write. I thought they were good at the time. I loved writing them. But they weren't really very good. When I figured out why, little by little, I got better. I'm still working on getting better with everything I write.
I was looking at this youtube by Brandon Sanderson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pLdI...
Check it out for inspiration. He wrote 12 novels and hadn't made a penny off of them. He thought the first five were practice but he thought the sixth was very good and he felt like he knew what he was doing. He felt that way about the subsequent novels he wrote, too. But none of them were published. Finally, though, someone did agree to publish #6 which was called Elantris and it became a big hit. Now he's a bestseller.
We've all heard these stories. They're rare but what I like about Sanderson's is that he just kept writing. Twelve books. Whether you traditionally publish or publish independently, you still have to deal with finding an audience. That can be hard. A lot of it is random. A lot of it is luck. What you can control though is your work, your writing, your learning how to write better each book. So the simplest advice---keep writing--is still the best as far as I'm concerned. Write what you love and what you really want to write. Be aware that your writing isn't perfect and keep looking for ways to improve. You'll find your way and you'll love what you're doing.
Brian Yansky
I think ideas for books are as common as trees. For me, I need for that idea to be something I can develop into a situation. That's less common. I started with idea of a town-- Utopia, Iowa. I knew that the town would have quirky characters and supernatural qualities. It would be both fantastic and realistic. The situation of the story comes out of my main character being a normal teen living in Utopia, who loves movies and dreams of writing them. However, he's not normal in one way--he sees ghosts. When two girls are murdered, they ask him to find out what happened to them; he's forced into difficult and dangerous places. That situation and the town of Utopia, Iowa, which is like a character, is where my story began.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more