Ask the Author: Patricia C. Wrede
Answered Questions (16)
Patricia C. Wrede
No. I vaguely remember reading most of Gene Stratton-Porter's books about forty years ago, but they weren't fresh in my mind and I didn't reread them while I was writing "Thirteenth Child." I remember the books chiefly because my mother was the eighth of ten children from a farm family, and Stratton-Porter's portrayal felt very like the aunts, uncles, and cousins I grew up around.
Patricia C. Wrede
Probably not - there isn't a lot of publisher interest at the moment, and I've moved on to other things.
Patricia C. Wrede
I don't think I have a favorite of any of those, in the sense most people mean. (It's also a lot like asking a Mom which child is her favorite - you just can't pick one out that way.) I am always most involved in whatever I am currently working on, so my "favorite" changes constantly. At the moment, I'm working on a new book, with new characters, set in a new world, so all of my current "favorites" come from that, and since it won't be out for at least another year and a half, I don't think the answers would mean a lot.
Patricia C. Wrede
I wouldn't mind knowing the answers to some of those questions, either, but at this point, I don't. Once in a great while, I know what happens to my characters after the end of the book, but usually, the only way I can be sure of what happens to them next is to write the next book. Frequently, whatever I thought was going to happen ... doesn't.
Patricia C. Wrede
That's like asking a mother which of her kids is her favorite. I like them all in different ways for different reasons. "Dealing with Dragons" was a lot of fun to write, and one of the fastest. "Talking to Dragons" was my first first-person book and my first "seat-of-the-pants" book - I had no idea what was going on until the last couple of chapters. "Searching for Dragons" and "Calling on Dragons" gave me a chance to explore parts of the Enchanted Forest that I hadn't thought about before. So I like all of them.
Patricia C. Wrede
I am never willing to give an absolute "Yes" or "No" to this kind of question, because I can't ever be completely sure what will happen in the future. I can say that I have ideas - but ideas are very much the easy part, and at the moment, the Lyra ideas are lower on my list than my ideas for other things. Since they've been in that position for years, I would say that at this point, it is highly unlikely that I'll ever get to them.
Patricia C. Wrede
1. Learn to touch-type. Learn to spell (yes, even with spell-checkers). Learn grammar and syntax until it is burned into your backbrain.
2. Write. Write lots. Write every day, even if only a sentence. Practice is practice, and writing takes a lot of it. Writing every day also gets one in the habit of doing it, which is equally important.
3. Read. Read lots. Read all kinds of books, good, bad, ones you like and ones you don't. When you read a book you don't like or think is bad, stop and try to figure out exactly WHY you think it's bad. Is it that you don't like talking-animal stories (a matter of YOUR taste), or is it that the dialog doesn't sound real (a matter of the WRITER'S skills)? For extra credit, try to figure out why you like the books you like - what is the author doing right?
4. Have a life. If the only things you ever do are read and write, you won't have a lot to write about. It doesn't matter what else you do - football, gardening, skiing, cooking, fencing, music - but find other things you also like to do, and DO them.
2. Write. Write lots. Write every day, even if only a sentence. Practice is practice, and writing takes a lot of it. Writing every day also gets one in the habit of doing it, which is equally important.
3. Read. Read lots. Read all kinds of books, good, bad, ones you like and ones you don't. When you read a book you don't like or think is bad, stop and try to figure out exactly WHY you think it's bad. Is it that you don't like talking-animal stories (a matter of YOUR taste), or is it that the dialog doesn't sound real (a matter of the WRITER'S skills)? For extra credit, try to figure out why you like the books you like - what is the author doing right?
4. Have a life. If the only things you ever do are read and write, you won't have a lot to write about. It doesn't matter what else you do - football, gardening, skiing, cooking, fencing, music - but find other things you also like to do, and DO them.
Patricia C. Wrede
SORCERY AND CECELIA, hands down. It started as a game - Caroline and Even near the end, it was more a general sense that the characters' adventures were coming to a close and we needed to start wrapping up loose ends than it was a definite "This is nearly the end of a book." We didn't actually decide it was a book until we'd finished the game and started looking at the huge pile of letters we'd accumulated.
What that meant, for both of us, I think, is that while we were writing the letters, we both felt we had complete freedom to just throw in something off-the-wall, without worrying about how it fit into the plot or where the story was going. I've played other letter games that petered out in the middle (though at least one generated a character that the author pulled out and used in a novel); this was the only one that had enough plot and underlying structure to end up a novel without a ton of additional work.
We did need to make some revisions, of course. I believe we rearranged a couple of letters to make the timing of events work better, and then each wrote one more to make the changes fit, but we didn't have to mess with the actual plot or the contents of the letters much.
So yes, SORCERY AND CECELIA was definitely the most fun, because it was a game. Also, I only had to write half of it.
What that meant, for both of us, I think, is that while we were writing the letters, we both felt we had complete freedom to just throw in something off-the-wall, without worrying about how it fit into the plot or where the story was going. I've played other letter games that petered out in the middle (though at least one generated a character that the author pulled out and used in a novel); this was the only one that had enough plot and underlying structure to end up a novel without a ton of additional work.
We did need to make some revisions, of course. I believe we rearranged a couple of letters to make the timing of events work better, and then each wrote one more to make the changes fit, but we didn't have to mess with the actual plot or the contents of the letters much.
So yes, SORCERY AND CECELIA was definitely the most fun, because it was a game. Also, I only had to write half of it.
Patricia C. Wrede
Well, I'd have some stipulations first - I want to go as a temporary tourist, not permanently, and I want to be able to specify the time. I wouldn't want to visit Gondor while it's in the middle of fighting off the siege of the orc hordes, for instance.
But if I could visit Tolkien's Middle Earth for a week or so to watch Aragorn being crowned - I would totally do that. I wouldn't mind a quick visit to Bujold's Barrayar, to watch Emperor Gregor's wedding or get some maple mead ice cream at Winterfair.
I wouldn't want to live in any of them, though - I like my current life just fine, for one thing. For another, I am all too aware of the unpleasant realities of a lot of the worlds I love best. I like a lot of modern conveniences, including things like washing machines and air conditioning, which lets out most worlds with a tech level that dates from before the mid-1900s.
And then there's the social status issue - I was impressed at an early age by a short story in which the protagonist was told he was not from this world, and must go back where he was born. So he did … and found himself shoveling manure for a living. Not something I would be well-suited for.
But if I could visit Tolkien's Middle Earth for a week or so to watch Aragorn being crowned - I would totally do that. I wouldn't mind a quick visit to Bujold's Barrayar, to watch Emperor Gregor's wedding or get some maple mead ice cream at Winterfair.
I wouldn't want to live in any of them, though - I like my current life just fine, for one thing. For another, I am all too aware of the unpleasant realities of a lot of the worlds I love best. I like a lot of modern conveniences, including things like washing machines and air conditioning, which lets out most worlds with a tech level that dates from before the mid-1900s.
And then there's the social status issue - I was impressed at an early age by a short story in which the protagonist was told he was not from this world, and must go back where he was born. So he did … and found himself shoveling manure for a living. Not something I would be well-suited for.
Patricia C. Wrede
At this point, I doubt it. It's hard to get back into the right mindset after so many years. In addition, the market has changed a lot, and the editors who loved the books and helped make it successful have moved on. Sadly, that makes a lot of difference in what gets bought, which makes a difference in what gets written.
In addition, I'm currently under contract for "The Dark Lord's Daughter," so that takes precidence, and I have a dozen other ideas I want to get to. I am a magpie when it comes to shiny new ideas - I have a hard time not getting distracted from the thing I am currently working on, let alone the things I was sort-of-planning-on working on two or three books from now.
In addition, I'm currently under contract for "The Dark Lord's Daughter," so that takes precidence, and I have a dozen other ideas I want to get to. I am a magpie when it comes to shiny new ideas - I have a hard time not getting distracted from the thing I am currently working on, let alone the things I was sort-of-planning-on working on two or three books from now.
Patricia C. Wrede
Not really. Horror is probably my least favorite genre, and I don't think I understand it well enough to write anything in it, let alone a two-sentence version. I'm a natural novelist; I have a hard time saying anything in less than 90,000 words.
Patricia C. Wrede
Sometimes, the idea for a book hits like a bolt of lightning - it's obvious when and where it struck. Other times, the idea for a book grows slowly, like a pebble knocking loose another pebble and then a rock and another rock, until there's a whole huge avalanche. When that happens, you can't really trace back to the initial pebble that started the whole thing.
The current book is the latter sort. I had an idea that I'd been messing with for years ... decades actually, about a girl from our world who had a job to do in an alternate fantasy world. There were a lot of different possible jobs over the years, and eventually it crossed paths with a different long-term idea I'd had about the heir to the throne coming back to take over and not being at all like what her people expected.
Ideas are actually the easy part of writing. They're all over the place; all you have to do is look at real life and then ask "Why did that happen?" or "What if...?"
The current book is the latter sort. I had an idea that I'd been messing with for years ... decades actually, about a girl from our world who had a job to do in an alternate fantasy world. There were a lot of different possible jobs over the years, and eventually it crossed paths with a different long-term idea I'd had about the heir to the throne coming back to take over and not being at all like what her people expected.
Ideas are actually the easy part of writing. They're all over the place; all you have to do is look at real life and then ask "Why did that happen?" or "What if...?"
Patricia C. Wrede
I start by figuring out why I'm stuck. About 80% of the time, I'm "stuck" because it's a nice day and I want to go out and do something else. In that case, I either just buckle down and do it, or I take my laptop to a coffee shop or cafe so I can be "out" but still get the writing done.
The other 20% of the time, the problem is a) I know what comes next, but I really don't want to write it (it's a hard scene, I don't want to kill off a character, I hate writing council meeting, etc.), b) I have come to a pause in the book where I normally have to stop and think for a bit about where it's going - that is, it's part of my normal process, I just didn't realize it, c) I have either made or am about to make a major error in characterization or continuity that I haven't noticed, and my backbrain has gone on strike until I find an alternative.
How I deal with a) is the same as when I don't feel like it: I sit down at the computer and write anyway. How I deal with b) and c) is to stop and do the thinking. Figuring out the reason I'm stuck is usually the most difficult part, but experience helps.
Once or twice, the reason I'm stuck has been "there is a huge crisis and I cannot deal with writing on top of it," but that reason is generally self-evident. It's hard to miss a tree making a big hole in your roof, for instance, and the distraction of it is likewise fairly obvious.
The other 20% of the time, the problem is a) I know what comes next, but I really don't want to write it (it's a hard scene, I don't want to kill off a character, I hate writing council meeting, etc.), b) I have come to a pause in the book where I normally have to stop and think for a bit about where it's going - that is, it's part of my normal process, I just didn't realize it, c) I have either made or am about to make a major error in characterization or continuity that I haven't noticed, and my backbrain has gone on strike until I find an alternative.
How I deal with a) is the same as when I don't feel like it: I sit down at the computer and write anyway. How I deal with b) and c) is to stop and do the thinking. Figuring out the reason I'm stuck is usually the most difficult part, but experience helps.
Once or twice, the reason I'm stuck has been "there is a huge crisis and I cannot deal with writing on top of it," but that reason is generally self-evident. It's hard to miss a tree making a big hole in your roof, for instance, and the distraction of it is likewise fairly obvious.
Patricia C. Wrede
I write. It isn't necessary to be inspired in order to write stuff; what's necessary is to sit down in front of a blank page and put words on it. Putting words on paper (or a computer screen) triggers more ideas. Inspiration is the *result* of writing, not the other way around.
Patricia C. Wrede
I'm currently working on an entirely new book with the working title "The Dark Lord's Daughter." The main character grew up in our world, and is quite surprised and taken aback when her biological father's people show up and want her to rebuild his crumbling empire. It's still very much in process, and I don't have a publication date yet.
Patricia C. Wrede
I get to set my own schedule. This is also the worst thing about being a writer, because I have to make myself stick to it.
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