Inspiration with Susan Faw
- michmacqueen
- Sep 22, 2016
- 5 min read
Well, our month of inspiration is drawing to a close and I have one more interview for you. Susan Faw is a fantasy author who writes epic tales. She has to get her mojo from somewhere!
Tell us a bit about yourself. Where to start? I am a single mother of three, who has worked in the corporate sector for my entire life. It’s what you do when you get married, right? Find a stable job, help support the family. But all I have ever wanted to do was write. I am a voracious reader and when I find a series I love, I quickly morph into a super fan. Yup, I am happy to admit I am one of those loonies who dress up in Harry Potter gear and stand outside book stores for Potter releases at midnight. Those are great times, like facebook parties in person!
What inspired you to write Seer of Souls? I had just come through a nasty divorce and needed to find focus for my life. I had lost it all, everything except my kids, and it was then that I remembered my hero’s words at the Harvard Commencement. JK Rowling said to the entire world, in that speech that “ROCK BOTTOM BECAME THE SOLID FOUNDATION ON WHICH I REBUILT MY LIFE.” I had always wanted to write if she could do it, why not I? So I began to write Seer. I had no idea what I was doing, and I think in some areas it shows, but all the conventional wisdom says that you should never go back and try to ‘fix’ a book, that way lies madness. So instead I decided to write all around it, with the hope that putting it in context will clarify the story.
What is the oddest thing that inspires your writing? I discovered an acapella sound track for the Lord of the Rings series by Peter Hollens. It is like listening to monks sing while I write. It certainly puts me in a fantasy frame of mind!
Do you base anything in your stories on events or people in real life? No, if anything I plagiarize the gods , but I figure they have big shoulders. Especially Atlas, that guy was built!
Tell me about a time when you wanted to write, but just couldn’t find the inspiration to do so. Those times tend to be after especially trying days at work. The cerebral pressures of corporate leave little room for imagination and sometimes it’s tough to fire it up at the end of a grueling day. So I write in the mornings when the mind is fresh and I can feed off the dreams of my sleep. I am a very vivid dreamer and often dream entire scenes. It’s easy to pop out of bed and write it when it is fresh like that.
Do you ever get over-inspired where the story is flooding your mind, but you can’t seem to get it out fast enough? Yes, in fact that is where I am headed next, to get down the rest of my plot outline for act 2/3. For the most part I am a pantser, but I am finding it useful to have some kind of an outline even in a very basic form. Later books seem to write themselves as you have to work with the previous material you have written!
When did you start writing? I started writing long before I could write. My sister and I used to play a game when we were preschool aged, where we would randomly pick out a picture from the National Geographic magazine and we had to make up a story about it and tell it to the other. We would play this for hours. We couldn’t read at the time.
Why do you write? I love to tell stories. I love English idioms and write about them on my website in a short story format. The stories that I use to illustrate the idiom are totally available to steal, so drop by and see if something catches your eye. I also love puns and a lot of my humour is spontaneous and quippy.
Does your writing inspire you in other parts of your life? I would have to say yes. It makes me happy so therefore it spills over into other areas of my life.
What advice would you give to writers who can’t seem find that little something they need to keep going? Sit your assets in the chair and type. Waiting for lighting to strike doesn’t work. If you can’t figure out the next scene, skip to one you do know and write that. Or skip to the end and write your conclusion. Or pick a random character and write a scene about something he is thinking about. Your subconscious knows the story, you just have to turn on the light.
Do you think finding inspiration becomes easier the more you write? Absolutely. You are exercising a muscle, called a brain. The more heavy lifting you do, the better and quicker and stronger it becomes.
Cayden in Seer of Souls is a strong character who has the ability to become an inspiration for your readers. How do you write a character like that? I write people from the inside. I try to see from their eyes, from their perspective. I “possess” them, I guess you could say. If I don’t understand their motivations, I find it difficult to write them. I strive to do this for every character, even minor ones, because I find that it influences their dialogue and how they observe and interact with the world around them.
Do you have anything more you’d like to tell your readers out there? As I write this I am about ¼ through the final book. Book two, entitled Soul Sanctuary, is scheduled for a late December/early January release. Book three, entitled Soul Sacrifice, Is looking like a summer 2017 release. Long before the series wraps up, I will be heavily into my next series, which will feature a female protagonist who is what I dub “a female zorro with magic, crossed with Princess Leia.” Stay tuned!
You can download the series starter for The Spirit Shield Saga, entitled Soul Survivor, as an instafreebie. Just follow this link to get your copy today! Click here.
Want to join my street team? There is a pinned post on my facebook page, stop by and drop me a line! Free books forever and inclusion in a growing, fun book fandom group!
September has been inspiration month at MichelleLynnAuthor.com. Thanks for sticking around. Don't forget to check back in next month while we celebrate the three-year anniversary of my debut novel, Dawn of Rebellion.
Want a FREE book? Sign up for my mailing list to reserve your copy of Confessions, book four in the New Beginnings series. This IS a stand alone. Sign up HERE.
But if you'd really like to check out the rest of the series, hint hint, you can do so HERE.
Miss reading about what inspires me? HERE you go!
Comentários