Somewhere Over the Sunwriters

Do Not Fear the Blank White Page

If someone has ever told you to fear the blank white page, they are wrong. The blank white page is actually one of the best things that can happen to a writer. Nothing has gone wrong yet, nothing that doesn’t work, a world of opportunities ahead. It’d be like someone telling you to fear a fuel gauge pointing to the letter F. All you have to do is accelerate.

By all means, be afraid that you will not get there safely. That you shall be mangled by the journey. That you will lose more than you gain along the way. Fear the things that will come at you, the people that might try to destroy you. Fear how well you are built to resist collisions, whether you can keep momentum when you have slowed down to a near halt far away from your destination. Fear that you will battle through the journey and no one will have cared, or noticed. Or that, no matter how much you have already battled, people insist that you are not there yet.

And once you have moved past the fear of the blank white page, understand that all these other, bigger, realer fears, have the exact same solution. Every problem or fear or obstacle a writer faces can be dealt with simply: by writing.

∞07:00 pm, by somewhereoverthesunnovel ∩17

[writing] [writing advice] [writers] [letter to a young novelist]

I made this yesterday for reference when submitting short stories to literary magazines in the future. Wanted to share it in case any other writers out there might find it useful. These, of course, are just a few of the many fine magazines out there. Always check submission guidelines before sending in your work. Sorry for the poor quality of the image. Godspeed.

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∞02:26 am, by somewhereoverthesunnovel ∩13

[writing] [writers] [book industry] [publishing industry] [new yorker] [short stories]

Author Interview with Girls Just Reading

After yesterday’s review, Alice from Girls Just Reading picks my brain a little bit. Click through for full interview.

GJR: You have an amazing gift of giving life to inanimate objects. Is it harder to write personality into people or things (like trees and mattresses)?

AA: Why, thank you! I love personification. I think if you can see what’s hopelessly human in something that is hopelessly not, the absolute humanity in everyone becomes apparent. If a no-smoking sign at a pub can feel longing and loneliness, how can you justify not seeing that humans all around you do as well—even the most incomprehensible of strangers, or the friends whose inner worlds we forget. I think giving objects human characteristics makes it harder to deny that we see those traits in ourselves. You can ignore a fictional character’s greed because, even if he’s imagined, he’s just one person, and that trait is specific to him, just like you ignore real people’s deeds and misdeeds, even if they seem slightly familiar, by saying to yourself that you are not that person. But when a tree feels jealousy, or an electrical socket can feel absolute joy when connecting with something which is its exact opposite, it makes it easier to see in ourselves all that which makes us human.

∞02:02 pm, by somewhereoverthesunnovel ∩6

[author interview] [writing] [interview] [novels] [somewhere over the sun] [adi alsaid] [reading] [writers] [personification]

I'm an obsessive writer and I dream to books published as soon as I'm out of college. If you don't live near Cali, New york etc., then how would you get your book noticed ?

Hi there, dear reader (by the way, as much as I love names, their consonants, vowels, nuances and how different they are from each other even when they’re exactly alike, I love addressing you as my dear reader).

I apologize for how long it took me to respond to your question. I like being accessible to my readers, especially fellow obsessive writers, so please don’t let my lack of timeliness keep you from asking other questions.

Now to actually answer your question. There’s absolutely no need to live near the Publishing Mecca that is New York, or even near any independent publishing house or literary agency anywhere in the country or the world. Everything is achievable electronically. As long as you have easy access to a computer and the internet, you can do all you need to do to get noticed.

You can query agents, promote yourself with a website, Twitter and Facebook profiles, even communicate with self-publishers to get your first project done and build a name for yourself, all from as remote a location as Mexico City.

Having the means to travel is probably helpful. If you’re lucky enough to draw the interest of an agent, you might want to meet face to face to make sure the match is right. And signing contracts, although it can be done electronically, is something that might call for a trip to New York or wherever the literary agency or publishing house is.

Aside from that, our profession is a rootless one. We can live anywhere we like. So continue to dream about publishing books, dear reader. Distance is nothing these days.

∞12:51 am, question from Anonymous, answered by somewhereoverthesunnovel ∩9

[writing] [publishing] [novels] [advice] [writers]

My Turn to Get Interviewed!

I recently interviewed fellow author L.M Stull and now it’s her turn to ask the questions.

∞11:19 am, by somewhereoverthesunnovel ∩2

[author interview] [adi alsaid] [lm stull] [writers]

An Interview with Author L.M. Stull

Hello my dear and wonderful readers. Today, I welcome fellow author L.M. Stull for a quick interview. Her debut novel, Memoirs of a Monkey, will be released in the spring of 2011, so be on the look out for that.

Let’s start with a difficult one. What’s your favorite sentence from your upcoming book, Memoirs of a Monkey? No cop outs, you must choose.

“Glowing in the dark was not something you wanted when trying to surprise your opponents in the middle of the night.”

For us writers, inspiration can come from anywhere, at any time, any place. For some reason, showers always prove to fuel my writing fire. Any place or activity that does the same for you?

I get inspiration when I’m around people; I love observing. Sitting in a park or coffee shop usually gets the words flowing for me.

Who is Memoirs of a Monkey dedicated to?

It is dedicated to everyone who ever wanted to go after their dreams. Writing this novel is me doing just that.

What do you think will play the biggest factor in determining your book’s success?

Marketing, especially as an indie author. You don’t have a big publishing company out there doing it for you.

This is one of my favorite questions to ask anyone at all and it usually yields incredibly interesting results. So, as the first fellow writer that I’m asking, I’m eager to hear how you answer. If you had to choose between being a banana and orange, which would you be? Elaborate as much or as little as you’d like.

A banana…you’ve seen my book cover, right? :) I think bananas are sexy. Oranges are just a mess and too difficult to deal with.

The people we know in real life always work their way into our fiction. Talk about one person who’s made their way into your writing in one way or another.

Actually most of the characters in this book, as well as the whole idea of the book, came from my co-workers. I work for lawyers….need I say more?

What’s your song of the day and why?

Daft Punk’s Adagio for Tron ~ soul moving music.

Favorite English teacher throughout your education?

Virginia Manczuk.

Last question, to make this a quick interview, what question do you really wish I would have asked you?

If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?

You can find L.M. Stull on Twitter, Goodreads and on her personal site, where I will be appearing soon as the tables are turned and she interviews me.

∞01:42 pm, by somewhereoverthesunnovel

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Feedback

In my experiences, there are two kinds of writers: those who write for themselves and hate those who try to read their writing before it’s finished or try to comment on it, and those who write for the exact purpose of showing their words to the world and hearing what it has to say.

I am definitely the latter. I’ve got a book excerpt up in video form and quite a few posts displaying my writing to you all. What are your thoughts, dear reader?

∞03:35 am, by somewhereoverthesunnovel

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