Mindy Starns Clark: Your Questions, Answered

This Friday, March 8^th, I’ll be joining a small group of local writers at the Tredyffrin Library in Strafford, PA, to answer questions about writing, publishing, books, and more. Called Ask An Author, the event is not a program or a panel, it’s simply a casual drop-in for aspiring authors and interested readers who’d like information from experienced professionals in the field. Ask An Author runs from 10am to 5pm (I’ll be there from noon to 2pm myself) and no registration is required.

Thinking about this event, I’ve been wondering what sorts of questions folks might be asking, so two days ago I posted this to my Facebook page:

If you could sit down with an author and ask any question about writing or publishing, what would that question be?

I got some great responses—thanks to all who commented!—and decided to address some of those questions here on my blog. Today I’ll focus on a handful that I can answer quickly and easily (the questions themselves have been merged as needed and paraphrased for simplicity). In coming weeks, I’ll address some of the other questions as well, ones that are a bit more complicated and require more lengthy explanations.

Where do you get your ideas?

This is probably the most-frequently-asked question every writer hears, but unfortunately, it’s hard to explain. Book ideas can come from almost anywhere, sparked by almost anything, from a comment we hear to an article we read to a photograph we see and much more.

The best example I’ve found for how this happens is in the movie Finding Neverland, which is about J.M Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. In one scene Barrie is watching some kids jump around on their beds. Then his imagination takes over and suddenly in his mind's eye the kids float up and fly out of the window—just as Peter and Wendy and her brothers eventually do when he writes Peter Pan.

Finding Neverland (4/10) Movie CLIP - Taking Flight (2004) HD

That's sort of how it works: In the midst of a perfectly normal situation, a writer's imagination will suddenly take over. Once that happens, we begin asking ourselves questions (How can children fly? Why are they going out of the window? etc.) and slowly we sort of brainstorm with ourselves, assembling our answers into a bigger picture until a story begins to form.

What motivates or inspires you to write?

Again, hard to explain. Contracts and deadlines are of course all the motivation a published writer needs to keep going, haha. But speaking in more general terms, my best answer is that nothing really motivates or inspires me, it’s more like a need I have that rises up from inside of myself. Much like an athlete who simply has to be active or a compassionate person who simply must help a neighbor in need. There’s a drive to share the stories that are constantly swirling around inside my head, and that, more than anything, compels me to put fingers to keyboard and write.

At what age did you know you wanted to be a writer?

According to my parents, I was reading by two and writing by five or six. Once I was old enough to realize that published books were simply the product of a person’s imagination, manifested on the page and sent out into the world, I decided that that’s what I wanted to do too. So maybe around age seven or eight? I’m not quite sure, but I know it was early on in elementary school, probably during library hour. :)

That dream came and went over the years, but it once again solidified near the end of high school, when I had to make some decisions about college and the future. I ended up majoring in English with a specialization in creative writing, with the goal of becoming a novelist. And though I was successful with various types of writing after graduation—selling plays and musicals, working as a technical writer, etc.—it ended up being another 20 years before my first novel would be accepted for publication!

How long does it take to finish a book?

Ideally, I’d love to do one book about every two years. In reality, the market simply isn’t willing to wait that long. Thus, my average seems to be about nine months per book—just like having a baby! J

Who or what do you read when you get the chance, and how do you make the time?

When I’m working hard on a book, I don’t read at all except for research. It’s just too distracting. In less focused times, however, I enjoy a wide cross-section of genres and authors, as you can see by some of my top pick lists from previous years as well as my Goodreads page.

Because of eye issues, I don’t actually read books with my eyes anymore at all but instead with my ears, so my choices are limited to those that are available in an audio format. Thus, most of the books I read I either checked out from my library’s digital audiobook app or purchased with a credit or as a “Daily Deal” from audible.com. It’s limiting but doable–and more books are coming out on audio all the time. (In fact, you can get my latest audiobook, Whispers of the Bayou, for FREE by using this link to join audible.com!)

Do you switch between several writing projects at a time or focus on one from start to finish?

I’ve tried to work on multiple projects at once, but I just can’t seem to do it. When I’m in the very early stages of plotting and planning and researching, I can juggle several ideas simultaneously. But when the time comes to buckle down and get serious about one of those ideas, I have to put everything else aside and focus on writing that book only.

What is your favorite part of the story to write? Beginning, middle, or end?

Adore the beginning, really enjoy the end, tolerate the middle. J Unfortunately, all three parts are equally important, so I give equal energy to all three. But by far my favorite is at the start, when it’s all still in my head and fluid and my brain is busy playing with the many possibilities of where the story can go. To me, that’s heaven!