ELIZABETH WRENN
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To email the author please click the CONTACT page header above.
Elizabeth's Five Quick Practical*Tips for Aspiring Writers * practice and tactical! 1) Write what you know; write what you love. Do you have certain conversations or questions that crop up in your life over and over? What talk shows are you especially drawn to? Are you writing about those issues/subjects? Look at the books on your bookshelf: are there several by the same author? Are you writing at all like that? Do you have two or more copies of the same book? Are you writing that kind of book? For whatever reason, many writers try to write the "wrong" kind of book, one that is not in their authentic writing voice. Get to your true voice. Write the book that is yours alone to write. 2) Write every day. Even if it's 15 minutes in the morning before work, or during your child's naptime, or on the bus or train. If you always write on a computer, learn to write longhand, even if just notes or ideas. Count that as writing time. It is! And it can greatly expand your total writing output if you take advantage of these small pockets of time. Keep your mind and hands involved in your story on a daily basis. 3) Get "collegial" support and criticism, i.e. from other serious writers, colleagues. Several years ago I finally articulated in my own mind why having friends or family review your writing just doesn't work: If you get criticism from people with whom your primary relationship is personal, you WILL take what they say personally, whether positive or negative. It is not helpful to you as a writer. Editors will turn tail and run if you so much as mention, “My (husband, kids, friends, coworkers) think my writing is wonderful!” A writing group can be hugely helpful, especially in the initial stages (years, usually) of learning the art of fiction, both how to evalutate it and how to write it and most of all, how to rewrite it. Reputable writer’s conferences and workshops can also provide mountains of technique, ideas and inspiration. Ask around, go online. You can often find free or low-cost workshops through your local library or writer's organizations. 4) READ. Read what you love. Look carefully at your favorite books. Why are they so compelling to you? What does the author do that keeps you reading and recommending her/his books? Take a chapter apart to explore pacing, character development, dialogue, setting, etc. 5) Write down your specific writing goals, both small and large, and post them near where you write. Look at them daily, and do the work to reach them. And, keep the faith! |
BiographyBIOElizabeth Wrenn lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband and dog. A freelance writer for over thirty years, Wrenn published a children's picture book (THE CHRISTMAS CACTUS) before turning to adult-length fiction. Wrenn's first novel, AROUND THE NEXT CORNER, won the Colorado Author's League award for Best Fiction for 2007 and was #3 on the UK's Heatseeker list (as SECOND CHANCE).
For a description and review of Wrenn's second novel, LAST KNOWN ADDRESS, please click on the WORKS page above. Now available in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. US release date TBA If you are interested in books I've recently read and enjoyed, please see my Newsletter page.
On Writing my first novel. . .
The process of writing Around the Next Corner was not only freeing, it was fun. Mostly. The research--raising a guide dog puppy for 15 months--required a monumental commitment of time, energy, emotion and patience. It was the most profoundly rewarding research I've ever done for a writing project. I got the idea for the novel all at once, a lightning bolt strike of the muse. Could a woman who has lost herself to her roles of wife and mother expand herself and learn new lessons about love and adventure from raising and training a puppy? And could that dog guide her out of her own particular darkness? Many of us sacrifice ourselves somewhat to the Great Big Jobs of marriage and motherhood. When the latter’s active end is in sight, the former often gets tugged toward inevitable change, sometimes demise. I wanted to explore what was biologically driven, and where the choice was in all this. And I wanted to look at both the pain and the humor. Enter, the dog. Having a rambunctious Labrador retriever pup occasionally leading the way was a fun and poignant way to take Deena through some of the loss and rebirth of this big life transition. Many people have asked me about the timeline for writing a novel and getting it published. I began writing Around the Next Corner in February 2003, and wrote an outline and three fast chapters. Then I began research on raising a service dog, something I’d thought I might like to do at some point in my life, but had no experience with it when I began my novel, nor did I intend to do it any time soon. I did some research online and soon found a local group affiliated with Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB), based in California. (See link to right.) Over the next several weeks I attended meetings and did in-depth interviews with two women who’d each raised several puppies for GDB. To every meeting I came armed with sometimes pages of questions, solicited anecdotes from the group, and took copious notes. During this time I wrote three more chapters. Then it got hard, for the first time since I'd started the book. I'd had dogs all my life, written about dogs, worked at a Humane Society, but I didn't remember enough of the details of puppyhood. And I was learning that these puppies were rather extraordinary. So it was then that I decided that I would have a much more authentic and rich book if I actually raised a pup myself. On June 30, 2003, I held my shaking arms out and took in little, eight-week-old Lucca, a neutered male yellow Lab. Over the course of the next seven months, I wrote and raised, and raised and wrote. My daughter and husband helped enormously with both. I finished the rough draft of my novel in February 2004, almost exactly a year to the day after starting it. I was a little less than half-way through raising Lucca. I polished it for the next several months, and we spent our last few months with Lucca. In September of 2004, my husband and I drove Lucca to Oregon for the next phase of his training, and life. A painful goodbye, but a unique and wonderful journey, in every sense of that word. Finally, in January 2005, my agent and I discussed which editors and publishers should be our top six choices, and she sent each a copy of my manuscript. In early March, I got The Call, saying that we had an offer from NAL/Penguin. I was thrilled! I felt like my book had landed in the best possible place. The next several months I worked with my editor, polishing and shaping it even more, till on August 14 I received an email from my editor congratulating me on the finished product. The book was published on 06/06/06. So, the entire timeline, from idea to published novel, the journey will be a total of two years and four months. And almost exclusively a great joy and thrill, working with amazing people all along the way. And little Lucca? I’m proud to report that shortly after I had a book contract, he graduated from Guide school, and is now a happy, working guide dog in Georgia. |
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