Hold your nose and write. When you start to write, your work will be terrible. Everyone’s is. And you’ll know it because you’re a reader. Keep at it. Save everything. Trust me: today’s crap is tomorrow’s compost.
Hallie Ephron knows a thing or two about the value of perseverance. Despite growing up surrounded by writers she didn’t start trying to write until she was forty and it was a further ten years until her first book was published. She talks about novel outlines, using off-key moments to build tension and how in-person events round out her writing life.
What made you want to be an author/writer?
It was more like finally giving in to something I’d been resisting for decades. My parents were writers. All three of my sisters were writers. I was the one who said, “I’m a teacher, not a writer.” I didn’t start trying to write until I was 40. Despite my stellar genes, it was a steep learning curve: ten years before I saw my first book published. My last one was my sixteenth
Do you have a writing routine?
I like to write the first draft in the morning. Afternoons are for revision and the many career-supporting projects (like this Q&A!) that go into promoting the books. Blogging and social media are SO MUCH EASIER than writing books.
How do you outline your work and begin writing?
I try to put together a scene-by-scene outline of the first act and sketch out what the subsequent major turning points and ending will be. That outline is like having training wheels – I use it to get started. But very quickly I veer off the outline. (My first ideas aren’t always my best.) As I go, I revise the outline to reflect that I wrote.
What do you think is the key ingredient for writing a page-turning suspense story?
I like to create off-key moments in the book where something isn’t quite right. Like a character returns to what expects will be his empty home and realizes the water running. Or he returns to his apartment and the dog doesn’t greet him at the door. Make the reader wonder, “What’s going on here?” and you’ll have them turning the pages to find the answer. Surprise them with an answer that raises still more questions and you shift suspense to an even higher gear.
What do you think makes a character ‘come to life’?
Oh, I do wish I had a formula. It’s like pornography, you know it when you see it. For me, it’s about putting an ordinary person in an extraordinary situation
Do you have any tips for a productive writing day?
Set a reachable goal. For me, it’s 500 new words a day--that’s about page and a half. Eminently doable. After six months, I’ll have a first draft.
Is there any incident that has happened along your writing journey that you’d like to share?
When I was forty, I got a call from a freelance writer who wanted to write a piece about me. At the time I’d earned a doctorate in educational measurement was working as a training consultant in high-tech. When I asked her why on earth she wanted to write about me, she said, “because you’re the only one in your family who doesn’t write.” She was referring to my three writing sisters and screenwriter parents. I told her that if anyone was going to write about me not writing it was going to be me. And I did. My first efforts were essays on precisely that topic.
You teach numerous workshops every year as well attending many events. How important do you think it is that authors attend in-person events?
I think it’s all about who you are. I’m a people person. I have a blast teaching and speaking. I love going to places and meeting readers and working with aspiring writers. On the other hand, I find writing the first draft a brutal slog. Each time out, I wonder what on earth made me think I could do this. In-person events provide the leavening I need to make a fully satisfying writing life.
Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
Hold your nose and write. When you start to write, your work will be terrible. Everyone’s is. And you’ll know it because you’re a reader. Keep at it. Save everything. Trust me: today’s crap is tomorrow’s compost.
What methods of book marketing do you find the most effective?
Flail. Do everything you can. Facebook, Instagram, blog, newsletters; speak to book groups, bookstores, libraries. Do it all because no one knows what works.
What struggles did you face in the writing and publishing process?
I’d say my number one struggle was believing that I had to something to say. I wrote my first five mystery novels with a co-author, and they were loosely about a character like him. It was only after that that I had the courage to write my own stories, domestic suspense before there was a name for the genre.
What is the best writing advice you have received?
Listen. When a beta reader (or your agent or editor) tells you what’s wrong with your manuscript, don’t argue. Write it down and think about it. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they’re right. Try to understand what’s not working, but ignore the suggestions they may have offered for how to fix the problem. It’s your book. Your characters. Your vision. Come up with your own fix.
You can find out more about Hallie Ephron via her website and social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Goodreads. Hallie also blogs daily on Jungle Red Writers.
