Literary Birthday – 30 July – Ann Brashares

Happy Birthday, Ann Brashares, born 30 July 1967.

Quotes

When I turned fifteen, I remember my father gave me a credit card which I was allowed to use for two things: emergencies and books.
I have spent so many hours with my characters, imagining them and writing about them. And then a reader spends time in that imagined space, and in a way it is as though we’ve spent time together. It creates a certain feeling of intimacy—with someone I’ve met only 30 seconds before. Readers sometimes tell me things that are quite personal, which I see as a natural outcome of this odd little relationship we suddenly have. I find it very interesting—and illuminating.
Gestating characters feels something like the mental equivalent of gestating a baby. In both cases, to create them you lose yourself. Or at least you reshape yourself to encompass them.
To write a story, I think you really have to open yourself up to the world.
I tend to put off starting for as long as possible. I’m an adrenaline-motivated person. I think and imagine and plan and have it all rattling around in my head for a while before I actually sit down to write. Sitting down is very hard. I write at night, but I try to work for a few hours during the day. My most profitable writing time is between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.
I typically do start with an outline.
There are going to be moments of deep, deep doubts, and you have to have faith that your initial idea was good and just muddle through. I think it’s particularly hard when you start to think it’s not worth finishing.
Being happy isn’t having everything in your life be perfect. Maybe it’s about stringing together all the little things.
The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem.

Ann Brashares is an American author. She is best known for writing the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series of books. Follow @AnnBrashares on Twitter.

Source for Image: AnnBrashares.com

by Amanda Patterson