Stéphanie Abou - Interview #254 (7/29/13)

Literary Agent Stéphanie Abou, of Foundry Literary + Media.

Today's Write The Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Stéphanie Abou. It's really threefold. First, Stéphanie says that sometimes, when you're stuck, it's best to gnaw at it for a while. Second, she recommends trying Proust's famous pastiche: when you get sick of your writing and you feel stuck, read a classic work and then write a paragraph or a page "in the voice of" that author, imitating that other voice. There's no pressure, because it's just to get you unstuck; you're not trying to access your own voice as much as do an exercise to get the world spinning again, get out of your own head. And then third, go back to writing pages about your character that aren't pretty or voice driven. Even just a bulleted list: she's 5'6" - brunette - she has brown eyes - she had a messed-up childhood. Going back like this will help you know your character better. What's her favorite color? Her favorite music? If you don't know your character well enough, the reader will pick up on it. So do this exercise, not necessarily to use in the work, but to better familiarize yourself with the person you're writing about.
Good luck with this exercise and please listen next week for another.

Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several South Burlington High School students.