Ask the Author
Questions asked on Goodreads.
A lot of my inspiration comes from watching films and reading other books. Also, going to museums often sparks my imagination, and seeing pieces of art and artifacts has inspired several parts of my books. Sometimes I’ll get an idea from a location that I visit, see pictures of, or hear about. Inspiration comes from all sorts of places.
You’re never too young to start writing. I wrote my first full-length, 50,000-word novel when I was 7. The sooner you start, the better, and the more of a head start you’ll have in the craft. The act of simply writing is by far the best way to get good at the craft, and the more experience you have doing it, the better. And don’t give up, even if your work isn’t that fantastic at the beginning.
I’d give two main recommendations for building stakes. First, make it personal. Something internal should be on the line for your characters (like their moral values or relationships), not just something external (like survival). The more levels of stakes—physical, emotional, philosophical—the more overwhelming they’ll be in aggregate.
Second, use escalation. Static stakes tend to be boring; if the stakes evolve and grow over the course of the story, expanding in intensity and scope, that helps create the page-turning momentum you’re aiming for.
