Writer’s Block

Question:

I was wondering if, during the Alice series, you ever got an extreme case of writer’s block. If so, which part of which book was it in? How did you overcome it? Are you happy with the final result? Thank you so much.

I also wanted to know if you had ever thought about doing other types of writing, such as print journalism or poetry. How did you decide on being a novelist?

I sincerely love every Alice book. Thank you so much for the life lessons you have provided me through the series.

Phyllis replied:

I’ve not ever had writer’s block in the way you describe it. Many times I’ve found a story not going the way I want it, the writing flat, the intensity less than I expected. I’ve never been in a position where I just couldn’t go forward at all. The closest I’ve been to that is in the writing of my last novel for adults, “After.” I liked the first two chapters so much that all my attempts to write the third chapter didn’t seem to measure up. I was disatisified with every draft. I put it away for many months before I attemped it again, and I think I got through it by bringing something into that chapter that I’d originally thought would happen later, and this got the story going again. I’ve written other types of things–my autobiography, nonfiction, a few poems, a writing instruction book –but my first love is fiction because my parents loved reading it aloud to us, and there was always the suspense and surprise of trying to guess what the next chapter would bring.

Posted on: August 22, 2009