| Questions and Answers with Cate Tiernan |
| I emailed Cate awhile back before I opened up my site and asked her some questions and this is what she had to say: Hi, Dianna. Sorry to take so long to answer your e-mail. My life gets kind of crazy sometimes. Here are some answers to your questions below--I set them off with asterixes. > 1. What inspired you to become a writer? *I felt a strong need to express myself and my feelings, and writing is the medium that felt most natural and most fluid. (Rather than dance or music, say.) I felt I had things to say to non-grown-ups, and I wanted to get themout.* > 2. There are to be 12 books in the sweep series, would> you take it past that? *Right now, 14 books are planned, and it looks as if it might go past that. It's really not my decision--the publisher decides it, based on sales. It would be fun for it to go on--I still have lots of ideas for Morgan.* > 3. Are you going to do another series after sweep? *Probably. Or maybe a single title or a trilogy. Any ideas about what I should write?* > 4. Do you see Sweep becoming a movie or tv series? *I think Sweep would make a fun movie, or a short TV series. If the TV series went on for a long time, I could see where we would lose the characters and come up with bigger and sillier plots. But it's not up to me to have it made into a movie or TV series--the publisher shares the rights to those, and they're the ones who shop it around and try to make deals.* > 5. J.K. Rowlings had a lot of input on Harry Potter as a > movie and it's done well. Do you think sweep would? *I'm really glad J.K.Rowling had so much input on the Harry Potter movie. I'm sure her involvement made it better and kept it truer to the book. I think that I would probably have virtually no input on the Sweep movie or series, because I'm simply not nearly as big a name or as powerful as J.K. Rowling. She has a gresat deal of power because the HP books have sold so we ll and made millions for the publisher. I'm a good mid-list author, but I'm on a completely different level, and so is Sweep. I really can't predict whether it would do well. I hope so!* > 6. If you could say anything to someone who is > inspired to become a writer what advice would you give> them? *I believe that all writing is about human emotion, whether the setting is futuristic, fantasy, modern, historical, etc. It's always about how people feel about things, and the kinds of emotional connections they make to themselves, to other people, and to the world in general. I think that humans in general are always striving to put themselves into a context, into a structure or situation that feels good to them, that makes them feel safe. (A certain job, a marriage, a family, a church or temple.) Remembering that, keeping it foremost in your mind as you write, will give your writing a truth and a resonance for other people. That's the emotional part of writing. There's also the mechanical part, which a lot of people find boring. (I don't.) I'm talking about using the language facilely, correctly, imaginitively, originally. Don't abandon grammar and structure, and the old noun/verb duo. There are infinite worlds contained within that structure. I myself feel that achievement within structure is greater than achievement without structure. For example, a wonderful sonnet that rhymes and forces language to work for it, to express its emotion, seems a much greater achievement to me than is free verse. Free verse might express emotion, and it might use the language creatively and even strongly, but because it has no structure, to me that means that almost anyone can do it. Not everyone can write a great sonnet, and that makes it more valuable. In my opinion. In summary: 1) Write about real emotion, and put yourself there. 2) Learn the mechanics of writing, even if you plan not to use them later. 3) Express yourself, be true to what you know, what you feel, what you want to say. Don't say something because you think it will be cool or be successful or be what other people want.* Okay--those are probably much longer than you wanted--this is why my editors always have to cut my books back. Sorry.Have a Happy New Year!Cate |
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