What Makes Great Authors and Artists Tick: 20 Questions by PopMatters.com

June 30, 2009 at 10:53 am jdimos Leave a comment

Thing is, great authors are people, too! Oftentimes, while immersed in their intoxicating prose and seductive poetry, we forget these people visit the grocery store, wash clothes at the laundry mat, listen to the same music we do, among numerous other things that make a person a living, breathing human being.

Luckily, Popmatters is wise to this fact about writers and artists. To help reveal the person behind the literary (or musical) magic, the editors have devised their “20 Questions” column, where bestselling authors are interviewed and asked only 20 questions about their favorite books, their favorite albums, whether they prefer Star Trek or Star Wars, whether they prefer wearing Armani or Levis, whether their essentials are strict diets of coffee, cigarettes and chocolate, or perhaps vodka and frequent visits to the spa.

Read just a few of the authors profiled, and gain some insight into the similarities between your life and theirs as great writers.

Aleksandar Hemon
[23.Jun.09] : “Hell,” Hemon tells PopMatters 20 Questions, “is being stuck at an airport without a book, starving for thought, forced to watch CNN.” Heaven might be a bathtub full of Turkish coffee … Read more>>

Lynn Freed
[6.Apr.09] : Award-winning writer Lynn Freed’s delicious replies to PopMatters 20 Questions may have you wishing, like us, that she could be your dinner guest. Her new novel, The Servants’ Quarters, was published in April 2009. Read more>>

Laura Miller
[1.Dec.08] : Cofounder of Salon.com, ravenous reader Laura Miller talks with PopMatters 20 Questions about C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) and other influences that led to The Magician’s Book. Read more>>

Visit PopMatter.com, and learn about the muscians, writers and activists who have made a significant impact on our culture. So too, learn how their habits and preference resemble yours. Remember, they put their pants on one leg at a time after all, even if their pants might sell for a small fortune on eBay.

Entry filed under: Behind the Scenes, In the News, Interviews. Tags: 20 Questions, activists, Aleksander Hemon, authors, Laura Miller, Love and Obstacles, Lynn Freed, musicians, PopMatters, PopMatters.com, Salon.com, The Magician's Boo, The Servants' Quarters, writers.

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Weekly Writing Prompt

Imagine a setting or situation in which you would be an outsider. Say it’s your first day learning karate and the rest of your class are black belts. Or perhaps you find yourself smack dab in the middle of an NRA conference and you adamantly oppose firearms. How would you react? How would you feel? Being an outsider can often provide the perfect springboard into your character’s mentalities as well as an objective viewpoint that can be used to describe settings more naturally. (2/4/11)

Weekly Writing Tip

When it comes to writing, seeing isn’t always believing. Next time you find yourself in front of your keyboard about to begin another piece, try closing your eyes and typing. Imagine the setting, characters, thoughts and emotions you’re trying to capture and start writing without opening your eyes. Just the look of a sentence can often disrupt your flow or rhythm, and rereading what you’ve already written will not only slow you down, but upset your train of thought as well. (2/4/11)

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