Make-Believe Monday with Emily Erdlin

Today on Make-Believe Mondays our guest is Emma Sinclair.

Emma, first, tell us a little bit about the manuscript you’re working on now.

Emma: A few months ago I was driving to my local RWA Chapter meeting and a hero popped into my head. His name was Harold Satanski, and he informed me he was the devil and wanted a story.

His story seems to be evolving quite a bit, and wouldn't ya know it, he has a bunch of manly hero material brothers. I have a feeling they could keep me busy for quite a while. But it promises to be quite a ride!

Ray Bradbury said, “We are cups, constantly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” How do you keep your creative cup filled?

Emma: Honestly, I don't think I'm in danger of my creative well ever running dry. There's just too much stuff rattling around in that brain of mine. Especially, with reading, people watching, that just adds to the well and it's stuff that I can't not do.

The bigger problem for me is (to keep going with the well analogy) the crank that moves the bucket and brings the water to the surface. The well is always full, but it's not always easy to get the words on paper. Especially, as Bradbury said, letting only the beautiful stuff out. There's usually a lot of extra crap to go along with the beauty!

Some very famous authors have played with language, creating words for people or places that no one has ever heard of. Have you ever played with words in that way and if so how?

Emma: I make up words all the time, lol!!! Of course, it's usually because the word that I actually want is just right there on the tip of my brain, but I can't come up with it. And I like to take words and make them into different parts of speech (NaNoliscious is one I used frequently during November.)

So I don't necessarily do it to be creative, or because I'm playing with language. I do it because I'm forgetful, lol!

As a child did any particular book or author pull you into their imaginary world?

Emma: I think as authors we get asked this question a lot, and EVERY time I'm asked about a book from my childhood, one book instantly pops into my head. It was a book called Hester in the Wild by Sandra Boynton (she draws cards and books and lots of other stuff today still). The thing was, I HATED this book, and it totally traumatized me.

Hester was a boy going on a camping trip. First, he got a hole in his canoe, so he cut a hole in his tent to patch it. But then that night, it started to rain and water came in the hole. So he flipped the tent over, but the gophers came and took over his tent. He somehow tricked the gophers into leaving, but then they got their friend the bear to come and avenge them and the bear kicked another hole in Hester's canoe.

Hello?

That was a kids book?

Maybe that's waht inspired my extreme need for Happily Ever After?

If there were no categories for books, no reader expectations to meet, and you could create the wildest work of imagination that you could think of what kind of story would that be?

Emma: Honestly, I'm not sure I'd write anything differently than I am now.

When I write, I'm not out to make a statement, or change the world, that's fine and dandy if people want to do that, but really, all I want to do is tell a good story.

I don't really care if readers remember the nitty gritty details of my book, heck, I don't even really care if they remember the hero and the heroines names. But I want readers, when they hear my name, or the name of one of my books, to smile and say, "hey, I read that, and it was an enjoyable few hours of my life."

That may change in the future, it probably will as things in my life change, I'm sure. But right now, I'm not trying to help anyone or touch anyone or make anyone think. I'm just trying to entertain.

Visit Emma at http://www.emmasinclair.com
and http://www.emmasinclair.com/blog

Emman, thank you for joining us here on this Make-believe Monday to share a little bit of the magic of writing with our readers.