Filling your writing well -- Q&A with Ann Elia Stewart

Ann Elia Stewart has been a writing workshop facilitator for a decade now in Central Pennsylvania. I am fortunate to have been in most of her workshops. It has made me a better reader and writer, and I recently had a short story of mine published with other writers (who’ve been in Ann’s workshops) in a collection Ann edited, A Community of Writers (available now on Amazon). Ann always has much wisdom to share in regards to writing and writers, so I interviewed her for this blog. Enjoy! Her book, twice a child, will be available in June 2012, from www.sunburypress.com, on Amazon where you can download it on a Kindle!

Q: Your background is in Journalism, how did you get into fiction writing and teaching it?

A: Fiction has always been my “first love,” beginning with Nancy Drew mysteries and short stories in my mom’s Good Housekeeping! I used to grab the magazine before she got it and go straight to the short story that usually took up a spread. When I got into college, I took every English Lit class I could and discovered an innate enjoyment of analyzing the stories not only for their content and meaning but also for technique. 

        Fast forward to a career in journalism and advertising, where I was able to hone my writing skills and make a living at it. But something was always missing for me. When I decided to become a stay-at-home mother in the early 90s, I used the baby’s naptime to self-study. The first novel I had broken into pieces was Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned. It was a complex story and vivid. I wanted to know how she had achieved the “reality” of it. I then got my hands on every writing book I could, studied them, analyzed them, and when I had discovered Rabbit Hill Writing Studio in Lititz, PA, in the mid-90s, I had already had a few pieces under my belt.  Of course, Rabbit Hill was the start of it all – me even thinking I could write fiction, let alone teach it!

        The literary magazine that I had founded in 2001, PHASE, followed after I had earned a fellowship from the PA Council on the Arts – validation! The workshops came about first as a way to look for more writers for the magazine (as well as readers), but as time went on, I found it to be a great way to stay rooted in fiction and meet others of like mind. And it all just kind of rolled along from there.

Q: I recently had a young cousin of mine ask me where she should start with writing.   What would be on your list to answer this person?

A: Well, I’m glad to see that a young person is interested in writing.  My first piece of advice always is: read everything. Reading helps you pick up technique, cadences and rhythms of language, character insight. After that, write about whatever moves you, either placing yourself in the story (first person), or developing a character with whom you can identify to help move the story forward. Find ten minutes a day to write, every day.

Q: What are your favorite how-to books for writers?

A: There are so many out there, but the best one, by far, is “On Writing,” by Stephen King. After that, “Creativity Rules,” by John Vorhaus, a step-by-step approach that breaks down parts of a story, and “The  First Five Pages,” by Noah Lukeman, an agent and editor who writes with a great deal of knowledge as to what pitfalls to avoid when you’re ready to submit a manuscript … or you think you’re ready.

Q: What are some of the major stumbling blocks you’ve seen with your students and their writing during the last decade or more?

A: Point of view has always been a sticky wicket! Because a writer’s mind must juggle so much, it’s easy to slip into another character’s point of view within the same scene or paragraph. That’s always one of the first mistakes I catch. Another is keeping their prose economical – saying what you want to convey in as few words as possible. Again, it’s easy to go on and on and on, but very difficult to condense a thought or scene to its essence. I have witnessed, to my pure delight, huge growth in the writers who continue to attend my workshops. So many have gone on to publish and write novels. It’s astounding what a little encouragement can do.

Q: Ever get Writers’ Block?  What are your fears that sometimes keep you from writing?

A: Writer’s block, someone once said, is simply not having enough information. I have had it, of course, but I realized that all the anxiety and silly rituals we writers sometimes put ourselves through boil down to one thing: We need to fill the well again, whether it’s in the form of more information or getting to know a character better or stepping back to see where the story is taking us so that we can move forward.

        For a long time, I was worried that some of my characters may resemble people in my life – for that’s where fiction emanates, real life – and that I may offend them. When you write fiction, you must be brave to get the story down, even if your story or characters may be composites of what’s happening around you. The other fear is that I would spend all this time, energy and emotion in creating a story or novel and no one would read it.  I got over that one – a writer has to write and if I can attract readers to my work, that’s the icing on the cake!

The Waiting Game for Inspiration

I'm back. I've been fighting a really bad sinus infection that seems to be hanging on. Anyway if I would wait to write until I was 100% better, it could be another few weeks and missed opportunity.  That brings me to this week's blog.  Many creative people often comment that they haven't been drawing, painting, or writing because they are waiting for inspiration to come knocking.  I picture them standing at the BUS STOP FOR INSPIRATION, waiting and waiting, wondering if it will ever pick them up and transport them to their desired creative destination, so they'd be able to create!

I used to wait to write. I'd wait until I was sure my writing would be perfect. I'd wait until my "critical editor" would shut up. I'd wait for confidence. I'd wait until I had more time. I'd wait and wait until there wasn't any writing getting done. Inspiration came once I started to write.  Once I took action.

It doesn't take a lot to find inspiration, you just have to stop waiting for it to come to you.  Look around and notice the details of your daily life.  You will soon be in wonder how you missed the  many things that can get your creative juices going and flowing.


For me it's been writing even when I'm unsure about what to write, even when you don't feel a surge of electricity. The Internet, the library, music, photographs, a conversation, newspapers, traveling, magazines, history, etc., all can inspire. Sometimes just thinking about the different events of you life or what interested you as a young child. 

It can be a matter of your perspective and looking at something differently for a change, like inspiration. Change things up and you will be more than pleasantly surprised!!!  I know when I took on a proactive approach, I no longer had to wait for inspiration. So what inspires you into action?

How do your characters reveal their secrets?

It's been such a long time and it seems I've lost the last three months to a big editing project at my job and the holiday frenzy.  The good news is that I have been writing and actually had a short story of mine accepted into a local library's Anthology.  A great accomplishment to begin 2012. 


There's a story about this particular short story.  It had gone through numerous revisions until the "story" became crystal clear.  Or until I discovered how my characters would reveal their secrets. 

First you have to unearth what secrets your characters are keeping. All characters have secrets.  Then once you know what those secrets are, how will they be uncovered or not? I felt like I was digging and digging with this story, each time deeper and deeper to tap into the secret that was at the heart of my story. A secret I didn't get to until more than 8 revisions.  

My one character happened to stumble upon the secret and wanted to explain it to the other character whom it impacted.  But she, like many, wanted to stay in denial and then a crisis had to occur before she had to face the secret.  


The creative process can be so magical. Each time I write, it is a different experience.  What I plan to write soon goes somewhere unexpectedly.  The characters take the stage and before I realize it, they are doing everything they can not to tell me their secrets.


I have to persevere and listen closely so they come forth with their remorse, truth, and hidden agendas.  So how do your characters reveal their secrets?  

The Writing Well

My writing workshop at the library ended last Monday, and although I didn't want to see it end, I wanted to excavate more of what started when in class.  


What has really resonated with me over the last six weeks is how our stories, our writing, needs to be cajoled, nurtured, found  and brought to the light of the page. It's as though we must drop our writer's bucket far enough and often enough into our creative well in order to bring about what is nudging for expression.

What comes out of the well isn't always fresh, clear water.  Heck, may times the writing bucket is dry.  This means take what you find and sift through it, returning the next time and lower the bucket again.

It may not seem like you're getting anywhere, but soon your bucket will overflow.  Many times as I settle to sleep, I play out scenes in my mind and meditate on how my characters might react to a certain situation. It's lowering the bucket and discovering what's lurking, waiting, hoping to take form.

So keep dipping into your creative well even when you don't feel like it or only a few drops come back.  


How do you keep persevering?  I do by writing even when some days I don't know why or feel like it.  Happy Halloween ... 

Where for Art Thou Writing Confidence?

For the last five weeks, I’ve been a participant in a writer’s workshop at a local library.  I’ve taken these workshops before on different aspects of writing with the same instructor.  These workshops always give me plenty to explore, and I get to meet other writers and hear what they’re working on and what their writing lives are like.   

These last two workshops, I’ve been struck by what some of my fellow writers say before reading homework or exercises we do in class.  Mind you, I have been apt to do this myself.  Some pass on sharing their work or say things like, “This is awful,” “I don’t think I did this correctly,” or “This isn’t very good.”

It’s almost as though they feel the need to apologize in a way or prepare others for their writing before sharing it.  I have held back several times, wishing to encourage them not to feel this way or not to keep comparing themselves to others in the class or to the instructor.  That they are writers and have it in them, to trust their writer-ly instincts.

Oops, look who’s talking now!  Me, who only this week did the very same thing by panicking that I’m not as far as I’d like to be or as far as those in my inner circle of writers.  I then realized I’ve been comparing myself a lot lately to other writers, not feeling ‘good enough’ or ‘fast enough.”

I brought this up to some writers in an online group and one piece of advice that hit home most clearly was that maybe I’m using this as an excuse not to write.  “Who me?”  “Yes, You.”  So I realized I must trust my own writer-ly instincts and discover ways to aid myself in feeling more confident and productive in my writing.  Not just panic and  accept that “I’m not as successful.”

When we say things like, “Well, this is a lost cause” before reading part of our writing, we’re really tapping into our belief that we aren’t good enough in comparison to the other writers. At least this is how it can be for me. 

I’ve made a plan to help with my confidence as a writer, take action.  I’m going to do the NaNoWriMo National Novel Writing Month)next month to delve myself into my novel-in-progress (almost 10 chapters) and get out of this mindset.  In other words, dismissing the gray clouds over my writing as an excuse not to write!  Tell me how you overcame your struggles with confidence as a writer. 

Time to write …

Fleshing out your characters

This is what I've been really delving into the last six months.  I've found the more I dive into my main character and the other prominent ones, the more the story moves forward.  I start to say, "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about."

My protagonist's father was just a rough sketch until I did an exercise or two to get to know him.  He plays an important part in who and what my main character does in the novel.  It breathed more vibrance into my story.

What I did was wrote a scene that would bring out the conflict between the father and the daughter.  It gave me insights into the father, and I used it as a jumping off point to who this controlling man was and what secrets he'd be hiding from all his loved ones.

Characters are fertile soil for keeping secrets.  We wouldn't have anything to write about if it weren't for truths kept locked up, hidden, ready to sprout when given daylight.  It makes a strong character based on how he or she reacts to the hidden truth.

So many layers and colors to characterization.  How do you flesh out your characters?  It could mean reaction to another character, a reaction to an obstacle, problem-solving skills, and some in the details of how they live.

Have a great writing week.

May Your Writing Be Filled With Sunflowers

It is now a year since I started this blog and felt it time to shape it up, chip away as the sculptors do with their lump of clay, to fine-tune their artwork.

I found out this week about the different varieties of sunflowers and was amazed at the one pictured in this bouquet, from a local farmer in Pennsylvania.  This is a double-sunflower and I went ga-ga over it. Never saw one before!

I have a rubber stamp with the saying, "May Your Day Be Filled With Sunflowers" and every time I stamp it on a card it brings all kinds of good feelings, as the sunflowers themselves do.  So I thought it would apply to writing as well.

How? The sunflower reminds people of a bright wonderful sun, cheery and bringing warmth and inspiration.  So wishing this, is wishing writers allow their stories/novels/poetry to take hold and connect with the situations, feelings, and lives from our heart! Making each writing venture a double-sunflower ...

How to accomplish this?  We are so much editors anymore as we write, it is hard to let go when writing.  I keep telling myself, it doesn't matter, just get it going, full-steam ahead.  I believe we have to trick ourselves by having a mindset, as we try to get the words flowing, of "I'm only playing around with words and characters and plot." Or "Brainstorming," where no one else will ever read this at this stage.

Place items/photos in your writing space that make you feel like you are the middle of a sunflower field.  Whatever may make you cut loose those strings of the past--negative English teachers, rejection slips, etc. 

So may your day be filled with sunflowers and wonderful writing-time!  Let me know what helps you to 'just write.'