Q&A with Ellen Fields

LH: How long have you been writing? What spurred you to begin writing?

EF:I honestly don’t know. For my entire life I’ve made up stories. As soon as I was old enough to talk I narrated them to my parents. Before I could write I would draw them. Before I could type I scribbled them out in notebooks. Somewhere there is a giant closet filled with notebooks full of my alien stories from first grade.

LH: Who is your favorite writer? Favorite book of theirs?

EF: My favorite book is Frankenstein, so I suppose I would have to go with Mary Shelley. I also love Tina Fey, A. S. King, T. S. Eliot, William Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, and of course J. K. Rowling, that woman is a queen.

LH: How do you prepare to write? In other words, what is your process? Do you write every day, or just when the inspiration hits?

EF: During the summer I religiously write 1,000 words every single day. During the school year that is much harder to maintain because I like to sleep. I can’t write without gum or music. Background noise is essential, if it’s too quiet I can’t think.

LH: Do you want to be a writer when you grow up? If so, what genre/age group would you like to write?

EF: I’m a writer now. I finished my first novel when I was 15. I currently have three others in progress. I’ve co-authored three episodes of the elderland chronicles, a freelance fantasy podcast. I’m also one of the actors. I also write terrible poetry and less terrible music. I’ve dabbled in most genres except non fiction. My first novel is a work of post-apocalyptic science fiction. I am currently working on a sequel, as well as a work of realistic fiction and another science fiction novel.

LH: What work(s) or activities do you draw inspiration from?

EF: Like all writers I draw on my own experiences a fair amount, because I am a narcissist. I also get a lot of ideas from my dreams–yes I realize how weird that sounds. Sometimes I’ll get bored and just sort of start wondering “what if?” or “what could?”.  The idea that would eventually become my first book, I came up with in a hardware store when I was thirteen and started wondering “What would happen if you piled all the stuff in this room on top of each other?”.

LH: What’s your favorite part of the writing process? Your least favorite part?

EF: My favorite is probably coming up with the ideas and dreaming up the characters, deciding on their personalities and what they look like and how they feel. I love to think about things that are happening in other people’s heads (probably why most of my books are told in the first person past-tense). My least favorite it a little harder to say. Editing isn’t fun. I also have a bit of a problem with procrastination. It’s sometimes hard to get away from the distractions of the modern world and actually sit down and write a story.

LH: Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers?

EF: Make your characters flawed. As much as we love ripped abs that sparkle in the sunshine, a character is made interesting by the flaws in their personality. People make mistakes and have faults. Characters should as well. Everyone has a light and a dark side. A reader wants to see both, even if they don’t know it.