Member Spotlight: Rebecca Hodge

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Fiction writing is the creative outlet that lets me design a world I can control, filled with characters who can grow as they face new challenges. I enjoy the process of creating a novel and get twitchy on days when I can’t tinker with my work-in-progress. Fiction is important to the world because it allows the reader to experience people, places, and challenges that they may not encounter in real life. At its best, it fosters empathy and new understanding, and it can encourage people to keep fighting. Nothing is more magical for the reader than stepping into an unexpected world and learning to embrace it.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? My tricks for getting unstuck include: taking a long walk, switching from computer typing to handwriting or vice versa, switching from silence to music or vice versa, switching from home to a coffee shop, changing projects, moving to a different aspect within the project, stepping out of the manuscript and instead writing a letter to my troublesome character, or drafting a diary entry for her, or making a lengthy list of (increasingly bizarre) plot alternatives that could let me move forward. Although I do get stuck occasionally, it’s usually ‘stuck at this spot,’ not a total ‘stuck at all spots.’

What is your favorite time to write? First thing in the morning! But when life intervenes, I write any time, anywhere.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Persistence is one of the key things that separate the successful writer from the disappointed one. That doesn’t mean that craft, creativity, marketing savvy, etc. aren’t critical, but forging ahead through all the challenges that publishing throws our way is essential.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? The range of options. We’re no longer confined only to an “agent plus big 5 publisher” pathway but can select multiple alternatives.

Rebecca Hodge’s Island Endgame is out now with Kalen Books.