Member Spotlight: Alexandra Fleder

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Writing for me is mandatory. I feel like I’ll implode if I don’t do it. It’s the way I best express myself and I love playing with the sounds of words and using them to paint vivid pictures. I also find that writing is a way to understand life. You can write or read a book and come to some deeper understanding about your own life. For example, in my latest novel, I was working through a decision whether to stay or leave a relationship, and by writing the book, when I got to the end, the decision became as clear as cellophane.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? I’ve never really experienced writer’s block. There are often times when I have no idea what I want to write, but when I sit down I can almost type anything, any word or sentence, and the words just flow out of me. I think the key is to trust the intelligence of the story.

What is your favorite time to write? I’m most productive and inspired in the morning after having some tea when it’s quiet and I’m full of energy. It seems like my brain is most creative then as well. Around dawn is best. When the world is calm and peaceful, I can access my intuition better and that’s how I write–from intuition.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Don’t worry about what you’re writing when you’re writing it. Just get the words on paper (or screen). You can always go back and edit or rework something, but a lot of people get stuck by trying to control the story or expecting it to look a certain way. The story is like a life-form and the writer is a conduit. It can be shaped by the writer, but the story lives in the ether. My favorite writer, Kate Braverman, had this advice: “Sit down and have no idea what you’re going to do. Use what you’re thinking, smelling, hearing to get away from the constant assault of the visual. Any place where you have a period, put in a comma and go on for ten more pages. You’ll find you are writing what you don’t yet know. You discover by walking the plank into the bay of sharks.”

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? There are so many different genres today that no matter what kind of story you want to write, there’s a place for it. I tend to write novels that are a bit edgy and offbeat and I’m happy to know there are plenty of people looking to read such stories.

Alexandra Fleder’s Joan of the Arcane is out now with She Writes Press.