1. What was the inspiration behind "Smashed"?
How did you first come about the story?
When I was seventeen, I was in a terrifying car accident. My
best friend and I were asked by a teacher to go on a school errand. We were in
my friend’s car and he was driving. It
was a cold, wet, November day, and a slushy snow was building up on windy back
road in Maine .
My friend was a careful driver; we were only going 30 miles an hour—I remember
looking at the speedometer. But as we
were going around a corner, the slush took hold of the wheels of the car and
pulled us into the other lane, just as a car was coming toward us. My friend tried to gain control of the car,
to get us back on our side of the road, and we started to turn in the right
direction. The last thing I remember was thinking we were going to miss that
car by an inch…When I came to, there was blood splattered down the front of my
sweater…
We were both fine, but that moment wouldn’t leave me for
many years. Writing about a difficult time can be cathartic, but I didn’t want
to write about that accident And that particular incident didn’t have the
characteristics of a compelling story—it was simply bad luck, bad timing, bad
weather.
So I began to do what-ifs…What if an accident was someone’s fault? What if the driver was drunk? And what if the passenger, who was hurt, was
not a friend, but someone the driver didn’t even like? Someone she was trying
to get away from? As I asked these questions, a situation
emerged that interested me, and that’s what I need—a situation that is complex
enough to keep me interested as a writer.
Then I ask myself, who would find
themselves in this particular situation?
For me, characters emerge from conflict.
2. Did you always wanted to be a writer while growing up?
Not until I was in high school. I’d started writing a few things
down when I was eight, in a little diary, but I didn’t keep it up. I began writing in notebooks again when I was
eleven and continued doing that, but it was an emotional outlet for me; I never
thought about being a writer. In school,
I don’t remember ever being assigned to write anything—nothing—until I was in
high school. When I was assigned to
write my first personal narrative in tenth grade by my English teacher, Barbara
Tindall, I discovered I loved telling stories.
I got a great deal of positive feedback from her and from other teachers
and that sealed the deal: I’d found something that I loved to do that I was
good at. That’s when I knew.
3. What advice could
you give to aspiring writers?
Write every day. Make it a habit. You will absolutely improve through practice.
By the time I’d written an entire draft of my first book, I was a new
writer. I’d improved dramatically. Second, writing and publishing is all about
perseverance. You can’t give up. You need to be able to respond to criticism
and weather rejection. Every writer goes
through it. Keep doing what you love and
write about things you are passionate about! That passion will shine through in
your writing.
For more info on Lisa and "Smashed" visit her at http://http://lisaluedeke.com/
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