Ask the Author: Gloria Zachgo
Answered Questions (10)
Gloria Zachgo
Thanks for asking, Chris.
Several people have asked me to write the sequel for Never Waste Tears. So, I'm happy to say I'm working on it.
As far as when it will be published--I'd love to tell you it will be soon--but I've only started, and unfortunately, I'm like the chef that keeps sampling to see if he has the right ingredients.
I know where I want to go, but my characters don't always follow my direction. They often veer off my chosen path and take me on a journey I don't expect. It's why I have a passion for writing. It's also why I'm painfully slow at the task.
Several people have asked me to write the sequel for Never Waste Tears. So, I'm happy to say I'm working on it.
As far as when it will be published--I'd love to tell you it will be soon--but I've only started, and unfortunately, I'm like the chef that keeps sampling to see if he has the right ingredients.
I know where I want to go, but my characters don't always follow my direction. They often veer off my chosen path and take me on a journey I don't expect. It's why I have a passion for writing. It's also why I'm painfully slow at the task.
Gloria Zachgo
I would want to go back in time to the 1800s to glean more information of that era. When I was a child, I lived in the area that I wrote about in Never Waste Tears. I re-visited that area when I wrote the book. But if I could travel back in time I know I would see a different landscape - without the trees and buildings that are there today. Even the creek where Carl, Hannah, Nathan, Becca, and Sarah lived was straightened by my own grandfather.
Gloria Zachgo
Currently I only have two on my list - THE TRUE JESUS by David Limbaugh and NEVER WASTE TEARS by yours truly - Gloria Zachgo.
Why am I planning to read my own book that I've already read dozens of times?
Because I'm thinking of going back to the prairie and possibly seeing what Carl, Hannah, Nathan, and Sarah are going to be doing the next couple of years.
Why am I planning to read my own book that I've already read dozens of times?
Because I'm thinking of going back to the prairie and possibly seeing what Carl, Hannah, Nathan, and Sarah are going to be doing the next couple of years.
Gloria Zachgo
Wow, that’s an interesting question. There are always a lot of interesting little mysteries in everyday life. I usually use my curiosity about others to write a story.
Shortly after I was married, my husband and I moved into an old, two-story house that had been converted into apartments. There were many times when we would come home after dark and see lights on in the basement of the house. There were no apartments in the basement, and as far as we knew no one who lived in the apartments had any reason to go to the basement.
Now to the mystery writing plot�
The house was old. There had been a fire before it was remodeled into apartments. Someone had perished in the fire. Were we sharing the house with a spirit who didn’t like the dark? Had a homeless person crawled through a basement window seeking shelter? Or had an escaped convict found a safe place to hide?
The true answer was probably something simple and ordinary, but for someone who likes to write fiction, that little mystery could easily stoke a writer’s imagination for the plot of a book.
Shortly after I was married, my husband and I moved into an old, two-story house that had been converted into apartments. There were many times when we would come home after dark and see lights on in the basement of the house. There were no apartments in the basement, and as far as we knew no one who lived in the apartments had any reason to go to the basement.
Now to the mystery writing plot�
The house was old. There had been a fire before it was remodeled into apartments. Someone had perished in the fire. Were we sharing the house with a spirit who didn’t like the dark? Had a homeless person crawled through a basement window seeking shelter? Or had an escaped convict found a safe place to hide?
The true answer was probably something simple and ordinary, but for someone who likes to write fiction, that little mystery could easily stoke a writer’s imagination for the plot of a book.
Gloria Zachgo
My characters inspire me. Their personalities are bits and pieces of people I have known in real life and they become real to me. I care what happens to them, and I want my readers to care too. I see them in my mind as though I’m watching a movie, and many times I don’t know what’s going to happen to them until I start writing.
Gloria Zachgo
I’ve just finished the first draft of my next novel and hope to have it published within the next six months. Once again I’m inspired by the characters. Although they are all affected deeply by the Civil War, the story is of their lives following that war. Their dreams are laden with the hardships and struggles of a new life in the 1860s.
My first attempt at the manuscript was writing in third person. But my characters didn’t become real to me until I let each of them tell their stories in his or her own voice.
My first attempt at the manuscript was writing in third person. But my characters didn’t become real to me until I let each of them tell their stories in his or her own voice.
Gloria Zachgo
Be true to who you are, and write what you know
Gloria Zachgo
When I found fiction, I found my true passion. For me, it’s giving my characters life.
I take little pieces of people’s personalities and mix them with physical traits. I add dilemma and stir in emotion. I let that settle for a while and mix in trouble, seasoned with a dash of idiosyncrasies. Sometimes I struggle and get frustrated, but that’s half of the fun. When the story finally comes together the rewards are immense.
I take little pieces of people’s personalities and mix them with physical traits. I add dilemma and stir in emotion. I let that settle for a while and mix in trouble, seasoned with a dash of idiosyncrasies. Sometimes I struggle and get frustrated, but that’s half of the fun. When the story finally comes together the rewards are immense.
Gloria Zachgo
I developed The Rocking Horse from a short story I wrote in my writing group. The story was originally inspired by a prompt someone brought to the class � a little toy rocking horse and a gingerbread man. But it wasn’t until I took a writing workshop that I challenged myself to turn the story into a book. With the exception of the toy rocking horse and the aroma of gingerbread cookies, the original story was nothing like the novel.
The novel I’m currently working on started as a short story too. Its inspiration came from a small cemetery in a pasture. Though it was isolated on a country dirt road, it was certainly not forgotten and someone had taken great pains to keep it well groomed. I started wondering what those people’s lives had been like.
The novel I’m currently working on started as a short story too. Its inspiration came from a small cemetery in a pasture. Though it was isolated on a country dirt road, it was certainly not forgotten and someone had taken great pains to keep it well groomed. I started wondering what those people’s lives had been like.
Gloria Zachgo
It depends on how severe the affliction is. I’ve tried forcing myself to write anything that comes to mind, even if it’s garbage. Sometimes it will loosen up the thoughts, but it usually doesn’t work for me. Fortunately, I have no editor’s deadline to meet. So when I get terribly frustrated because the words won’t flow, I can walk away for a while. This leads to ideas popping into my mind in the most inconvenient places. Some chapters in my next book are written from numerous notes that are barely legible.
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