Q&A
UPFRONT 209
Q&A TREICK DEBOARD withPAULA
BY COPPER WILLIAMS
acter does something I didn’t see coming, or when a new possibility opens up and the plot shifts in another direction. Those are the best, those happy writing accidents.
HOW DO YOU HANDLE WRITER’S BLOCK?
Ready your pens, typewriters, and keyboards, San Joaquin! National Novel Writers Month is upon us! In honor of this occasion,
we tracked down a local author celebrity, Paula Treick DeBoard, the mind behind The Mourning Hours, The Fragile World, and her latest book, The Drowning Girls. While working on her fourth novel, she took a few minutes to share a little bit about herself.
WHEN DID YOU DISCOVER WRITING?
I’ve been writing stories for as long as I can remember. My first “novel” was written when I was nine years old, in the back of my parents’ station wagon when my family moved from Ohio to central California. It was exactly as good as you might expect a novel written by a nine-year-old to be.
WHAT PART OF THE PLOT DO YOU ENJOY WRITING MOST?
I love the moment when the unexpected happens—when a char46
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I am a great believer in pushing through. Sometimes I try to write a scene from a different character’s perspective, just to see the story from a different angle. Working with a deadline in mind is a constant reminder that I have to keep going, and I can’t allow myself to get stuck for too long.
WHERE DO YOU DRAW YOUR INSPIRATION?
I tend to write what I call “could be real” fiction, and my writing typically focuses on individuals or families at times of high tension. Every now and then I’ll encounter something—an article in a newspaper or a scrap of conversation (I admit to eavesdropping freely in public places), and my mind will snag on that idea and keep turning it around until it becomes a story I want to tell. Real life can be fascinating as well as mundane.
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR THOSE TRYING TO WRITE THEIR FIRST NOVEL?
I wish I could say that writing a novel is not that difficult, or not particularly time-consuming, or that all the people in your life will understand and respect what you are trying to do—but that most likely won’t be true. The good news is, if you work relent-
SAN JOAQUIN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2016
lessly toward your goal, if you sacrifice time and other pursuits and devote yourself to the craft, you’ll put yourself in a position of having your work noticed by others. If you love doing it and feel compelled to do it—you’ll do it. LEARN MORE AT: PaulaTreickDeBoard.com