What It Is To Create | Kristin Fields
Welcome to my web series, “What It Is to Create,” where I interview both writers and people who work to help writers grow their work. In this installment, I’ve interviewed Kristin Fields, author of bestselling novel, A Lily in the Light, and her newest book, A Frenzy of Sparks. Fields is a Hofstra alum and during the past semester, I had the chance to ask her about her writing process and what brought her to where she is today.
For Fields, writing was always in the cards. When talking about what inspired her to start writing, she said “I always knew that I wanted to be a writer. That’s one of the first things that I remember about myself. And I knew that I love reading. So, it felt like, well, if I love reading so much, maybe I would want to try writing.” Though Fields knew that writing was her path, she added, “And did I doubt myself? Yes, the entire way.” In her own experience, she had written things but “never tried to officially write a short story or anything” until she came to Hofstra and took a creative writing course. And while she doubted herself as she wrote a novel for the first time, when she was querying agents, and when it went out on submission to editors, Fields added that “I think that’s all very normal, and it’s all part of the process, but the dedication was there to do it. And that’s eventually what pulled me out of those writing slumps and inspired me to finish.”
When I asked Fields for advice on how to keep going when you hit a moment of writer’s block, she said “when you hit writer’s block, and you don’t feel inspired to write, you should still force yourself to write anyway. Because when you look back on your writing, you won’t be able to tell the difference between when you felt inspired and when you had forced yourself to keep going.” As for what she does for herself, Fields gives herself word counts for how much she will write in a day. She attributed this to how she wrote her first two books through National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and its 50,000-word count. Fields also added, “if I’m really, really stuck, I’ll read. I’ll just pick-up whatever books I’ve been meaning to read for a while. And sometimes there’s something in there that unlocks a piece of the story and all of a sudden, the block is gone.”
Though Fields never submitted to a literary magazine herself because she gravitates toward writing longer works, she suggested for people thinking about submitting works to Windmill or any literary magazine to “think if you have connections and you can meet people that work at those literary magazines in advance.” She followed up with stating that if writing short stories isn’t your thing and you go long form, then go long form. One is not necessarily an indicatior of success for the other... There are a lot of advice things out there that say you should do this and you should do that, and all these things will add up to you being a writer. I say, just pick and choose the ones that you want to do. Because that’ll be the most motivating when it comes time to actually do it.”
As we talked about the world of writing and how publishing figures into it, Fields gave insight on what she thinks publishers should know about writers and what writers should know about the publishing world. For publishers, she said “Most publishers know this, but it’s a good reminder every now and then that writers are very sensitive. We pout hour heart on the page and we want the world to love it. And it’s often very hard to take when that’s not the case.” Her advice for writers, especially those who are new to the world of publishing is to remember “it’s not personal. Publishers are looking at trends in the market; They’re trying to predict what readers are most likely going to want to read. And if a publisher passes, it’s not an indication that you shouldn’t be a writer. You should keep trying... So always be writing and always pitching, because eventually something will stick.”
Last but not least, when talking about the best writing advice she has ever received, she credited Martha McPhee, a creative writing professor at Hofstra University, with giving her the best advice after her graduation. Fields said, “I was trying to write a novel and it wasn’t really working. I felt like the writing was good, but the story was terrible and the depth to the characters wasn’t enough. And [McPhee] said to me, ‘So stop writing, and just go live your life, and gather all that life experience, and then come back to your writing when you’re ready.’” Though this was scary to hear for Fields, she found herself trying new things from a belly dancing class to a criminal justice class. Looking back, Fields told me that was the only book that she started but never finished “because it wasn’t the right story for me...when I picked up writing again.”
I just want to send my thanks to Kristin for letting me interview her. It was an absolute joy to talk to her. You can learn more about Kristin and where to buy her two novels here at her website. And if you’ve read this far, thank you! I hope you enjoyed hearing Kristin Fields’ advice as much as I did.