Barbara Woster Interview Published on: 02, Apr 2024

I was standing at the bus stop one morning, wearing high heels, when a dear friend decided to pick me up and spin me about until I was exceptionally dizzy. When he set me down, my heel landed on a rock. This caused my knee to snap. The result was that my kneecap was dislodged and chipped on my thigh bone. The chip shot into my knee joint. I was unable to put any weight on it at all. It swole to the size of a cantaloupe. Surgery was required and I was then laid up for more than three months until it healed. I had to learn to walk all over again.

It took a while for it to sink in. My mind, for a long time after, was on my knee. Getting past the day-to-day pain and then the months of physical therapy. It was nearly six months after when the doctor made it clear that I could strengthen my knee but that it wasn't likely I'd be running again anytime soon. To this day, I've never been able to outright run.

Clive Cussler's style of writing, with his intense imagery and descriptive narrative was something I'd never read prior. His characters are well developed and engaging, and his plots intense. It made the books I'd read prior seem shallow and hollow. Today, I've discovered other authors with equally talented writing ability, so I'm forever grateful to my father for introducing me to a variety of books that I'd not discovered to that point.

My mom didn't know any better, I don't think. She just found some inexpensive books to keep me company since I was bedridden for so long. Quite frankly, I couldn't abide them, but I had nothing else to do. My dad's reaction was priceless and I'll never forget it. He said not a word when he saw the books. He just left the room and came back with Iceberg and then said, "You need to broaden your reading horizons". Because of him, I did. And because of him and Cussler's writing, I discovered a passion within myself.

Books need a protagonist that the reader can believe in and an antagonist that makes us root for that protagonist. To me, Dirk Pitt and his supporting characters, embody everything that protagonists should be.

The only role models were other authors. I read and absorbed works from all genres. Discarded those that didn't quite reach me, didn't move me, and moved on to others that did. From these, I found those genres that I enjoyed but also those that I felt I could write in. Write what you know became easier as my life moved forward and I gained experience: good and bad. Those experiences shaped my writing.

I put so much of myself, my personality, into my characters, so there may be an occasional recurrence of certain phrases/humor repeated within my books. It gets tricky because I try to ensure that my characters are individual/unique. I don't think I have any motifs representative in my works - at least nothing that comes to mind currently.

I don't 'pre-develop' my characters anymore than I do a story outline prior to writing. I'm one of those people who has an idea, or a dream, and I just start typing. I type until the idea fades (fortunately, I type 120 wpm). I then go back, step into the idea and start fleshing out the scenes - as if I'm watching a movie. I write the dialogue the same way - I step inside and become the characters. I then begin conversing as each character to ensure that the conversations sound authentic.

As stated in the prior question - I don't really have a process. An idea will come to me - either from something I see or from a dream - and I'll just start writing down as much of it as I can while it's fresh in my mind. Then I go back and revisit it and start fleshing things out/filling in details. It takes a long time to write like this because of two things: first, since I don't really plot out the details ahead of time through an outline, I don't know what the idea will be when I begin typing it out for the first time, nor when I start filling in the details. Often, I'll be filling in details and it will head off on a different path; second, because I do not like predictability in stories, I will often take a lot of time to ensure my books don't follow a predictable path. If it seems as if the book is heading into predicatible territory, I'll stop writing for a while until I can think of how I can veer it onto another path. If I hit too hard a wall, I'll bounce ideas off of my four daughters, who reliably help me get over those walls.

That time is seared into my brain permanently. If it weren't for my two oldest daughters, I never would have become an author. I'd written my first novel, Dreamer of Destiny, a few years prior and put it in a folder in my desk, along with a ton of story ideas. Life, raising daughters on my own, had become hectic and writing was put on the back burner. My daughters, after all, are my highest priority. My daughters found the folder of ideas and literally started hounding me to do something about my writing. Since Dreamer of Destiny was complete, I submitted it to a publisher. It was accepted and my life as an author began.

I tend to write many of my works from life experience, and - as stated - I insert a good deal of my personality into my characters; however, there is one novel that I wrote that also has people from my life included as characters. This was a rare thing for me to do, but it was a work that I felt needed writing. The only way to respect those individuals is to simply change their names within the text. Also, even though much of the work is based on fact, there is a great deal of fiction blended in there also. Also, to respect the privacy of those people, I simply don't mention the title of that book, and likely never will.

I like to challenge myself, which is why I don't write in a single genre. My next evolution is to explore a new genre, which goes to your next question...

I'm working on a Dystopian novel - this first time working within this genre. This is an idea given to me by several people and I hope to do it justice.

AllAuthor has been one of the best sites I've had the honor of becoming a part of. I'm glad I found you and look forward to a continued beneficial relationship.