September 29, 2015

The consistency of your voice

You know that feeling you get when you read a fantastic book and it gives you shivers? When every page you turn makes you want to read more and more, and every sentence is so bloody good you want to read it twice and when you get to the end you're devastated the book is over? I have been pondering about this lately, having recently read three books that took my breath away, THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Ernest Hemingway and THE RITUAL by Adam Nevill and CRUDDY by Lynda Barry, and having dug up more information on all authors and having read this interview with Adam Nevill and having put WHAT IT IS by Lynda Barry (a book on her creative method) and Hemingway's ON WRITING on hold at the library, and all this pondering led me to write this post.

What was it so special about these books that got me?

September 9, 2015

My 4-draft writing process

by Ksenia Anske

The more I write, the more I seem to understand the process of writing and drafting and the less fear I have when approaching a new book or a particular draft. All that angst and anxiety and uncertainty and doubt is mostly gone and now it's just work, hard work that pays off and that sometimes gives me a glimpse of what I could be as a writer in the future as I'm still searching for my identity and I suspect it will take me many more books to find it.

I tweeted this understanding one night and it seemed to have resonated with many of you so I thought, hell, I'll expand on it in a post and years later I'll read about it and and see what changed (if anything) and how.

You know that the most drafts I've done is five and the least is three and so far the median number of four holds true to me. It takes me roughly four drafts to write a novel and it could take me more if not for my brain that has a new story idea pressing by the time I'm done with the last draft and the pressure is overwhelming and I simply have to start writing a new book so as not to lose my mind.

July 13, 2015

My writing process is changing

by Ksenia Anske

Yesterday I have embarked on my usual task of reading the first draft of TUBE from start to finish in as short a time as possible before starting the next draft, and in these two days I have witnessed a huge change in my process. It came out of nowhere, on its own, unbidden. I had but to oblige and let it take over. It startled me. I wonder if this is some kind of a milestone or something, but I'll write it out here so it will make more sense to me, and maybe shed some light for you on your own writing process. Or tell me how yours has changed over the years, as I find it fascinating and would love to learn from you.

1. In the middle of reading I suddenly felt compelled to write a summary.

February 22, 2015

How much should your book change?

by Ksenia Anske

You thought I'll give you an answer? Fooled you! I wish. I'm searching for an answer myself. But I thought I'd write out what is happening with The Badlings and maybe I'll glimpse some truths from it. Or maybe entertain you. Or both. Or neither. Anyway. I have noticed a change pattern that occurs from draft to draft, and I'm curious how this pattern develops over the years of writing experience. The Badlings is only my fourth novel, counting Siren Suicides as one, so I'm sure that after 20 of these babies I will have a completely different opinion. For now, though...

THE PROCESS OF CHANGE.

June 1, 2014

Simplify your writing to make it better

by Ksenia Anske

Simple does it. I don't know why for such a long time I was trying to write, you know what I mean? TO WRITE. So it looked fucking WRITTEN. When all I had to do is simply say what I saw in my head on paper. It's so easy to get carried away in this notion of writing. Stories are something that has to be written. With these complicated words, in elaborate sophisticated sentences that do a switchback on each other and dazzle readers' minds. Bullshit. How I wish someone could have explained this to me 2 years ago, when I started writing. If you're a beginning writer like me, I hope this post will save you a lot of headache and a ton of anguish. I hope I can help you jump through the hoops that I myself didn't see and had to grope for, blindly, in the dark, sick with fear, stomach twisted up in anxiety. Sweat on my forehead. The stinky unhealthy kind. The hollow sign of horror.