July 16, 2016

Plotting your novel: a guide for dummies

Before you get pissed at me for calling you a dummy, know this. I'm the first dummy here, and this post is largely me shouting at myself. LOUDLY. It turns out that for the last four years of writing full-time I had no idea how to plot and did it by my gut, which sometimes led me out the other end (Rosehead, Irkadura, Janna), and sometimes not quite (Siren Suicides, The Badlings, TUBE). It was random. If I wrote for too long (Siren Suicides), I got lost in the details. If I got rerouted in the middle of writing (The Badlings), I lost interest in finishing the book and made myself finish it (not fun). If I took a too-long break between drafts (TUBE), I hated the manuscript when returning to it and wanted to trash the whole thing (and I did). Plotting my books ahead of time would've spared me this pain, only I didn't know it.

No more of this shit.

January 19, 2015

What I learned about plotting from reading Moomin books

by Ksenia Anske

Reading every day is one of the best things you can do to yourself, to develop as a writer. Someone said something along the lines of "writing is doing it, reading is learning it." It blows my mind each time I come across something new that I haven't seen before, especially if it's something unexpected. This time it happened while reading Moomin books by Tove Jansson. I grew up on these stories (they were popular in Russia), but have never read them in English. So I picked them up for a nostalgic reason and on the last book got pinned to the ground with an iron rod of an insight. Or something.

I saw all books and all plots in the mathematical pyramid of sorts and fainted.

January 3, 2015

Plot is your character's want

by Ksenia Anske

Supposedly a writer who has written several novels knows what a plot is. Supposedly said writer has studied everything there is to study about writing and has formed a solid understanding of craft basics, plot being one of the most important of them. Here comes a secret. Are you ready for this?

I have written 3 novels (well, 1 of them a trilogy) and I've been cutting off my head and slamming it against the wall every single time someone asked me about plot or suggested I do something to my plot or else, attempting to discuss my plots with me, rightly assuming that I know what I'm doing. Well, I don't. I mean, I sort of do, but not really. Plot is that elusive thing that was giving me nightmares. I'm about to reveal to you the mystery, the puzzle, the riddle of plotting, and I expect you to shower me with affection for this, said affection consisting of cash and of more cash and of various precious metals delivered to my door tomorrow.

January 1, 2015

Getting back to writing after a long break

by Ksenia Anske

A fellow writer asked: "Hey, I'm trying to get writing again...any tips?"

Yes.

JUST BLOODY START WRITING ABOUT YOUR DEEPEST PAIN. BLOODY WRITE EVERY DAY. DON'T TAKE ANY BLOODY BREAKS. (Okay, okay, chill. Some more practical tips are coming.)

I'm in the middle of a 2 week break between CORNERS drafts right now, and I'm tearing my hair out. Perhaps this is the last time I'll ever take a break like this. The irrational fear of "I forgot how to write a book!" is starting to get on my nerves. Worse. The more days pass by, the more I start doubting myself, thinking myself an impostor, even reading books on writing―which I never do. It's a big mistake. The only thing reading books on writing does is it sends me further down the spiral of self-doubt. Why? Because.

October 25, 2014

Revealing plot twists: TO HELL WITH SUSPENSE!

by Ksenia Anske

You are welcome to pull out that rusty ax from behind your shed, because what I'm about to tell you will certainly scratch that itch in your psyche, that nagging wish to hack me to pieces and watch me bleed and die. Because. Oh, my glorious hamsters! Because I will blasphemise (is that even a word?) your previous beliefs in stretching out the suspense for as long as possible, salivating over your keyboard in feverish anticipation of hooking your reader on the mystery of your story. Only. Surprise!

If you artificially stretch out the suspense in your book, your reader will forgive you for a few pages. Maybe. That is, if the reader is of the patient kind. For the next few pages or a chapter the reader will grow increasingly irritated. And at last, when the droning prose will sap all excitement from the reader, the reader will slam the book shut and hurl it out the window, where it will bludgeon a passing elderly lady, who will collapse and at the alert of the spying neighbor (there is always that one, peeking though the curtains at the shenanigans of the neighborhood) will be collected by police officers who will scan the area diligently to find the treacherous owner of said book, and upon sighting your scared pallid face in the...but I'm getting carried away.