May 24, 2015

Avoid holes in your first draft

Boy, the things The Badlings is teaching me. I don't know what it is about this book. Maybe it will be my watershed moment and I will look upon the chasm cleaved in my life, on one end of it written "before The Badlings," on another "after The Badlings," and I will see the middle of it a thousand fiery dragons spurting up pillars of fire to remind me of what it was like. And I'll tell you what's it's like. It's gruesome. I'm learning one very valuable lesson writing this book.

Most of the story is handed to you in the first draft.

March 5, 2015

The more intense the emotions, the better the writing

by Ksenia Anske

The amount of stuff I feel saturates me sometimes to the point of puking. I want to vomit it all out to be rid of it, or else it will suffocate me. Physically. A hand of anxiety will plant its meaty fingers on my chest and push down until I choke.

I used to ignore this and channel it inward and get sick, in the body and in the mind. I didn't understand where it was coming from. That's what everyone did, especially everyone in Russia. Our lovely cultural upbringing can be summarized thusly: hide it, hide it, hide it. Push it in. I got so good at this, it's difficult to resist the familiar urge.

February 2, 2015

The trip to Spokane and how I keep shedding my fears

by Ksenia Anske

It happened! It happened! The universe provided—because I shouted that I will wring its neck if it won't. Namely, I've been invited to do a book reading at Auntie's Books (THANK YOU!!!) in Spokane and had no idea how I would get there (I have no car), but then a miracle happened. Like, a real miracle with thunder and lightning and everything. One of my readers, Katie Lee Cook, shouted at everyone everywhere to find me a ride. Then my other reader, Cassie Rainn, has graciously offered to haul my skinny fundament from Seattle to Spokane and back. And she did. And not only that, she made me dried bananas and strawberries and elephants, and fed me along the way.

November 15, 2014

Writers will save the world

by Ksenia Anske

Okay, okay, not only writers. Artists of all kinds. Musicians, painters, sculptors, dancers... Still. It's such a grand statement. WRITERS WILL SAVE THE WORLD. Where did it come from? From this place where love is born. Or, more mundane, from my necessity to answer the same interview question over and over and over again. "Why do you write?" Another variation of this I get asked is, "What do you hope to tell your readers?" Or, in case of ROSEHEAD, simply because it's a kids book, although both kids and adults read it, "What are you hoping to teach young readers?" or "What examples are you setting for children?" or "What morals do you hope..." I won't even continue, otherwise I'll bore you to tears.

I've been thinking hard lately about these questions and about why, why, WHY at every interview the same ones come up. What is it that drives people to ask this? And how can I answer? There are other questions too, larger questions, like, "Are you hoping to do something profound with your books?" Or, "What are you doing to better the humanity?" There are variations of those, with the same main idea.

WHY THE HELL DO YOU WRITE, GIRL?

July 26, 2014

4 emotional stages of writing a book

by Ksenia Anske

What follows is fiction and it's fiction of my own creation so don't somehow assume that it's some sacred truth because it isn't because I made it up. It's a total lie and so I wanted to get it off my chest right away and now I feel better and you feel better and we're both ready to continue. Great. What I'm going to make up is 4 emotional stages of writing a book and I promise you I haven't read about this anywhere and it's based on my own personal writing experience which is not very big, really. Only 2 years. Therefore, what follows needs to be read with caution and with an uninhibited mind. Deal? Deal. Now, this is what happened in the last few weeks.

In the last few weeks I've been whining all over social media about how hard it is for me to write IRKADURA and bla-bla-bla and I even celebrated the finishing of the 3rd draft thinking it was the last when it wasn't and now I'm writing the 4th draft. Funny, I know. Laugh all you want. What is even funnier is that no matter how bravely I tried to put up a happy facade online and joke and do my usual silly stuff, people have noticed. Here is what I got from concerned readers.