You have probably always wanted to write a book. You have probably tried to start writing it several times and gave up. Or maybe you did write it, but it didn’t quite turn out the way you wanted it to. You have most likely been scared and frustrated by the writing process, as well as exhilarated and thrilled. And you probably wondered how you could tell exactly what you wanted to tell, and tell it well.
I’m not going to give you an answer to your burning questions. I’m still searching for it myself. But I will maybe alleviate your pain in sharing with you my own search on the way to telling my stories in the best way I can. After four years of writing full-time, I have turned a corner and am no longer scared. No, this is a lie. I am scared, but being scared no longer stops me. And the answer is simple: study the craft of writing. How? By doing it and by learning how others did it before you.
When I started out, I charged ahead like mad, high on the possibility of writing my very first book and actually doing it. I disregarded rules and channeled my inner self on the page, believing it was true art (not that I understood what that meant). I was fine for a while. But on my fourth book I got lost and quickly finished it because I didn’t know how to make it better. And on my fifth book I got stuck and had to scrap everything and reengineer my entire writing process. Why? Because I ignored the rules. I thought writing was an expression of something intangible and divine that couldn’t be touched lest it be wrecked by such rudimentary and boring things as plotting, theme development, grammar, character arcs, etc. And I was wrong, and maybe because you read these lines you will trust that what I’m sharing with you is true and will spare yourself the pain I went through (or maybe you won’t, but you will remember these lines when you hit rock bottom).
Know what they expect 😉
Writing isn’t some nebulous ethereal substance to be caught from the air and randomly spun into a story. Writing is both an art and a craft, and the two can’t be separated from each other. If you’re a painter, you must know the types of paints and brushes you use. What would happen if you didn’t? Same with writing. The boring grammar is not boring at all. It’s a wonderful tool to help you say exactly what you want to say the best way you can. It’s a tool that you have to learn and allow yourself to be awkward with, at first, and keep practicing until you master it, and it becomes a skill that you don’t have to think about.
Jemaine Clement as frustrated author Dr. Ronald Chevalier in Gentleman Broncos.
That frustration we talked about, remember? It comes from the feeling that something isn’t right, but you can’t pinpoint what exactly. Studying the craft of writing will show you what’s wrong and how to fix it. Without it you’ll be lost and tempted to give up.
But there are so many ways to write! You might be thinking. There are writers who plot, and writers who don’t! You’re right, of course. But here is what I’ve learned. Until you study the rules of your craft, you won’t know how to break them. And by not studying the rules at all you’re robbing yourself of a chance to learn how to tell your tale and tell it well. You might get lucky and stumble on it. You might not. Are you willing to spend days, months, years groping around in the dark? That’s what I did, and it’s not an easy road. I nearly quit writing altogether several times, that’s how bad it got.
So where do you start? You start by doing and learning. What do I mean by that? Simple. Start writing your tale. Just start. When you get blocked and don’t know how to proceed, look at what’s stopped you and study it. Read about it. Is it grammar? Revisit your grammar. Is it sentence structure or style? Read about style. Is it your character who gives you trouble? Study how to write characters. Plot problems? Learn about plotting. And so on. You will find that every time you get stuck you will get unstuck, and with new knowledge keep charging forward. You will see that learning how to write well takes time, and you will allow your tale to be bad and awkward and messy, because you will know that it’s normal, and this is what will keep you from quitting. That’s huge. I wish someone told me this when I started.
I had to find out for myself. I hope my telling you this now will keep you from quitting. We need your tale. We want to read it. So tell it. And while doing so, learn how to tell it well. It may be that it’ll take you ten bad tales to arrive at one good one. Or maybe twenty. Or thirty. But never give up. Do and learn, do and learn, and you will get there. And now I’m done telling you my tale about how I learned that to tell my tale well I needed to study how to do it. Your turn.
“Do it for the love of it. Ignore the scary things you read about book publishing industry. In fact, don’t read news at all. They will only distract you from writing. Hole up and create.” Ksenia Anske
For aspiring writers-  I thought very hard about what to write, and decided to settle on a little advice for aspiring writers. Because if you’re one of those hopefuls, you might get scared too easily and give up. The world of book publishing is changing. It looks frightening. The big publishers are fighting for survival, buying off little companies, merging, you name it. Why? Because big companies like Amazon made it possible for anyone to publish a book.
And the world of indie books is growing. I can imagine any starting writer look at this, get the scare of her life and run and hide, and give up on her dream. Because how can you possibly make it? Moreover, how can you possibly make a living? It’s harder than ever to get through to agents.  It’s very intimidating to try to self-publish, with all these scary things to be done: finding an editor, a book cover designer, a text formatter, figuring out how the online uploading tools work, promoting your book once it’s published. If you have any kind of embonpoint in any part of your body, metaphorically speaking, it’s enough to lose it, and your brains too. Just by reading this you’re probably already getting scared. There is no way you will make it, is there? There is.
Let’s for a second imagine that none of this exists. Let’s think that writing a book is something you always wanted to do. Not to make a lot of money. Not to become rich and famous. Not to flaunt it into your former classmates faces at your high school reunion. None of it. Let’s imagine you simply always wanted to write a book because you have a story to tell. It’s bursting out of you. You can’t help it. Like a chronic tosspot with this irresistible draw toward alcohol, you simply can’t hold yourself back. May I say something to you? I might not have enough credibility, or clout, or whatever you want to call it. I have only started writing full time 2 years ago and have self-published only 4 novels so far, but I’ve
Ksenia Anske
been never happier in my life. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw a doctor. I started writing for therapy, and never in the million years did I think anyone would be interested in reading my writing. But people do! People read my books! Can you imagine? I still can’t. I still pinch myself. It’s a miracle. There is a lesson I learned from it, and I keep shouting it at every corner. I want to shout it here, to you, so that you will hear me. It’s very simple. You can do the same.
Don’t be intimidated by the amount of books already published (I know I am, still). Don’t worry about making a living (I know I am, still). Don’t even think about wether or not anyone will read your books (I think about it, too). That doesn’t really matter. What matters is, while you write your book, you get a high which no other drug can give you. You are so happy. When you hold your finished book in your hands, the only other experience that can be compared to it is maybe that of holding your child  in your hands for the first time. It is your child. It’s your story. You did it. Funny enough, if you write it for yourself, you’re more likely to find readers. If you forget about the business of book writing and think about the art of book writing, you will produce something extraordinary.
The Writers Retreat inspired by the garden retreats of two literary greats – Virginia Woolf and George Bernard Shaw – whose properties are under the care of the Trust. – See more at: http://www.scottsofthrapstonblog.co.uk/2012/06/a-magical-connection/#sthash.xvVzvEtp.dpuf
Know what it is? You will make yourself a little happier, and with that you will make people around you a little happier, and with that you will make the world around you a little happier. Now, imagine what happens when you write your second book, and your third, and your fourth. Do it for the love of it. Ignore the scary things you read about book publishing industry. In fact, don’t read news at all. They will only distract you from writing. Hole up and create. Pour your everything into it, do it so well, that people will want to see what the deal is about. It’s what happened to me, still happening. It’s what will happen to you. So go ahead, write that book. You know you want to. You know you can. I know you can. The rest will happen on its own. For the Silo, Ksenia Anske.
You have probably always wanted to write a book. You have probably tried to start writing it several times and gave up. Or maybe you did write it, but it didn’t quite turn out the way you wanted it to. You have most likely been scared and frustrated by the writing process, as well as exhilarated and thrilled. And you probably wondered how you could tell exactly what you wanted to tell, and tell it well.
you get stuck you will get unstuck, and with new knowledge keep charging forward. You will see that learning how to write well takes time, and you will allow your tale to be bad and awkward and messy, because you will know that it’s normal, and this is what will keep you from quitting. That’s huge. I wish someone told me this when I started.
