Ask the Author: Alma Anonas-Carpio
Answered Questions (7)
Alma Anonas-Carpio
No coffee. The world ends.
Alma Anonas-Carpio
The best thing about being a writer is also the worst thing about being a writer: You have voices in your head that won't shut up.
Honestly, it is great to be able to write the stories you want to read. But it is time-consuming, sanity-threatening and, yes, manual work. Then those damn voices will disagree with you. All the time. Even in your sleep.
Honestly, it is great to be able to write the stories you want to read. But it is time-consuming, sanity-threatening and, yes, manual work. Then those damn voices will disagree with you. All the time. Even in your sleep.
Alma Anonas-Carpio
I cook. Or dance. Or work on my news-gathering and reportage. Or I play with my cat. Or snuggle with my kids. Or I go outside with my arnis sticks and work the frustration off that way. Or I hit my heavy bag until I manage to punch or kick a hole or two into the leather.
When all those other activities aren't possible (they usually aren't at three in the morning because, well, that's just for my writing-for-me time), I just keep writing until what I write makes sense. Then I delete the stuff I didn't like.
Alternatively, I put on music and read. I have bookshelves in every room of the house for just this purpose. I also have both an extensive playlist of music and full-to-bursting digital bookshelves on my phones for the same purpose.
Sometimes the voices in my head need the company of voices from other peoples' heads. Shrugs.
When all those other activities aren't possible (they usually aren't at three in the morning because, well, that's just for my writing-for-me time), I just keep writing until what I write makes sense. Then I delete the stuff I didn't like.
Alternatively, I put on music and read. I have bookshelves in every room of the house for just this purpose. I also have both an extensive playlist of music and full-to-bursting digital bookshelves on my phones for the same purpose.
Sometimes the voices in my head need the company of voices from other peoples' heads. Shrugs.
Alma Anonas-Carpio
Don't. Write. It is addictive. I have been addicted to writing from the age of eight. It is torture and it is its own ultimate reward. If you don't have the chops to handle rejection on a regular basis, don't write.
Now, if you've already gone past the point of no return on that Yellow Brick Road, then write. Write like you don't give a damn. Then read what you've written and eat your feelings. After that, edit with no mercy. Edit like that piece you wrote was written by someone else, someone you have no intention of taking pity on.
Satisfy your own highest standards before you EVEN think of releasing that wild thing you wrote out into the world. Then, when you've exhausted yourself, share it and brace for the impact of the feedback you'll get. Embrace the criticism of your work, accept it as a learning tool. Take what criticism you can use and discard what you can't.
Then repeat the process. Over and over again for as long as you want to be a writer.
Now, if you've already gone past the point of no return on that Yellow Brick Road, then write. Write like you don't give a damn. Then read what you've written and eat your feelings. After that, edit with no mercy. Edit like that piece you wrote was written by someone else, someone you have no intention of taking pity on.
Satisfy your own highest standards before you EVEN think of releasing that wild thing you wrote out into the world. Then, when you've exhausted yourself, share it and brace for the impact of the feedback you'll get. Embrace the criticism of your work, accept it as a learning tool. Take what criticism you can use and discard what you can't.
Then repeat the process. Over and over again for as long as you want to be a writer.
Alma Anonas-Carpio
The sequel to "How to Tame Your Tikbalang Without Even Trying," with the working title "How to Ride Your Tikbalang into a Lather." I'm doing this alongside a collection of five supernatural Filipino fiction shorts I'm calling "Maligno Unleashed" for now--am at the last of the five stories. Also working on another erotic novel that has nothing at all to do with Philippine mythos or lore called "Isle of Lays." Then there is the collection of my poetry that I've got on my plate, since the UST Publishing House has been gracious enough to take the manuscript.
All that aside, I'm a journalist, so I've got all those deadlines to fill. Constantly. Not that I am complaining because I love my job and I love writing, period--at least when I'm not cooking.
All that aside, I'm a journalist, so I've got all those deadlines to fill. Constantly. Not that I am complaining because I love my job and I love writing, period--at least when I'm not cooking.
Alma Anonas-Carpio
Hunger and lack of sleep. I write best when I've skipped a meal or two and haven't slept in a week. Also, my neighbors are such an inspiration. They like to piss me off a lot, so I punish them and kill them off in my fiction.
Alma Anonas-Carpio
I was working on a tight set of deadlines and, as a result, forgot most of the meals I should have consumed, was extremely sleep-deprived and almost delirious with all that. Then the idea for a book using the creatures of Philippine mythos and lore hit me and I wrote it down on scraps of scratch paper at 3 am when I should really have been doing that news analysis report on some newly-passed law or the other I was assigned by my editor in chief.
I think I still have that scrap of paper under my keyboard somewhere. It may have lots of other totally unrelated stuff written in between the lines, too.
I think I still have that scrap of paper under my keyboard somewhere. It may have lots of other totally unrelated stuff written in between the lines, too.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more