Ask the Author: Ailsa McFarlane
Answered Questions (5)
Ailsa McFarlane
I try to keep a routine in terms of what I do in order to begin writing every day. For me that's usually coffee and finding somewhere where I can completely shut out any other distractions for a couple of hours and fully immerse myself in writing. If I'm feeling some kind of block, I make myself at least write something, even if I go back over it the next day and don't like it and delete it. Maintaining a rhythm and an expectation that something at least has to be written at the end of the day is helpful, and, for me, stops me from falling into the pit of wanting to write but having no self-discipline to sit down and begin.
Even if everything else around that rhythm is changing, like the place and the time that I do this, I try to make sure that I stick to it, that I manage to find a quiet place where I can be completely alone to write.
I try to write by daily word count, too, instead of writing within an allocated time window. For me, that stops me from staring blankly at the computer screen for three hours.
Even if everything else around that rhythm is changing, like the place and the time that I do this, I try to make sure that I stick to it, that I manage to find a quiet place where I can be completely alone to write.
I try to write by daily word count, too, instead of writing within an allocated time window. For me, that stops me from staring blankly at the computer screen for three hours.
Ailsa McFarlane
The freedom to do what you want to do, express yourself the way you would like to.
For me, while I'm writing there's a feeling of holding your breath or walking on a tight rope, because you're trying to produce the piece you want with subtlety. I love the feeling of looking back over something I've just finished writing and knowing that it is the piece that I wanted to write.
For me, while I'm writing there's a feeling of holding your breath or walking on a tight rope, because you're trying to produce the piece you want with subtlety. I love the feeling of looking back over something I've just finished writing and knowing that it is the piece that I wanted to write.
Ailsa McFarlane
For me personally, I'll take inspiration anywhere I can find it - all the best stories are, for me, simple ones that strike at something that feels honest, and all of those stories have been used over and over again in many different ways. Don't worry about feeling like you shouldn't use them just because they've already existed in other forms. Take scraps of ideas from other places, from other people's conversations, from films and books. Take all the little scraps that caught your eye and put them together.
Ailsa McFarlane
A psychological novel set in the north of Spain. It focuses on a young woman who is struggling to maintain a grip on her perception of the reality around her, as her life interweaves with her dreams.
Ailsa McFarlane
For me the only advice I can give is to write the book you want to write, not the book you feel that you should write because you would like to conform to a certain style. Write something that, to you, is simply a good book, make it as raw as you can, draw on the things that feel uncomfortable to write. For me, I've found that those things tend to be closer to something truthful. Write the book that's a good book in your own eyes.
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