Ask the Author: Affinity Konar
Answered Questions (6)
Affinity Konar
I'll often write a letter to a friend when I'm stuck and need to write. Part of a "block" is pressure, a panic that feeds panic about not being able to produce. By writing casually to someone I love, I often find that I'm able to drain the anxiety from the process--words become friendly again. Even when you are writing something that needs to be treated with the utmost gravity, the creative process requires something that feels like a sense of play. This is true for me, at least.
Meditation, and the way of Jodorowsky have also been supremely helpful to me, in both life and writing-life.
When I am at my bottom, I tend to return to what I loved most in childhood--there is nothing like watching a Jim Henson production to return me to a feeling that things may still be possible.
Meditation, and the way of Jodorowsky have also been supremely helpful to me, in both life and writing-life.
When I am at my bottom, I tend to return to what I loved most in childhood--there is nothing like watching a Jim Henson production to return me to a feeling that things may still be possible.
Affinity Konar
I think inspiration is pretty unpredictable, and it's best to just be plain disciplined about a writing routine, to plot out a practice that encourages inspiration to strike, rather than simply expect inspiration to appear. But when I'm deep in a book, I'll use the same playlist to place me in a certain mode. I'll revisit the writers I love the most. I watch films--usually the same ones, over and over again--that carry some element I want for my own work, whether it be atmospheric, plot-like, or something suggestive of character.
I meditate. Inspiration comes from a place of measured calm for me--it's something that rarely hits when I'm frenzied or anxious.
I meditate. Inspiration comes from a place of measured calm for me--it's something that rarely hits when I'm frenzied or anxious.
Affinity Konar
Read everyone you love obsessively--detect their patterns, and find your own.
Read who you don't love, if only to understand what you want to avoid, to push against it, and discover your own stance on the page.
Protect your health as you can--I find the tortured artist myth dangerous. (Please see the film "Frank" for one of my favorite takes on this.) While it's true that hardship may move us towards art, I've only been productive during times that my mental health and chronic pain issues have been adequately addressed.
Meditation is a very cool deal.
Walking a dog is a form of meditation, and animals in general will always be a good idea.
Most importantly, honor what you love and obsess over within the test.Never write about something simply because you think it's what someone might want to read. You can't fake true affection for characters, and that affection is necessary to animate fiction.
Read who you don't love, if only to understand what you want to avoid, to push against it, and discover your own stance on the page.
Protect your health as you can--I find the tortured artist myth dangerous. (Please see the film "Frank" for one of my favorite takes on this.) While it's true that hardship may move us towards art, I've only been productive during times that my mental health and chronic pain issues have been adequately addressed.
Meditation is a very cool deal.
Walking a dog is a form of meditation, and animals in general will always be a good idea.
Most importantly, honor what you love and obsess over within the test.Never write about something simply because you think it's what someone might want to read. You can't fake true affection for characters, and that affection is necessary to animate fiction.
Affinity Konar
I found the book "Children of the Flames" by Lucette Lagnado when I was sixteen, and had dropped out of school. A very raw, and formative period of my life. The testimonies of the survivors echoed in my head for years after that, and though I didn't plan to write a "book" at that time, I knew that it was something that would follow me.
Affinity Konar
I'm working on a script with my genius friends Ben James and Adam Kaplan. Seven years ago, we discovered that we had a shared obsession in the story of Wojtek, the Polish soldier bear, and we're now building a narrative around that. I always said I'd never revisit the WWII era, but going back with the partnership of my friends has made it bearable, especially as it also incorporates a storyline centered around a punk Polish teenage girl-heroine (my true spiritual home.)
I'm also working on a novel. I feel a bit odd speaking about it, as it's still in its infancy, but it seems determined to share many of Mischling's core themes. As much as I'd like to diversify, I learned long ago that you can't fake caring about something on the page, and it's best to address what is calling your name, however frightening it might be.
I'm also working on a novel. I feel a bit odd speaking about it, as it's still in its infancy, but it seems determined to share many of Mischling's core themes. As much as I'd like to diversify, I learned long ago that you can't fake caring about something on the page, and it's best to address what is calling your name, however frightening it might be.
Affinity Konar
I think being a writer justifies being curious, especially as an adult. And my true talent is my curiosity--there's nothing better than using words in unexpected ways, or finding my way towards an image that feels new to me. And of course, there's the opportunity to love someone that you don't know, but someone who may remind you of a person you lost, or a person you hope to meet. I grow too attached to my characters, but it feels like they save me too.
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