A.K. LEE

If you've been following my blog, you may have noticed in the few interviews that I've conducted that I always ask about my interviewees' creative disciplines or routines. Some people sit down and get right to it; others have to go through a few steps before they can begin. I've yet to share my own writing discipline, so this post is all about me and my process. (All photos here are taken with a spectacularly cheap phone. Also I have to clean my desk.) I belong to the camp th

September is a busy period for me, to the point where eking out any time to write is a huge challenge, hence I chose to focus on meditation and Zen teachings all month. I wouldn't consider myself a Zen practitioner - that would require more dedication and effort than I am able to give right now. Even so, I think it is something I wish to incorporate more into my daily life. The concept of Zen is impossible to pin down. To me, it is an acceptance of existence as a transient co

(This guest post is written by Julian Smith. You can find him on Twitter @jsswrites87 and on Instagram @jayjackets) AK: I can't remember when Julian and I first began chatting but it wasn't too long ago. We both admire Samoa Joe very much and that was a jumping-off point to a new friendship. A few weeks ago, Julian shared that he writes comics and I thought it'd be fun to ask him to share some tips on how to write a comics script, since it requires a very different set of ski

I was recently asked by a fellow writer about my coping strategies when I have no motivation to write. It's not writer' block; it's writer's fatigue. You get so sick and tired of seeing your characters, untangling your plot, reworking your scenes that you just want to throw up your hands and yell, "Fuck it, I'm done with writing! If you have never felt something like that, lucky you. The rest of us mortals deal with such thoughts at different points in our craft. Some establi

I realized I needed to write as the writer I am, rather than trying to force myself to be the writer I was. - J.S. Kuiken This month I am interviewing an American writer. Jesse (J. S.) Kuiken has written extensively on queer lives and experiences, which is one of the main reasons why I have asked him for an interview. You can find out more about J.S. on his website, or interact with him via his Twitter or Facebook. Jesse and I met through the Hannibal fandom (as I have met al

"Writing isn’t just the pen and paper bit, or fingers on keyboard." I recently decided to poke around my circle of friends who are interested in writing or have been writing for some time, to find out more about them. So many of my friends are experts in various fields and I think it's good to know them as potential sources to consult! My first email chat is with Electra Rhodes, or El, who is a prehistoric specialist in archaeology - her main area of research is prehistoric t

'I think I just said, "Hey, can I write about the same person as male and as female, in the same lives?"' One life. Lived twice. Louis David Alder and Louise Dawn Alder are the same person in two different realities: they have the same parents, the same birthday, the same talents, the same wishes, the same eyes and hair. Their realities are separated only by the gender announced by the doctor and a final ‘e’. Both Louis and Louise grow up in the small paper mill town of Casab

"Every story has the ability to be told, and told well, regardless of circumstance." My good friend and fellow Fannibal/Hiddlestoner, Candice Sanzari, recently took part in a 24 Hour Playwriting Project. Having survived the night with lots of coffee and writing, she was elated to receive the Critics' Choice Award for the night's efforts. Candice has written a guest post for this site before (see related post). She also kindly agreed to answer some of my questions. Thanks, Can

I'm not a fan of horror stories, but I remember the first story that scared me. I don't remember the title, or the author, or even the book cover. It was the last story in a collection of scary stories, and the others had been interesting but not overly spine-tingling. And then the final one. The short story was about someone reading a ghost story. It was written from a first-person perspective. An odd choice, I had thought, but I understand now why the author chose to write

My name is AK Lee and I am a fanfiction writer. (Hi AK!) There, I've said it. There's still a stigma surrounding fanfiction and fanart creators. People associate fan-creations with explicit content, and for some reason, writing or drawing about sex elicit snickers and snide remarks. As if most adults aren't having sex anyway! I am a fanfiction writer, however, and I have written fics of all sorts, from m/m explicit non-con to het gen fluff, from AU crossovers with multiple sh

“The universe doesn't allow perfection.” A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking I decided to revisit this book after almost a decade since I first read it. It’s definitely challenging for a non-scientist to follow along, but I remember being intrigued by some concepts when I first came across it; upon re-reading, I have not got any closer to really comprehending the concepts. Instead, I have more questions than before. And that, I think, is good. One fear I have is that I w

This month's guest post is by Candice Sanzari, a playwright, poet, and storyteller. You can find her on Twitter. Neil Gaiman once essentially said that the hardest yet easiest thing about writing was putting one word after another until your piece is finished. He is entirely correct. I find this to be particularly true when it comes to writing blog entries; however, I am pleased to be composing this one. Growing up, I think I struggled a lot with the concept of having a voice

This is a guest post by a fellow writer, Lucien Welsh. His book reviews and work can be found here. Connect with Lucien on Twitter or Instagram. Fantasy is an interesting genre, as it encompasses several kinds of fantasy within itself. To say it is one genre is like saying Buffy the Vampire Slayer (urban-fantasy) is the same thing as Lord of the Rings (epic-/high-fantasy). Because these sub-genres are so different from each other and appeal to different kinds of readers, appl

Do you structure your entire story or do you let it grow? I've been pretty quiet this month because I jumped headfirst into NaNoWriMo 2017. It's the first time I am doing this while not working full-time, but oddly enough I wasn't able to write any faster than when I tried the challenge in 2013. On the other hand, I didn't write any slower. Yay me! This year, I took an idea I originally intended for a comic book series and converted it into a novel. It's a lot harder than I h