Interview: Anna Read

Anna Read is a novelist and short story writer I had the pleasure of connecting with through my wife, who roomed with Anna in college.

I greatly admire Anna’s drive to not only to hone her own writing skills and put herself and her work out there—she’s a #PitchWars 2019 mentee of Cole Nagamatsu—but also to give back to the #WritingCommunity as a committee member of the Write Team Mentorship Program, which describes itself as “an application-only Twitter pitch-a-thon that ends with a submission package review or mentorship.”

Anna is currently hard at work on her newest WIP, applying to Author Mentor Match Round 8, and has a short story forthcoming in Silver Blade Magazine. She’s graciously taken time away from her work to answer the following questions:

What is your personal writing process like?

My writing process has been a bit different with each book I've written. I think what works best for me is to have an idea, write a bit, then take a step back and try to form a novel-length story about this character. I use a detailed beat sheet to help structure my plot and pacing. I also make profiles including goals and wounds for each major character. Then I start writing, adjusting my outline as I go.

How big a part does reading play in your writing life?

I wish I read more! But I will read short stories that have a similar voice to the one I'd like to achieve. I find that just getting that cadence into my brain really helps.

How do you cultivate your ideas?

Usually, my ideas flow pretty well while I'm outlining or writing up my beat sheet, but my WIP did not come easily. I went for a lot of walks and tried to vary my routine to shake ideas loose. My current WIP is a historical and I also read a lot about the time and place where it's set and looked at a lot of old maps of the area.

How do you get “unstuck” creatively?

Usually, if I'm feeling uninspired, it's because I'm hungry, tired, or upset about something. So I eat or pray or take a nap and that usually helps a lot. If not, I go to the next scene I have planned and force myself to write it anyway. No matter how much I hate the words while I write them, I discover they're usually on par with my normal rough draft work the next day—nothing amazing, but workable.

What’s your “go-to” piece of writing advice?

Hmmm... go-to writing advice. "Show don't tell" keeps me on my toes and helps me realize where I'm being lazy. But this advice definitely needs to be tempered with a good sense of pacing, because showing everything is incredibly boring to read. I'm still learning to get this balance right, but keeping these two in tension informs a lot of the writing decisions I make, certainly while drafting.

What story or book or poem inspired you to become a writer?

I'm not sure if one story or book can be fully credited with me with wanting to become a writer. I've been telling stories out loud since I was a kid. Two years ago, I got back into writing after dabbling several years before, and it was partly because of a fandom I was part of, who I thought deserved a better resolution to our favorite character's story. I never wrote fanfiction, but realizing the power that story had over me and so many others inspired me to start doing something productive with my love of fiction.

Where can people find you and your work online?

I don't have a website yet! You are welcome to follow me on Twitter or Instagram, where a website will probably be announced when it does happen.