Today I’m pleased to have on the blog squirming over the First Draft questions, crime writer Anya Lipska.
Anya Lipska lives in London’s East End with her Polish husband, and is currently working on her third Kiszka and Kershaw book. When she isn’t scribbling she produces TV documentaries on science, arts and history subjects.
When you decide to write something new, what is the first thing you do?
I drag my husband, Tomasz to the pub to run it past him and to start working out the plot, the narrative arc, my characters’ ‘journey’ and so on. He’s a useful sounding board in any event, but particularly so because my series hero, private detective Janusz Kiszka, is – like him – an émigré Pole who’s lived in London long enough to have absorbed a good deal of UK culture.
Do you have a set routine approaching it?
Not consciously, but I am now writing my third book in the series and I’m aware that I tend to follow a pattern, which I would describe as creating a firm skeleton for the story while allowing a good deal of deviation in the 10 months or so it takes to go from concept to delivery of an MS.
Pen and paper or straight to the keyboard?
Bones of the story and ideas in a Muji notebook on the pub table, which will also have the first of many scribbled Venn diagrams of how the plot/characters connect and emerge.
How important is research to you?
Very important. I’m a journalist by background so I’ve a firm view of what can be pure invention and what ought to be factually accurate. As well as my contacts in the Polish community, who keep me up to the mark on contemporary issues, traditions, food, and Polish idiom (especially swearing…), I also have police and pathologist contacts whom I run things past. I would hate to have a glaring procedural inaccuracy, such as getting wrong the circs in which the police could realistically arrest someone, or interview them under caution, for instance, but there are other areas where I think a little poetic licence is positively desirable. A classic example would be reducing the time that some police/forensic processes take in the real world to fit the timeframe of a crime novel which demands action to unfold over a matter of days and weeks rather than months.
How do you go about researching?
It’s a combination of speaking to my contacts, which in the case of the police usually involves a good deal of alcohol, and consulting the incredible range of information available in printed form and on the net. In book 3, I have a Polish character who was a wartime code breaker, so naturally I did some research on whether that was consistent with a history of Polish exiles in the UK during and after the war. I surprised to learn that two Polish mathematicians had played a critical role in breaking the Enigma code – laying the groundwork for the well-known breakthrough by Alan Turing and Bletchley Park – an achievement recognised only this year.
How do you store everything; ideas, research, images that catch your eye?
A mixture of online bookmarks, notes, a file overflowing with newspaper cuttings, and good old-fashioned ink and paper reference books. While writing my current book, I needed an image of an old brand of Polish pipe tobacco, something that would once have been unimaginably difficult to find but which a Google image search produced swiftly and easily.
Tell us how that first draft takes shape?
I don’t think of my manuscript as a first draft because I’m an adherent of the ‘edit as you go’ school: I find that if I don’t resolve any issues as I go along then it has a huge knock-on effect and leaves a very much bigger job of unpicking and polishing to be done on the final pass. I have a writer friend who’s a crime fiction aficionado and she kindly reads the ‘work in progress’ two or three times as I go along and makes invaluable observations and suggestions. All in all, I’d say I spend nine to ten months writing, editing, and honing the words to complete what might be called a first draft, and I will then spend a month or so addressing notes back from my publisher which usually involve ironing out any plot wrinkles and fleshing out key scenes and characters.
Are there any rituals you have to do or items you must have with you while writing that draft?
No. Although since I do a lot of writing in my job as a TV producer and then another c.90k words a year as an author, I have invested in voice recognition software to ward off RSI. It always amuses me that the software behaves like a maiden aunt who is selectively deaf, ignoring bad language of any kind, so that I have to manually correct its wilful misunderstandings, such as ‘flock’ in place of the better-known Anglo-Saxon expletive…
Does the outside world exist or are you lost to us for a period of time as the magic works?
Alas, I find that zoning out from the world and its endless administrative chores, washing to be hung out, dinner to buy/cook, spam phone calls, e-mails, social media… is a real challenge. When a kind friend offers me a week at their coastal or rural bolthole, I jump at it, because once away from distractions and the unrelenting reproach of all the things that need doing around my own house I find that I can write much more productively.
What does your work space look like?
Like this
Edit as you go or just keep getting words out?
Edit as I go. Always.
I see many writers counting words in a day. Word counter or other method of keeping track of progression?
Obsessive word counter. Although never allow it to dissuade me from going back to fine tune words and content as I go.
So, that first draft is down. Roughly how long did it take? And what shape is it in?
Ten months – by which time it ought be at least 90% of the way there (feels like I’m tempting fate…) but will definitely benefit from the input of my reader and most especially my publisher, Scott Pack.
In what format do you like to read it through, ereader, paper or the computer screen?
On the laptop: too many trees die in this business already …
What happens now that first draft is done?
I will send it to my publisher, gripped by the sudden conviction that it’s 90,000 words of irredeemable rubbish, and anxiously await his verdict…
Thanks for digging into the depths of the first draft. It’s been a pleasure having you.
Thank you: it’s been surprisingly illuminating for me to put the process into words.
You can find Anya on her website, Twitter and Facebook.
Death Can’t Take a Joke
The second Kiszka and Kershaw crime thriller.
When masked men brutally stab one of his closest friends to death, Janusz Kiszka – fixer to East London’s Poles – must dig deep into London’s criminal underbelly to track down the killers and deliver justice.
Shadowing a beautiful Ukrainian girl he believes could solve the mystery, Kiszka soon finds himself skating dangerously close to her ruthless ‘businessman’ boyfriend. Meanwhile, his old nemesis, rookie police detective Natalie Kershaw is struggling to identify a mystery suicide, a Pole who jumped off the top of Canary Wharf Tower. But all is not what it seems…
Sparks fly as Kiszka and Kershaw’s paths cross for a second time, but they must call a truce when their separate investigations call for a journey to Poland’s wintry eastern borders…
As usual, if you want to take part in the First Draft series, just let me know! You can find a list of the previous Q&A’s Here.
Darcy Conroy says
A woman after my own heart in so many ways! Off to find the first of her books 🙂 Thank you both for sharing.
MarinaSofia says
I like the idea of ‘pub research’ with one’s husband… Brilliant, am a big fan of Anya’s books – and I can see her journalistic discipline stands her in good stead.
Anya Lipska (@AnyaLipska) says
Shame those pub visits aren’t gas deductible, or I’d be considerably richer… Thanks, Marina.
crimeworm says
She sounds like a lot of fun. I’ve read quite a lot about Bletchley Park, a place I find fascinating, and the Poles were incredibly important to the codebreakers as they had done a substantial amount of work already – which I don’t think they get the credit for. Maybe this book will help redress that. I’ll HAVE to read it if it features them! Really interesting First Draft, as ever, Rebecca, thank you! X
Anya Lipska (@AnyaLipska) says
It was an know bit of history to me, ’til this book. It’s not foregrounded but, you never know, it might be in the future! Thanks for the comment.
Alex J. Cavanaugh says
Research over drinks – I could do that!
She has some great connections for her research.
And word count matters to me.
Anya Lipska (@AnyaLipska) says
Glad you enjoyed it, Alex.
Margot Kinberg says
Rebecca – Thanks for hosting Anya.
Anya – First, I’m so glad there’ll be a third Kershaw/Kiszka novel! Good news! And I know what you mean about hard it can be to filter out distractions. I agree completely about the need for getting the research right too. And your work at that shows through… Looking forward to your next release.
Anya Lipska (@AnyaLipska) says
Hi Margot! Yes, book 3 is set for publication June ’15 (if that first draft doesnt get thrown back at em..!) Thanks for your support and encouragement.
writenote1 says
I haven’t read anything by this author, but I’ll be looking out for her work now. Great interview.
What a neat writing space (loved the flowers). I relate to the difficulty of filtering distractions. My writing space is in the family area, so I’m often interrupted by “Can I eat these?”, “There’s nothing in the fridge”, “Have you seen my …” and “Come and look at this!”.
Anya Lipska (@AnyaLipska) says
Haha. Yes, we all know about home distractions. I don’t have kids on my case – I’d find that unimaginably hard – but even my cat can break my thought process…
Annalisa Crawford says
Anya, I love that the first thing you do is go to the pub! I’m planning a writing afternoon in a pub tomorrow, myself 🙂
Anya Lipska (@AnyaLipska) says
It takes a LOT of visits, you can be sure….
Jacqui Murray says
I could write in that workspace. So many books–and your laptop is even sitting atop another pile. Lovely.
Anya Lipska (@AnyaLipska) says
It’s not often that tidy…nor flower filled! Thanks for reading/commenting Jacqui!
Anya Lipska (@AnyaLipska) says
It’s lovely to get all this feedback – great responses! – esp since an author’s life is so solitary. Thank you to all readers and commenters, and above all to Rebecca who came up with such damn fine questions. Anya.