Anna Staniszewski

Categories: WIP

• Post-Revision Crash

  On Monday afternoon, I finished reading through my fairy tale revision one last time and decided it was finally ready to send off to my agent. After it was out of my hands, I was excited and exhausted all at the same time. And that was the beginning of what I’ve been calling the “post-revision

• Making a Story Your Own

  Today I wanted to talk about fairy tale retellings, especially since that’s what I’ve been focusing on in my writing recently. Right now I’m about halfway through reading Ash, a retelling of Cinderella by Malinda Lo. I’m really enjoying the story and the writing is lovely. As I’ve been reading, I’ve been thinking about the

• WIP Update: When You Can Smell the End

  Just a reminder that my Celebration Giveaway ends on Friday! Okay, so do you guys remember that fairy tale retelling I’ve been revising (and complaining about) for months? Well, the end is finally in sight – I can smell it!
  Yesterday I finished rewriting a scene and realized it was the last one that needed major

• WIP Update: Working Through Distraction

  I’ve been a little distracted recently. Between book deal excitement and new dog excitement and it’s-so-hot-my-brain-is-melting excitement, my WIP has been a tad neglected. But this week I decided enough was enough: I was going to work on my retelling if it killed me.
  Monday was hard. I couldn’t stop checking my email every two seconds

• How It Happened

  One of the things people have been curious about with MY UN-FAIRY TALE LIFE is the process of writing it and finding a publisher.  It’s a bit of a winding story, so pull up a chair and kick back. Here it is, the (somewhat long) story of my funny little book.
  The Story is Born
  Way back

• WIP Update: Doh!

  Last week I posted about the game of 20 Questions my friend and I played with my WIP. The session was immensely helpful and got me excited to work on the story again. On top of that, my friend offered to read part of my story to help me figure out if I’m on the

• Characters Aren’t Action Figures

  Yesterday, I was talking to a friend online about my WIP. Well, “talking” isn’t really the right word – “whining about” is more accurate. I was telling him how stuck and uninspired I’ve been feeling. After he asked me some questions about my story and my characters, I finally realized this: “Sometimes it feels like

• Giving Yourself Permission to Take a Break

  So I’m back from NYC, tired and rejuvenated at the same time. We did all kinds of fun things like biking around Central Park and watching the World Cup with a bar full of strangers. I didn’t write a word all weekend and you know what? That was absolutely fine. What’s funny is that ordinarily,

• WIP Update: Stuck in the Muck

  Things have been a bit sluggish with my WIPs recently. I’d hoped to get my fairy tale revision done by June 15th but things haven’t quite worked out that way. I know which areas need work, but figuring out how to fix them has been a bit daunting. I finally went back to doing some

• Staying Within Your World

  I love creating other worlds in the stories I write. That’s why I’m terrible at realistic fiction; even when I set out to write realism, fantasy always creeps in. I guess I like having control over the world and its rules. But the thing about world-building is that you have to stay in the world