r.f. kuang

Something a lot of people struggle with is, what is the ethical standard for one to write about something? When are you allowed to mind your own family’s history? Does it ever feel icky? Does it feel like you’re profiting off of your parents and your grandparents’ trauma? And I don’t think anybody really knows the answer. I think everyone should do... See more

I think another idiosyncrasy I have that helps with writing satisfying third acts is that I always think of the ending before I come up with anything else. I can’t write from an outline and I don’t like doing too much planning, but the reason why I can “pants” my way to a coherent story is that I always have a clear end point in mind—I know where... See more

today's fun update is that there is one chapter that consists of one sentence and then two pages of footnotes and those footnotes are formatted like a newspaper clipping because by that time everyone's default response to my constant wilding out had become "look sure whatever"

I could fill up pages and pages with things I’ve learned about outlining from Jeanne Cavelos and Kij Johnson. I think one rule of thumb I always come back to is this: at each bullet point of the outline, make sure your main character is doing something. Each stage must be the direct result of the protagonist’s choice, whether or not they are... See more

I think I’m really funny! Am I not funny?

I’m not particularly drawn to writing about darkness. Writing about tragedy and trauma for the sake of tragedy and trauma makes me feel icky. It feels voyeuristic—sensationalist, is the word? Trauma as spectacle? I try not to do that. I’m just interested in stories about a range of topics that happen to... See more

writing my next fantasy novel at a cafe. explain to fiancé i’m having a difficult time presenting a comprehensive account of wrongness and sins in Hell. he reaches into backpack and hands me this https://t.co/wfBs8ohmiH

Before Odyssey, I gave myself just one hard and fast rule: write 2,000 words a day, every day, no matter how bad they are. (To be fair, I was on a work schedule where I could make time to do this, whereas now I count myself lucky if I can squeeze 1,000 words in on a good day.) I’d never taken a creative writing class before, so had absolutely no... See more

Kuang seems to be someone who sees the beauty in the madness and thrives while working with a jumble of ideas and straightening them out as she goes. “My writing process is so messy and chaotic that I can’t really in good faith give it as advice. It also keeps changing from book to book but what stays the same is that it all has to originate from a... See more