Writers' Rituals - Ann Littlewood
The Mysterious Writing Habits of the World's Top Crime Writers
Oct 15, 2008
Are writers obsessive-compulsive? Overly superstitious? Or do habits and rituals provide security? Searching for clues to the secrets of writing, Suite 101 has an exclusive interview with Ann Littlewood, author of Night Kill, featuring Iris Oakley, a young zookeeper.
Q: How much research and plotting do you do before you’re ready to write a book?
A: I research the animals carefully—online, books, zoo visits—and review my own zookeeper years for good anecdotes and details. I’ve learned to take outlining seriously. Mysteries are complex. It’s a lot of work to fix plot holes. Better to think it through and avoid them in the first place.
Q: What hours do you devote to your writing and what time of day do you prefer to write?
A: Completely erratic. (That said, I am so not a morning person.) As Phil Whalen, the poet, said, “Writing’s a kick. And when it’s not, I do something else.” Fortunately it’s almost always a kick.
Q: Do you take breaks, and if so, what do you do during them?
A: Aside from the usual food-and-bathroom breaks, I walk the neighborhood to solve plot and scene problems. Striding gets the blood flowing and also counters all those snacks.
Q: Where do you write?
A: In a bedroom turned into an office, I hunch scowling over a laptop nestled into a congested desk, like a troll with severe finger spasms.
Q: What do you write with?
A: Blood and sweat.
Q: …and why is that your preference?
A: Was there an option I missed?? Please advise.
Q: What do you like to keep within arms’ reach while you’re writing.
A: My favorite is strong drink, but that hasn’t worked out so well. I like to have the Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus up at the same time as MS Word, also Google for research. The stuff on my desk is irrelevant to writing, except the little black plaque of Itzamná, Principle lord of the Mayas, creator of heaven and earth, inventor of writing and books. A friend bought it for me in Belize. Itzamná is seated (no laptop), drinking something possibly alcoholic, and has an eagle/snake thing emerging from his head, or maybe a fish with a beak. He frightens me.
Q: What can you see when you look up from your writing.
A: Aside from scary Mayans, a pile of bills, and two piles of books, I stare at a print by Deborah DeWit Marchant of a woman on a train reading a book. Also a picture of an Indonesian rain forest (not yet logged) and a photo I took of wild bighorn sheep in the eastern Oregon desert.
Q: What was the first thing you wrote which was published?
A: I published several articles on behavioral research and animal husbandry while I was a zookeeper. As for fiction, the first short story I tried, Three Sisters: A Fable of Love, won a local prize and sold through my agency to a magazine in Norway and another in Sweden. Fortunately I did not have to translate it.
Q: What is your latest book?
A: A protagonist needs a tragic past and a dark secret. Iris Oakley achieves the tragic past in Night Kill which came out this September featuring big cats and penguins. Her dark secret arises out of the second mystery, which focuses on orangutans. It should be available next fall.
Ann Littlewood was born in Phoenix, Arizona and is a long-time resident of Portland, Oregon. Find out more from her website.
Read about Peter May, Jane Finnis, Ruth Dudley Edwards and many other Writers' Rituals
