Reading Response: The "Kak My Pishem" Questionnaire

The Kak My Pishem Questionnaire

1. Preparatory period. Duration.
   Sometimes I find myself sitting on a story idea for a couple weeks, but I don’t write anything or say anything. I just start noticing things related to that subject more, and I stick them in the back of my mind. At some point, a certain critical mass accumulates and it makes sense to write something. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. 

Alternatively, if something happens to me, something traumatic or frightening or absurd, I put it away in my back pocket and try to get enough distance from it so that I can write about it with some amount of hind-sight.
2. What kind of subject matter do you use most (autobiographical, literary, observations and notes)? 

Most of my ideas do come from things that have happened in my family. But sometimes I pull the stories just from random ideas. As I said, a subject can build in your head for some time and take on meaning.

3. Do you generally use living persons as models for your characters?
Generally, yes. I don’t know how to write from the perspective of a dead person.

4. What provides you with the initial impulse for a work (anecdotes, commission, images, etc.)?
This feels like the same sort of question.
5. When during the day do you work—in the morning, afternoon, or evening? How many hours a day at most?

I suspect that there is a right time of day for me. I just could not say what time that is.

6. Average productivity—pages per month.
Modesty forbids.

1. What sorts of stimulants (narkotiki) do you use, and in what amounts?
   I wish I could be an alcoholic writer like all of my heroes, but it makes me sleepy. Same with weed. I like them both, but I use them when I don’t want to be productive, and for that they are incredibly effective.
   
   8. Do you write with a pencil, pen, or typewriter? Do you sketch when you’re working? How heavily is your work revised by editors?
   Pen, if on paper; macbook, and I’m trying to adjust to an old typewriter my friend fished out of the dumpster.
   
   9. Do you work from an outline and does it change?
   I take a piece of paper, or open a new word document, and I type little scenes. If I’m inspired the scenes become longer. I do this until I am out of ideas. Then, I take scenes that I like and develop them, and see if there’s a place for things I’ve written. Once I’ve exhausted those possibilities, I do it all again.
   
   10. What do you find most difficult? Beginnings, middles, or endings?
   Everything is difficult. I do it because it is difficult.
   
   11. Which senses most often generate images? (visual, aural, tactile?)
   Do the non-visual senses constitute images. Can you have nasal imagery?
   
   12. Do you insist on some sort of rhythm to your prose?
   The more I insist on a rhythm, the less effective the story becomes. It’s the departures that are powerful to me.
   
   13. Do you proof your work by reading it aloud (either to yourself or to others)?
   All the time.
   
   14. How do you feel when you have completed a work?
   Like a boss.
   
   15. Do you revise your work for new editions?
   When I get something released in multiple editions, I will let you know.
   
   16. Are you affected by reviews?

        Yes.