Tag Archives: The One That Got Away

Anna Kent My Writing Process

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Anna Kent, author, writer, What you have written, past and present?

I was a journalist before I became an author, so I’ve written an awful lot of articles for publications in the UK and the UAE, and I was also a columnist for The Telegraph for six years and for Stylist Arabia for a year.

In terms of fiction, I have four psychological suspense novels out under my own name, Annabel Kantaria. They are Coming Home, The Disappearance, The One That Got Away and I Know You.

My fifth novel, called The House of Whispers under the pen name of Anna Kent, is due to be published on August 5.

I’m currently writing my sixth novel. It’s yet to get a title but I’m really excited about the premise!

What you are promoting now?

I’m promoting The House of Whispers by Anna Kent.

Tell us a bit about your process of writing?

I try to treat writing as I would an office job, so I have a strict routine: I put in about three or four solid hours in the morning, then I try to go to the gym or do an exercise class before lunch, then I fit in another hour or so of writing before it’s time to pick up my son from school. 

If I can, I’ll work again in the afternoon but it’s not always possible. I never work at night and I try not to work at the weekend, too.

In terms of the writing process, every book begins with the seed of an idea: sometimes it’s the ending, sometimes the twist, or, in the case of the book I’m currently working on, it was the inciting incident – the event that kicks off the whole story. I try and flesh this out, sketching out how the character will change throughout the story, and working out a plot that will carry that internal change and also allow room for a few duplicitous scenes, red herrings and twists.

I try to use a system where I write scenes on index cards and move them about but, generally, once I’ve got a foggy idea of the story in my head, I just want to start writing. It’s a mistake to start too soon, though, as I invariably then get stuck about 20,000 words in because I haven’t planned enough.

There’s always a point, about halfway or three quarters of the way into a manuscript that I lose faith and start to doubt myself. Writing is a solitary process and it can be a challenge to keep up both the momentum and the self-belief. You just have to push on through and trust the process. Having a good support network of friends and family really helps.

How do you do structure your books?

They’re all different. Most of them have multiple viewpoints because I love seeing events through different people’s eyes. 

In The House of Whispers, interviews with one of the characters are interlaced throughout the narrative, only you don’t know who is interviewing the person, nor why – you just know that something major has happened. The Disappearance started half-way through then tracked back, and it also had two timelines set about 50 years apart. I Know You was told with the benefit of hindsight, which allowed me to do a lot of foreshadowing to keep up the suspense, and The One That Got Away had alternate chapters from the points of view of a husband and wife. 

I do love a clever structure, but they can be very tricky to pull off.

What do you find hard about writing?

The hardest thing for me is trying to come up with that million-dollar best-selling idea: the high-concept story that becomes the most talked-about book of the year!

I also hate it when I get stuck in my plot. It happens at some point in every book, and I’m antsy and stressed until I get through that block and start writing properly again.

Other than that, just trying to be creative, day in, day out, with little or no feedback on how I’m doing, and no colleagues to bounce ideas off. Keeping faith in myself that I can do it. Not knowing if my book is any good or not until I submit it to my agent when it’s finished. That’s tough. 

What do you love about writing?

I love the creative freedom at the start of a new book, when the world really is your oyster. It’s like playing God. You have the power to create a whole world, and to populate it with whomever you like, and to make whatever you want happen to those people. There’s nothing like starting a fresh story. Even better if you know it’s a really fabulous idea! 

Days when the words flow and the story just comes flying out through my fingers are also fabulous. There’s no feeling like it.

 

Cap Gun Collective director Tom Haines hops a train with the Civil Wars

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the civil wars bandWe have some behind-the-scenes from Award-winning commercial production company Cap Gun Collective with details from director Tom Haines newest project: the music video for the Civil Wars’ “The One That Got Away.” This cinematic video debuted on YouTube on August 7, featuring the debut single from the Grammy-winning group’s brand new, self-titled Sensibility Recordings/Columbia Records album, which came out on August 2 and is available from iTunes.

As widely reported in international news media, the new album has earned high praise from Adele on Twitter: “Please go and get the new Civil Wars album,” she Tweeted on Aug. 7. “They’re my absolute favourite and the new record is beautiful!”

Shot in the Ozark Mountains along the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad, a 150-mile route connecting Fort Smith, Arkansas, with Monett, Missouri, the story follows a young itinerant woman who travels freight trains across the heartland looking for work, and experiencing life on the outer edge of civilization. Filled with scenes shot in the wreckage of May’s devastating E-F5 tornado, the video stars LA-based actress Claudia Davila along with dozens of local actors and residents cast during three days of location filming by Haines, director of photography Lol Crawley, Cap Gun executive producer Jason Botkin and their crew.

“I’ve always wanted to shoot a film based around train hopping,” began Haines, who was nominated for the UKMVA’s Best New Director Award in 2007. “We tested the idea with the label, Joy and John Paul, and everyone felt like it could work, as it somehow reflected the ideas of loss, regret and transience which echo in the song. When they understood it would be panoramic in scope, full of faces and landscapes that reflect the tones in the music without being too prescriptive, John Paul and Joy were really into it.”

Sharing many insights into the challenges of shooting in some of the area’s hardest hit locations, and onboard the A&M railways, Haines described the process as being difficult, but also, incredibly rewarding. For example, during the scene where a house is torn down, Haines had an emotional conversation with the home’s owner. By the director’s account, the production was aided immensely by A&M’s main gaffers (“Larry and Brenda”), who were instrumental in designing the right type of train, scouting locations and even bringing the production team to a square dance to find cast.

“People love to talk in that part of the world, they have great stories and yarns; I felt like I was in a Cormac McCarthy novel,” Haines continued. “The chap who dies in the film is an old Rodeo clown called Norman. He’s got throat cancer and is not long for this world, but his eyes lit up when he saw an opportunity to be in this video.”

With these and other encumbrances of the “tricky” production, according to Haines, the plot naturally evolved into something more narrative and linear. “I wanted to create the idea of a character who was living on the edge of society, but that gave her strength,” he added. “She is vulnerable but adaptable, and sadly, seismic natural disasters seem to be increasingly something we may have to live with, so adaptability is crucial to survival.”

For principal photography, the team used the ARRI Alexa Digital Camera System with anamorphic lenses. As one tribute to the project’s powerful, cinematic storytelling, it has now been chosen as an official Vimeo Staff Pick.