Reading time: About 2 minutes
Jasmine Ruff says that writers shouldn’t fixate on form. She says she’s seen mediocre fiction writers become brilliant poets and vice versa….
Jasmine Ruff is a queer writer living in Vancouver — the ancestral and unceded lands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples. Her writing has been published in the Ex-Puritan, Foglifter, Plenitude, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia.
I was excited to talk to Jasmine about how she approaches writing.
Q. Roughly how much time do you spend writing every day?
I think of my writing more on a weekly basis rather than a daily basis. I have a four-day work week, so I usually have one day where I can dedicate a few quality hours to writing and then the rest of the week I’m lucky to catch fifteen minutes here or there. However, I consider reading to be part of the work of writing and I usually read every day.
Q. What’s a simple activity or habit that makes you a better writer?
Therapy.
Q. What interferes with your writing?
Drama.
Q. How do you persuade yourself to sit down to write on days when you really, really DON’T feel like doing it?
I get into bed with a cup of coffee and the treat aspect of that motivates me to get started.
Q. Is there a particular motto or saying that you’ve found helpful for writing?
The other day the Paris Review posted a James Baldwin quote that resonated with me: “You want to write a sentence as clean as a bone. That is the goal.”
Q. Which stage of the writing process do you enjoy the most: researching, writing or editing/rewriting and why?
I love the research/dreaming phase when everything about the idea seems shiny and exciting, but I also like when I’ve been working on a project for so long I can finally see the cracks.
Q. What’s one of the best books you’ve read (either fiction or non) in the last five years?
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis. A Good Happy Girl by Marissa Higgins.
Q. What book are you reading right now?
I’m reading two books at the moment—in part because I always have an audiobook on the go and something on my kindle. So right now, I’m listening to The God of the Woods by Liz Moore and reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.
Q. What do you think is the biggest misperception that new writers have about the act of writing?
That you need to stick with the form you began writing in. I’ve seen mediocre fiction writers become brilliant poets and vice versa. I think experimenting with other forms only makes one a strong writer—and sometimes one finds a new and unexpected home.
You can find Jasmine Ruff on twitter and instagram @jasmineruff411.
