Writer Alexis von Konigslow
Alexis von Konigslow is the author of The Capacity for
Infinite Happiness. Her novel The Exclusion Zone will be published by Wolsak and Wynn in May, 2025. Alexis has degrees in mathematical physics from Queen’s University and creative writing from the University of Guelph. She lives in Toronto with her family.
On Creative Writing: What life experiences have shaped your writing style?
Alexis von Konigslow: I had a kid! It ended up helping! I found that all the ways that kids complicate a person’s life made me a better writer.
When my child was a little baby, I had to feed him every few hours, and couldn’t really put him down for any length of time, so, when I had a minute to write, I had to be fast. Later, I decided to stay with him during the day and work at night (because there was no $10/day daycare then). I had even less time to write, so I had to take full advantage of every opportunity that did present. I couldn’t be indecisive anymore. I couldn’t over think (and I used to love to overthink). I had to get my thoughts down.
Developing the impressive skill of writing almost anywhere at any time!
In the years since, things have gotten easier for me in some ways, but even more complicated in many others. Still now, much of my writing starts in the notes section of my phone. I don’t have time. I don’t have space. I have to get out of my own way. I have to get things done. And so I do. (I still find a way to get in my own way though. I’m really good at it.)
On Creative Writing: Has your writing evolved over the years? If so, how? Through writing experience? Reading a lot? Writing courses and communities? A combination or something else?
Inspiration: rough drafts, community, books, people
Alexis von Konigslow: My writing has evolved so much! I wrote a lot and I threw so many things away. I threw away whole novels! I did it several times! I took courses and I learned so much. I found a community, at least for a while, and I was so inspired by their writing and their voices and them as people. I love to read, and I get inspired by what I read. I love to listen to people, and I get inspired by people’s voices, and what they say. Maneuvering through different kinds of communities has made my writing evolve as well.
On Creative Writing: Can you trace any common themes across your writing?
Themes of science and safety
Alexis von Konigslow: I love to write about science. I love to draw parallels between things I read in science and things I see elsewhere. I love to write about how science and studying science seeps into every day life. I liked to write about how the questions we become fascinated by and consumed with inspire us and change us.
I love to write about safety too. This world wasn’t made for us. We were born into it. Feeling safe in the world in a choice, and it’s one that I often forget to make, so I love to write about that.
On Creative Writing: Which authors and/or types of books do you like to read?
Alexis von Konigslow: I like to read as much as possible and as many different types of books as I can. I’m reading a lot of young adult fiction right now because I have a young adult with me most of the time, and we love to share books with each other and talk about them. I’m also delving into horror, and thrillers, and post-apocalyptic fiction, and romance too, that last so that I can sleep at night.
On Creative Writing: Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Alexis von Konigslow: I’m a pantser first, and a plotter after.
I start by writing by the seat of my pants. I always have something in the back of my mind that I want to do, but I can never seem to see it until I’ve finished a first draft. When I read the draft, then I realize what I was trying to do or what I wanted to say in the first place. So then I go back.
That’s when I plot. I go over the first draft, and whittle it down and change it using a sort of after-the-fact ad hoc outline.
This is not an efficient process. Seeing it in writing is in fact horrifying.
Thank you to River Street Writing for co-ordinating this interview with Alexis!
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