Milena Filipps

My name is Milena, I currently live in Germany. I am a history student, mostly interested in the history of science, thoughts and ideas, culture, art, clothing, literature and architecture – basically interested in everything from a historical perspective. When I have a day to myself I dedicate it to writing, reading and visiting local castles, palaces and museums. I also volunteer as a teacher to those who learn German as their second language.

Question 1: What inspired you to start writing?

I started writing when I was five years old, so getting a pretty pen or notebook was enough inspiration at that time. Writing soon became a habit, a way to better organize impressions and ideas or to leave some thoughts behind. I used to write some random stories, but the setting, the imagery, the overall atmosphere of a text interested me more than the plot. To me, one of the merits of writing as an art form is that in writing you do not have to separate your thoughts from places or impressions, while in photography, for example, the image is captured, but the sound is lost. The original thought process of the artist becomes just as inaccessible as the sound later on – of course, you may reconstruct it by interpreting the photo or some notes or sketches and your interpretation will be productive in some way, but not the same thing as the original idea. Writing is a medium that doesn’t put images, sounds and thoughts into a hierarchy – I am free to do so myself. Prose is simple and accessible, it is easily shaped into any form, which is probably why it was so easy for me to keep writing a habit. However, it took some time for me to realize that poetry was something I could write too. I knew it was a suitable way to express many things I wanted to say, yet I only found the courage to try at age 19-20. As a result, I almost gave up on fiction writing - except for verse novels, as I enjoy writing them. First I wrote only in German, later in English and now I prefer English for shorter pieces and German for longer projects. Recently I started to count my poems out of curiosity – that’s how I know that I wrote 233 poems in 2022.

Question 2: What have you written that you're the most proud of?

Many projects that are important to me have not been published yet. In 2020 I wrote a verse novel about travel, time and architecture, which only needs some minor edits on my part now. It is written in German and doesn’t really have a plot (which is why I am not sure I should even call it a novel). This project focuses on place, dialogue and history as the material illusions are made of. My descriptions of architecture as well as a certain monologue about the past keep me from forgetting about this manuscript. I also have some unpublished poems I like. One of them conveys some thoughts prompted by a walk in nature, but separated from the landscape that inspired it. Recently I wrote a poem about paintings in museums and people’s interpretations of them, which is a topic I often return to – yet this poem is minimalistic and melancholic at the same time. Some of my poems seem to hide their message among other implications, so I like to reread them and remember the original ideas behind the chaos of words. Three of my favourite pieces are currently published. I am happy with the way I portrayed my thoughts on the journey of literature through time in my essay “Writing, Vanity and Time” (Livina Press, 2022). Writing them down meant gaining clarity and explaining to myself why a certain sentence by Friedrich Schiller caught my attention. “My Glasses” (Livina Press, 2023) is another favourite. In this essay I found words for something I meant to say for a while, an idea I have not been able to express for some time – a few months, maybe. As someone who studies time I need to consider memory. And since I believe that writing poetry is a way of learning too, I have written several poems about remembrance. One of them, “Looking For Some Memories” (2021) has been published by RIC Journal, my first publication in English.

Question 3: When did you first call yourself a writer? 

As I think about this I realize that I avoid calling myself a writer, but not on purpose. I only use the term when it seems convenient, which usually happens when I pick a category for my social media profiles. As my reasons behind it are pragmatic, I don’t remember when I first decided it would make sense to say “I am a writer”. If I was asked when I first felt like a writer, I would answer that I never feel like a writer at all. When I write, I focus on my writing, which drives my attention away from myself. When I don’t write, I am someone else. I am busy playing some other role. In general, “writer” seems to be a very loose term. Not only does it reduce the writing process to the act of writing itself, ignoring the thinking-part and all the efforts invested in research. Sometimes I feel like it implies that writers are a homogenous group, while in reality they are a very diverse one due to the nature of the craft itself.

Question 4: What is your writing process like? Are you more of a plotter or a pantser?

It depends on the text I’m writing. Sometimes – usually before I go to sleep around 2 a.m. - I plan to write down only one or two sentences and end up with a finished essay I don’t even edit anymore – this was the case with “My Glasses”. I only added the footnotes later. Sometimes I write a poem and revise it many times, so that it doesn’t retain any of its original features. When I worked on my verse novel I wrote the first few pages and then started thinking how to go forward from there. Usually I write down some thoughts, key points, phrases, names and places important to the text, especially if I am planning a longer manuscript or an essay. My notes look chaotic and rarely resemble an outline. I don’t think they would make sense to anyone else, but I always remember the connection between names, places and quotes. I learn more about them as they take shape on the page. However, if my notes are too detailed I will lose interest in the project. To me, writing is about gaining clarity of a concept, an idea, a character, a phrase or something else – therefore writing a text I already have full knowledge of is a waste of time.

Question 5: Do you play music while you write — and, if so, what’s your favorite?

I enjoy compositions by Bach, Vivaldi, Piazzolla (Oblivion), Schubert (Serenade), Rameau and Chopin performed on violin, cello and piano. Unfortunately I don’t know much about music, I simply discover pieces I like on YouTube and add them to a playlist.

Question 6: What do you think is the best way to improve writing skills?

Studying the history of literature. By reading works from different time periods one is able to discover the variety of thoughts, ideas and mentalities that shaped writing as well as the numerous methods employed by writers to conserve their ideas on paper. History also helps to reflect on the preferences of one’s own time and their temporary nature.

This perspective allows me to make more conscious choices about my writing style and to understand the aesthetic I want to incorporate in my work. Additionally, I gain courage to ignore writing advice that doesn’t work for me.

Question 7: Are there any books or authors that inspired you to become a writer?

Not directly, but I imagine that my writing would be very different if I didn’t know certain literary works. I learned a lot by reading Goethe, Schiller, Proust, Austen and Dostoevsky. Sometimes I am impressed by their writing, sometimes I disagree with it, sometimes I find the past, but not the present there, sometimes I quote it. In the future I would like to read more works by Foucault, Dickens, Milton, Shakespeare and Remarque, among others.

Question 8: What do the words “literary success” mean to you? How do you picture it?

To me, literary success is the impression that you have captured a thought and it can’t run away from you anymore. You may return to it or think of something completely different, as you are now free. All other types of literary success I can neither control nor understand – as I wrote in “Writing, Vanity and Time” I will never know the destinations my writing will reach. It might get published and soon be forgotten; or a manuscript of mine might get lost and found again in an archive centuries later. Writing is unpredictable and being part of its unpredictable path is a success of its own kind.

Question 9: What are you currently working on?

Right now, I am writing another verse novel in German, which focuses on the purpose and the nature of names. Perhaps it is inspired by Proust’s "In Search of Lost Time" – a work that shows interest in names, yet paradoxically avoids giving a name to its narrator, who acts as the main character. Another current project is an essay where I am trying to analyse the melancholy and nostalgia that accompany artistic growth.