Everybody sees the world differently, and I see the world in details. Sometimes it’s the hush of a pastel dawn that’s inspiring. Sometimes it’s the look in an old man’s eyes when he holds a sun-bleached photograph of his younger self. Sometimes it’s my own heartbreak.
Shyness and bullying was the impetus for Anna Vera to bury herself in reading. Reading led to writing and the release of her sci-fi novel When Stars Burn Out. Now working on the sequel we catch up with her to talk about dropping off social media, analyzing why you write and embracing the spiraling vertigo of vulnerability.
In this saturated, competitive landscape, every single thing you can do better than somebody else, gives you an edge. Writing well simply isn’t enough.
Los Angeles-based science fiction author A. C. Hachem on his transition from poetry to speculative fiction, confidence in marketing your work and how he continues to be motivated by badly written genre fiction.
It wasn’t until my early twenties that I stopped saying “I can’t” and started doing it. I have been writing with fervent passion ever since. Sometimes we are the biggest thing holding ourselves back.
As a child, Jennifer Wilson loved stories but struggled with reading. She was a painfully slow reader and had issues with dyslexia. It wasn't until in her mid-teens, when a persistent friend convinced her to read the Harry Potter series, that Jennifer found her love for the written word. She is now the author of the New World series, a dystopian YA tale, with the third novel due for release later this year.
If you want to do it, just do it. As with anything in life, the only way you’ll ever accomplish something is if you pave the road for yourself.
Utah author J. Kowallis, creator of The Enertia Trials series, on channelling Shia LaBeouf’s ‘just do it’ tirade, formulating endings as she writes and viewing criticism as an inherent part of self-improvement.
