Happy Tuesday, reader pals!
Today I'm here with an author interview, in celebration of S.J. Blasko's newly released poetry collection. I had the privilege of beta-reading this gorgeous collection a few months ago, and y'all... *collapses to the ground* It. is. fabulous. If you enjoy poetry, twisted fairytales, or just want to support teenaged indie authors, you're not going to want to miss Midnight Comes! <3
I had so much fun doing an interview with the author, so read on to check that out! :D
Synopsis
Once upon a time...There was a sorceress, who cursed a prince to become as beastly as his pride
There was a daughter, who watched from her window and ached to see the world
There was a mermaid, who traded her voice for a human soul
There was a stepmother, who saw beauty only in others, never in herself
And there was a boy, who forgot the warmth of love.
In five narrative poems exploring the darker, more human side of these classic fairytales, rediscover the characters as they are given a voice of their own.
Author Interview
What inspired the idea of writing a poetry collection?A couple of factors came into play for that. First of all, April is National Poetry Month, so I followed a couple of daily prompt sites and was bombarded with ideas from those XD. Second, my high school English and Creative Writing teacher held a poetry reading of his works and a classmate of mine opened for him with some beautiful poems. And thirdly, as if those weren’t enough, I was the co-editor of my school’s literary magazine this past year, which centered around (you guessed it) poetry. So I guess writing my own poems naturally followed.
Have you always written poetry or is this something you’ve started more recently?
I wrote a few poems growing up, but with the exception of a select few, they will most likely never see the light of day. It wasn’t really until this past year that I started writing the poems I’m proud of.
Which poem from the collection is your favorite?
That’s so hard to choose! I think for my personal favorite, I have to go with Mirror, Mirror.
How long have you been writing in general? (poems, stories, whatever)
I’ve been writing seriously for about five years, but I’ve loved stories my entire life. When I was little, I made up tons of them, but I either told them to myself or acted them out with my toys. I didn’t start writing them down until I was thirteen.
Do you prefer to write by hand or on a computer/tablet? Why?
For poetry, I prefer writing on a computer. It’s easier for me to organize my thoughts with the unlined white space, and it’s easy to move around and delete segments and lines that don’t work.
For story writing, I much prefer paper. It’s the same reason for both, ironically, the different mediums give me the right amount of space in my head to get the words out.
What does your typical writing schedule look like? (Like, how often do you write, where do you write, and what time of day.)
My typical writing schedule looks like tears and bursts of inspiration and more tears. I haven’t found a way to consistently work writing time into my day yet, so until I do, I’m a write-when-the-muse-strikes kind of author. And boy, does the muse strike like a sledgehammer.
Do you plan to publish more written works in the future?
Absolutely!! I’m already working on two more themed poetry collections, as well as a few novels. My biggest novel project right now is a retelling of the Peter Pan story, where Pan and Captain Hook are brothers, and the story centers around a girl with cystic fibrosis who comes to Neverland.
That sounds fabulous! Thanks for stopping by, Sierra!
~*~
Your turn, readers! Do you read and/or write poetry? Did you enjoy the interview? Think you'll check out the fabulous book? I'd love to hear! <3
~Faith
