Fighting Prose Interview with Erna Grcic!

Welcome to my in-depth writers series Fighting Prose. Where I talk to authors in the industry on what their process is like and what it takes for them to keep on creating, through all the odds.

How long have you been writing?

I got a diary in the first grade, which I first used to practice writing, and then continued keeping a meticulous account of my not really eventful childhood. Although it's questionable how much literary merit these elementary school memoirs have, I think this is when my writing journey actually began. It is how I developed a need to express myself on paper and I grew more skilled and creative with time. In middle school some of my poems and short stories ended up in the school papers, and that is the pattern that kind of continued throughout my life. I wrote and actively published in several magazines and anthologies, including the Three Drops Press. However, only recently have I decided to compile my poetry into a book, and that is how Beneath the Surface came into being.

If you’ve written several books, which is your favorite?

Beneath the Surface is my recently published collection of poems and it's currently my favourite book. I am actively working on a fantasy novel titled The Hatching, which should be out by 2021.

What's your favorite genre to read? Write?

I enjoy reading works of fantasy, such as books by Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett, and I love literary fiction, especially women writers such as Zadie Smith and Kate Atkinson. When it comes to writing, my favourite genre is definitely fantasy. There is nothing comparable to the pleasure of building a world and populating it with characters, and you can go as far as your imagination allows you. I had bucketfuls of fun creating the fictional cities of Rodgrad, Vesnik, Dazhnia, and Karzel for The Hatching.

How do you get in the mood to write?

I am blessed with a very good power of concentration. I can write almost anywhere - on a plane surrounded by screaming children, in a doctor's waiting room, in the middle of a bustling staffroom (actually that's where I wrote several of my poems including 'Jaded' and 'Ennui'). However, during those sluggish days when I do need to set the mood for writing, I try to minimise distractions, mute all notifications, and put on my noise-cancelling headphones.

How do your characters come together?

I start with an idea of what kind of a character I need and what her or his purpose would be within the storyline, whether she helps convey the theme, or she functions as a trigger for a certain event. I love writing characters' back stories, tracing the events that have shaped and moulded them. I make sure that they have flaws that will land them in trouble, and I give them some habits and quirks that distinguish them from the rest. It is important to know one's characters well in order to be able to write them realistically into all kinds of situations. Some of these minor details might seem insignificant - for example that a character runs her fingers through her hair when she's nervous - yet it is these details that give life to characters.

How do you get your ideas?

Sometimes, especially for poetry, the best ideas come from observing the world and the people around me. Poetry is about transmitting powerful images, sharing important messages and emotions, and that takes a keen and observant eye. I like to give these mundane situations a fantastical twist, a yellowish eye that glints in the depth of the murky waters. This is how Beneath the Surface is constructed – as a blend of the seemingly ordinary and the fantastical. I also read a lot of mythology and I often draw from or make references to myths. Beneath the Surface revolves around the image of the Kraken with its powerful tentacles, the poem ‘Ragnarok’ is inspired by the Norse myth about the end of the world, and the novel-in-progress, The Hatching, draws heavily from Slavic mythology. I focused on Slavic mythology because of my own background, and also because I feel that it is a well of wonderful and dark stories that has not been explored enough.

Who do you admire in the writing world?

A writer I truly admire is definitely Neil Gaiman. He is such a versatile writing genius - from his graphic novel The Sandman, to his children’s works such as The Graveyard Book and Coraline, to his epic American Gods - his writing is so educational, inspirational, relevant, and entertaining at the same time. He blurs the lines of reality and writes the truth into his works. At the same time, as we have had the chance to see recently during the coronavirus epidemic, he is also a very grounded, socially involved, and generous person.

If you're not busy writing, what are you busy doing?

I am a high school English teacher and I spend a lot of time planning lessons and researching effective strategies to teach reading. I participate in conferences and I've already published a couple of academic papers that deal with literature and applied linguistics.

Have you always been creative?

I have always felt a need to create and to express myself. Writing has always been there, I can't really remember the time when I didn't write in one form or another. It has chosen me and I think it's a relationship that's going to last for a lifetime. In addition to writing, I went through a number of creative phases, from painting, which wasn't really my thing but I persevered, to making jewelry, which was very satisfying and therapeutic and all my friends got their hand-made birthday gifts, to playing the guitar and taking photographs, which I am still quite passionate about.

Have you ever had writers block? If so, how did you get out of it?

Yes, I had severe writer's block after my father had passed. It lasted for almost half a year, and although many people find solace in writing in these situations, I didn't. I had several projects that had reached a complete standstill at the time, so I did the only thing that I knew would give me a jolt in the right direction: I entered a national writing competition. All of a sudden I had deadlines, loads of deadlines. I wrote around 30,000 words in a matter of weeks. I didn't win, but it gave me a really good kickstart that has lasted until now.

When you sit down to write, is it easy or hard? If it's hard, what makes you keep showing up?

The first five to ten minutes are always hard, until I get sucked in. In my case, it's an experience similar to reading, I write stories and poems that I would like to read, they reel me in, I become curious about what could happen next and where it could lead us - that is when ideas start flowing. It's not always smooth sailing though. There are days when it seems that nothing works and everything is horrible and needs to be erased. This is the moment when I take some time and distance myself from the project until I gain a clearer perspective, before making any rash decisions. I keep returning because it is not even a matter of choice anymore, it's the force of habit and my main way to give meaning to the world.

For a writer starting out what advice would you give them?

Perseverance and dedication are an absolute necessity every step of the way. From writing a book, to getting it published, to getting people to actually read it, and then even when one gets a breakthrough, it definitely takes a lot of willpower to keep working, to start new projects, to nurture and shelter one's creative space from the helter-skelter everyday life. Whichever path you choose, whether as an independent author or as a traditionally published one, you will need to develop a thick layer of skin. It takes courage, strength, and persistence to get anywhere.

What is your dream writing location?

A hobbit hole. It's absolutely perfect: warm, cozy, underground but not in a gloomy way - as Tolkien himself says, it's the ultimate idea of comfort. It has all sorts of odds and ends to keep oneself entertained and an inexhaustible pantry. What more could one want?

In reference to your books, what question do you get asked the most?

In addition to the usual question about inspiration and finding time to write, I find it interesting when people ask me why I write poetry - it's not as fun as fiction, it doesn't sell well, and sometimes it's hard to understand. I believe that poetry has the power to transmit emotions and ideas within a very condensed form. Both reading and writing poetry is an intellectual game, like solving an intricate riddle woven out of images and figures of speech. And also, it's currently getting massively popularised by the new generation of poets, who are adapting the form to suit the present-day readers.

If you could bring one of your characters to life who would it be? Why?

A character I would like to see come to life is Tierney from The Hatching. She is not the protagonist, but she is definitely my favourite character. She is a Hermione-like know-it-all from Karzel, a city ruled by a dwarf god of mines and gold, and she wields a mean battle axe. After the city gets conquered by the Rodgradians (a neighbouring kingdom) she needs to organise the resistance and inspire her people to fight for their freedom. She is blend of a knowledgeable and inspirational mind and the spirit of a warrior, with one significant flaw which I'll leave to be discovered in the pages of The Hatching.

What do you think makes a good story?

I think a good story needs to have a universal theme that speaks to the readers across time and space and enables them to empathise with the characters and their problems so as to learn a lesson and reach a catharsis. A good example of such writing are the classics. We keep going back to Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, we keep rereading and reviving their works in the form of movies and TV shows because they still speak to us and they still have the power to move and touch us.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

As a child I always dreamed of becoming a vet. I have always loved animals, we've always had pets, and the study of language and literature was unimaginable for me at the time. However, we grow and change, and certain things crystallise and assume their proper shape. At some point my love of books got the better of me, but I still love and care deeply for animals, as my wonderful cat Henry can confirm.