Alex Aster on Being Inspired by Latinx Mythology

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.

Today’s guest is Alex Aster whose first book, Emblem Island, comes out in Spring 2020. Alex is represented by Laura Bradford, at Bradford Literary Agency.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

The idea for the Emblem Island series came from a story my Colombian grandmother first told me when I was four years old. In this specific cuento, a girl is gifted a beautiful marking on her forehead for following the rules, and her wicked sister is given horns for breaking them. The idea of earning or being given symbols stuck with me, and became the basis of the Emblem Island world, where everyone is born with markings on their skin that dictate their fate and talents.

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

Like most authors, this isn’t the first book I’ve written—but it was the first to get published, and, surprisingly, was the easiest to write. In Curse of the Night Witch, the main character, Tor Luna, is cursed with a deadly emblem, and must find the mysterious Night Witch to reverse his curse. Because it’s a quest, I found building the plot to be not only a smoother process, but also a lot of fun! As the characters got closer to the Night Witch, and crossed Emblem Island for the first time, I was able to write in all sorts of magical, treacherous, and scary scenarios or characters they would run into on their journey.

Also, because of the impact Latinx stories had on my life and creativity, it was important for me to include some stories inspired by Latinx myths, including La Llorona, and La Ciguapa. From there, I wrote my own original stories, which became The Book of Cuentos, the book my main characters have to use to find the Night Witch. We decided in edits to include stories from this book between most chapters, so it’s almost like a book within a book, which I think is pretty cool!

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

In its first iteration, the story was pretty much the same as it is now—but 25,000 words shorter. After I signed with Laura Bradford, my amazing agent, the book expanded, and included many more adventures and worlds within Emblem Island. From the beginning, I had a pretty good idea of how the story would end up, and it was just a matter of getting the characters there. This is definitely not how I typically write, but the plot remained pretty firmly in place the entire way through.

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

Story ideas don’t come easily when I’m trying to look for them, but love to fall like clumsy shooting stars and hit me over the head when I least expect it. Once an idea I love is in my hands, it grows pretty rapidly, and it’s up to me to contain it all in a story. I’m also very inspired by music—certain songs set the mood for the tale I’m trying to tell, and I’ll often listen to the same track on a loop while I’m writing.

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

I’ve started a few very different stories after selling Emblem Island: Curse of the Night Witch, but one in particular has stuck. I finished writing it, and am now re-writing it, but I’m not in a huge rush, the same way I have been for other books. This time, I’m letting the inspiration come at me in its own time, instead of forcing it. But I do hope to have it finished by the time the first Emblem Island book comes out, which is June 9th! In terms of how to choose which story to write next, I think story ideas are kind of like roommates—you might enjoy a conversation or two with a certain person (or idea), but which one do you want to live with (mentally) for the next few years? Writing a book means living with the story for a long while, and reading it dozens of times, so it’s a pretty big commitment, and you really have to love it to give it the time and dedication it deserves.

I have 5 cats (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

That’s so cute! I don’t have a permanent writing buddy, but I do sometimes borrow my twin sister’s ridiculously cute miniature poodle, Leo. He’s not distracting because he pretty instantly falls asleep in a ball in my lap.

Some Novel Tips for Writers to Beat Creative Crisis

by Dorian Martin

The life of writers is all about ups and downs. One day you feel inspired and can write a hundred pages. The next day you feel broken and can’t find suitable words to finish a sentence.

If you are going through a creative crisis and are looking for help, check out the following tips on how to get your life back on track. Do your best to take control of the situation and find inspiration again.

Practice gratitude

Can you describe yourself as a grateful person? If you do not feel thankful for everything you already have in your life, you should reset your mindset.

Numerous scientific studies have proven there is a link between gratitude and creativity. It means that if you start practicing gratitude, it will be easier for you to beat the creative crisis.

Here are a few tips on how to start a “gratitude journey”:

●      Keep a gratitude journal on a daily basis. Write a list of 5 things you are grateful for.

●      Write “thank you” letters to people who helped you in your life. List all the good things they have done for you.

●      Stop complaining. Focus on things you have rather than things you have lost.

Find a new hobby

If you feel stuck in your life and work, you should find a new way to express your creativity.

Have you ever tried to watercolor flowers, decorate cakes, or play the guitar? Have you ever wanted to learn how to dance salsa or make clay pots? It’s time for you to try new activities and explore new forms of art.

“If you immerse yourself in a new creative hobby, you will unlock your creative potential. You will overcome the crisis and find inspiration for writing,” says Elisabeth Glover, a psychology writer at TrustMyPaper.

Take a look at your past achievements

It’s common that writers tend to undervalue their past achievements and doubt their talents. So if you worry that your writings are “not good enough”, you are not alone with your problem.

To get your confidence back, do the following:

●      Take a look at the best works that you completed in the past few years

●      Choose your favorite passages and read them aloud

●      After that, ask yourself a question: “Is it even possible that such a masterpiece was created by a person who has no talent?”

You do have a writing talent, and that’s an obvious thing! You have already achieved success as a writer once, and you have all the skills necessary to create even better pieces in the future. Reread all the positive reviews you have ever got, and you will get inspired again.

Travel to a new place

Your creative crisis will not end soon if you keep spending all your time in the same place and talking to the same people. To get your writing power back, you should travel to the place you have never been to and meet people you have never seen before.

“Travelling is one of the most effective ways to get positive emotions and find inspiration. So if you have been dreaming about a trip to Paris or Bali, it’s time to make your dream comes true,” says Tom Anderson, a travel blogger and writer at WowGrade.

Go exploring new cultures, tasting new cuisines, and admiring nature’s beauty – and your problems will solve themselves.  

Hike more

Hemingway was a big fan of hiking and mountain climbing. Together with her first wife, he often went on in the French countryside during their years living in Paris. According to Hemingway’s biography, their hikes were typically in the 12 – 20 mile range.

Long-distance hikes helped the famous writer not only to keep a good physical shape but also to avoid creative crises.

So if you like hiking and mountain climbing, try to practice more often. It’s highly likely that it will stimulate your creativity, and you will want to get back to writing. 

In conclusion

Remember that no matter what is going on in your life, everything is in your hands. If you want to feel the joy of writing again, try out the tips given in this article. Make the first step and become a happy, successful writer.

Dorian Martin is a blogger and novel writer. Currently, he works as an editor at Studicus and IsAccurate. His biggest passions are jazz, baseball, and medieval art.

The Saturday Slash

Don't be afraid to ask for help with the most critical first step of your writing journey - the query.

I’ve been blogging since 2011 and have critiqued over 200 queries here on the blog using my Hatchet of Death. This is how I edit myself, it is how I edit others. If you think you want to play with me and my hatchet, shoot me an email.

If the Saturday Slash has been helpful to you in the past, or if you’d like for me to take a look at your query please consider making a donation, if you are able.

If you’re ready to take the next step, I also offer editing services.

Imagine if Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was thrown in a blender with New Orleans voodoo and queer characters. The result would be a magical mix of adventure, curiosity, loss, belief, and family. We all think we know the story of Alice and perhaps we do, but what we don’t yet know is the story of AMARYLLIS LIDDELL, a queer multiracial girl living with her single mother in Brooklyn, NY. A young adult version of the classic tale blending fantasy and realism, THE TRIALS OF AMARYLLIS LIDDELL is approx. 79,000 words.

What you have right here is more of an elevator pitch, or a mashup. You're taking a concept (Alice) and adding the spice of the other two elements. It's not a bad pitch, but I don't think it's a hook for a query. A mashup is by nature broad, but a hook is very specifically pointing to an event or element in your book that makes it different from other books. Definitely think about what the defining element of your book is, and try to work that into a hook, rather using the language of a mashup / elevator pitch for a query.

THE TRIALS OF AMARYLLIS LIDDELL introduces us to an Alice different from the one we already know. Right now the language that you're using to compare your book with Alice is making it sound more like a retelling than anything else, and with the elements I see in front of me within the query, I'm not sure that's accurate. Feel free to ignore, is that is the gist.

Amaryllis is curious, much like Alice, but she also wishes so strongly that she were brave. Why? What is she scared of? Overall, Amaryllis’ life isn’t so bad. She loves her books, her girlfriend, the city, and all the possibility it represents. She could, however, do without the fights with her mother and the nagging feeling that she wants more from life. She wants adventure and purpose – and most of all, she wants to belong and feel understood. Everything that you're saying so far is very typical of just about any / all YA literature. For a query you want to extrapolate on what makes it stand out, what makes it different. Nothing listed abobve fulfills that.

At the end of her junior year of high school, Amaryllis looks forward to spending her summer running around the city with her girlfriend SOFIA You only capitalize characters names within a synopsis, not a query and to spend her free time with her nose buried in a good book, specifically the many old texts on voodoo, herbal remedies, and charms that have been mysteriously showing up at the studio apartment she shares with her mother, HARRIET. Also, make sure you are a person that can write about voodoo respectuflly and with an understanding of all the cultural connections.

On a sweltering summer day, after a particularly nasty fight with her mother on the subway platform, tragedy strikes Amaryllis’ life. As Amaryllis storms away from her mother, angry about what’s been said, she hears screams and gasps from behind her. Harriet has fallen onto the tracks and died. This is reading way more like a synopsis than a query. It all seems like a freak accident, one that Amaryllis is sure she must be at least partially responsible for. Amaryllis’ whole life turns into a whirlwind of emotion and change as her long-lost aunt shows up to bring her back home – to New Orleans, that is. While in New Orleans, Amaryllis discovers her family’s connection to voodoo and that it was, in fact, her aunt who had been sending her the books all along. Amaryllis makes it her purpose to dive into the art of voodoo and find a way to work through the grief of her mother’s loss. And what better way to cure grief, she thinks, than to bring her mother back from the dead? Good news. I found your hook - it's all the way down here, at the bottom.

As an avid reader of the young adult genre, I set out to write the book I wish had existed when I was a teenager. I wanted Alice to be queer (#ownvoices), to be a person of color, to exist in a world that I recognized – this is how I created Amaryllis Liddell. She is everything I think a 2020 Alice should be and encompasses much of what I think queer young people want to see in their storytelling. Amaryllis suffers enormous loss in more ways than one, which gave me the opportunity to write about a topic that’s so close to my heart. I too, have suffered losses, and so have many other readers in the YA market. They need stories that speak to them, that aren’t afraid to show the pain that accompanies loss and what one young woman is willing to do to fix her pain. Everything before this, (with the excpetion of the #OwnVoices mention) isn't useful in a query. Cut to your accrediations, below. I hold an M.F.A. in screenwriting and currently teach creative writing as an Assistant Professor at Western Kentucky University. My tv pilot script, ‘Til Death (a queer drama), earned an honorable mention at the University Film and Video Association conference during the summer of 2019. I have published two poems and two short nonfiction pieces with small presses, and I was the screenwriter for the short film Five, which premiered during the African American Short Films Series from Badami Productions in 2016. Most of my work centers on queer women and trauma.

Great bio if you take out the more personal elements noted above. Also, you are clearly aware of #OwnVoices and are illustrating your fitness for this story in terms of queerness. If you have something simliar to put up front in connection to the multi-racial and voodoo elements, I would advise that, as well.

As I noted above, this is reading more like a synopsis than a query. Get the trauma of loss and the idea of resurrection in there way earlier. It feels like more of a hook than the Alice comparisons. Also, some indications about whether or not this is a good idea (or a bad one), would be great. You say your MC wishes whe were brave, but not why she thinks she isn't, or why she wishes she were.

Writer's Digest shares a series of successful query letters on their site, with feedback from agents who signed the author, and why the query works. Read through some of those to get a better idea of what a successful query should look like.

Mine can be found here.