Author Interview: Erika Kochanski

Today on the blog I'm talking with Erika Kochanski, author of Polarity and Indecision! On a quick aside, I'd like to apologize for the short hiatus on the blog the past week or so - I took a break from social media for the week of my birthday, but should be getting back into regular posts now!

The Author: Erika Kochanski was born and raised in Brisbane, Australia, and graduated with a Bachelor's degree majoring in writing and literature from Griffith University. Writing has been a lifelong dream, travel an ever growing passion, and when given the option to live out of a suitcase in a foreign city while writing about the world the answer is always 'Let's go!'

Goodreads // Blog

The Book:

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Interview Questions:

When did you decide or realize you wanted to write?

I wanted to be a writer as a child already. I used to write ghost stories for myself after I finished my homework after school everyday. I hung out for Wednesday's when my family would take their weekly trip to the local public library.

What does your general process usually look like, from initial idea to published book?  Do you outline or wing it?  Write digitally, or by hand? 

Everything for me is digital, and the ideas just come to me and I collect them and expand on them. I usually have several folders put aside on my computer just accumulating imagery or writing files for me to see what takes off and what doesn't. Sometime over time folders end up merging when the ideas work right. I don't outline the entire story, so I suppose I wing it, but I generally have an idea of where I want it to go. I don't write in a linear progression of events, but more I write several events at different times depending on my mood and piece them together later. Sometimes that means a little extra rewriting, but more often than not I come up with better ideas than if I had of just followed a timeline and stuck to it.

What was the idea or spark that led to your latest book?

 Some of it is personal, although the story is complete fiction, but things in my own life tend to inspire my writing. At least as an adult. I like to think of it as taking pieces of the world that you already know and cutting them up into squares, then throwing them up in the air and watching as they come together as a completely different puzzle of events and people that you wouldn't have expected before. There is definitely a lot of myself in Polarity and Indecision, that's for sure.

Do you listen to music while you write, or do you enjoy the silence?

 Generally speaking I require silence. Occasionally a television might be running in the background, but for me to get any decent kind of work done on a story I need peace and quiet. Most of my best writing has happened when I was at home alone.

What does your work space look like?

 Ha, well, that changes. I am a traveller, so one day my workspace might be my room (which is light and bright with clean simple lines and a few travel knick-knacks) but the next day I might be fighting for space in a hostel common room or sitting in a quiet cafe. Sometimes when I need to get a real lot of work done I like to hire out a hotel comfortable hotel room for a couple days and just let myself be alone without interruption.

What type of research, if any, goes into your novels?

Mostly I just research as a situation requires it. Sometimes, like with Polarity and Indecision, I have to get people to look at certain situations to make sure they're reasonably accurate and realistic. I had a conversation in the original draft that I was never quite happy with, and when I presented it to a friend to read he said, "Two guys don't talk like that to each other." I knew straight away that he was right, that it was the entire issue with the scene, and after a long deliberation I decided to cut it because it never really fit right. It's always hard to cut out big sections of your work, but if they're inaccurately portraying the world that you're trying to create you'll end up losing your audience. Sometimes you have to research facts (e.g. does a hospital really operate in this way?) and sometimes it's more of a question of social interaction and if what you have written is plausible to your reader.

What are your interests and hobbies outside of writing?

Travelling and running. I try to go out running 3-5 afternoons a week and I save like a demon to make sure my travel dreams can become a reality.

Favourite snacks while working (if any?). 

Wow, so many. Haha. Sometimes all I want is water and coffee, but other times I want chocolate, popcorn, licorice or cookies. I think it depends on how emotionally attached to what I am writing and how involved in the process of expression I am. If I am in a writing frenzy generally I'm not snacking just keeping my fluids up. Other times I'm spending and entire weekend in my bed clothes just trying to get an idea out of my system and I continuously snack on little meals throughout (mostly so I have to get up and walk away from the computer as often as possible so I don't go cross-eyed).

Who are some of your biggest inspirations as a writer?

This changes a lot over time, but two books that have affected me very deeply are Colin Falconer's Anastasia and Vanessa Diffenbaugh's The Language of Flowers. When I was younger I also used to read a lot of Stephen King and Melanie La'Brooy (very different genres of course).

What can you tell us about your latest project?

I have several ideas as always, but I'm not sure which one is going to take the lead yet so we will just have to wait and see.

Speed Round!

Films or TV shows?

TV shows LOST and Sherlock are my favourites. Films would be Wild, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Hector and the Search for Happiness, and my guilty-pleasure Pitch Perfect (it's my go-to when I'm feeling down).

Singles or entire albums?

I'm actually into Soundtracks and Compilations.

Sweet, savoury or salty?

All in one please.

Favourite season?

I live in the tropics so everything is usually Summer for me all year long, so when I travel I love experiencing the different seasons. I love them all equally.

Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram?

Facebook. I've done them all, but I streamlined my social media because it was becoming a little overwhelming so now I just have Facebook and Google+.

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There you have it, folks! You can read samples of and purchase Erika's books here, and as always, give her a shout on social media if you enjoyed the interview! 

Some Stuff, About Stuff

I'm in a lot of pain right now. Did I break a leg? Cut myself? Sprain something? Nope: I went to a friend's house and got a lot of flea bites. They're swollen, because I'm allergic to flea bites, and itchy, because they're flea bites, and it sucks. Fuck fleas. Honestly, they can go to hell.

Flea bites aside, though, I've been having a (mostly) good time, as of late. But life is still weird, in the way it's always been weird, and between bursts of goodness and fun, life has been a cloudy mess of nostalgia and dread lately. Basically, it's almost fall.

To start with the good, I've had a great past couple of weeks. I promised to post more about my vacation and then never did, so to start I guess I should get into that: around a year and a half ago, my grandmother and aunt (who is not actually my aunt, but who I've always called my aunt anyway) moved out of the city to my aunt's home town, which is called Campbellton, and is a four hour drive away. I haven't seen them since. My brother, parents, and cousin had all been up to visit, and I hadn't. Since my grandma's health isn't great I've been really anxious to see her again since they left, and this past month I finally got the chance to go up with my cousin Amelia for a five day trip. The four hour drive ended up being eight hours, both ways (thanks, bus company routes!) and the trip was...wild. Good wild.

I never thought I'd get my first tattoo on a trip to Grandma's house, but I went ahead and did it anyway. Bad ass, right? Top that with a wolf and some store-bought basket food, Red Riding Hood!

Anyway, the trip was good. Amelia and I have been best friends since we were born (I was born exactly seven days before her) and we spent most of our early years together. Who we are is irrevocably tied with each other and, honestly, we're pretty damn similair: we're both creative, chaotic, passionate night-owls with a tenancy to bite off more than we can chew and get ourself into trouble like a fish gets wet.

My memories are scattered and hazy like the smoke from my grandmother's endless stream of refrigerated cigarettes: Amelia laughing out the open window of the car as we swerved around a corner, the hiss of my grandmother's ancient, bald cat as he batted at my face for daring to pet him, the fast-track, clipped accent of my aunt's seemingly infinite line up of sisters. My aunt, Josie, and her sisters, took me on a walk every night. Amelia tagged along sometimes, but other times it would be just me and Josie and one or two of her sisters, strolling along. we would point out houses we liked, tell old stories about each other, or ourselves, they pointed our local landmarks and recounted wisdom they'd picked up along their path through the years. I was consistently amazed by some of the little nuggets of humanity and wisdom I found among the cast of my vacation, which was mostly middle aged to senior women. But it was a young vacation, too. It was Milly flirting with the hot guy at the Sobey's checkout counter, it was me walking through the dark town alone in the rain, dreading coming home. It was diving back into the current at Tidehead beach and feeling new memories wash over my head like the cool water, swallowing me up to spit me out again as something new, something both older and younger.

And for the weird? Coming home was a struggle. I knew/know, in my heart of hearts, that this could be the last time I ever see/saw my Grandmother. I might have the opportunity to go up again in October with my brother, and if I do, I'll take it. If she lives through the winter, I'm going again next summer, too. Nan has been in bad health for years, and she's survived a lot longer than any of us thought she would, but I know that no matter how long she lives, I'll always regret not spending more time with her when the end inevitably comes. I've already lost one grandmother. So has Amelia. We both knew what we might be leaving behind when we climbed out of Josie's car and into the cold morning to get back on our bus. We knew, when Josie climbed onto the bus after us, tears streaking her face, to hug us again and press twenty dollar bills into our hands, what had pushed her to come after us for one final goodbye.

We both know what it's like to lose someone to time, to realize that your last goodbye was the last goodbye. I still remember Amelia's hands shaking as we hovered over our Grandmother's bedside in the dark of morning, wrapping her in hugs and whispering our goodbyes to her half-seeping form before heading out for the long trip home.

Something was coming to an end. A chapter we'd been reading so long we'd fallen in love with it. And this trip? This trip was the final scene of our beloved chapter. I know that I'm going to remember this summer, and this vacation, for the rest of my life, in some capacity.

It hasn't been all bad since I got back, either. My tattoo is now healed, and while I did miss the Saint John Pride parade, I've been out a few times. The other day I met up with my best friend, Kuma, and a friend of ours named Kevin, so we could go into the city for the day. The plan was to hit the library and hang out sketching, but instead, after checking my bank account for eight bucks and realizing I had one hundred and fifty, it turned into a wild day of walking, shopping, laughter, and sunlight that sears into the memory of the day so that you can almost feel it on your skin when you look back on it.

I bought a bunch of books, and a bunch of incense, and tea, and snacks, and lunch, and...okay, maybe I got myself a new pipe. My old one was broken, the mouthpiece is twisted. Her name is Lady Starship. The new pipe? Not twisted. Not rusted or burnt or damaged in any way. She's perfect, gleaming black metal, and her name is Black Cobra. I also got these new cigarettes (if you can call them that) that are menthol free and nicotine free.

Cute, right? I'm not a big smoker - I mean, sure, I smoke pot sometimes - and I've been known to indulge in a cherry cigar every other month, but cigarettes? Not my thing. Lung disease. Yellow fingers. Nasty. these, though? We found them in the organic food store while we were getting incense and tea and thought they're be fun to try. We chain-smoked them in Kuma's room while getting shitfaced drunk on home made wine and breaking in my new pipe. I'm not entirely sold. Kuma really liked them, since she doesn't smoke weed or actual cigarettes they make a nice, healthy alternative - but I'm not too fond. The smoke was really, really irritating, to the point where I was full on crying because ouch, my eyes! and I couldn't really taste the vanilla. And, you know, because I'm just that kind of high-class bitch, my organic cigarettes need that vanilla flavour if they want to keep me around.

We also took selfies in the Asian Market:

My point is, it was a good day. And there have been other good days. My cousin from Vancouver laughing at the table with me and my mom over a bowl of freshly picked blueberries, smoke twining in the air of my bedroom while I sit talking with my dad, an endless stream of good writing days and netflix gossip Girl marathons and so many coffees I'm sure my blood is half-caffeine now.

And yet I feel sort of...sad. Melancholy. And I'm worried. Scared, even.

I'm scared that the summer is coming to an end in a very short three days. I'm scared that I'm turning twenty years old in a few months. I'm scared that I might have to go back to daily classes soon if my homeschool-ish program doesn't work out this year, I'm scared I might never see my grandmother again. I'm scared that I'm turning into an adult. Time is passing so quickly now.

Yesterday I'd just been accepted into my first-choice high school. I was a naive, slightly-damaged but still mostly-innocent teenager who had four years to get his shit together. Today I'm a nineteen year-old who's going into my final semester (if things work out I'll graduate halfway through the academic year, as opposed to at the end of it) I'm tattooed and toughened-up. I've got new scars and new sorrows, and I'm stronger for them all. I'm a wholly different person, and I've barely had time to blink.

So who will I be in three years? Will I be the struggling writer living with his parents and working a shitty job at a Starbucks to try and get by? Will I be the published author and artist living in a tiny Toronto apartment with my best friend? Will I be single? What colour will my hair be? Where will I find room for some more scars? Who are my pets, my friends, my thoughts?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm an adult now - or just about to become one - and it's fucking scary. Responsibility, work, regrets. I just don't want to look back in twenty years and wonder where all my time went, why I wasted all my chances. But I'm also excited.

I'm excited because I'm a self-published author with big plans to increase my readership. I'm excited because I'm finally turning into someone who isn't afraid to stand up for himself and be his own best friend. I'm excited because all these new opportunities are turning up and all I have to do is be brave enough to go after what I want.

In short what I'm saying is, nostalgia is messed up. And so is the future. And I'm sort of a mess, but it's beautiful. I have people on my team who are invaluable, like Amelia/Milly, and Kuma, and my parents, and my readers, and it's all kind of funny how things work out. If you'd asked me who I would be someday four or five years ago, I would not have told you I'd be the boy with a scar on each wrist (one still pink and healing, the etched in my flesh with ink) who had a fire in his chest and sparks in his eyes, who was a published author, who was not ashamed to look his own reflection in the eyes and say "I love you." but now I can't imagine myself as anyone else.

So that's where I'm at right now, between screeching at the MTV Scream finale and mainlining cheap instant coffee, I've been asking myself who I am and who I'm going to be. They're some tough questions. But I've learned lately that I'm tough, too, so maybe I don't have too much to worry about. I don't know what this semester, or this year, is going to be like - but I know that, through all of it, I've got me, and I've got this blog, and I think...well, I think I'm ready.

And that might be the scariest thing of all.

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Bonus, the song that will officially remind me of this summer forever:

See you guys soon,

-Oliver