K. M. INDOVINA

 Winner of the 2012 'Flashy Shorts' Competition with her flash fiction entry The Oatmeal Galaxy.

 

Tell us a little bit about you:

 I'm a writer. I've been doing it full time since winter of 2011.

  

What do you like most about writing?

I like that I can blow things up. I can talk to a snarky portal set in a kitchen wall that thinks it's Coco Chanel. I can enter a grocery store, lie on my stomach, and start squirming down the aisle like a pink snake wearing a crown. I can sprout wings and fly.

 

Is there anything you dislike about writing?

It's exhausting. 

It also sets one up for serious delusions of grandeur. It's the nature of a profession in which most of your time is spent alone and in your own head. I now make sure to spend at least a couple hours a day talking to people, whether in person or online.

 

What are your strengths and weaknesses as a writer?

My strengths? I feel that would be best left for my readers to decide.

My weakness is in regards to traditional fiction. I used to spend too much time trying to figure out how to write stories that appeal to a wide audience. I've come to peace with the fact that my brain works the way it works. I can't force it to write fiction that sways one way or another.

And endings. The beginning and the middle are always a breeze. Ending a story well is the most painful part of the process for me.

 

What inspires you to write?

I started writing as a kid to avoid boredom and entertain myself. I wasn't allowed out of the house much and we weren't allowed to participate in many group activities. I didn't have any friends because I was kind of a jerk with zero social skills. Reading and writing became my way to fill in the gaps till I could escape and discover the real world.

 

Which author(s) would you say have most influenced your writing?

Hans Christian Anderson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Harlan Ellison come to mind. There are those backdoor secrets such as Anne Rice, William S. Burroughs, and Jean Auel I'm humbled to admit were huge influences on my earliest works. 

I now aspire to be like Norvell Page. If I can manage to create something a tenth as entertaining and creative as he did, I'll die happy.

 

What are you reading at the moment?

This book called Purgatory 101. It's wild stuff.

 

Which three books would you list as your favourite all-time reads?

Three Men in a Boat, Book of Judges in the Bible, and Great Expectations.

 

Do you have a preferred genre or particular style you apply when writing?

Medium rare.

Just kidding. I like it so rare it's bloody and still mooing. It depends on the project. I write in a much different style when doing something that will be going to a pulp publisher than I would for a literary publisher.

 

What are you working on at the moment?

A vampire/mermaid historical romance (will probably self publish) and a future dystopian comedy with Pro Se Press.

 

Any thoughts about e-books and e-book publishers?

They're tasty.

In regards to ebooks and traditional publishing, I think people are up in arms about not much. It's a transitionary period for arts and entertainment, both in dealing with the internet and economical shifts in general.

 

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

Don't edit yourself. Don't edit your thoughts. Don't have a goal. Write first. You can mold things into making sense later.

 

What are your hopes for the future?

I hope Mindy the Mauler doesn't find me. You don't want to know what happens when she finds out I can't pay up.

 

Where can you be found online?

You can find me on Facebook Here.

On Twitter Here.

And on Word Press Here.