What inspired you to start writing?
When I was a kid, I loved episodic fantasy adventures like Dungeons and Dragons (which I still play to this day) and the Deltora Quest book series. These experiences inspired me to write my own fantasy novel—something I never finished but had a great time working on. Nowadays, I’m not as interested in fantasy, but my love of writing carries into the present.
What has writing horror taught you about the world and yourself?
To be brave, ask questions, and trust my gut, particularly about people. People are hugely problematic almost by nature, and horror gives us this wonderful license to explore that and find out how we really feel about certain types of people or behavior. There’s an honesty to it because fear is incredibly honest. I suppose it helped me learn how to cut through bullshit.
What inspired you to start writing?
I was a lover of horror at a very young age (we’re talking like two years old and I was already obsessed with monsters). I was reading by age three, and by about year seven or eight, I found Stephen King, which led to eventually discovering Cabal by Clive Barker at age 11 or 12 (a very queer book not only because of its author, and still my favorite novel to this day).
LGBTQ+ — B Stands for Bisexual
By Angel Leigh McCoy
Our job as fiction writers requires us to step into the hearts, minds, and bodies of other people. For this reason, writers are some of the most empathic beings I know. We’re skilled at using our imaginations. We use that tool to choose the actions, thoughts, and feelings experienced by our characters.
What inspired you to start writing?
I’ve been writing stories since I could write and never stopped, basically. I just got around to actually learning how to revise and submit things to publishing places eventually, but it’s one of those things I think I’d be doing all my life regardless. Just for me.
What inspired you to start writing?
I started to write fiction in 2018. I had moved to a small town. My first drafts of the Nanowrimo novel experiment were cathartic and healing. I wrote my maternal grandmother back to life, and together we got through a hard part of life, a toxic work environment, and becoming a new mother. In 2022, I took an inspiring online writing class called The Art of Fiery Prose with Giulietta Nardone. One of the assignments was submitting short stories to online journals. And I did! And mags published things!
What inspired you to start writing?
Drawing gives me carpal tunnel, so I must externalize my thoughts through other mediums. More importantly, I was first inspired by great stories that kept me reading till the sun came up. I wanted to write like those authors and create exciting worlds and loveable characters.
What inspired you to start writing?
I’ve always just loved creating stories. When I was a child, I would draw my own comics based on things I was a fan of – mostly science fiction shows and movies (shoutout to anyone who remembers the anime epic Robotech). As I got older, I learned to refine this skill in prose, and the creative writing class I took at UC Davis during my senior year was transformational.
What inspired you to start writing?
I’ve written poems since I was eight years old. In third grade, I won third place for a Mother’s Day contest. So, initially, I wrote poems for my mother and stepmother. But it wasn’t until I wrote a poem about childhood trauma for an English class assignment in high school that I connected to writing as a practice to make sense of the most troubling experiences I was facing.
What inspired you to start writing?
I’ve written for as long as I can remember, but the instance that made me want to take it seriously was in middle school. We were assigned the task of writing a fictional short story. Any genre, theme, etc. I spent five hours on it and experienced “flow state” for the first time. I read somewhere that whatever gets you there, in that state where the task at hand is all you can think about, where all else melts away for a while, should be something you take seriously. Something to give you purpose and a way to make sense of the world for yourself.
What inspired you to start writing?
I was always a reader and didn't take the chance on my own writing until quite recently. Once I got started, I was hooked on creating worlds--and imaginary friends--and I couldn't stop.
What inspired you to start writing?
At a young age, I’ve always had a love for books—I was that kid who finished all their summer reading plus some. I even used to make my own books with several sheets of folded paper and a stapler. Over the years, I don’t think I’ve ever outgrown that love for storytelling.
What does it mean to be API/AANHPI?
I suppose I will take a more personal approach to this question, as it is definitely one that has persistently popped up throughout my life. For me, it has always been: what does it mean to be Asian, or more specifically in my case, Chinese? As a child, I was born and spent the early years of my life in China, and even after arriving in Canada,
What inspired you to start writing?
I had multiple ideas of what I wanted to be as a child. I said I wanted to be a doctor, an author, and a fashion designer, and sometimes a scientist or witch. But writing and journaling were always my safe place. So, when I could have enough financial cushion to attempt it, I allowed myself to take that risk.
What inspired you to start writing?
Growing up in Hawaii as both a Hawaiian and Filipino, storytelling was a part of my life on my father’s side. Because I loved to tell stories that would scare my classmates, my teacher challenged me to put my stories on paper and to keep up with that challenge, she would submit my stories to different contests that the newspapers and other outlets would have. I haven’t stopped writing since.
What inspired you to start writing?
I’ve always occupied my time with stories through various mediums like television or books. It was escapism for me. It wasn’t until I started watching the cartoon Super Friends that I began to imagine “what if?” type episodes. Like, what if Superman was flying during a solar eclipse? When the moon passes between the earth and the sun, would Superman lose his ability to fly during the obscuration since the yellow sun gives him his powers? What would that story look like? The inspiration comes from stories or narratives that don’t already exist.
What inspired you to start writing?
I started writing stories before I started drawing. I remember the first time I wrote a story; I was 5 or 6 at a Sunday congregation meeting with my family. My mom told me to take notes on the sermon but I interpreted that as taking notes about whatever. I ended up writing a short story about dragons and angels having a picnic.
Pixie Bruner is a poet, writer, editor, and cancer survivor. She lives in Atlanta with her doppelgänger and some sketchy cats. Her poetry has been published or forthcoming in Space & Time Magazine, Crystal Lake Publishing, Star*Line, Punk Noir, Dreams and Nightmares, and more. The Body As Haunted (Authortunities Press) is her debut poetry collection. She wrote for White Wolf Gaming Studio. HWA and SFPA Member.
Recommended Reading: The Body as Haunted (Authortunities Press, April 2024)
The first things that probably come to mind when reading the words, “Pacific Islander,” are hula dances, grass skirts, luaus, tiki huts, and coconuts. You probably don’t think of blood, death, or fear. But you probably should.
Claire Fitzpatrick is an award-winning editor and author of speculative fiction and nonfiction, specialising in body horror. She identifies as neurodiverse. Her self-published anthology, The Body Horror Book, which she compiled, co-wrote, and edited, won the 2017 Rocky Wood Award for Nonfiction and Criticism. Her debut collection, Metamorphosis, released by IFWG Publishing Australia in 2019, was hailed as “graphic and disturbing,” “engaging and darkly beautiful,” and “simply heroic.”
