I am so excited to be interviewing Sarina Louise today! She recently had her short story The Poet Who Lived on Pickpocket Lane published in an anthology with other students from the The Author Conservatory - the college alternative I'm currently enrolled in!
I got to meet Sarina over the summer and connect with her online, and she is such a sweet person and gifted writer! If you'd like to look more into her story and all the other authors included in the showcase anthology, you can do so here. But until then, I hope you enjoy this interview with Sarina Louise!
Welcome to my blog, Sarina! Firstly, I'd love to have you introduce yourself.
Hi! My name is Sarina Louise, I'm twenty-two years old, and I just graduated from the Author Conservatory as an inaugural graduate. My first book released December 3rd, published through the Conservatory. In the time I'm not writing, I love to watch K-dramas, listen to music, watch Kpop music videos, or hang out with friends!
What first made you decide that you wanted to be an author?
I can't remember a specific moment--I've just always known that I wanted to be an author. My sisters and I had a swingset behind our house and, since we were homeschooled, we used to go outside after school and spend hours making up stories and adventures and pretending we were princes or princesses. After that, I tried my hand at writing novels and fell in love with telling stories in a written form. And the rest is history!
Where do you think the idea for your story, The Poet Who Lived on Pickpocket Lane, sparked from?
Pinterest! I was on a phone call with a friend, trying to think of short story concept ideas, and I stumbled across a picture of an apartment listing that said "No Teenagers, Pets, or Poets". Immediately, I was hooked. I actually took an old character and an old title, and my short story was born!
What was the easiest part of the writing process for you?
Probably the actual writing process of the draft! It was so fun to do a short story after primarily working on longer pieces of fiction, like novels or novellas. The small word count limit was stressful, but actually ended up being decently easy. I think it helped that Elias (my main character) is so dramatically angsty since he's a 1920's British poet, and those are always some of my favorite characters to write.
What was the hardest part of the writing process for you?
The concept and the outline, for SURE. I expected to breeze right through the plotting process, but it actually ended up taking me five months to work through the concept and the outline. It was dicsouraging, at times, because I felt like I was going around in circles. But on the other side of it, I am so glad that I took the time and waited and let the story work itself out.
Do you have any tips for fellow writers who might be in the same place?
Do the work on the front end. Because I spent so much time working on the plot and figuring out what was wrong on a developmental level, it made writing, editing, and submitting the story so much easier. And get help from other people! So many people looked over my short story and gave such helpful critique and comments and I know that I wouldn't have been able to do it on my own.
Now, for a fun question: What are some of your favorite books?
Oooh great question! I love the These Violent Delights duet by Chloe Gong, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Dearest Josephine by Caroline George, and so many more!
Thank you so much for doing this interview! Where can my readers find you online?
You're so welcome! This was so much fun. You can find me at my website "sarinalouise.com", where you can also sign up for my email newsletter for more updates, or you can find me on Instagram at @authorsarinalouise!
Aw, I love this interview!! Great questions, Molly, and Sarina, I loved your answers! <33