First of all, I would like to extend an apology to everyone. Recently a semi-severe illness struck us and put everything out of commission. We are back on track now and we appreciate your patience.
We have a great interview today. Ekat Rin was introduced to me through my promotion and I was immediately hooked. The style of writing and suspense that carries with the writings are pretty amazing. It is easy to navigate and immediately brings you into the picture of the novel. It is a noticeable talent and I am very excited to present – for your enjoyment – Ekat’s creations.
The first book when I have started reading is: The Source Code. Book 1 The Inhabitants of the Uninhabited Island, it can be found and purchased at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FYMHJJD – The goodreads reviews go one with detail the same astonishment with the writing style. Saying it pulls a person in. I highly recommend the book to anyone who appreciates an intelligent story with a technical aspect that keeps you interested.
Ekat also has another great book: Soulmate: The Past in The Present Tense (in collaboration with Masha Solo) https://www.amazon.com/Soulmate-Present-Tense-Masha-Solo-ebook/dp/B075VPQ4QT The premise is very interesting and the duo writing artists do a great job of depicting great plot twists. No review I found gave less than a 4.7.
In case you would like to learn more or just stop in to appreciate the talent you can find here at these websites & social media outlets
https://www.instagram.com/ekat823/
https://www.facebook.com/ekatrinthesourcecode/
Ekat has an entire series in the works.
In order to find out what happens to Maggie In the source code keep and eye out for the list:
The Source Code. Book 2. Doubtless Doubts and the Doubtful Truth
The Source Code. Book 3. The Charge of Those in Charge
The Source Code. Book 4. The Powerful Challenge for the Willpower
Those are the ready ones that will be released in the near future. The series in whole will consist of about 20 books.
Besides being a brilliant writer, Ekat has a lot of other talents which have helped hone her abilities. The background is as interesting as her books. She writes:
“I started my career as a music composer for a newborn puppet theater. Its first play suffered a spectacular failure. The producer invested a huge amount of money in the scenery and puppets, and for him, it was a horrible disaster. I offered to write a new play for the existing material part. It turned out so that I was his only hope. So, he agreed, not really expecting anything good. After all, I was just an ambitious girl, whose writing experience included only a few articles for musical magazines. However, the success of my play was as spectacular as the failure of the first one.”
“I regard this as the start of my writing career.”
For 10 years, she wrote for the theater—the puppet theater she worked for and a number of theater companies. Aside from writing, it was her research on human perception and the influence of art. She says: In 10 years, I was ready to make my dream come true.
My dream was to write a book series about happiness without the fight of good and evil and make it a very captivating reading. The work on this series turned out into another research that made me extract from my inner world unimaginable things and make overwhelming discoveries.
I didn’t publish this work, but I plan to do it in the future. The matter is, though the readers—the members of my close circle—liked it, very few had actually understood what it all was about, and most of those few who had understood were professional psychologists. In other words, it was like explaining algebra before teaching figures.
So, I decided to put this work aside for a while and find a way to ‘teach figures’. It turned out to be a pretty challenging task; something like to explain to the one, blind from the birth, the difference between colors. Of course, if to speak about vision, even if you find the way, you won’t make the blind one see, but in case of this matter, the explanation can do this. Thus, it was worth trying.
And I tried, working as a journalist, copywriter, screenwriter, ghostwriter, and co-writer. All those spheres made me work very closely with other people, who provided me with the feedback, very valuable for me. It was one more research.
When I felt ready, I started a new book series—The Source Code—this time, determined to publish it. The first book of the series The Inhabitants of the Uninhabited Island was released in summer 2018.
For the first time, I got feedback from the people I don’t know. You can’t imagine how scared I was when I found the first review on Goodreads. I really was afraid to read it, though it had five stars. No matter all my researches, I was not sure I was on the right way and feared to see that I had failed to hit the target again. Of course, I read it eventually, and …
I never was so happy! Even when I was listening to the ovation my first theater play had earned on the day of its premiere.
I did it!
Yet, it was just one opinion. So, trembling, I waited for the next ones. They confirmed my victory, even the one that had only three stars. So, I started writing the next books. The second, third, and fourth ones are virtually ready for the release and will be released in the near future.
Aside from writing the book series, she also works on a documentary (production) and a short film (pre-production).
Ekat has a gripping writing style and imaginative mind. She immediately caught my attention and have so far enjoyed everything I’ve read. I was glad that she agreed to do the author interview. I think we can all learn a lot here as she answers questions. Without further ado; here is Ekat’s interview
If you had to choose the most monumental paragraph you’ve ever written – What would it be? (It doesn’t have to be published, it could be from anything)
If you have that ‘most monumental paragraph’, you don’t have a harmonious whole. A novel or a short story or any other literary work is not a society, it’s a personality. Imagine a person with a monumental generosity in the background of feeble kindness, courage, empathy, etc. If one lacks kindness, courage, empathy, etc., it’s better they’re not generous. On the other hand, if their kindness, courage, empathy, etc. are as monumental as generosity, then generosity cannot be their most monumental feature.
What is the one thing that you most enjoy writing about? What writing niche or topic motivates you the most?
Happiness. Everybody wants to be happy, but too few actually know what it really is. When someone asks me what I write about, and I answer that I write about happiness, I always hear in reply, “Happiness? Oh! It’s boring!” Dear ladies and gentlemen, are you happy when you’re bored?
There are scores of books, written about suffering and troubles. Perhaps, I am too presumptuous, but I am sure the overwhelming majority of people suffer just because they have no idea what happiness is. Writers and filmmakers are the ones responsible for this state of things because books and movies give people the matrix of the way of thinking, feeling, and acting.
You can’t find happiness in the outer world because the outer world does not contain it. Happiness has nothing to do with wealth; it has nothing to do with possessing anything; it even has nothing to do with such things like love or fame. On the other hand, such things like pain, struggle, grief are not the hindrance for happiness. Happiness does not depend on anything the outer world can provide. Happiness is a special way to take what you have.
Releasing or promoting my works, I have difficulties to choose the genre from the lists the publishers or promoting platforms have in store because all those lists do not contain the genre I write in. I have to choose something like Adventure, Paranormal, Thriller, Suspense, but all those genres do not give a proper notion of what I write about. My genre I call Psy-Fa—Psychological Fantasy.
Psy-Fa—Psychological Fantasy is a fairy tale with elements of the reality for adults, wherein the main part of what a reader considers reality is the fruit of the author’s imagination, while the main part of what looks like a fantasy to a reader is the true experience of the author.
Of course, I could write a non-fiction book about my experience, but I like fiction much more and believe that learning something through entertainment and relaxation gives far better results than poring over boring instructions.
What is your favorite marketing technique? How do you get your book in front of people? Or, what have you done in the past to really get people to notice your writing talents?
I am new to promoting my books. The matter is, until now, I never had to promote my works—other people always did it for me. So, I am just learning and don’t have enough experience to share.
What is your best time management hack and how has it improved your writing or writing career?
I have a rule: I do only what I want to do, and I do what I don’t want to do only in case of dire necessity. Exactly this rule brought me to writing.
Once, many years ago, everything was perfect in my life, but I didn’t feel happy. Even more! I felt terrible! So, I thought, why it was so. And I found that I didn’t do what I really wanted to do. I did the things others told me I had to do. On this day, I invented this rule for myself.
For approximately half a year, it was a nightmare. I made a horrible discovery: I didn’t know what I wanted! It turned out that all those things I thought I wanted were the things others told me I should want. So, it took me that half a year to get rid of the nasty habit to live and think as I was told.
Now, many tell me that it’s not right to spend my life typing, taking breaks only for sleeping. But what of it? I am happy! I feel happy! Besides, those who criticize my lifestyle complain that they feel like they have lived just one day no matter how old are they. I feel as if I have lived several very long and very interesting lives.
Is there a thing (song, movie, poem, etc.) that inspires you to write more? How do you believe it helps motivate you?
There is a thing that inspires me. It’s the keyboard. When I put my fingers on the keys, I am inspired.
As for motivation … What motivates you to eat your favorite food? What motivates you to drink your favorite beverages? What motivates you to have sex with your beloved? Exactly this thing motivates me to write. And the name of this thing is I WANT.
As a writer, there are many obstacles to attaining success – what would you say has been the hardest thus far for you?
Promotion. It devours so much of the most valuable thing in the world: TIME. I wish I could spend it writing new books or screenplays. Actually, I am doing exactly this right now, but the prospect of killing TIME by promotion is ominously looming ahead of me. However, I can’t avoid it since I chose the way of self-publishing.
Who would win in a fight: Unicorn or Pegasus?
Unicorn and Pegasus are wise creatures. They will find much more fruitful pastime than fighting one another.
(Good answer)
Do you have any writing blogs you recommend? Any websites that have helped you through writing, publication or even just motivation to write?
I have a vast experience as a copywriter. Thus, I know the way the content of most blogs and websites is written. I recommend none. The best way to learn how to write is by reading your favorite books and analyzing. Take the literary work you love with all your heart and read it many times, analyzing what you like about it and how it is made.
In the creative field, people often tell others to write for money and change their stories to ‘fit in’ where they recommend. Have you had publishers, agents, people tell you to change elements of your stories? If so, how did they want to change it and what did you do?
Oh! The first thing I did after I had written the first book of my first book series, I brought it to a publisher. After reading my work, the publisher said, “Wow! We just need to cut this, this, and this, and it will have all the chances to become a bestseller!” Without ‘this, this, and this’, I didn’t need it to be even a seller without the prefix best. Since then, I do not consider working with publishers or agents.
I even do not work with editors and proofreaders. I can survive a caustic rebuke about overlooked typo, misspelling or a grammar issue, but I can’t tolerate spoiling my thoughts by bringing them to a dull form of school language. Perhaps, I happened to work with bad editors and proofreaders, yet this experience made me prejudiced about all of them as about all publishers and agents. To be honest, I’d be happy if someone proved me wrong—editing and proofreading own works is an immensely hard ordeal.
I work with beta readers, and I adore this work. I adore critique. I know what I write about, but I have no idea what readers will read about, and I desperately need to know this. I need to ‘fit in’, but not necessarily where others recommend. If my beta reader says this or that needs changes, it means it needs changes; however, not necessarily the changes the beta reader suggests.
As for writing for money; I wrote and still write for money a lot. It’s the way I make my living. It’s a very good school to write what you have to but not what you want to in order to realize what you want to write and how you want to write. As I found out, the best way is ghostwriting. It’s like acting. It makes you be different writers. Along with it, it is hard to overestimate the critique your clients provide you with because it’s the critique of a person concerned. You can learn from it a lot about the perception and the ways to make the impact effective.
What do you feel is the most common ‘traps’ for aspiring writers? Have you experienced any ‘traps’ by publishers, or the writing community?
Never came across any ‘traps’, so, I am a total ignorant concerning this matter.
What is the most important thing about books and or writing in your opinion?
Writers—along with artists, musicians, filmmakers, and other creatives—rule the world, shaping human consciousness. They are responsible for wars and terrorism, corruption and injustice, violence and cruelty. I do not exaggerate. Every writer should be aware of that responsibility and try to make this world a better place but not a worse one.
What advice have you been given from the writing community that you later learned was terrible? Any advice people gave that turned out useless?
I am a too presumptuous person to listen to others’ advice. I prefer to explore the original sources. Yes, it’s a much more time-consuming thing; yet, if the advice you gave yourself lets you down, the only thing you have to blame is your own logic.
Have you ever attended writer seminars, Literary lunches, writing retreats, book signings, or group activities for writing? What is your opinion of the groups?
Many years ago, I attended a few. Didn’t learn anything new.
I like film festivals. Moviemaking is a collaborative process unlike writing books, and networking here is a crucial ingredient of fruitful work.
Your young-self had ideas about your future. Would you say you are in line with what you thought about yourself as a kid? Or, would you say better?
I’ve found the answer to the question I kept pestering my parents and grandparents with when I was a kid.
The question was: Where did I come from?
What did you think?
No! I am not talking about that! However, my parents and grandparents thought exactly about that, when I asked them this question. On my part, I saw that they were scared by that question, and I knew that they were lying to me, answering it. It was clear they were hiding something. You can’t imagine my disappointment when I found out what they were hiding from me.
I did not ask about THAT!!!
I asked about the place I had come from. The place where I had been before I was born and even conceived. During the first years of my life, I still vaguely remembered it and felt that if someone gave me the tiniest hint, I would remember this place in all detail. Just like you remember the line of a verse if someone tells you the first word. But while I grew up, that memory of the memory kept fading until it was no more.
I didn’t hope that I ever would be able to get back this memory, hidden too deep inside my inner world. However, working on my first book series, I managed to reach that level and retrieve this memory in whole. I have restored everything about this place, or rather everything one is able to restore being a human being.
As for normal childhood dreams, when I was 5, I told my parents that I would be a music composer, and I was for quite a while. However, one of my lives ended and the next began without dying of this body and birthing of another one.
Her explanations and writings are so deep and informative it was like she wrote a book within the pages of this interview. I sincerely appreciate your willingness to participate in this promotion. I know she will go far and if you appreciate her style as much as I do, I reiterate; she can be contacted at:
https://www.instagram.com/ekat823/
www.facebook.com/ekatrinthesourcecode/
Comments