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This podcast is for anyone who loves a good story. Board now for interviews and writing samples from talented authors!
If you would like to be featured, email your work to storystation@riverbendmediagroup.com
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There is no word count, but please select a piece that can be read in ten minutes or less.
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Thank you for your interest!
Every story is a ticket to somewhere extraordinary. No need to pack a bag, just settle in and let the words transport you. Now boarding: an insight to an author's mind. This is The Story Station.
Ana: My name is Ana, and I like to write because that was just something natural that came to me as a kid. And I loved creative writing because I can make up anything.
Emma: Mhmm. That is so nice. The power of imagination. Anything you want to create. And you are in Michigan. Is that correct?
Ana: Yep.
Emma: Wow. That's exciting. You are our first guest who's not from Idaho, so welcome to The Story Station. We're happy to have you here.
Ana: Thank you.
Emma: You have two books currently published, is that right?
Ana: Yep.
Emma: Tell me a little bit about them.
Ana: So I have The Secret Lies in Your DNA, and that is about a young girl who is a teenager, and she's going through high school. And she end up in foster care because of some circumstances in her home that her school finds out about. And then she goes to different homes through foster care. But through that, she finds out that her mom that was raising her is not her biological mother, and so she finds her birth mother, and her birth mother is the one that she starts to live with. And then the second book is called Shattered Glass, and it's a series from that first book that I mentioned, The Secret Lies in Your DNA. And it's about the same girl, and she's growing up as a young adult now in the second book. And she goes through all these different things. Like, she finds out she has some other siblings through her biological dad, and then towards the end, she end up becoming a mom for the first time. And it's a lot of things that, like, conspire up to that point, but I think that it's really, like, one of those lifetime types of books because I watch a lot of lifetime movies, so I was able to create a book kind of based on the things that I've seen in lifetime. I've never seen anyone, like, have a story, like, identical to mine, but I've seen different movies where there was, you know, like, maybe someone finds out, oh, like, this lady is not their parent or something like that. That's kind of what I tried to, like, create.
Emma: That sounds like a lot of twists and turns.
Ana: Yeah, it is.
Emma: You said you watch a lot of movies with real-life stories. Is that what inspired you to write realistic fiction?
Ana: Part of it, but also, like, there's some things that I experienced as a kid, and I wanted to put that into, like, a book form. The characters are not me. Like, you know, it's all made up, but, like, I wanted to, you know, have people be able to relate to something. And also, I feel like I could relate to that character because, well, obviously, I wrote it, too, but, you know, I also can relate to because there's some things that I've gone through, you know, as a kid or, you know, as an adult. And so I wanted to make a story that I could relate to just to get out my feelings about things that have happened in my life. That's basically where that came into play.
Emma: Do you have any tips for making your characters and the challenges that they face seem real and relatable?
Ana: I think that you can just start with what kind of things have happened in my life and what kind of things would I like to have happen in my life. That's kind of something that I went off of when I started writing the book is that I was thinking about places that I've been or things that have happened and how I would love for it to change if I could have changed it, and so that's where I went from there.
Emma: I like what you're saying about taking inspiration not only from what has happened, but what you want to happen. That's really creative, and I like that.
Ana: Thank you.
Emma: So, where do your books take place?
Ana: The first book, The Secret Lies in Your DNA, and I forgot to say that the book is by Queen Ana, not just Ana.
Emma: That's a cool author name.
Ana: Thank you. And it's also on lulu.com. I forgot to also say that. The first one takes place in... I don't wanna say, like, a suburb because it's not, like, really, like, that suburban, but it's, like, not urban at all. So it's kind of, like, in the middle there, and the girl is kind of, you know, growing up. I mean, like, she does talk about her childhood, but the main part of the story, she's, like, growing up in, like, that type of environment where it's, like, not rural, but it's not, like, really city. So it kind of takes place in, like, Ann Arbor, and I have never actually, like, lived there, but I've gone there, so I thought that I would just, like, make a story about that. And she lives there, but then she ends up in different places. Once she's in foster care, you know, they place you wherever they can place you. And so she's going through these different homes, and she stays in that area, but then she ends up in California. Wherever she was, like, originally, she doesn't stay there.
And so the second book, she was in California, like, originally, but she goes back to Michigan because that's what she knows, and that's what she's comfortable with. So she goes back to Michigan. But she lives in a different city, which is like Rochester. And so she just lives in a nice, you know, an even nicer place. And so I guess, like, I wanted to create a place where she could feel safe being that her situation changed. I don't wanna give the, like, the book away, but she needed a safer place because of who her biological mother is. She lives in like a gated apartment community kind of thing, but somehow that gets broken into. And so it's like, how does that happen when you're in a gated community? It's like a really crazy story, and I, like, kind of made it where all these crazy things happen, but it's a short story.
The first book is about, like, 70-something pages, and then the second book is, like, I think about 60-something pages. So, like, I made all these things happen in, like, this short period of time, but I wanted to make it where, like, people would be interested. And I feel like if you have a long book, sometime you lose interest. You're like, "Man, how many pages do I have left?"
Emma: That's true. And so it's important to know your audience.
Ana: Yeah.
Emma: I was going to ask about that, because it feels like in real life, things don't always happen very quickly. Sometimes something might happen, and then the next exciting thing that happens is, like, months later. But in a book, like you were talking about, you want to keep your audience's attention and keep things moving forward. So do you have any tips for keeping your story moving?
Ana: So I think that what I did was I wrote my first chapter, and then I thought about, okay, so what title do I wanna have for the second chapter, and what topic do I wanna go on to? Like, what do I think that would flow the best and happen after, you know, whatever happened in the first chapter, and how can I continue that to make it flow a lot better? So that's kind of where I started, and I'm not you know, this is my second book, and I haven't had many people buy it, but most people that have bought my book think that the book is about me.
Emma: Oh!
Ana: Even though I have on my, on Lulu, it says... I guess it's fine print, so they probably don't read the whole thing, but it does say on there that it's fiction. But people still think that it's me even though my name is not the main character's name. And my mom knows my whole life because she's, you know, she gave birth to me, and she still has read it—both books and still thinks it's me. Like, she talks as if it was me, and I'm like, "Mom, it's not me."
Emma: That's an interesting thing. I had never heard that before.
Ana: Yeah. And I think that's how, like, you know that the writing is good when, like, somebody can see that, you know, the characters are obviously not you. And even if the people who've known you still think that it's you, and it has nothing to do with you, like, some of the things didn't happen, and they know that because they were with you through your childhood. You know? I feel like that makes it even more, like, relatable somehow. It's kind of like, "Oh, I feel like that character is the writer," and I don't put my face on the book, so you don't know what I look like. But for you to actually think, "That has to be her" and not even know me, some of the people don't actually know me that bought my book. They don't know my intimate life or anything, but they still think that it's me. And so I think that, like, I was able to make the character believable enough even with a fiction book that people could feel like that has to be true. That has to be her.
Emma: That is impressive. So realistic that even your mom can't tell.
Ana: Yeah. I think she's like—when she first tried to edit my first book, she's like, "First of all, your dad was this and that." And I'm like, "Mom, it's not me."
Emma: Oh, when we talked on the phone, then you mentioned that you also have written a script for this story to be turned into a movie.
Ana: Yeah. So I wrote two scripts, one for the first book and then one for the second book. And I'm hoping—I'm not sure, because I'm not, you know, once I sell it to someone, I don't know how they're going to take the script and use it. They could make both scripts a long movie, or they can make two different movies. I hope it's two different movies, but I am wanting to put it in some kind of big production like Lionsgate or Paramount or something like that. Like, I always had high hopes for myself. I think that if you want to ever achieve anything in life, it doesn't matter if you're writing a script or writing a book, then you need to first believe that anything is possible. Any good thing is possible. Also, I think that you should remember that not everyone's going to like what you have done, you know, your writing, but be okay with that because you liked it, and so it's good enough if you like it. And when you're writing, I mean, most of the time, you're probably just writing for fun. Like, for me, at first, when I wrote my first book, I was just writing it to see what happens, and I wasn't really sure if people were gonna buy it or anything like that, but I started pitching it to a group that I went to on Meetup, and people started wanting to buy it, and I was really surprised. But, unfortunately, none of my family members bought my book.
Emma: Oh, no.
Ana: And I'm like, wow. That's crazy. But they say that most of the time, the people that will buy your products or anything you're selling is gonna be a stranger because they don't know you, they don't know, you know, how to judge you. So they're gonna probably be the first one to say, you know what? I'll try and buy your book and do that for you. Even if they just wanted to buy it to support you or they were just curious about it, I think that it'll always be a stranger first, unless you have that supportive family that just, like, buys anything you're selling. You know? Not everybody has the money, too, because now the economy is, like, how it is now. But, yeah, I've sold probably about six of my first book, The Secret Lies in Your DNA, and that was published on lulu.com in March of last year. And then The Shattered Glass book was published this year in February on Valentine's Day.
Emma: Oh, that's so cool. Well, congratulations. That's so exciting to have two books published.
Ana: Yeah. Thank you. My grandfather passed away last February on the fourteenth, and I kind of wanted to do kinda something to, you know, remember him by. For me, it was like a day of loss, but it's also a day of loving the people that are still here. So I thought that it would be a good idea to publish my book this time on a special day.
And I will be coming out with the third book to this series, and that'll be the last book for the whole series, The Secret Lies in Your DNA and the Shattered Glass. I'm not gonna say what the name of it is, but I'm working on the third book. I don't know if it's gonna be this summer. I'm hoping that I can publish it.
Emma: Writing your last book of the trilogy, that's got to feel... I don't know. How do you feel about that?
Ana: You know, I think that I feel good because the character gets to, like, tell her whole story. Like, she's just telling her story about things that she's been through and, you know, her thoughts growing up as a young adult, like, how she views things. And I think that it's going to get better in the third book, so I'm happy that she's going to, like, you know, be more healed and things are gonna be more calm in her life. So, like, I am kind of like, "Oh, well, this is the last book. Am I gonna write? Like, what am I gonna do after this?" You know? That's the kind of, like, question that I ask myself.
And I think that I'm wanting to take a break because I've been writing for, like, three years straight, and so it's a lot. Even though they're short stories, it takes a lot of brainpower and energy out of you just to write. And I love writing, but there's some days where I just didn't feel like writing. And so it takes a lot out of you. But I think that now that I'm on my third book, I have come up with a strategy to make it less strenuous or, like, less where I feel like, "Oh, I have to write today." I write, like, a page a day. Like, just stick to writing a page a day. So then if I'm writing a page a day, within a week, I would have seven pages instead of saying, "Well, today, I'm gonna write a whole chapter."
Emma: Mhmm.
Ana: Like, that's a lot. You know? And then there's, like, things I, you know, already working on, you know, outside of that. So it was like, "Okay. Well, how long is it gonna take me to do this?" So I just stuck to "Let's write a page a day and see where it goes from there." And, you know, with all three of these books, I wanna see how I've grown, and I want other people to see how I've grown and I've changed as a writer.
There are some, like, maybe one or two cosmetic things that I found that was in my first book, and I didn't change it on purpose because I wanted to see, one, how did I change? What kind of strategies did I use from that book to the second book? And then when I write the third book, I'll be able to see what kind of strategies did I use differently from the second book to the third book. And then altogether, I'll be able to see, okay, how much have I grown altogether?
Emma: Working on it a little bit—a day at a time—then you accomplish great things and look back on that and see how you've grown. That's awesome.
Ana: Yeah. And I also thought that, you know, if I have, like, a space in between a word or something, like, don't change it. I corrected most of the things, but the thing is, like, we always want things to be perfect. And we think, "Oh, oh my gosh. I have, like, a period that's, like, too far away" or something like that from, you know, the word. You don't have to be perfect to be good at something. You just have to try your best. Some of the things that I found, because I kept nitpicking the first book, and I'm like, you know what? If it's there, it's there. There's probably other things that are there. It's not that big of a deal.
And some people think that, oh, I have to have things perfect, but you don't. And I wanted to prove that to myself. You know, in the second book, I end up nitpicking a lot more because I wanted to just see the difference between the first and the second book. And then, like, my third book, I'm probably gonna be a little bit, you know, strategic more, and I'm probably going to be still picky. But I think that with being strategic about the way that I'm writing when I first sit down and write a story, it will stop me from having to go back and find all these errors and things like that because I did it a lot better the first time I sat down and wrote that chapter or page or whatever.
Emma: If we were all just too picky about what we wrote, it would be so hard to write anything because it would just be so discouraging. But like you were saying, it's not about having a perfect draft. It's about writing and improving and just working on it little by little.
Ana: Yeah. Like, my grandma has a book, and I don't know how good it is. I don't know if it's not good because she's told me about the book, you know, what it's basically about. But the thing is, it's still on her computer. It's not published. I don't know if anyone's edited even. I don't know what she's waiting for, but sometimes there are people that are out there that they're so, like, unsure of themselves that they never actually try. They never actually go out there and just publish it and see what happens. I'm not saying that you have to just write a book today and then just publish it without editing it, because that probably isn't a good idea, but I'm also saying that you don't have to get all the nooks and crannies the first time.
Like, when it's your first book and people know that it's your first book, I'm pretty sure people out there are going to, you know, give you some grace because it's kind of like when you work at McDonald's or something. If it's your first day, customers aren't gonna yell at you that you didn't get their order correctly. You know what I mean? Because there's gonna be things that you're going to have to learn along the way and how to do things effectively.
And I think that I have learned that even with my, like, script. I have never wrote a script professionally before, but I found that out on YouTube. I, like, Google everything if I wanna do something. That's why the internet is so awesome, if you use it correctly, because you can find out how to do anything.
Emma: That's true.
Ana: I mean, some things you probably should leave to a professional, but when it comes to, like, writing, I mean, it's not gonna hurt you. Maybe, you know, a director will give you grace and take your writing even though it's not professional, you didn't go to school for it. Like, I didn't, and my school didn't teach us how to do scripts. I just had to, like, look on YouTube University, and then you can find anything. Like, I've taught myself how to do a lot of things. And so I think that people just have to use the tools that they have, but also it's all about believing in yourself first. If you don't believe in yourself and you don't believe that you can sell a book, well, you can't convince anyone else.
Emma: That is so true. Very inspiring. You've shared a lot of really very wise things, so thank you so much for coming and talking with me.
Ana: You're welcome. Thank you for having me.
Emma: Yeah, of course. Do you have any other last words of wisdom that you would like to share?
Ana: I would say, when you are doing anything, just be you. Just be true to you, and it'll be easy. If you are not true to you, then things will be hard.
Thank you for traveling with us. Next stop: your work of art. Poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, you name it! Email us at storystation@riverbendmediagroup.com. Submission guidelines are not shy; they can be found in the podcast description. The Story Station, hosted by Emma, is a production of Riverbend Media Group.