Interviews Of The Winners

VoiceOfAlasais

*Walks out in my orange dress..."

DIRECTOR: LIGHTS, CAMERA ACTION!

Assalam o Alaikum and hello friends and fans!!

I'm your host and dost Kounj Muzafar. Today we have another honorable and lovely Author and winner of a Freedom Award VoiceOfAlasais.

Thank you so much Natalia Anikina for agreeing to this interview. So I will start now...

Tell us a little something special about yourself and your background?

I was born and raised in Moscow (Russia). English is not my first language, so I must apologize in advance for any mistakes in my answers. I'm a psychologist. I like reading, swimming, walking or jogging in the forest (especially in autumn) and I'm an aspiring crazy cat lady. I have only one cat (a Siberian named Mouse) now, but I have a really huge collection of cat figurines and I've been writing stories about sentient felines for over ten years (and of course I would like to live surrounded by many cats when I grow old). My dreams are my main source of inspiration.

What's your age, your date of birth and zodiac sign? 

I'm 33 years old. My birthday is September 14th. And I'm a Virgo.

Which genre did your winner book belong to? What draws you to this genre? 

It's Adventure. I like to put my characters in dangerous and mysterious situations, force them to overcome formidable obstacles and make difficult decisions. This allows me to clearly show the development of their characters throughout the story (and to have fun of course!).

What do people hate the most about you?

I'm a perfectionist and sometimes it drives my family and friends (and me myself too) crazy.

Do you ever get writer's Block? Give one tip on how to get through the dreaded writer's block? 

I have to admit that I don't. But I often have the opposite problem: how can I find time to write about all these ideas, crowding in my head?!

Please, don't push yourself too hard! If you stuck on a particular scene of your story for a long time, it does not mean that you can't write another one. So try to choose that part of your book which inspires you more then the first one at the moment and try write it (and if you succeed, don't forget to praise yourself for this little victory!). Or maybe you just need a rest. So take a pause and listen to music, play with your pet, go for a walk or read some interesting book. And then come back to a difficult scene with a fresh mind and try again!

How do you react to negative comments? 

To be honest, I don't get negative comments very often, but when I do I always ask their authors what exactly they didn't like in my stories?

And there is a funny situation: one of my novels (The Cat...) is criticized mainly for having too many descriptions and reflections of the characters and for a lack of action. But my second story (The Shameful Past...) is criticized for precisely the opposite. So I usually just advise dissatisfied readers to try my other novel. And then often they turn from dissatisfied ones to satisfied.

Which person would you like to meet from WP and why? Tag them. 

It would be great if I could meet dianadallafina We've been friends for so many years, but we have never met in real life because we live on different sides of the world.