Tell us about yourself and what inspired you to start writing.
Hello, I’m Alyanna Poe, a self-published horror author from Northern California. I’ve been writing since I was a child, but it didn’t become my passion until I was fourteen. I had anger issues as a teen and my mother suggested finding a way to express myself. I wrote the plot of my first novel, EATEN, that night. It’s a very gory piece, and I didn’t realize until my querying process that it could be considered zombie fiction. I never expected to have finished the novel, queried over thirty agents, get over thirty rejections, and finally self-publish the book. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster ever since.
I was eighteen when I self published EATEN. I was inspired by a small publisher to do so, and using his critique, I perfected EATEN to my abilities. Of course now that I’m twenty-one, I see the many flaws within the book, but I think it would be a shame to silence my older self by rewriting the book, so it lives on on Amazon where people seem to enjoy it despite its issues. I have self-published three other titles since, one being the sequel to EATEN, and I’m in the middle of publishing my first season of Indicted Fiction. Indicted Fiction is a fiction reading podcast where I read a chapter of my new book every episode and publish it on the finale.
What really pushed me to write full time was being diagnosed with Graves’ disease. Some days, like today, I find it impossible to get out of bed, despite being in remission. If I could write entertaining and inspiring books from home and make an income, that’d be the dream.
Describe your writing process? Is there anything unique about it?
I used to be a pantser, flying by the seat of my pants every scene, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized I can write a book in a matter of months by plotting. Rather than sitting down and trying to get from A to Z, if I plot, I can go from A to B, from B to C, and so on.
Have you published any books or do you have a desire to do so?
EATEN is my first novel about Amelia, a fourteen year old with a skin picking disorder. May or may not have been inspired by real life. She contracts a vicious bacteria, bringing what many believe could be the end of the world.
VOID is the sequel. A less gory and more psychological horror novel about a young boy surviving through these trying times as a talking bacteria turns people into zombie-like superhumans on a mission to spread *the man.*
Cradles the Brain is a collection of twenty short horror stories that are very personal to me. Some are true and a little less scary, and a few pieces are poems. With this collection, I tried to compile all of my short works, so there’s no overall theme except the baring of my soul.
REJECTS is another short story collection of mine. I do one every year on my birthday, so this has twenty-one stories, which are all short horror that have been rejected by publishers and presses. It was my mission to bring these stories to life, conventionally or not.
Adam’s Murder is yet to be published, but every Friday from July 15th to October 7th, 2022, a chapter will be posted to my blog and narrated on my podcast, Indicted Fiction. Adam’s Murder was my way of dealing with the grief of losing a family member. Abigail Drummer investigates the murder of her brother, uncovering secrets from the life he led separately from his family. Abby wonders which played a bigger part in his death: his addiction or his shady friends. You can listen on YouTube or go to my website’s Indicted Fiction page.
Do you have any favorite poets or authors?
Stephen King. I read The Stand when I was thirteen, and it was my first experience with adult horror. I haven’t looked back since! I’m also currently reading John Dies at the End by Jason Pargin, and he is quite a master with words. I find myself engaged in the story, which is getting harder to do as I’ve gotten older.
Do you have a favorite book of poetry or poems?
I love reading horror and sometimes comedies and sci-fi. The Stand will forever hold its place as my favorite book considering it inspired my own first novel, but The Cipher by Kathe Koja is a book I would love to wipe from my memory and read again for the first time. It’s so depressingly, disgustingly beautiful and heart breaking. I rarely read comedies, but when I do it’s something like a comedian’s “diary.” And usually my sci-fi reads are at least fifty years old. I love their takes on what the future could have been like.
What are you reading now?
Oh, boy. I tend to bounce around from book to book, so right now I’m probably in the middle of twenty books, the main two being John Dies at the End and E.S. Fein’s A Dream of Waking Life. Please check out E.S. Fein. He’s also an indie author and so far the book is stunning. Everything from the cover to the way he describes this video game-like life.
I’m also reading some non-fiction about Irish ghosts, another about the world’s folklore, and another about the meaning of dreams. I really need to get on top of my reading pile XD
What do you like to do when you’re not writing? Full-time job, pets, hobbies?
I have three dogs that I love spending time with, currently chilling with them as I type this up, and I love art. I’ve experimented with pencil drawing, painting, digital art, singing, wood burning, photo manipulation, metal art, anything I can get my hands onto. I do have a RedBubble store where you can get my designs on t-shirts and mugs. It doesn’t provide a lot in terms of money, but seeing your art on a fricking t-shirt is so cool. I’ve also been featured in a few issues of the Newport Zine and a shop in Texas called Wicked Vibora Clothing Co. with a few of my digital pieces.
Are you working on a current project?Only about a hundred. I’m currently teaching myself the basics of drawing in hopes of releasing a webcomic series with a matching novel based on a short story I put in Cradles the Brain called Vitality. It’s about a plague doctor that experiments with witchcraft, turning one of her patients into, well, necromancy is involved so I think you can guess.
From the same book comes Pudge the Clown, and I would love to do a comic book (different style than the webcomic) and paired novel based on this short story from Cradles the Brain. These projects will take years, but in the meantime, I’ve got:
My annual anthology which will be published on February 8th, 2023 for my twenty-second birthday. It will include twenty-two short horror stories ranging from fantasy horror to cosmic horror. I’m hoping to blend both beauty and horror with this one.
My first poetry collection, “Deathly Visions,” is a poetry collection all centered around death. I’m only two poems in as of now, but I do plan on self-publishing it (but we’ll see what happens, maybe I can find a publisher for it, maybe not).
I’m partaking in NaNoWriMo this year with a fully plotted book. It will be the most disgusting thing I’ve ever written, just for the sake of being disgusting. Look up “myasis” if you want a taste of the book. The name is a secret as of now, and I plan on traditionally publishing it.
That’s not all that’s going on, but a girl’s got to keep some secrets 😉
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