I read volumes of poetry, and ended up doing my own translations of all poems in the book. I also listened to a ton of classical music, choosing for the plot pieces that I thought would have a visceral impact even on readers with no formal musical background. Krassi: A lot of it was art history-right up my alley. TQ: What sort of research did you do for Wildalone? They all deal with that ineffable line beyond which the fantastical begins to seem possible. Guillermo del Toro’s film Pan’s Labyrinth. As for the supernatural elements-I love magical realism. I had written a poem about them, about how even such vicious creatures are susceptible to falling in love, like the rest of us. Krassi: The legend of the wildalones had been haunting me for years. TQ: What inspired you to write Wildalone? What appealed to you about writing a novel with supernatural elements? Music is what gives texture to the story. TQ: Tell us something about Wildalone that is not in the book description. Krassi: Ancient Greek rituals and Balkan witchcraft lead to murder and magic on a U.S. TQ: Describe Wildalone in 140 characters or less. If I’ve managed to weave action out of poetics, then I’m at peace with the muse. Most people find the book to be a page-turner, and fly through it in a few hours. One critic accused my novel of “abstract poetics,” but I think this gives me too much credit. I try to write prose the way they write verse: fewer words, richer meaning. Krassi: Many of them are poets: Neruda, García Lorca, Rilke. TQ: Who are some of your literary influences? Favorite authors? And coming back down to earth can be quite a shock. Or if it doesn’t, I twist the story and fix the equation. For a few hours each day, I exist in a universe whose logic matches my value system. Krassi: The gap between the world as I create it on the page and the reality that rarely measures up.
TQ: What is the most challenging thing for you about writing? It sounds a bit schizophrenic perhaps, but there you have it. The thing is, though, the only “reader” while I write is my own mind. Never take the reader where the reader wants to go. I plot, and then trick myself into going against plan. So everything was connected-my first forays into musicality and the power of harmonious sound to move the human soul, whether with words or without. Around that same time, I had started piano lessons. I don’t exactly recall what gave me the urge, but I think it had to do with my love for rhythm and rhyme, with a desire to invent my own magical, flowing word arrangements. The sensible writing came later: I wrote my first poem at age six. To indulge me, my parents bought two copies of each book: one for me to ruin, and one to keep. I’d grab a pen and start filling the pages with sweeping circles. Krassi: I left my first marks in books when I was one year old.
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