Exclusive! Mikey Atienza Unmasked!

Ma. Michaela "Mikey" Atienza (yes, there's a 'Y' at the end, for those who were having trouble over on the comments section. hehe) wrote the wonderfully sharp yet devastatingly beautiful (literally, in fact) Atha. the only entry to fall into what i would call visual/sensory fantasy, Atha fits right in with the works of a small group of SF/F writers that includes, among others, Mervyn Peake, China Mieville, and M. John Harrison.

and to say that 'that is a good thing' would be more than just an understatement; it would be downright insulting.

so here's her digs on my 5 Stupid Questions.

1. What's the first thing (image/idea/concept/whatever) that came into your head when you first started writing your award-winning story?

this is really weird but the first thing i thought of was the weather. whatever my story was going to be about, i really wanted it to begin in the early morning, during the bleakest most awful day possible. i guess i have thing for visual imagery, maybe because it's the easiest to describe.

2. What do you think would enhance a reader's experience or appreciation of your story (e.g., mind-altering substances; an enlightening, uplifting religious experience; a gun pointed between the eyes)?

think of the color gray when you read it (no, really!). that's what i had to keep in mind when i was writing it, because atha, among other things, is about dullness and how it frustrates people so that they end up dying to make things happen.

3. Of all the writers you've read, who would you most want to be compared to? at the moment, whose writing do you think your style best approximates?

I wish i could write like Dave Eggers, because he writes...the way he does. He's hilarious, and his stuff is so sharp, but it's powerful at the same time. Sorry, that's a really lousy tribute...
strangely enough, I would also love to be compared to Joseph Conrad. For someone that learned English at 21 years old, he writes really powerful descriptive passages.
and i'm definitely not saying i could ever be like her, but Toni Morrison taught me the value of the run-on sentence.

4. Why, aside from having won an award or two more than i have, should i read your story?

that it plays around with the idea of regression and creation (given the circumstances, right or wrong?) is, i think, pretty interesting. when i started writing the story, it was just about a guy chasing a monster, but it eventually turned into something slightly more substantial, which i'm happy about.

5. Requisite desert island question: if you were stuck on a desert island, which would you rather have: a) an unlimited supply of ink, paper, and really good pens, or b) your favorite book? If a), what would you do with the paper, ink and pens? If b), what book would that be?

the unlimited supply of paper and pens. favorite book or not, i could only read it so many times. at least with the pens i'd be able to doodle (keeps me alive in class, after all)


*

okay, okay, so i suck at desert island questions.

why don't you think you'd ever be like Toni Morrison? you mean getting on Oprah's list?

what seems odd for me is that while there was, indeed, a lot of grey in my head while i was reading Atha, there was also a weird yellowish-sepia tinge to everything.

go figure.

well, that concludes my 5-stupid-questions-with-3-brilliant-writers run on this blog.

Thanks Mikey!

and thanks everybody else for playing along.