In this podcast Ania Ahlborn talks about self publishing her first novel Seed, her LitReactor course ‘Making A Monster’, writing about families in horror, and much more.

About Ania Ahlborn

Born in Ciechanow, Poland, Ania Ahlborn has always been drawn to the darker, mysterious, and sometimes morbid sides of life. Her earliest childhood memory is of crawling through a hole in the chain link fence that separated her family home from the large wooded cemetery next door. She’d spend hours among the headstones, breaking up bouquets of silk flowers so that everyone had their equal share. Author of eight novels, Ania’s work has been lauded by Publishers Weekly, The New York Daily News, and The New York Times. Some of her work has been optioned for film. Beyond writing, Ania enjoys baking, scary movies, weird documentaries, traveling, discovering new restaurants, and (lots and lots of) coffee. She currently resides in the greater Portland, Oregon area with her husband, Will, and canine buddy, Sulley.

Show Notes

[04:15] Interview start/first experiences with story
[09:40] Polish stories and tales growing up
[14:24] Initially going the self-publishing route with Seed and lessons learnt
[25:20] Bad movie and story endings as inspiration
[27:00] Jake Marley, via Patreon, asks about story structure: outlining vs going where the story takes you
[41:30] David Bowles, via Patreon, asks about incorporating families and relationships into work
[52:20] Jake Marley, via Patreon, asks about Ania’s LitReactor class ‘Making A Monster’