Ask the Author: Sima B. Moussavian
Answered Questions (9)
Sima B. Moussavian
Definitely Michael Ende's "Neverending story", so I could tickle Falkor's head.
Sima B. Moussavian
In college, I wrote my theses on conceptual semantics in Russian, and up to now I'm entirely impressed by the idea that the grammatical structure and concepts behind the word meanings of our native language highly influence the way we see the world. Every language has words which have no equivalent in other languages and are untranslatable. But not only that: even words with what they call an equivalent in other languages don't trigger the same associations and emotions in different linguistic communities, especially words we use for invisible things do not. Take soul, for example. We like to conceptualise it as a place/room/space. But how big is it for speakers of two different languages? In Russian, for example, "dusha" as the equivalent of "soul" contains and represents way more than what we mean by it. It is often said that "dusha" is - just like the Russian landscape - unbearably wide and spacious which is why it can never be filled. Speaking of "dusha", Russians would instantly associate it with a deep yearning, an endless nostalgia that never goes away. However, when we mention "soul" in English, we wouldn't from the start think of the lack that is implicit in the Russian term. What I'm at the start of, is a multi-lingual novel which is developing around differences like those, and that means it will have a few narrators, each of them from another country. The parts are going to be written in the native language of the narrator. All of them have been through the same situations, but they perceived them entirely differently. By this I want to demonstrate how much language shapes our perception and, with it, the reality we live in. It is a major project, though, and might take a few years.
Sima B. Moussavian
It is a pretty great feeling when your own stories surprise you, but the best for me is that you'd sometimes come up with a sentence and re-read it at some stage which would be when you'd be like: yesssssss, this is it! Nothing would be as apposite here as exactly those words, in exactly this order.
Sima B. Moussavian
Interestingly enough, I'm considered a bit of a medical oddity, since I woke up paralysed one day and was given very little chance to ever walk again.
Sima B. Moussavian
I fell in love. It didn't go so well.
Sima B. Moussavian
I personally have never actually experienced it. What I noticed, though, is that writing gets harder, the deeper you dig into things you are genuinely feeling. Good writing has to be genuine, though, it has to come from deep down and feel honestly felt. I'd say writer's block is, in many cases, due to not allowing yourself to feel what you are currently feeling over a particular situation in your life. If the cause is self preservation of this sort then facing your own demons is a way out.
Sima B. Moussavian
Let me answer this by quoting Goethe: "Be bold and mighty forces will come to you aid."
Sima B. Moussavian
It was mainly inspired by current world events, paired with emotions I felt as regards an incident in my personal life.
Sima B. Moussavian
Usually, what inspires me are highly negative emotions. Then when I make something out of them I'd feel like they led to something positive in the end.
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