Ask the Author: Julia Benally
Answered Questions (9)
Julia Benally
I'd go to Narnia and I'd run around with all the magical creatures.
Julia Benally
I don't have a summer reading list. I'm always reading, so there's no need to have one.
Julia Benally
Something quite horrific happened to me in February, March and April of 2021. It would make a freaky horror story.
Julia Benally
I started writing about the planet of Ilo when I was twelve. I wrote numerous stories about the place by hand, but the dynamics kept changing, so I said I needed a base for the other stories to stand on. But what was it going to be about? The answer didn't come until I was 18, and working as a miserable substitute teacher on my reservation. There, I observed lots of suffering. The kids were misunderstood, mistreated, abused, some had seen rape, others had been raped, the teachers were awful to them, and the kids themselves made fun of each other, like laughing at students because their parents had died. It hurt seeing this, and there was nothing I could do about it. I tried making the school room a happy place when I was there. I wished I could give them someone who could love them, a mom and dad who weren't drunk, homes that weren't full of that mess, but I couldn't. So in "Pariahs," I could change that, even if it was a fantasy.
Julia Benally
My inspirations come from everything and everywhere. Ideas file away in my head, and then they come out when they're ready.
Julia Benally
Right now, I'm working on a horror story about skinwalkers, and my second book in the Ilings series.
Julia Benally
Don't give up, and always admit that you can improve. Don't get jealous of other writers. You worry about you.
Julia Benally
When I was little, I wanted to be a million things. As a writer, I get to be all of them.
Julia Benally
I usually get up and go somewhere else. A change of scenery always helps. I like to go driving to pretty places with music on. That always helps. Sometimes I get writer's block because I have to take care of something. So as soon as the thing is taken care of, my muse comes back on. Other times, when I have it, I just start writing and see what comes out. Something always comes out. Sometimes the story is already there and I don't have to make it up, I just have to write it down like a scribe.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more