I’m in the process of editing the second draft of my novel, The Three Graces of Longing. Editing is an arduous process and not very fun, but it has given me the opportunity to add more depth and perspective in my characters. I want them to be as real as possible, they are my babies! Other than that, I am trying to find time to create fun and engaging pieces for HelloGiggles , which girls can relate to.

Is it more enjoyable to write fiction?

It is definitely more challenging to write fiction and create a world out of thin air. It comes with a big responsibility and you have to live up to the vision you have created and you have to meet the expectations of readers also. It’s a scary process, it’s like being cut open and examined, but it’s something I have to do. Writing and telling a story is something that’s a part of my being. That longing and urge to write has been there since I was six years old and it has taken me until 2012 to wholly commit to writing and declare myself a writer, which is not a title I take lightly.

What have you learnt about yourself, while writing?

I have realised how much I miss the country of my birth, as my fiction is full of colourful descriptions of the village in which my father was born and the city in which I grew up. In a way it has taught me to accept my background and see the beauty in it. Also, through writing news pieces for Our World Today, I realised how important feminism is and how easy it is to take it for granted. I instinctively wrote on social issues affecting women and later realised the strong presence of feminism in my work and the need to spread it around. I learned that being a woman and being a writer, I have an incredible amount of power for justice and awareness.

What are some news pieces you are proud of?

During my research stages, I came across some disturbing and unjust stories, which I could not ignore. I had to write about them and inform others of them, no matter how few readers might find my article. I have written on bride burning in India, honour killings of women in the Middle East and abroad, human-trafficking in Ukraine and even about the exploitation of a child-model by French Vogue. A lot of the time, I have learned of new issues as I have written them and it has left me feeling both powerful and powerless.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by the majesty of nature, especially the ocean. I am inspired by artists and writers I admire, both historic and current. Leonard Cohen is my prophet and I have a big love for Frida Kahlo, Yoko Ono,Bukowski, rock music, bohemians, Joan of Arc and Tarantino. I basically love anyone who is honest in their art and manifests their own struggles and truths with candour. There is a beauty and sadness in nostalgia and I am in love with bygone eras and sepia portraits of dead film-stars. I have always said I was born in the wrong decade and Midnight in Paris is one of my favourite films and an inspiration. There is also a drive in me to be better than the person I used to be and a pressure to be the woman who would make my 17 year old self happy.

Speaking of nostalgia, is there a time period you really love?

There are many, I love the rebellion and revolution in the 1960s, I love the roaring 1920s as well as Victorian England, with all its Dickensian charm. I’m also a huge Tudor nerd and kind of in love with Henry VIII as well as Vlad the Impaler- there is a morbid fascination with them.

Tell us something about your childhood?

I lived in a picturesque but poor town in Macedonia until the age of ten. I came to Australia and was an alien and an outcast. I did not fit, I did not speak English or know the games or music the kids liked in Melbourne. Yet I persevered, within two years all my marks were excellent, especially in English. I had some fantastic teachers, which instilled in me a love for literature and teaching, which has shaped me. As a teenager, I was lonely. I was different from everyone else. I had friends but I listened to different music to them, read for fun and knew of facts and people they had not heard of. I wrote poetry and I was proud of my individuality. It was my badge of honour, I never assimilated wholly or forgot whom I was and what I liked. I had a pretty strong sense of self and probably ego too, which was my shield from loneliness.

What are you hoping to achieve as a writer?

I want to be able to create beauty with authenticity and realism. I want to be understood by people and I want to create a sense of wonder as they read. I want to take them on a ride and let them find something within me that they can take with them. In every writer there is a longing for the adoring love of those for whom he or she writes.

Follow her on twitter- @maggiejank

See the following for some of Maggie Jankuloska’s above-mentioned articles:

http://www.ourworldtoday.com.au/news/article/the-expendable-women

http://www.ourworldtoday.com.au/news/article/loss-of-innocence

http://www.ourworldtoday.com.au/news/article/no-honour-in-killing

http://hellogiggles.com/the-perks-of-being-nostalgic

http://www.theconversation.tv/sexuality/the-quest-for-a-vogue-vagina-maggie-jankoloska

Filed under women wisdom writing writer interview femininsm news

4 notes

January 5, 2013

Whilst working on my fiction novel, I am starting to get annoyed by my own characters. I am finding them too needy and neurotic and then I remember that I created them

Normal?

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1 note

August 2, 2012

My favourite writer and my inspiration happens to be my facebook friend, yes i stalked her. Unexpectedly, she told me there is no such thing as writer’s block and even gave me tips to refocus my brain back to writing. Humbled and inspired

Filed under writer writer's block hero

0 notes

July 26, 2012

Topics needed for this week’s column? Anything on social or cultural or feminist issues?

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