Caroline Kuba

What was your favorite book as a child?

I think I have to go with Inkheart (and honestly the whole Inkworld series) by Cornelia Funke. She has an absolutely beautiful vibrant writing style and manages to create very three-dimensional characters as well as set fantastic and engulfing atmospheres, which leave their imprint on the readers' retina long after they turn the last page.

Do you remember the original reason or motivation why you started writing creatively?

On one hand, the rhythm in which I wrote always made a lot of sense. I got a thrill out of collecting words that seemed beautiful to me and arranging them into collages that spoke to me (…as melodramatic as that sounds). On the other hand, I think when I was younger, it was very much the intrinsic desire to capture the pictures and emotions that roamed through me. When I got older, and more aware of the world around me, the need to communicate my perceptions and observations joined the mix. I’d say writing to me, is, in a sense, not just expression, but an essential form of self-reflection, shaped into something I can show the world, to make myself (mis)understood.

What was the most adventurous or thrilling thing you ever did/experienced?

I honestly have a hard time picking out one thing in particular, but in a broader sense, I’d say that I have a (statistically speaking) unusual amount of experience when it comes to the field of escaping through toilet windows (for various reasons).

Do you listen to music while reading or writing?

I usually do not listen to music. I feel like the pictures that get created in my head, take away from the ones I am trying to create whilst writing. Since they, even though their groundwork might be similar, can never be truly congruent. It also tends to hinder me from taking organic shifts and turns, since my mood is so bound to the rhythm.

What I do enjoy listening to, since I sometimes get anxious when it is too quiet, is “ambiance sounds.” There are crazy ones out there! From elf cafés at 6 in the morning, with birds chirping and kettles rustling, to Caribbean pirate ships during a full moon – the options are endless.