Christina Dax

What was your favorite book as a child?

When I think of reading as a child, it’s the weekly trips to the public library with my mother and siblings that come to mind, and the piles of books next to my bed, waiting to be read by me. I know that my favorites — the ones that I would regularly borrow from the library or that I would take out of my bookshelf more often than the rest – were among these books. To be honest, I can’t think of any specific story that was my absolute favorite. I read a lot of different genres and was introduced to a wide spectrum of literature at home, at school and at the library, but I guess it was exactly this wild mix that made it impossible for me to pick just one favorite book.

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

I have always been a pensive person, someone who creates scenarios in their head and carefully analyzes all kinds of events, settings and people. Also, I have always been interested in what other people feel, think, want or do in specific situations. As a teenager, I found myself taking short notes about the many things going on in my head more and more frequently. It was from these keywords that my first pieces of short creative writing emerged. I realized that writing about the topics on my mind, and playing with words while I do so, helps me gain a better understanding of my environment and allows me to connect impressions from the real world to fictional ideas in a creative way.

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

Generally, I’m not an overly daring or brave person, which is why I don’t find myself in extremely adventurous situations very often. An example of a rather thrilling moment in my life as a writer, however, was the first time when I shared my written work with friends. I tend to be very private about what I write and I’m usually not easily satisfied with my own texts, which is why this was a huge step for me… even though this is not an adventure in the narrower sense.

Do you listen to music while reading or writing?

I rarely listen to music when I write or read because I get the feeling that it usually distracts rather than inspiring me. Listening to music is an activity that doesn’t really go well together with writing, as my brain tends to focus on the melody, the lyrics or the beat, making it harder for me to concentrate on the actual writing process. If, on rare occasions, I still decide to put on some music while I write, it should be very soft, instrumental music with no lyrics. After all, I want to focus on the words that I write, not on the ones that I hear.