My next interview is with my good friend Sarah Mensinga, a brilliant science fiction and fantasy writer and artist.
Tell us about yourself! What would you like readers to know about you?
Sarah Mensinga: I'm a professional artist who loves telling stories. I write novels, picture books, and sometimes comics. I have two books officially out in the world; Currently, an aqua fantasy novel about a girl who teams up with criminals to rescue her best friend/true love, and The Box, a story about children wondering what’s inside a mysterious box. I share lots of goodies on my website too. Right now you can find a free graphic novel there, a short comic, and downloadable coloring pages. As for future books, I’m in the final stages of editing my next novel which is a YA fantasy about a girl with unusual powers. I’m also revising a Middle Grade sci-fi ghost story, and I have three new picture books in the works, too.
Alexis: Wow! It’s amazing to me how much creativity and dedication you have, and how many projects you’re working on at any given time. I can’t wait to read your future books.
What are some tropes of fiction in your genre that you love/hate?
Sarah Mensinga: I love an odd couple. I think the dynamics created by opposite personality types or opposing perspectives can breathe life into almost any story or scene. There’s nothing more fun than two characters who have to work together despite their differences. Think Thor and Loki, Pinky and the Brain, or Sokka and Katara. So fun.
As for tropes I dislike, I’m not a huge fan of writers using the “hero’s journey” as a plot structure. I always groan inwardly when I spot it in movies and books (“Oh gee, here’s the mentor.” “Ugh, this is the resurrection moment.”) It’s not that I don’t think it works, it can, it just seems like riding a bike with training wheels, and I think it limits storytellers. It can also feel formulaic. Besides, there are so many other types of plots out there, and I think the best stories are not boxed in by invisible rules an author thinks they need to follow. We’re writers! We should be fearless and inventive! The most recent book I read, The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, had a wonderfully unpredictable plot structure. I don’t even want to say what makes it so great because that would be a spoiler. Just go read it and be delighted.
Alexis: I do love odd couples! Even in the original Norse myths, Thor and Loki play off each other in such fun and interesting ways. As for the hero’s journey—it can get tiresome. It’s like “farm boy saves the world” which is also in so many fantasy books. Just once, could maybe the expert scientist or the quiet old woman save the world?
Who is your favorite character in your book? What do you like about them? (or, which character do you hate most and why)
Sarah Mensinga: In my novel, Currently, my favorite character is Melily. She is initially an antagonist to my main character, Nerene, although their relationship becomes more positive as the story progresses. When I first came up with the book’s concept, I thought Melily might be my main character. She’s a siren with the power to compel others to do whatever she wants. It seemed to me that she would probably be a very selfish person with warped morals. As I developed the story, though, I thought readers might not stick around for such a badly behaved character, so I gave her a companion who was immune to her power. That companion, Nerene, ended up being the main character of the book. And I found writing Nerene to be very fascinating, too… what would it be like to be an average person surrounded by people with dangerous, superhuman powers? Could you ever really trust them, even if they claimed to have your best interests at heart? The underlying theme of Currently is definitely that power corrupts.
Currently by Sarah Mensinga
What are you doing to de-stress during the pandemic? Is there any coping mechanism you’d recommend (or NOT recommend)?
Sarah Mensinga: I’ve been lucky in that I haven’t been that stressed. In turbulent times, I’m the type of person who feels safest when I’m holed up someplace with all my loved ones. So in many ways, having to quarantine was a relief. I would have been a lot more stressed if my kids had been expected to still go to school or if my husband still had to work in his office. My kids have pretty low-key, independent personalities, too, so they’ve handled the quarantine fairly well. That’s not to say it still isn’t hard some days, though. We all miss casual outings. We’re missing our annual summer trip to see extended family in Canada. We miss seeing friends (like you, Alexis!) But in the grand scheme of things, I know we have it pretty good, and I’m thankful. When my family does feel stressed, we go for walks on the park trail near our house, play board games or the Sims, or work our way through TV shows. Right now we’re watching the Clone Wars and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. We also really enjoyed watching Legomasters together as well as all the Marvel movies.
Alexis: We miss seeing you, too! I think I just miss all the fun parts of summer that we can’t have because of Covid 19—zoo trips, museum trips, splash parks, swimming lessons. We’ve had some fun exploring our own backyard a little though, and seeing the baby bunnies was definitely a highlight of the summer so far. My little girl also loves Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, and we’re finally watching Avatar: the Last Airbender.
What do you like to do other than read or write? Do you have any interesting hobbies?
Sarah Mensinga: Because I’ve had a lot of illustration freelance work lately, writing is still my hobby when it comes to how I spend my free time. But I have several “aspirational hobbies”, and what I mean by that is that I don’t actually invest time in them, but I like to think I someday will. I dream of gardening more and playing music on my very neglected keyboard. I’d also like to cook & bake more, but that’s tricky. My kids are picky eaters, and my husband can’t eat gluten or dairy, so finding food that everyone likes and everyone can digest is a challenge. Our go-to, most delicious meals at the moment are sauerkraut and sausages (getting high-quality German sausages are key here), and Grandma’s Soup… which is a traditional Dutch soup much like this one. We also have a killer lentil stew recipe (the secret ingredient is blackstrap molasses!) and I regularly make something we uncreatively call “broccoli-sausage-meal” which is a yummy mixture of gluten-free pasta, steamed broccoli, bulk Italian sausage, and Parmesan cheese. I’ve been campaigning to call it “Brocamazing” but I’ve sadly been voted down.
Alexis: Cooking is definitely one of the ways I’ve been coping with Covid 19. Bread of all kinds, fancy tarts, ad I even made cream puffs. There are some amazing gluten-free recipes they make on the Great British Baking Show, by the way. They usually have at least one episode per season that has gluten-free, dairy-free cooking (though not usually both of those things).
Tell us about a mystery/urban legend from your hometown (or another place you’ve lived).
Sarah Mensinga: There were no urban legends (that I knew of, anyway) where I grew up in Etobicoke, Ontario. But I did spend a summer drawing caricatures at Canada’s Wonderland (which is a lot like Six Flags). Our boss had worked at the park for ages, and he told us all sorts of horror stories about people dying on rides and drowning in the park’s fake waterfall. Who knows if what he said was true, but it made my late night walks to the employee parking lot much creepier.
The Box by Sarah Mensinga
Do you like playing board games or role playing games like D&D? If so, which games do you like best?
Sarah Mensinga: My husband and kids are big fans of role-playing games, and although I like them too, I love board games and card games even better. My parents enjoy tabletop games too, so I grew up playing Uno, Scattgories, Balderdash, Pictionary, and Euchre. Now I play games like Carcassonne, Azul, Mysterium (which is a creative combination of Dixit & Clue), and Lords of Waterdeep (which appears to be complicated but is simpler than it seems.) I think the best board games have a good balance of luck and strategy. That way the game is interesting, but no single player can dominate too easily. I also think the mark of a great tabletop game is gameplay that’s so engaging you have fun whether you win or lose; Code Names is a good example of that.
Alexis: Code Names is an awesome game. I can’t wait to have game nights again. My family always loved Trivial Pursuit, which explains why I know random facts about the 1980’s.
What advice do you have for other writers or people just getting started in writing?
Sarah Mensinga: Join a critique group. There are many aspects of writing novels that don’t come easily, even if you are a natural storyteller, such as point-of-view, how to handle exposition, how to edit such large manuscripts, etc. A good writing group will help you identify and solve problems in your manuscript, and hopefully also inspire and encourage you too. Writing can be a lonely endeavor so connecting with other writers is important and definitely makes writing more fun. I’ve been lucky to be a part of several writing groups over the years, and I’ve worked with many writers online, too. My favorite social writing events have been when I’ve spent weekends writing with friends.
Learn More About Sarah Mensinga!
Books: Currently, The Box, and Shimmerdark
Find me at http://www.sarahmensinga.com/
Instagram: @sarah_mensinga
Twitter: @sarahmensinga