We were lucky to catch up with Kyoko M recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kyoko , thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
In some ways, I think I still suffer from it, but honestly what helps me get over imposter syndrome is watching reviews of terrible movies. I know, right? That’s probably an odd way to go about it, but whenever I feel low and think I’m a bad writer, I find something worse and then remind myself “at least you’re not THIS bad.” My go-to for that are the Jurassic World movies. They basically piss me off to an infinite degree as someone who adores Jurassic Park and The Lost World. The Jurassic World movies, to me, are everything wrong with not just writing in general, but cinema. It is one of the few franchises where it is openly apparent that the filmmakers think the audience is stupid and will accept any BS they put in front of them, and I don’t agree with that kind of behavior. I don’t believe in treating your audience like idiots and just doing whatever you want in a story since you think they’re too dumb to care about it. So whenever I hit a low point, I go watch a clip from CinemaSins of a Jurassic World movie and feel better about my writing ability because at least it’s not trite, cliché, abominable fiction like theirs happens to be.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a hybrid published author. I wrote The Black Parade urban fantasy series, which consists of five books (The Black Parade, The Deadly Seven: Stories from the Black Parade series, She Who Fights Monsters, Back to Black, and The Holy Dark) and the Of Cinder and Bone science fiction series, which consists of six books (Of Cinder and Bone, Of Blood and Ashes, Of Dawn and Embers, Of Fury and Fangs, Of Claws and Inferno, and Of Wings and Shadows). I am also a contributor for the short story anthologies Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda (2021) and Captain America: The Shield of Sam Wilson (2024). I am featured in several of Milton J. Davis’ anthologies as well including Terminus I & II, Cyberfunk, and the upcoming releases Terminus III and Spacefunk. What I would say is special about my work is that it always comes from a diverse perspective. It’s important to me to write marginalized voices in my fiction because they are just as valid as the majority voices and I want to give them an opportunity to shine. I am very passionate about writing women of color in particular as I know it is hard for us to get representation, especially in fantasy and science fiction works, so I try to do my due diligence. As far as upcoming projects go, as I mentioned above, there are two anthologies I’m featured in with Milton Davis that will be out in 2024, and my first sci-fi novel with Falstaff Books should be out in 2024 as well.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The qualities impactful on my journey are resilience, determination, and focus. You have to be resilient as an author because, in short, this job is 99.9% rejection. You have to fight for every single reader you get because there are just so many works of fiction available to them that it’s hard to be heard over the noise. You have to accept that failure is mostly what you’re going to face at all times as a writer and you have to be okay with it. Determination is what separates you from the amateurs. Since this job is about failing, you have to remember there are mountains and valleys, aka high and low points that will require you to push through them. Rejection hurts a lot, especially for someone neurodivergent like me, so I have taught myself to push through the pain. Focus is what keeps you afloat in the writing business; you have to know where you’re going and where you want to be once you’re there. It also means only putting energy into things that will have an ROI of some sort, since it’s easy to throw money at marketing gimmicks that don’t work. In terms of advice, I would just say make sure you know what you’re getting into if you want to become a published author. It is a grueling journey with few bright spots unless you know the right person or you just have incredible luck. Be prepared to work a lot and be prepared for rejection.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
I would say it’s a three-pronged thing. One, my parents. They have constantly encouraged me and they really do tell people (when relevant of course) that I’m a published author, so it’s very nice to have that support from them. Two, the Writer’s Cafe on KBoards.com has been literally invaluable to me since my part time mentor, Geoffrey Throne (showrunner for Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest and writer of Green Lantern 2021) recommended it to me. It is basically a forum for authors that has everything from the most basic to the most complicated in ideas and discussions about how to get ahead in the publishing business. I highly encourage new writers to take a look and do some research on relevant subjects, as it has an endless amount of information. Lastly, I’d say Chuck Wendig’s writing advice blogs are worth their weight in gold. Chuck is really great at offering advice to get you unstuck when you’re stuck during the writing process, so I definitely recommend his blog or one of his books about writing.
Contact Info:
- Website: shewhowritesmonsters.com
- Instagram: misskyokom
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/She-Who-Writes-Monsters/100051800482790/
- Twitter: misskyokom
Image Credits
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