Today we’re excited to hear from author Hanna Alkaf whose latest release THE HYSTERICAL GIRLS OF ST. BERNADETTE’S fits in with the creepy vibe that’s often happening in general at this time of year. If you want to know more about the hysterical girls, you can hop over to our recent review.
I’m not generally someone who reads horror stories, but I really loved QUEEN OF THE TILES [Audrey’s review here] and THE WEIGHT OF OUR SKY [Crystal’s review here], so this was one I had to pick up. I read THE HYSTERICAL GIRLS OF ST. BERNADETTE’S at a rapid clip. It was fabulous and I’m so glad I moved out of my comfort zone. Thanks to you though, I am having to look over my shoulder when I hear dry leaves moving around. 😉 It’s fall here so that is happening often. Does that sound bother you at all?
The sound of dry leaves doesn’t particularly bother me, but at the risk of sounding totally cruel, I love that it now bothers you! One of the things I love most about horror is its ability to take something completely innocuous and mundane and turn it into something ominous and dread-inducing. A kind of dark magic, if you will.
You have several works that lean toward or are classified as straight up horror. Have you been a horror reader/watcher/writer for a long time?
I absolutely love horror as a genre, whatever the medium — I think it stems from my friends and I whispering scary stories to each other as kids. Ours was a mission school very much like St. Bernadette’s in the book: Old, gothic in design, full of shadowy corners and unnervingly quiet spaces, and rife with rumours about the atrocities Japanese soldiers had committed on school soil during the occupation. It was fertile ground for young imaginations to populate with all manner of ghosts.
I really appreciated your caring note at the beginning of the book. It truly did help to be prepared for what was coming, but also let me know that the author was mindful of the fact that readers come to books with a lot of different backgrounds and experiences. That said, what was it like to research for a book about ghosts and monsters be they human or another form? It seems like some of that could also be challenging to process.
Unfortunately — or perhaps fortunately, depending on your perspective! — I’ve had a lot of experience in writing the darkness, whether it’s natural or supernatural, and have learned what I need to do to cope with diving into that abyss. That includes building in breaks and days off where I immerse myself in spending time with my kids, sketching, or binge-watching romantic K-dramas (the fluffier the better). It also means having a safety net in the form of a husband who knows to watch for signs that I’m having trouble pulling myself out of that darkness, and steps in when necessary.
What led to your choice of having two perspectives? Were there complications or surprises to using that format?
I wanted to contrast two very different perspectives and experiences of the same situation, and two very different ways of processing trauma, while hopefully showing readers that both of those voices were still true and valid and deserved support and belief. Multiple perspectives is such a tricky thing to pull off — you do have to make sure those voices don’t start blurring together, making them as distinct as possible from each other. But I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed being in each character’s head, and how fun it was to weave their stories together.
Do you write with a set schedule each day or are you a writer that fits it in all throughout the day in smaller chunks of time?
When my kids were very little, I had to utilize whatever time I had to get writing done, and it was often in small chunks — 20 mins here, half an hour there, at least one blessed hour during nap time. Nowadays, thankfully, they’re much older and I’m able to carve out time in the day to write while they’re in school — though I often also snatch some writing time in the midst of shuttling them to various after-school activities.
Are you one to manage multiple writing projects at a time or do you like to just focus on thing?
I prefer to focus on one thing at a time — though sometimes, that really isn’t possible!
And what is it that keeps you writing?
The idea that my kids, and kids like them, won’t have to look far to find themselves within the pages of a book.
Are you allowed to tell us about your current and future writing?
Next year, I have a middle grade anthology coming out that I edited called THE BEASTS BENEATH THE WINDS! It’s an illustrated collection of short stories about mythical creatures from Southeast Asia, each written by some of the most brilliant SEA and diaspora kidlit authors; truly, it’s been such an honor and a dream that they agreed to be part of it. I also have another middle grade book in the works, though I can’t tell you too much about that yet. And eventually, when I have some breathing room, I’d like to start working on my first novel for adults.
Do you also read young adult books and if so, are there some newer or forthcoming books you’ve enjoyed and would recommend for us and our readers?
I loved Wen-Yi Lee’s THE DARK WE KNOW, and I’m excited to dive into THE SCARLET THRONE by fellow Malaysian author Amy Leow!
We always appreciate when authors take time to chat with us. Thanks so much and we look forward to reading more of your work in the future!