Iscah -- "I don't regret failing."

Here's the next interview in my "Cool People I Met at Imaginarium" series. This week I'd like you to meet Iscah. She's a talented author who has a body of work you really should check out for yourself. 

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

Seventh Night is a romantic, comic, action, adventure fantasy.  It's sort of a family novel.  Full length adult reading level, but clean enough anyone 10 and up can enjoy it.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

Doing right in the face adversity may cover it in broad terms though I think there are several complexities surrounding that theme.  With Seventh Night there's sort of a struggle between private desires and public responsibilities.  Neither being necessarily wrong, but striking the balance between the two can be difficult.

What would be your dream project?

Having creative control over a film version of Seventh Night.  My educational background is in video production, so getting to merge my multimedia loves would be fun.  (Not saying I'd be director or producer, just want veto power in certain areas.)

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

Thankfully or regretfully, something that never finished.  I attempted to do a film in college and did everything in completely the wrong order.  I don't regret failing.  Trying and failing is part of the learning process.  I do deeply regret not calling everyone I tried to involve once I realized the project was not happening.  Part of me kept hoping I could make it work, and by the time I had accepted it wasn't going to happen, I either lost the numbers I needed or was too embarrassed to make the calls.  Frankly neither of those things is acceptable.

If I could fix it with a time machine, I'd be a lot more organized.  Start with a well hammered script rather than a concept.  Put funding together before attempting to cast, etc.

What inspires you to write?

The attempt to leave something of value behind.  Not so much to be remembered as an individual, but to improve the world somehow, even if in a small way.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Pretty much every writer I've read.  I like to study styles and techniques.  I consider style a tool rather than a signature.  Timothy Zahn, Charles Dickens, Lemony Snicket, J.K. Rowling, Nabokov, Dr  Seuss, Hans Christian Anderson, Jules Verne, and Eth Clifford are some of my favorites.  Good style can be overt or practically invisible.  It really depends on what the story calls for.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

It's both.  We have the symbols with phonetic and psychological significance.  We combine them in such a way to stimulate neurons in the brain.  We rely on cultural, sociological, and educational bases of knowledge... and yet, we challenge them, rearrange them, experiment but rarely with scientific precision.  And if we're lucky make art worth analyzing but impossible to fully dissect in scientific terms.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

I am working on a set of four prequel stories to Seventh Night called Before the Fairytale.  I have just started (as of November 2014) posting the third one as a free weekly serial.  The first two The Girl With No Name and Horse Feathers are finished.  The Girl With No Name is now out as an ebook and hopefully soon as a paperback.  Horse Feathers is down for additional editing, but with a little luck will be out for sale early in 2015.