Grasslands follows a young college student as he attends a birthday event, encounters otherworldly entities, and starts the search for his own dream. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Four years ago, I was invited to a birthday party much like in Grasslands. However, the events of that night were nothing like the book (we never even left the house). At some point, I got possessed by the idea of writing a book even though I had never really thought about it before, and I started taking notes on my phone. I was quick to dismiss a lot of my early ideas, but I always knew how important Grasslands was to me, and I could never stop thinking about it. I kept building upon the story in my head but never changed the original setup.

Did you plan the tone and direction of the novel before writing, or did it come out organically as you were writing?

Initially, I was planning to write a dark comedy, but I scrapped my earlier scattered writings and started the first chapter in the summer of 2020. By the end of the year, I had written five chapters and had the entire story figured out. Although my ideas kept evolving through time, I did a lot of planning before writing most of the book.

What character did you enjoy writing for? Was there one that was more challenging to write for?

I love the character of the witch and everything that she represents. Not only do her scenes tie the plot together but they are also central to the main themes of the book. She was one of the earliest characters I came up with.

While the hardest character to write for was easily Aleko, there were a lot of story elements that needed to fit in perfectly, but figuring it all out was very satisfying in the end.

What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?

I have two full-length projects in the works right now, and both are quite a departure from Grasslands. I am a huge fan of Natsume Sōseki and how he deploys a very simple style of writing to express intense emotion. With my next work, I hope to showcase my appreciation for the beauty that lies in simplicity. It is something I did my best to capture in Grasslands as well, but with a plot like that it can be hard to grasp the importance of the simpler moments.

My second project is a lot more ambitious and will surely scratch that itch people will have after reading Grasslands, but it will take time and I cannot divulge further details right now. I have no release dates planned for either of these projects.

Readers can also look forward to a short story collection which will be released late 2024.

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