Author Emily Lankow
ALL ABOUT ME
I discovered my love of both reading and writing at a very young age. Some of my happiest childhood memories were being read aloud to at bedtime and discovering the absolute magic that is getting lost in a good book, something which I went on to emulate when I got older by regularly tucking my cat into bed and reading to her like my parents did for me. Luckily for me, my cat was so patient and affectionate that she loved any excuse to be the center of my attention, so bedtime reading continued even after I was old enough to become an independent reader.
I was a voracious reader with a particular appetite for fantasy, and would often wake up in the wee hours of the morning to read before school, but would always fall back asleep while doing so, leading to some very fantastical dreams. Perhaps, that’s where the writing came in, since one of my major sources of inspiration has been wild images from my vivid imagination, both awake and asleep.
THE FIRST STORY
The incident that really incited my passion for writing happened in elementary school, when I was tasked to write a short story from the perspective of a piece of winter clothing. Mine was called “The Pink Scarf,” a two page adventure that won a local young authors’ writing competition and went on to place tenth in the state. And, being an elementary schooler, that was a HUGE deal, to know that someone I’d never even met before not only read my story, but liked it. The realization was mind-boggling to me at the time. It honestly still is. I mean, how wild is it that stories can be written and shared with so many people? This showed me the power that stories have to make people feel all kinds of things, learn all kinds of lessons, and see all kinds of places that have never even existed. Stories have the power to change lives. And if that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.
So, since then, I’ve been writing almost constantly. In high school, I’d rush to get my schoolwork done so I could sit and write in class. I’d do it anywhere and everywhere; at a desk, in bed, on the bus, sitting in a tree. I even published a novella through a vanity press as a freshman in high school. Mind you, it wasn’t a great book, and there were so many things I wish I could’ve done differently (like not being my own editor or my own cover artist, especially with no experience in either of those things, not publishing through a vanity press, and not rushing through the process because of excitement and sacrificing professionalism), but despite all that, it was still such a valuable learning experience, so that made it worth it.
DREAMS...DON'T COME TRUE?
It was so exciting getting to see my work in print! Years and years of writing and I finally had an actual book with my name on it! Nothing could stop me. Or so I thought…
Fast forward to 2018. I’d just spent the last several years drafting a trilogy that I was very happy with. I loved the story, was attached to my characters and proud of the plot, and had spent so much time with beta readers, trying to make sure that it was perfect. And then, I hired a professional editor. And it wasn’t perfect. Don’t get me wrong, the editor was amazing, and I am so grateful for the way she cared, not only about making my books better, but helping me grow and improve as an author.
THE END OF A CHAPTER
But at that time, that book was far from ready. I was far from ready. I felt like, for every plot hole I tried to fix, I created two more, to the point that I simply didn’t have it in me at that time, emotionally or skill-wise, to be able to make that book ready to be published. I had a difficult decision to make. Should I completely scrap the entire trilogy, this story that I had worked so long and hard on and was so proud of, and rewrite it to be something completely different in order to fix everything? Or should I accept it as a story only meant for me and move on to different projects?
After trying to do both, I ultimately couldn’t do either, and the experience crushed me so much that I completely gave up writing for two whole years. I thought I’d never write again. It was like that spark in me had just… died.
NEW START
It was the start of a dark time, but my creative muse refused to be silenced. Even if I wasn’t writing, I had to create. I’d go crazy if I wasn’t. So, during that time, I took up polymer clay. I’ve always been a creative Jack-of-all-trades, and have been blessed with the “I want to do it and how hard can it be” mindset, which has lent itself well to allowing me to self-teach a lot of art forms. Before the polymer clay, I painted, drew, and made miniatures among other things, so working with the new medium came naturally to me. I started out doing jewelry, making my own gemstones out of clay, and even spent a few years selling my work at craft fairs. It was an amazing experience, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still missing. I branched out to polymer clay sculptures, which were far more detailed and took more time than jewelry, but were also more flexible and fulfilling to me. But since sculptures just didn’t sell like jewelry, it wasn’t sustainable to sell at craft fairs if that’s what I wanted to pursue.
I’ve always dreamed of being able to make things and create as my full time job, and jewelry and craft shows taught me a lot of the small-business side of things that come with that kind of life, but the more I did it, the less I found myself enjoying making things just for the sake of it.
GETTING BACK TO WRITING
And then, something miraculous happened. Just as suddenly as I had stopped, inspiration struck and I found myself writing again. And writing. And writing. I took my time, did a lot of research, and took a different approach to make sure that I didn’t run into the same problems I did with the story that made me quit. For one, this meant I was going to have to force myself to be a plotter and an outliner. I also made a new friend who became a great source of inspiration and support while I found my footing again. Her enthusiasm and problem-solving kept me going even when my mind threatened to get stuck.
I found myself integrating my writing with my art, painting portraits and sculpting figures of characters, and it made the process so much more immersive for me in the most inspiring way. That obsessive creativity made my world and storytelling so much richer and more confident, and absolutely helped reignite my passion for writing after so long of being afraid to do it again. When I started writing again, it felt like finding a lost piece of my heart that I hadn’t realized was missing. Even though the break was hard, it showed me how important it is to do the things that you love, no matter how hard they can be, because not doing them is even harder.
After about a year, my rough draft was done, and I was ready to start tip-toeing back into the next steps; beta readers, editing, and publishing a book, gosh darn it! And networking, ugh! And marking, bigger ugh! But you know what? Everything I learned while taking it slow during my return to writing, and everything I learned about running a small business from my polymer clay endeavors proved that I had learned way more than I ever realized, and helped me feel more confident that I was doing things “the right way” this time. (Well, the right way for me, anyway. Everybody’s journey is different.) There are still days, a lot of days, where I feel like I have NO idea what I’m doing, but that’s okay, because I’m simply doing it. I didn’t quit, I’m doing what I love, and I am so happy having just made it to this point.
MY GOALS
I still have a long way to go and bigger goals to chase (fingers crossed that I can make writing books my full-time job someday), but if there’s anything my writing journey has taught me so far, it’s how important it is to do what you love. Passion and persistence will take you very far.
And now, I’ve got my first book in more than a decade (Guardian, Rise of the Fallen, book I) coming out in March of 2023. FINALLY! I seriously thought I’d never see this day, and I am so excited to be able to share this (and many more stories) with all of you.
Like my reading tastes, I write all kinds of fantasy, from contemporary and urban to more epic fantasies, most with a romantic or other relationship-driven subplot. I also have many LGBTQ+ characters, though in Guardian, this doesn’t really get to be in the spotlight as much as it does in my next series. My villain and his morally gray companion definitely do get a lot of questionable sassy banter, though.
MY INSPIRATION
In addition to my vivid imagination and movie-like dreams, a lot of my inspiration comes to me as fragments of conversations between my characters, (which you will hear me jokingly refer to as the voices in my head). It’s simultaneously so intriguing and infuriating getting to overhear part of a conversation that totally wasn’t meant for me to hear and then try to figure out the context, who said what and why, what the heck is going on, and sometimes, who even are these people? My job as the author is to take those puzzle pieces and make them fit together and make sense. And these “conversations” will spark out of nowhere at the most random and usually inopportune times. (Cue me scribbling frantically on the back of a random receipt in the middle of the grocery store somewhere.) All I can say is Thank Chaos for voice-to-text and the ability to mumble notes into my phone in public like a crazy person instead of praying I don’t lose that receipt in my black hole of a purse. Spoiler alert, I did.
So you can see why my characters are so important to not only a good story, but my whole process. I’ve always said I’d rather have a mediocre plot in exchange for characters I love so much that I could be entertained just reading about them sitting and having a cup of coffee rather than the most brilliant plot in the world but underdeveloped or unrelatable characters.
MY BOOK
Maybe this connection is why I’ve always felt like each of my characters hold a part of me. No, really. In Guardian, Cas mirrors my instinct to protect those I care about, sometimes so much that it’s to my own detriment, my unfortunate defense mechanism to be in denial about things that scare me in order to prevent myself from overthinking them, and my general distaste for coffee, among other things. Jasper got my wonder of new, unfamiliar places and circumstances from my childhood, an element I wish my adult self indulged more instead of fear. He got my desire to see good in everyone and believe in those around me. Jo got my escapism when reality is too much to handle, my sarcastic quips (when I don’t filter myself) and my love of baking. Aaaand I’ll let you read Guardian to draw your own conclusions about what my villain, Ander got from me. Although he doesn’t really get a fair trial until the prequel, where I dive into his history, motives, and what brought him to the dark place you see him lashing out from in Guardian. But that’s beside the point.
My characters are my first loves, my inspiration, my flaws and my lessons, and one of the things I love about writing is that I get to learn and grow through my characters as much as they do over the course of a story.
I hope you love them as much as I do, and I can’t wait to share their story with you, hopefully the first of many. Don’t get me wrong, as much as I love my characters, I also love this story, the adventure they get to go on, and the struggles they get to overcome. Despite my major talking-up of the importance of well-developed characters, I definitely didn’t skimp out on the plot here, either.
GUARDIAN
Guardian takes place in the suburb of a college town, where Cas and her best friend Jo live. After her mother’s bleak lung cancer diagnosis, Jo picks up some dangerous habits as a means of coping, including heavy drinking, partying, and generally making unsafe choices. Cas has always been Jo’s comforter and protector, from early childhood, and she takes her best friend’s well being very seriously. Things become complicated when Cas’ focus is split from Jo when Jasper, a fallen angel quite literally falls into her life while fleeing the war unfolding in the angel realm.
He entreats Cas to be his protector and Guardian, since while he’s stranded without his wings and no way to return home, he’ll be vulnerable in the mortal realm should any enemy angels come looking for him. And they will come looking for him, since Cas is somehow in possession of one of three powerful magical artifacts that would grant Ander, the angel who started the war, the ability to unlock a great power that would make him invincible.
After begrudgingly accepting this duty, Cas finds herself in over her head, on the brink of losing everything. Caught between Jasper and Jo, Cas is forced to choose between saving the angels’ realm and protecting her own, a choice that is made even more difficult when she uncovers a startling secret that binds her to both.
You’ll have to read Guardian to find out what happens! I hope reading this book brings you as much joy as it brought me while writing it, and I hope that if you do read it, you’ll consider posting a review to let me know what you thought of it. Reviews help and mean a lot to indie authors! I can’t wait to share Guardian and even more stories with you! Happy reading!
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