GREETINGS, BOOKWORMS! I’m Aisha Kandisha, Head Librarian at Kandisha Press. Join me in the dusty stacks of the library I will never leave again as I chat with some of my favorite Women in Horror. Today we feature author Andrea Goyan!
Andrea Goyan is an award-winning author and co-host of Metastellar’s Long Lost Friends. Recent stories are available in Intrepidus Ink, Dark Matter Presents: Monstrous Futures, All Worlds Wayfarer, Flash Fiction Magazine, and The Molotov Cocktail. You can find more of her words on her website www.andreagoyan.com or follow her on Twitter @AndreaGoyan or Bluesky @andreagoyan.bsky.social
What made you want to become an author? Did you have an “Aha!” moment when you knew you were born to write? Or perhaps a beloved book inspired you?
I’ve always enjoyed writing. My mother collected the “books” I wrote as a child. I found an illustrated picture book I made when I was about six. In it, I’d drawn mice dressed up, ala Beatrix Potter. In 4th grade, I co-wrote what today would be called a fan fiction Nancy Drew story titled “The Secret of the Chartreuse Dice.” In high school, different ambitions took over. I turned my creativity toward acting. After college, working toward that dream while paying bills was a full-time gig. A decade later, my life as a frustrated actor brought me back to writing, and I started creating short plays. I did that for years, producing many with a Los Angeles theatre company. Then I pivoted again, moved to writing prose, and haven’t looked back.
What do you believe are your strengths in writing? And when you feel you need to improve on a particular writing skill, how do you go about it?
I’ve been told my strengths are character voice and dialogue, and I credit my years as an actor for those skills. I’m always working on my rather pathetic grammar and punctuation. I could go on about how I aced my English classes but came out of school unable to properly diagram a sentence or know where to put commas. Luckily for me, great online resources are available. I credit online grammar checkers for assisting and helping me improve those particular skills. Using them, I’ve learned about my common mistakes. I lean on those tools and put every story through them before submitting them. I also depend upon my vetted, wonderful beta readers.
What are your thoughts on the book industry today, or more importantly, about the book community? Do you feel it is getting harder or easier to make it as an independent author these days?
The online community is incredible. The people I’ve met there are the flesh and blood of my writing life. I think it’s probably as challenging as ever to make it as an author, independent or not. The sheer volume of available work makes make it difficult to be discovered. But I think author resources have grown exponentially, and the community accepts and even embraces self-publishing as a viable option for writers. I think it’s a pretty exciting time to be an author as long as we figure out how to handle the AI conundrum.
What are your upcoming works and plans for the future?
My work is eclectic, which, while making me happy, may confuse readers! Other than saying my favorite story is the newest one I’m working on, I’d say my story “He Opens One More Door” is the one I’m most proud of. Though it’s not horror, it deals with a horrific illness. What I love most about this story is how many readers have reached out and left me wonderful comments. I love that it’s affected so many people.
What are your upcoming works and plans for the future?
I’ve gone back to a novel I wrote 20 years ago. It’s a sci-fi fantasy. I’ve been reworking it because not only am I a better writer (thank god), but social zeitgeists have shifted. It’s been eye-opening for me to see how both I and social norms have evolved. I am also working on two different collections of my short stories. One will be all speculative fiction with several horror stories in the mix.
KANDISHA PRESS 