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ABOUT ME

My name is Johanna Laakso. I live in the West of Sweden. After surgically removing my sleep, I work as a teacher during the days, and write stories during the nights. I'm highly addicted to history in general, art nouveau in particular, gardening, green tea and amateur cosplay.

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Why do I love writing science-fiction and fantasy?

Fantasy and science fiction are layered cakes. The top layer can be a simple adventure, but personally I become bored if that is the only one; I've simply lost patience with repetitive stories of cardboard heroes saving the world from yet another evil-doer. Done correctly, however, the lower layers of fantasy and sci-fi can also symbolically tell us something about ourselves or the world we live in. That is the part that gets me going. When I write, I always aim to include metaphors and complex perspectives. However, since the reader is part of the story, co-creating with the author while reading, the message received will be different for everyone. I love that. I love the thought of that. I bring an intention, you bring your experiences and your perspectives; and together we create a story with depths.

Making a cover.

Out of necessity, I started making my own covers. Below are some images from upcoming books: Where the glass heart fits, the Primal and the Inconsequential.

First one photographed by my own humble self, middle one by Elin Hwit Laakso, and the last one by Candylove Ankomah-Boahin.

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My creative process

1. Get inspired! (For instance: The entire Flame book came to me at night after watching this twenty second passage in the movie Watchmen from 2009.)

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2. Scribble down the plot and the characters in an overly expensive notebook. Below, my first sketch of Centuria.

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3. Write like possessed, and love every second. 

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4. With two chapters left, lose motivation. Produce a maximum of two-hundred words a day, and extract them like you're ripping off a stuck plaster.

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5. Get disgusted and put the entire thing in a drawer.

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6. Discover it six months later, read it and think: it isn't THAT bad.

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7. Rewrite, add, subtract and polish the language.

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8. Dress weirdly and photograph a cover, preferably somewhere where you're dead scared of getting caught.

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9. Repeat step seven until fed up.

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10. Addition 2022: Acquire the courage to be disliked, go for it and publish.

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My thoughts...

Diversity is a good thing.

Hence, I try to create diverse stories. But everyone has their own backpack, and sometimes we become so afraid to offend people, we say nothing. Bland books, without any messages, are boring.When I write, I want to include different perspectives. My stories are littered with mutants, psychics and androids, as well as people from fictitious countries and real ones. My characters never represent anyone but themselves, and they all have both good and bad traits. Though I might be a mixture of European cultures myself - Swedish, Finnish, Estonian and a hint of Russian -  I don't think that disqualifies me from writing about someone who has grown up under a different set of circumstances. We are all human, with universal human emotions, and two of the most important things in the world are imagination and empathy. The more people who can see something from someone else's perspective, the better. 

In Wish upon no star, for instance, Astrid is the child of Asian immigrants. To me, Astrid is a Swede. Being born a second and third generation immigrant myself, with roots in previously mentioned countries, I have never considered myself being anything else but Swedish. However, my ambiguous way of handling Astrid's background is also intentional. The story is meant to be interpreted by the reader. If you are Korean, and wish Astrid to be Korean as well, then she is Korean. If you, like me, think that Miss Michelle Yeoh (or Miss Ming-Na Wen, for that matter) is one of the most stunning women in the world, and want to imagine that Astrid has a Malaysian nationality like Miss Yeoh, please do. From my point of view: the more ways a story can appeal to you, the better!

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