Dragon Soul Press had the chance to interview Frank Sawielijew, an author featured in Union, A Death in the Night, and The Hunt!
1) Introduce yourself!
Hello! I’m Frank Sawielijew, a writer from Germany who has been writing short stories
since 2015 and is currently working on his first novel. I write fantasy and sci-fi and often
like to mix the two, with sorcery and high technology appearing together in the same
world. Apart from stories, I also write for computer games.
2) What prompted you to begin writing?
I made up my own stories for as long as I remember. When I was a kid, I made my own
badly drawn comics and wrote down concepts for my own computer games. In my teens, I
started writing novels and short stories. By my mid 20s I had actually become good at it
and started submitting to anthologies. There was no single event or idea that prompted
me to begin writing, it just happened naturally, as creating worlds and stories in my head
had been part of my life for as long as I can remember. It was only a matter of time before
I’d start devoting myself to the craft seriously.
3) Do you have a favorite story or poem you’ve written? What’s it about?
The Codex of Naku-Lankha, published in Cirsova magazine’s Spring 2024 issue. It’s an
action-heavy adventure blending classic sword & sorcery with sci-fi elements. Arshiya and
her companion Varnok delve into an ancient ruin to retrieve a legendary tome of sorcery…
but it is not at all what they expected. I really like the way it turned out, with constantly
escalating stakes and a good mix of action and slower character moments. It’s the second
story featuring these two protagonists, and I’ll definitely continue their adventures.
4) How many projects do you have planned over the next few years? Tell us about one.
I plan to write a handful of short stories and novels set in the world of Arath, the same
world that the aforementioned Codex of Naku-Lankha is set in. Two of my stories
published by Dragon Soul Press are also set in that world (A Traitor’s Fate in Assassins,
and Beasts of the Sorcerer in The Hunt). I don’t have an exact number for the short
stories – whenever an idea pops into my head, I’ll write it – but I have three novels
planned for the next year or two.
My first novel is called Carinth Beyond the Sea. It follows Lyssa, a young woman whose
home is invaded by pterodactyl-riding barbarians. As she escapes from the besieged
city, she swears to return and take back her beloved city. It’s a place of high technology,
old computers that hold the knowledge of the ancients… legends say that the ancestors
came from a continent beyond the sea, so she sets out on an expedition to seek their
ancient home, hoping to find something there that might help her drive out the
barbarians.
The novel is almost finished, but I’m still waiting for my artist to finish the illustrations. I
plan to have fifteen illustrations in the novel, depicting various scenes from the story.
Many early fantasy works featured illustrations, and it’s a tradition I intend to continue. If
all goes well, the novel should be ready for release by the end of the year.
5) What is your writing process like?
First, I come up with a rough idea. For Carinth Beyond the Sea, I started with the
concept of an overseas journey and went from there. Why would the protagonist go on
such a journey? What is the inciting incident? How does she accomplish it? What
dangers does she face on the way? And so, bit by bit, I plan out the story’s structure.
I only start writing when I have the story fully formed in my head, whether it’s a short
story or a novel. My first drafts are usually final. All I do on revisions is fix grammatical
errors and polish up the style. Story structure, characters, events almost never change
between drafts. A story will sit and grow in my head for a couple of weeks before I even
type a single word. Planning out my stories beforehand makes it much easier to build a
satisfying structure of setups and payoffs, and put in some foreshadowing for later
events.
6) Where do you draw inspiration from?
Wherever it may come from! I enjoy classic pulp fantasy and draw a lot of inspiration
from the old genre pioneers. But I also take ideas from video games and movies, or
might get inspired by architecture or a scene of nature I see when taking a walk. Going
on extended walks and just letting my mind wander is my favorite way of coming up with
new stories.
I studied history, and have a particular interest in bronze age Mesopotamia, so that’s
another field I draw inspiration from. There are enough interesting events in history to
inspire dozens of novels. In fact, one novel I have planned is inspired by the adventurous
path of revenge taken by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian II after he had been deposed.
History has so much to offer, I constantly find new ideas in its annals.
7) Who is your favorite author / what is your favorite book?
My favorite author is Clark Ashton Smith. He was the most poetic of the “Big Three” who
wrote for Weird Tales (the other two being Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft), and I
simply adore his prose. I’m particularly fond of his Zothique cycle – tales of sword &
sorcery set on a far future Earth where civilization is slowly fading and the protagonists
routinely encounter sinister forces. There’s a feeling of melancholy in his stories, and
they often end in tragedy, yet his flowery descriptions manage to add a strange beauty to
it all. To me, Clark Ashton Smith is the greatest writer of the English language. He had a
grand imagination, and a masterful command of vocabulary.
8) What is one goal you have for your writing future?
I want to write and publish several novels set in my world of Arath, each a standalone yet
loosely connected to each other. After many years of writing short stories, getting my first
novel out is a big step forward, and like many others I’d like to turn it into a series – but
not a series of strict sequels that end in cliffhangers. Every book should stand on its own,
some with different protagonists, some with returning protagonists, but always a
complete story with its own beginning and end.
I’m tired of lengthy series that never get finished (George R. R. Martin, I’m looking at
you!), or even series that are finished but have so many volumes it’s intimidating to get
into them – Wheel of Time is a great example. I want to offer an alternative with my
world of Arath: a series of books set in the same world, yet each being a standalone
story of its own, so readers can pick up any of the books and not worry about having to
read its sequels. Terry Pratchett’s Discworld is like that, too, and it’s the most newcomer-
friendly fantasy series out there.
9) What do you hope readers enjoy most from your work?
The action and the characters. I like to create unique characters with interesting
backgrounds and personalities, and throw them into a plot that builds up to a grand
action-heavy climax. For me, those climactic scenes are the most enjoyable to write, and
I hope they’re just as much fun for my readers! Constantly escalating stakes, and a
satisfying payoff at the end… that’s what I always try to aim for.
10) Where can readers learn more about you?
Dragon Soul Press 