Having discovered his love for storytelling early in life, Emilio Iasiello has since carved out an impressive literary journey
INTERVIEW
Author Emilio Iasiello always liked creating stories from an early age. ‘My Grade IV teacher in school was instrumental in encouraging creative writing, and I took to it immediately,’ he says, speaking with Literary Harbinger in an exclusive interaction. ‘She was my first big inspiration,’ he stresses, adding that later, he used to write for the school paper, which was more like a five-page stapled mimeograph that came out every Friday.
‘In Grades VII and VIII, I wrote a serial story that would go four weeks before it concluded, and another story would begin. I used to have parents come up to me in the parking lot on Fridays when they picked up their kids and pump me for information on what was going to happen. They were reading my stories and genuinely seemed to like them! After that, I was hooked,’ the Virginia-based author, who is also a strategic cyber intelligence analyst, lets us know.
Telling Tales, Telling Truths
Fortunate enough to publish several books, Emilio shares that his first one, Chasing the Green, was based on a true story and that he worked with the person about whom it was written. ‘My next publication was a book of short stories entitled Why People Do What They Do, which had started when I was getting my MFA at George Mason University,’ he says. ‘I followed that up with my literary fiction novel, The Girl Behind the Glass, a middle-grade fiction book called The Web Paige Chronicles, and a thriller entitled Attrition,’ he adds.
Emilio also launched a book in October 2022 called The Dark. He tells us that it is his homage to a ghost story he heard as a camper when he went away to summer camp during the summer. Speaking about its plot, Emilio shares, ‘A dysfunctional family retreats into a secluded cabin in the woods where a mysterious person tries to steal their ten-year-old son. What first starts playfully increasingly turns more malevolent until he is finally taken, and his parents must scramble to save him.’
Excitement in the Making
On being asked if he usually plans out his stories well in advance or flies by the seat of his pants, Emilio, who is almost always with a small notepad and pen wherever he goes lest he forget the ideas that come to his mind while he is not writing, tells us categorically that each story comes differently. ‘Sometimes, it is a scenario that I cannot get out of my mind. I think of something that interests me and try to figure out what happens next,’ he explains. ‘Sometimes, a character might come to mind, and I try to put him or her into situations and figure out what they would do. These are general springboards for me, and the more I think about them, the more excited I become,’ he adds.
The writer, who happens to be a huge fan of getting up early in the morning and writing, nonetheless clarifies that he usually has a general outline but never knows the ending before he writes. ‘I prefer to let the story unfold organically and let my characters dictate how the story ends,’ he lets on. ‘When I have tried to write a story around an ending, it never seems to work for me.’
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Filling the Void
An avid reader, Emilio has many favourite authors. On being asked who those favourite authors are, we are told that, having written novels, short stories, poetry, and stage plays produced in the theatre, and having written five screenplays for low-budget films that have been produced, it is hard for Emilio to narrow down a favourite author list because they cross over all disciplines of writing. ‘But if I had to pin down a few favourites, they would include, but are certainly not limited to, F Scott Fitzgerald, Raymond Carver, Sam Shepard, David Mamet, Anne Sexton, Stephen King, and William Goldman,’ he shares, stressing that he loves these authors for how they write, the subject matters they cover, and how well they craft stories that just suck him into them.
So, was becoming an author a conscious decision Emilio made? Says the author, who feels his degree in Fine Arts was vital for preparing him for future criticism and how to use the criticism he faces to make him a better writer, ‘It has been a conscious decision to want to become a writer, but I believe I was already headed there anyway. I liked to make up stories and liked to have people read them. I tried to fill what I thought was a void of the types of stories that I would like to read and that no one was writing. So, from that perspective, I would say that it was a conscious decision to want to be a writer.’
The idea of becoming a published author gradually developed over time. ‘But it was the desire to be a writer first that was the key stepping stone,’ he explains.
Maximizing Awake Time
Conceding that juggling writing and other tasks is no child’s play, Emilio, whose hobbies extend to family activities, especially watching his kids play sports or watching them explore and pursue their interests, tells us that he feels there is never enough time for writing, working a full-time job in a non-creative field, and managing a family. ‘But what it has taught me is to be a better time manager and to really maximize the time I am awake. I have found that if I can invest at least some time during the day in writing, I keep the creative wolf at the door,’ he explains, adding that he also wants to be supportive of all his children wish to do.
Be that as it may, Emilio’s goal has always been to be a full-fledged author who can earn enough money to contribute to the financial stability of the household. ‘I am not there yet, but I am happy with how that is progressing,’ the writer shares with us. His first goal has nevertheless been to publish work that he has written. Success was secondary to that.
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Generating Ideas, One at a Time
As someone who feels empathy is a powerful equaliser that, if adopted and practised, might go far in reducing some of the problems we see in the world today in everything from politics and geography to economics and social interaction, Emilio is clearly not bereft of ideas.
He says that after The Dark, his next books have focused on things that he has experienced. ‘I really want to mine things from my own life and tell stories that I think are accessible to everyone,’ he lets on. ‘The ages 10–14 were important years in my own development, and I think I have interesting things to share with readers. Growing up in a diverse neighbourhood, summer camp experiences, and influential role models who were not my immediate family are some of the subjects of my works.’
‘Always Keep Writing’
And is there anything he wishes to tell budding authors, especially those who lose motivation if their works are not received well? ‘Keep writing! The thing that makes a person a writer is writing. As long as you put words on the page, you are a writer,’ declares Emilio, who has also studied Spanish for several years in high school and college.
‘There is a reason you walk into a bookstore and see so many books there – there is something for everyone!’ he exclaims. ‘So if someone does not like your book, that is only one person’s opinion. Maybe they were not the right audience for that particular story, but maybe the next one will be. Finding audiences may take a while, may require word of mouth or more aggressive marketing, but it will come. The biggest crime a writer can commit is to give up or take criticism personally. Learn from it and move on from it, but always keep writing,’ he says with certainty before signing off.
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PS: Emilio Iasiello is fairly active on Facebook and would appreciate anyone reaching out to connect or start a conversation. You can follow his page here. The writer’s X handle is @iasiello_e.