How Janina Scarlet Sits Down & Writes
Dark Agents is a spellbinding graphic novel that seamlessly blends fiction and evidence-based psychology.
Dr. Janina Scarlet’s spellbinding graphic novel, Dark Agents, Book One: Violet and the Trial of Trauma, seamlessly blends fiction and evidence-based psychology.
In this groundbreaking comic book for teens and young adults, we meet Violet—a witch whose parents were murdered by an evil necromancer when she was only six years old. Running from country to country, as well as from herself, Violet never gets a chance to fully process her traumatic experience.
When she turns 19, Violet begins training at the Underworld Intelligence Agency (UIA) in hopes of becoming a Dark Agent—someone tasked with keeping the balance between the world of the living and the world of the undead. During her training, Violet hopes to finally overcome her fear of death and take control of her emotions, but instead she finds that mindfulness, vulnerability, and acceptance are the skills most necessary to help her succeed.
Blended seamlessly throughout the story are elements of a powerful and evidence-based treatment called acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Whether or not you’ve experienced a traumatic event like Violet, you’ll find valuable skills you can apply to your own life to help you conquer your demons and hone your unique superpowers.
Dark Agents is perfect for fans of Harry Potter, Supernatural, and of course, magic!
We got to sit down and chat with Janina about her writing process, love of stories, and about blending fiction with psychology.
Q: Where do you like to write the most?
A: Two places. I love writing in my favorite coffee shop with my friends. We have a writing group that meets for two hours on Saturdays and Sundays. We get coffee and write together. The second place is that I have a designated writing room in my house. I love writing there because I have the companionship of my little cat Hera.
Q: When do you like to write the most?
A: I like writing in the morning the most and I now have designated writing days. Saturday and Sunday mornings and all day Monday is now a designated writing day.
Q: When it comes to drafting, do you prefer writing on a computer or freehand?
A: It depends on what it is. If it's non-fiction I prefer outlining and drafting on the computer. When it's fiction I like outlining by hand first and then writing on the computer. For both types of writing I love using Scrivener.
Q: Are you more of a plotter or pantser?
A: Definitely a plotter. I find that if I don't have an idea of where the story is going, it's easy to get lost. But I also know I can't constrain my characters too much because they sometimes need to figure it out for themselves. I try to make a detailed outline enough to know the character, but give them the freedom to do what they need to.
Q: Stephen King has a great line in ‘On Writing’ that says “the scariest moment is always right before you start. After that, things can only get better.” That scary pre-start moment often inspires procrastination in writers. Suddenly, you have to clean your entire house, do the laundry and play Candy Crush for an hour before you can actually start writing. Is there anything you need to do before you can actually sit down and work?
A: Absolutely. This past weekend I rearranged my entire library. It took nine hours. And I did that to procrastinate starting to write my new book. Once I'm halfway through the first chapter of the first draft it gets easier, though. But that first sentence, that first paragraph is the most daunting thing.
Q: Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what music? Is your choice of music inspired by the project you’re working on?
A: It depends on what I'm working on. For some projects I like to listen to certain sounds. Like a fireplace crackling or something meditative. For other projects, I like having sounds in the background. Like when I wrote Supernatural Therapy, I had the show in the background to get me in the mood. Usually when I'm writing non-fiction I like to have silence.
Q: Some writers believe you have to write every single day. Is that true of your process? How often do you write/how long for each session?
A: I think it's different for different people. They need to follow their own heart and creative process. If I could write everyday, I would. If I don't write for a week, I start to get cranky, like someone detoxing from caffeine. I know I need to write a few days a week for at least 30-60 minutes to feel good. Four to five hours is my happy spot, at least three times a week.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d give an aspiring author?
A: The best advice, as weird as it might sound, just write. Because the truth is there is no voice out there like yours. You have a story in you that no one can tell from the same perspective. You'll likely feel like a fraud and imposter, it doesn't matter how many years or books you’ve written. That imposter syndrome might always be there, and it's kind of like that's your initiation process into being a writer. We all feel that way, so welcome to being a writer.
Q: Dark Agents is a blend of comic book fiction and real evidence-based therapy tools. How did you come up with the idea of blending fiction with psychology?
A: I've always been fascinated with stories. I'm a trauma survivor, having survived Chernobyl, persecution, and PTSD. Stories are what got me through my PTSD. Seeing X-Men, for example, showed me the power of stories and how we can use our origin stories to mold the heroic journey we want to take. It's up to us how we want to proceed. Dark Agents came to me 10 years ago. I was going to a mall and suddenly I was struck by this thought: what if there was a school kind of like Hogwarts that taught students to fight supernatural monsters, but also their internal demons? I had to stop and write notes in my phone for like 30 minutes because the idea started pouring out of me. For the last 10 years I've been working on it, shaping it. And my editor at New Harbinger asked me if I wanted to write a fiction graphic novel series. I was thrilled because I was already writing the series and it's exactly what I wanted to put out.
Q: Why do you think this type of blended genres can help readers when they are in their young adult years?
A: As we are trying to figure out who we are and how we proceed on life's journey, there will be a lot of obstacles. There is no life manual, and for most of us the roadmap we are given is not what we want. We can get confused, overwhelmed and don't know how to face obstacles. Through stories we can see mirrors of what we are going through to figure out our own journey.
Q: Where do you normally find story inspiration?
A: A lot of times my story inspiration is based on something that really touches me. For example, the Sci-Fi story I'm working on now deals with our current political climate. My story inspiration is something I'm usually moved by, whether good or bad. It's something I want people to learn more about. It's issues that are near and dear to my heart.
Q: If you had a superpower like the characters in Dark Agents, what would it be?
A: It would hopefully be Karuna's superpower of empathy. Not only to empathize with people, but to have the ability to heal broken hearts like she does.
Q: What are the self-help tools can readers take away from Dark Agents?
A: The first thing is that readers will learn that anyone can develop PTSD. A lot of people still think that only active duty service members or combat veterans can develop PTSD. A lot of people go through trauma and struggle with PTSD. Then they'll also learn that there's nothing wrong in asking for help, seeing a therapist can make us strong and can help us be more connected with our goals. And finally it's okay to spend time with friends in our times of need. That can help us get through difficult moments.
Q: What are you reading right now?
A: The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. I'm almost done with the first book and I just bought the entire series.
You can pick up your copy of Dark Agents from Amazon or Indiebound. Enjoy!
Sit Down and Write is brought to you by Emily Lee and Cassie Stossel.
Love thisssss!!!