“A spark of an idea can create a flame of creativity.”
Stephanie Guerilus wants you to know that you WILL know her name.
“I want to do more than just find my place in history,” she says on her website. “I want to craft it. That’s my dream. It feels like I’ve been asleep for so long, but I’m awake now. I feel as though I’ve awaken from a long slumber, finding my way out of the fog and attempting to actualize my dream’s potential.”
That dream? To build a literary empire.
Stephanie’s inspiration for her writing comes from current events and issues that strike a personal chord in people’s hearts. She gives a voice to people who don’t usually get a chance to be heard. That voice can be heard through Reesa Jenkins, the main character in her recently published novel, “By Any Means Neccesary,” a story of a young black woman’s journey through life, love, and the music industry. She goes hard for the people that she loves, but doesn’t know how to stay out of drama. There is always something going on in her life, and sometimes, that’s just the way she likes it. Reesa knows she’s the best, and no one can tell her any different—except the face staring back at her in the mirror.
On her creative process:
It’s almost as if I’m falling in love for the first time. I have all this excitement in me and I just want everything to be perfect. I become consumed by that project, infatuated and almost obsessed. But just like love, you eventually have to come down from that high and have to deal with reality. The love is still there, but I deal with the mistakes and imperfections that come along. I want every word to be perfect and get impatient if my vision isn’t translating well, but I work on it.
On her inspiration and influences:
My life and the circumstances going around me inspire me to write. I also have an overactive imagination. I’ve been writing ever since I was small. It usually just takes a spark of an idea to create an even bigger flame of creativity. My biggest influence is my mom. She wishes I could be a nurse, but the more I keep writing, I know it’s not in vain. I know that I’m going to be the one to give her that deluxe apartment in the sky.
On what keeps her motivated:
I get disappointed when I see other people getting book deals because of who they slept with and not because of any real talent. But writing is what I love to do. I’ll write for myself if I need to. I’ve only stopped writing once in my life and coming back to it was just giving myself life all over again. It also helps when other people say they appreciate my work.