Interview: Aleksandra Orlić
Hello Aleksandra. Can you tell us something about yourself in a few sentences for an International OLS platform?
I've always been in love with photography, though for years I've been cheating on it with writing. Eventually, I realized that the best way to tell stories is through images. Throughout my career, I've worked as a journalist, editor, writer, and photographer. A year ago, I decided to bring all my passions together—culture, art, creativity, women's issues, and contemporary phenomena—on my portal, MOOD.HR, an online weekly dedicated to pop culture and original stories.
Photo: Aleksandra Orlic
You have multiple professions. How would you describe your professional path?
After studying art history and German language, at the start of the new millennium I became fascinated by the Internet and got a job with the first Croatian-language portal in the country. For 20 years, I mixed digital media and print magazines. Among other roles, I worked as the culture editor of the Gala Style magazine and the editor-in-chief of the Cosmopolitan magazine, as well as a TV show scriptwriter, writer, and photographer. Fortunately, Emma Gannon wrote the book 'The Multi-Hyphen Method', so now we have a proper term for this type of professional life.
Is there an another one on your profession bucket list?
I have to admit, I'm very interested in design and in recent years, I've really found my niche in creating animations. They provide me with the essential element of mastering new skills, as well as the joy of playing and exploring. I'm especially happy to have been involved in the fantastic multimedia literary project, Slavic Soundwalking. This project offers the users of the app the chance to listen to 75 short stories by contemporary authors from Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia while walking through Zagreb, Belgrade, and Ljubljana. I've also ventured into PR, media relations, and hosting. We could say that like those short stories, I've ventured out into the world.
Your education began at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, what was your student period like?
It's no wonder that in all great novels those formative years are the most important and vivid. I took my studies very seriously, which meant attending all lectures—from language exercises at eight in the morning to live performances, theater plays, and concerts. However, one image especially etched in my memory, very retro and strange to today's generations, is getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturday mornings to be the first to arrive at the Open University library. I wanted to be the first to take out the gigantic book on Egyptian art by Kurt Lange and Max Hirmer. Since photographing, scanning, and taking that valuable and incredibly heavy book out of the library was prohibited, I meticulously sketched temple floor plans into my notebook. Thankfully, all that effort paid off during a study trip down the Nile with the amazing Professor Predrag Vuković.
Photo: Aleksandra Orlic
Did you do some student exchange, and would you recommend it?
During my studies, I had the invaluable opportunity of three one-month scholarships in Germany and Austria, and those experiences were unforgettable. Even today, I vividly recall the summers in Giessen, Chemnitz, and Vienna, the trips to Weimar, Dresden, Nuremberg, Marburg, the Rhine River cruises, excellent lectures on post-war literature, contemporary films, and the art of translation, and, even more so, friendships, some of which endure to this day. Truly priceless experiences for any student.
You travel a lot, and I would say it plays an important inspiration for your books.
You know what Daniel Day-Lewis said in the movie 'The Age of Innocence'? Poets craving wonder in the world should venture to places farthest removed from their own. In short, if you dream of Mars, the simplest thing is to book a trip to Japan. But here's an even better newsflash—exoticism can be found even in close proximity, even in your own city. I love uncovering new places and immersing myself in them with all my senses. After all, since there's long been evidence that people fall in love much easier while traveling, just imagine what that openness does for creation.
Do you have your favorite country and what are the reasons for it?
For some reason, I always seem to go wild whenever I'm down South—whether it's Italy, Spain, or my first big love, Egypt, and North Africa. Who knows, maybe it's the Mediterranean colors, shapes, and scents, or perhaps it's the sea that has left the deepest impression on me, making these southern lands feel like a kind of exotic home to me.
Does the cultural environment you come from shape you?
Countless discussions have taken place about what growing up on an island, with its horizon and sea, does to what's known as poetic sensibility—the relationship with melancholy, the myriads of possibilities that spark the imagination, and the discovery of unknown worlds. It's like having an abstract painting in front of you that you must fill with your characters, outlines, and scenarios.
What rituals do you have before they start writing? What strategies do they use to stay motivated and productive?
I haven't really thought about it before, but it seems to me that there's a special energy that flows when you alternate between diving into new, intense experiences and periods of peace and contemplation. Who knows, maybe the American writer Philip Roth was onto something when he said that if you want to be creative, you need four essential ingredients: a touch of melancholy, self-irony, a pinch of overestimation—or as he put it, a competitive spirit—and some leisure time.
Source: Aleksandra Orlic
Tell us more about your published works.
I've published five books. The poetry collection 'In Scale 1:100,000', a sort of urban love poetry with a crazy atmosphere reminiscent of the film 'Run, Lola, Run'. And after that, four novels. 'Once Upon a Time by the End', a story of 9 farewells, 'If Ever', a love story from 3 perspectives, 'Two Nights in Barcelona', about intense love and a gradual detachment from reality, exploring whether the city can mirror the feelings of the main character, and the latest one 'Acqua Alta', a combination of a psychological novel and a travelogue.
What is your favorite character you've ever created, and why? Do you have a favorite scene you’ve written? What makes it memorable?
You know that theory about how all characters in a book are fragments of the author? I'm drawn to those slightly bipolar characters who captivate my main heroines and defy easy categorization. But if I had to single out a favorite, it would be the unconventional traveler without luggage from my last book 'Acqua Alta' - Philipe from Lebanon, whom Aurora encounters in Venice. There's this scene where, after a night-long journey, she meets her ex at the bus station, and all the water and emotions well up inside her throat.
How do you overcome writer's block?
They say journalists don't have the luxury of experiencing writer's block because when deadlines are looming, you just have to dive into action. And you know what they say in movies about fatal love— one thing leads to another. But when it comes to writing books, I'm pretty laid-back. I wait for inspiration to come to me. As soon as I feel it breathing down my neck or find myself tossing around stories at night, I sit down at the computer, grab the nearest napkin or notebook, and the game is on.
Does your work involve research and if so, what's the most interesting or unusual research you've done for a project?
The human brain has always fascinated me. After all, they don't say for nothing that reading certain books feels like entering someone's mind. I'm currently working on a manuscript that received support from the Ministry of Culture and Media, which contains a lot of information about the workings of the brain, primarily about memory and the most advanced scientific methods of perceiving reality. I was intrigued by Stephen Hawking's idea that everything that can happen in the universe already exists. What could be a better basis for creating a story with multiple variations on the theme?
Source: Aleksandra Orlic
What books, authors, or experiences have shaped your writing style?
In my youth, it was the Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann who showed me how writing could be a game and a play with genres, and the Czech writer Milan Kundera who delved much deeper into the world and people with his reflections than just the surface of the plot.
How do you create believable and relatable characters? Do you draw inspiration from real-life people?
When I was starting out at Klik magazine, we had a great motto printed on a T-shirt – "No facts! All fiction." But when it comes to my books, it's interesting how people would rather hear that everything is copied from reality than collaged, let alone invented. Although reality is an endless source of inspiration, the fact is that we all have processors in our heads that assemble new characters from thousands of other people's pixels.
How would you define your genre?
A disturbing melodrama meets a psychological novel that defies control and occasionally turns into a travelogue, and sometimes into a poetic diary entry.
Did you ever think after writing a novel- “I’ve should have written it differently”?
I probably should think that way, but deep down, I'm a prisoner of first experiences and images. Or maybe I just enjoy creating quickly. I still remember that feeling when, in the first grade, I drew a puppy in a little house, and the teacher ripped out the first page of my notebook because she wanted me to learn to hold the pencil less tightly and not to leave the imprint of the pencil grip on the rest of the notebook. But as I drew that second puppy, which gradually looked completely different from the first one, I felt an enormous sadness inside that I had lost the first puppy. Maybe that's why I find it hard to throw away the first photos with a mistake.
Source: Aleksandra Orlic
Describe your ideal writing environment. Do you prefer silence or background noise? Coffee shop or home office? How do you create the perfect atmosphere for writing?
As the writer Elizabeth Gilbert beautifully described in her TED Talk on inspiration, when you feel a song, a sentence, an idea coming, there's no rain, thunder, or traffic jam that can stop you from trying to capture it in some way. Who knows, maybe those of us who have spent years in newsrooms have learned to hypnotize ourselves in a way. But what's interesting is that I find it easier to work in the hustle and bustle than when listening to music. Music is probably too motivating and has too strong a story, so it would immediately take over the conductor's baton.
Have you ever thought about writing a novel yourself in some other language and which one would it be?
I tried writing in German, which I also studied, but since speed and surrendering to emotions and creative flow are important to me, it seemed that this approach slowed me down. Perhaps the sentences were hitting the amygdala more slowly. It's interesting how Milan Kundera, for example, spoke about this, since he himself spent a lot of time abroad and switched from Czech to French, saying that dirty talk and romance only work in one's mother tongue. On the other hand, there are always those who bravely experiment, like Haruki Murakami, who wrote his stories in English and then translated them into Japanese, and in that transfer, a special magic was literally born.
You are a polyglot; would you say languages shaped you?
Perhaps they've sharpened my perception in some way. Because once you dive into the sea of foreign words and rules, you realize that there are other in-between concepts, tones, colored vowels, and different lenses through which you can see the world. After all, in the very process of translating expressions and sentences from one language to another, something indescribable and somewhat magical often emerges. That feeling that Sofia Coppola tried to capture in the movie "Lost in Translation," and Umberto Eco in his book "Almost the Same."
Reflecting on your writing journey so far, what have been the high points and low points? How have you evolved as a writer over time?
As Professor Viktor Žmegač once put it, illusion is a line from the movie 'Do You Remember Baby Doll', suggesting that every day, at every moment, we are progressing more and more because development often resembles a circle rather than an upward trajectory on a graph. However, the fact is that my personal opinion often differs from the audience and critics' perception, and sometimes, living books far better than those that are formally polished and have dared to play with expectations of the classic novel a bit more boldly.
Photo: Aleksandra Orlic
Which advice they would give to aspiring writers. What lessons have they learned on their writing journey that they wish they knew when they were starting out?
I remember back in 2012 when I published my first book, I was a guest at a festival, and an older colleague whom I highly respect gave me advice not to be so openly giving and exposing myself. I pondered on it for a long time, sometimes attempting to follow her advice, but now it seems to me - what's the point of writing then if you're going to keep your cards close and not delve deep under the skin? Indeed, writing is exposure. Or as Michel Houellebecq would say - in a way, it's stepping into the gladiatorial arena, but on the other hand, once you've entered the arena and decided to look life in the eyes a bit longer, does it make sense to say - beware of the lions?
And some trivia questions for our readers, what’s your favourite town and urban spot?
I love waterfront cities, so, like a true local patriot, I'll choose my hometown Rijeka, which I believe strikes the perfect balance of everything - it's big enough, yet small, connected to other exciting cities as well as islands, and above all, very liberal, progressive, and creative.
How would you describe Croatia to foreigners?
Sea, mountains, cities, and islands. You don't need to ask AI programs to create surreal montages for amazing combinations. We have the best code for living and enjoying life.
As you are a writer, you must have your favourite Croatian word?
I love the word čekanje – waiting in English, especially its island version, "čikat," after which the famous bay was named. It's not just romantic because women often used to go to the most protruding part of the coast to wait for their sailors and see if their ships were visible, but also because this very important trait has completely disappeared from our lives.
Photo: Aleksandra Orlic
And your book recommendation from a Croatian author would be?
"The Ship for Issa" by Robert Perišić, a brilliant novel about fluid times, the history of the Mediterranean, and contemporary issues that concern the modern reader - about the importance of ecology and feminism.
What's your favorite Croatian song?
I particularly love the unique style of Damir Urban, and even today, I vividly remember how I first heard the song "Budi moja voda" on the radio in elementary school - "I am your fire" - and felt some special tingles.
And a place in Croatia?
Definitely the island of Lošinj where I grew up. A mythical place from ancient Greece that still enchants visitors. Arcadia 2.0.
Do you have a life moto?
Unfortunately, I don't have a motto, but I would gladly sign off on an advertising slogan that always touches me for some reason, which says Love, play, dream.
Please, tell us, where can we find your books?
In all major bookstores, libraries, and on the websites of my publishers - V.B.Z., HENA COM, Vuković Runjić, Superknjižara. But also on modern applications like Slavic Soundwalking, which offers the option to listen to 75 stories by contemporary authors in five languages - Croatian, English, Serbian, Slovenian, as well as the sign language.
Loreta, OLS Community Manager – Croatian