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Conversations Over Coffee

Because we’re just getting to know Emilia.

Serena Knudson (SK): You are an actress and you’ve done some modeling, what made you want to become a published author?

Emilia Ares (EA): I am an actress, I’ll own that. I will fully deny any modeling work and will defer to: nope that wasn’t me. 

I’ve always been obsessed with storytelling. Whether it was full-blown, out of this world, make-believe answers when my parents asked me, “How was school today?” and I’d tell them that a huge Hollywood studio producer came to school and selected me to star in the next Annie film. Or just writing wildly exaggerated dramatizations of my day in my journal. Storytelling has always been pure fun to me. I never thought I’d be an author but after spending any spare minute I had over the past ten years on telling Mina and Oliver’s story, I figured it’d be a waste not to share them with the world…just in case it resonated with someone, made someone feel less other or less lonely.

SK: What was your favorite part to write of Love and Other Sins?

EA: I loved writing the dialogue between Oliver and Mina. I also loved writing Mina’s sharp quips and bad-ass moments, especially where she speaks her mind and stands up for herself or others. 

SK: Your characters are pretty complex, if you had to choose which of your characters would you be best friends with?

EA: It would be a very close call between Nyah and Lily, Mina’s mom. Nyah is a firecracker and so grounded. She knows exactly who she is and what’s what. Lily is just an absolute no bullsh*t love bomb and she would be so much fun to talk to over drinks. 

SK: If you could learn a new hobby, what would it be?

EA: Definitely to fly a plane or ride a motorcycle

SK: What is something you are passionate about?

EA: Getting together as a community and solving community problems on a micro level. Also, hats. I love hats. 

Let’s Get Intimate!

Don’t you want to know more about this interesting author?

SK: You have a minor in Russian and used the Russian language and culture in your novel. What drew you to choose Russia over other languages and countries?

EA: Russia has such a dark, rich, and complex history. I love its people and culture so much. The people of Russia wear so many layers and I’m not just talking about the clothes. To truly get to the heart of a Russian person takes time and a deep level of friendship and trust. There are much fewer surface smiles and superficial niceties in Russian culture. I can’t wait to explore Russia more in book 2 of Love and Other Sins. 

SK: What advice would you give to other authors who may want to add different cultures to their novel? 

EA: Just be passionate and respectful about the culture you’d like to explore. As long as your interest comes from a place of appreciation and respect it will most likely turn out beautifully. Try to be as thorough and objective in your research as possible and make sure to speak with as many different people from that culture as you can find. Don’t rush and pay close attention to details, they will nuance the writing.

SK: As mentioned above, you have some pretty complex characters. Did anyone inspire any of your characters?

EA: I would say about 25 percent of my characters’ personalities were inspired by people I’ve come across or known well. A lot of their traits are also a mix and match of the people I’ve come to know or observed over time. I love exploring the flawed, morally grey aspects of humanity. With this novel, I wanted to explore what happens when two people make a mess of things while falling in love. We’ve come across many books that depict positive character arcs where the MC improves over the course of the story. I wanted to explore what happens when your infatuation with a person happens to bring out the worst in you? And, of course, that question isn’t fully answered by the end of this novel, not quite yet. 

SK: Has writing and publishing a book changed the way you view yourself?

EA: Yes, in a million different ways, but also, no. In essence, I am who I am and probably nothing will change those core parts of me. 

I thought acting was the most terrifying and vulnerable thing I could try. Nope, I was wrong. Writing a book is. I’ve built some thick skin from all the rejection and criticism I’ve faced in the acting world, but nothing could have prepared me for the brutal imposter syndrome of publishing a novel. The way that I’ve changed so far is that I no longer seek approval. I made a thing, I put it out there, and I hoped it would find someone that “gets it”. And so far, that’s already happened. It did find readers that got it, many more than I thought it would. So, it feels like a weight off my shoulders and now, I’m going to try and just enjoy that feeling, focus on it instead of the negative stuff and just run with it. 

I think I’m still in the process of being changed by writing and publishing this book, so I might be too close to see the big picture just yet. I’ll circle back on this later in my life, for sure. 

SK: Who has been the biggest supporter of your writing?

EA: My sister was the first person I showed my writing to. She was reading a lot of YA at the time and she’s the one who encouraged me to finish it and make it into a book. She said she loved it and couldn’t wait for more so, at first at least, I kind of was writing it for her. I don’t think Love and Other Sins would have existed without her encouragement. 

Fun and Games

Now that we’re well-acquainted with Emilia, here are some fun questions and what she had to say about them.

SK: If you could meet your characters, what would you say to them?

EA: Mina: Get it together girl. He’s great but don’t lose yourself. You have so much going for you. Don’t lose sight of your family, your friends, your ambitions. 

Oliver: *I’d just give him a big, warm hug.* 

Lily: Palm Springs and chill?

Nyah: Netflix and chill?

Kiran: I’ve got three words for you, Kiran: Den of Vipers. Enjoy and leave the boy alone.

SK: If you could choose an author, dead or alive, to take a writing class with, who would it be?

EA: Jodi Picoult, her writing is beautiful in a gut-punch, rip your heart out stomp on it and shove it back in kind of way. So, so good. 

SK: What ridiculous thing has someone tricked you into believing or doing?

EA: Peter Pan convinced me that if I believed I could fly strongly enough that I would fly. I tried. I fell, hard. Forgot about the fairy dust. 

SK: If we were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, who are three people you’d want on your team?

EA: Voya from Blood Like Magic, fierce and powerful. Jude from The Cruel Prince, unstoppable bad*ss. Hanna from the Amazon series, dangerous and killer smart.

SK: What is one thing you wish more people knew about you?

EA: I’m a massive dork.

SK: What are your favorite book recommendations?

EA: Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Into the Wild Light, Beach Read, The Dutch House, Where the Crawdads Sing, A List of Cages

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Do you prefer films or novels?

At the end of the day, it's all about the story and they both tell stories. But I guess it depends on what I'm in the mood for. A novel allows a reader to participate in the world of the author. I very much enjoy the process of visualizing the world I'm reading about and the people in it, I try to make it as vivid and specific as I can in my mind. Also, I do end up caring more deeply for the character in a novel than a film but that's because I spend more time with them and I'm there in their thoughts as they go through their journies.

However, a talented filmmaker can achieve the same level of intimacy with his audience. I know because I've felt it so many times. I revisited the same films over and over again because I missed these people. The Professional, Man on Fire, The Pianist. 

Both mediums, I can't choose between them.

Which film do you feel is closest to your heart?

Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain is one of my favorite films. Despite the fact that many critics gave it a hard time, I am intrigued by the message that our bodies are prisons and that death frees our souls. In taking this point of view, it transforms one of the greatest human fears into a journey. Also, the film was visually stunning and the score was powerful, moving. When I left the theater, I couldn’t get the film out of my head. I carry it with me still.

What are your five favorite books, and why?

Harry Potter, I was eight and it was my gateway drug. 

The Stranger by Albert Camus because it challenged everything I ever knew or thought I knew about the hero of a story and made me feel so uncomfortable reading it. When I first read it, I was too young to understand it. I reread it a couple years later and although the events themselves became more clear, it still left me with so many questions. How can such an insensitive, apathetic person be the hero of a story? Why does he make all of those horrible choices, one after another? It felt inherently wrong to me. But that's what makes an impact, novels about real life. The ones that hold up a mirror to reality and the fact of the matter is that we as people are complex. The world is full of outliers and anomalies, usually, those are the kind of people who make the biggest impact on our society, extremists. Whether intolerably cruel or extremely forgiving, whether Hitler or Mandela... it's the outliers who shape our history. They represent the ultimate fight between good and evil. Me, I'm not on either end of the spectrum, most of us aren't. And thank god for that, the world would be in utter chaos. But outliers make for fascinating stories. That was Camus' The Stranger for me. It made me think and it was unsettling. Good art does that. You don't always have to agree with it. I've always been drawn to the juxtaposition of darkness and light in the context of societal norms and outliers.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky not only for the revelation this novel brought to literature but also for the story behind writing it. Dostoevsky didn't write it because he wanted to, he wrote it out of necessity. He wrote what he knew, the conditions and ramifications of a sick, drunk, impoverished Russia. He sent chapters out to trusted friends and colleagues in a time when doing so was not as simple as clicking send in your email box. He kept working, kept changing it, improving it. He threw chapters out and rewrote them and eventually, he threw out the entire 1st person format and rewrote everything in 3rd person because it served the story better. Learning that truly inspired me. It teaches young authors: Don't be afraid of making bold revisions or changes; not only are they important, they are essential.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins because by the time 2008 rolled around, so much had already been written and said about a potential post-apocalyptic nation but somehow, Collins was able to put forth a fresh take on dystopia. I admire that very much. There is always more room for your voice, your perspective, your story. 

I am a huge fan of novels that enlighten the reader on perspectives of different cultures so I have to mention Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe because, again, it was very critically controversial. People didn't know how to feel about it. On the one hand, Achebe ended up writing it in English, the language of colonialism which caused disagreement amongst many African critics in regards to the ultimate message of the novel. On the other hand, this was a novel that went against most of what was written about African culture at the time. It showed European colonialism from a different perspective portraying Igbo life from the point of view of an African man, a rich and sophisticated culture with a deep history, language, and beliefs.

Would you say you're spiritual? If so, how do you maintain your spirituality?

Yes, I am. You know what helps? Finding moments throughout the day that allow your mind to be still and reflect. I achieve it through yoga, taking a quiet walk, or listening to the sound of waves crashing to shore. It's harder to achieve stillness of the mind when surrounded by a bustling cosmopolitan atmosphere but there is always a way.

Was it always your intention to go into acting?

I have a Bachelors degree in Economics. I was planning on becoming a lawyer at the time and I was interested in corporate law. I really enjoyed calculus, that’s why I ended up studying Economics at UCLA, because it’s heavily math based. But I found myself lacking a real passion for it, so I fell into acting classes while I was finishing my degree and that became my creative outlet, something that eventually became a priority.

And do you have any particular aims within the industry? Any particular types of films, roles or jobs?

My goal is to get to a level where I do get to decide that, choose my roles not just audition for the ones available to me, read scripts and decide which ones portray society in an honest and extraordinary way. I’m drawn to watching films that have a social impact, that shed light on subjects that otherwise would remain in the shadows. I hope to publish a novel one day, ideally turn it into a script and maybe even direct. I have launched a couple of restaurant endeavors so I understand what it feels like to start something out of nothing, put your heart into it and hope that one day people will come and enjoy it. I feel like, in that sense, the entertainment industry is all connected whether we’re talking about cuisine, film, literature, or fashion. We all just want to make something that people can enjoy and maybe our creations will even pass the test of time.

You’re fairly experienced with shooting anthology films, as a performer how does the experience of shooting an anthology entry contrast with shooting on a traditional film?

Well it’s a lot shorter, for one. With VHS Viral, we had to get all of it in the can within a couple of days and there were different directors for each segment, we shot simultaneously and I had no clue what the other stories would be about until I watched it in theatres. The Dark Tapes is all Michael McQuown so there is more of a sense that the project segments all tie in together even if there are 4 stories. But I guess with anthologies the best way to describe it is a number of short stories under the umbrella of one feature film and one theme.

What other films do you have coming out which we should keep our eyes open for?

My latest project is the social media thriller, No Escape (2020 ) [Follow Me is the European title], staring Holland Roden and Keegan Allen, written and directed by Will Wernick. I’m really excited for the fans to see this project because I think they’re really going to love it. That was such an exciting environment to work in, I loved my character and the collaborators were all top notch.

To see some of the other work I’ve done you can check out Bosch on Amazon. I recurred as a guest star on season 2. Bosch is a high quality series with an incredible writing team, cast and crew. It’s an LA noir detective show based on Michael Connelly’s best-selling series and I encourage everyone to watch it. I recently guest starred on NCIS season 17 as Layla Zolotov, the feisty wife of a Russian Oligarch. That role was a lot of fun, especially the thought of having a pet tiger.

I’ve also gotten into producing. My first project as a producer is called Burden(2019). When given the chance to participate in this project, I eagerly took it because it was an important opportunity to support a film portraying the everyday tribulations experienced by Black men in America regardless of their socioeconomic status or personal accomplishments. I’m a storyteller and I was fortunate to be able to support a fellow storyteller who evokes powerful emotions with his work—hopefully, those emotions will evoke change. At minimum, it will continue the conversation.