A talented author and content creator, Angelina Krause has crafted a great career for herself, working with her writing career or creating a series of videos for her channel. Now, in honor of Women in Horror Month, I talk with her about her series of books, creating videos for her channel "Voices from the Mausoleum," and other projects.
Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, when did you get into horror in general? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?
Angelina Krause: I grew up watching old horror and sci-fi movies with my dad. We watched a lot of Universal Monsters and Stephen King adaptations. It became a big part of our hangout time when I was younger. My first memory of life is being scared of the movie Poltergeist, which my siblings were specifically told not to show me. It became an interest after that, and it grew from there. When I had sleepovers, I remember how annoyed my friend would get because they didn’t like scary movies, but I always put them on. I stayed up late when I wasn’t supposed to watch horror movies, when they were more readily available around Halloween. It became something I shared with my sister as I was growing up, and ultimately was something I related to spending time with my family. The older I got, the less mainstream I kept up with. I remember seeing a few things here or there in theaters, but it wasn’t until Paranormal Activity came out that I was reminded why I loved the genre. This took me to seeing more of it and eventually turned from only mainstream viewing to anything horror.
Me: Who were some of your favorite writers growing up? Do you try to take influences from their style with your own voice in your work?
AK: I know it is probably taboo to say, but I really have never been a fan of Stephen King. I think he has great ideas, but he isn’t actually a very good writer. I was more into things like R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike. I found a young writer who was only fifteen when she was first published, named Amelia At-Water Rhodes. She was so young and was definitely a massive influence on my desire to write, let alone how. A lot of writers I was reading when I was younger spent thirty pages describing one thing. Amelia wrote books like movies. There was always something going on and a lot of dialogue that drove character growth and change. I definitely try to write more like that. I don’t want to type out the seven paragraphs about how a leaf fell to the ground; I want the reader to hear the trauma shared between two characters as they pour out their souls to one another in conversation.
Me: What was the starting point of becoming a writer? Were you always into writing growing up?
AK: Oh, yes! My mom and I would come up with prompts and do timed responses all the time when I was a kid. My sister and I would start stories and share a notebook so we could take turns adding to it. Writing was always encouraged, and I was always writing. I used to write in RP forums in group settings on Myspace, and there was always something like that going on for me to be involved with. When I got to the tenth grade in high school, I had a teacher enter a piece I wrote for a writing competition. I didn’t win, but I remember how serious he was when he told me it was something I needed to pursue. Life happened for a while, and I had pretty much given up the idea of ever doing anything with it. I submitted a couple of stories for a few years, but they never got any attention for the longest time. I had two story acceptances that I think sparked something in me. I think it was also my close friends and my partner. After a particularly emotional rejection on a story, my partner told me the story deserved to be published and that I should just do my own collection. So I did. After that, I decided I’d continue to handle my own work, and I’ve been really grateful for those rooting for me.
Me: Is there any specific genre you prefer to write? Is there a style or format that you find easier to get into, even if you don't have a preference?
AK: You’ll never catch me writing anything that isn’t horror-related. I find horror to be the most versatile genre in existence. There are so many avenues to explore, and I never tire of them. I write typical 3rd person narrative stories, but I’d really like to have more practice in writing things in formats like epistolary (more modern, not just letters) and anything that could be considered found footage. Those are challenging, but they make some of the coolest stories.
Me: Having contributed to various anthologies early in your career, what tools and skills do you acquire working on those that transferred to future projects?
AK: I have to be honest, my first few experiences with others handling my stories weren’t great. I think from those experiences, I learned how vital it is that someone in an Indie publishing space be respectful and passionate when handling other people’s stories. So I started my own pub, and I do my own collections now. From that? I couldn’t begin to list what I’ve learned. From technical skills and cover designs, I have mostly learned how to organize passion projects, and that time is really never on your side. I think communication is always key in any project, but particularly when handling other people’s projects.
Me: What is the general process for getting involved in these projects?
AK: As my editor and formatter can attest, I’m chaos incarnate. I’m curbing that now that our pub has fully launched, but I’m very much a scattered mess of noise and ideas. I come up with something, and I don’t stop until I get it done. I got some great advice on timelines from a friend in the community that I’ll honor and focus on. The general process is that Angel has an idea, and she immediately draws up everything and starts posting about it. Charity anthologies are unpaid, but we do paid ones as well. Then it's just collecting stories, the grueling task of choosing stories, the depressing task of sending rejections, while simultaneously the exciting task of sending acceptances. From there, we get agreements, and things are organized and sent to the editor. I have to do all the admin work, so I have to get addresses for contributor copies and information for payment if it is a paid project. It is a lot of data entry and deadlines from there.
Me: How do you settle on the plots for the stories?
AK: This is a tough question. I think in general, as someone who loves horror, my mind wanders a lot into their territories. The stuff I write is very character-focused first, and then I typically build around that. I think it is also fair to mention that I will randomly see a cover I love and build a story around that. That has happened more than once!
Me: Is there anything while writing the characters that you were surprised by in telling their stories?
AK: I think I always knew that writing came from personal experiences, but I didn’t realize to what extent until I started writing more “seriously.” There was a bit of me in every memory or trait in characters, and I was finding them to be so much easier to care about as the writer writing their stories, because they all have something to learn or heal from.
Me: What is your writing process? How do you stay focused on writing?
AK: Genuinely, I don’t have a process, and I’m never focused. I have tried writing outlines, but I learned with a previous project that coming up with the story is the most exciting part for me, so I can’t do those anymore. They make it hard to write the story when I’m like ‘welp, I already know what happens’. My current project has been the easiest in terms of focus. I always have a minimum of ten things started that I jump back and forth to. This current project is very near and dear, and I think the only thing keeping me focused is one of my beta readers. She is really excited about the story, and her encouragement and wanting to read more have made it a lot easier to remind my brain ‘hey, we gotta work on this one’.
Me: Outside of this, you also run the YouTube Channel, Voices from the Mausoleum. How did the concept for the channel come together?
AK: I’ve been a horror fan my whole life, but in most cases, I didn’t have a ton of people to talk to about that. Before Voices, I only had FB, but I had done a YouTube channel before. Originally, it was going to be a podcast, and I didn’t have a lot of hope of it going anywhere. I just wanted to create and talk about horror. I decided to finally do something with it. But I knew from the beginning, I wanted it to be everything! Games, movies, books, shows, etc. I was discouraged a lot about the initial idea, but I sorta just realized I didn’t care and I was going to do it anyway. When I pictured how it felt, I could see this girl sitting in a mausoleum with papers and books and VHS tapes spread everywhere, and she’s got a radio that she’s trying to use to reach out to anyone who might want to hear her. There is this bright green light emanating from the building, and I knew I wanted something ‘Tales From the Crypt’ inspired. So, there it was. Voices From the Mausoleum. From there, it turned into a multi-series channel and a publishing company. With, perhaps, a production company coming down the pipeline.
Me: What would you consider your favorite part of the process involved in creating a new video? What part do you dread having to do?
AK: OMG, editing is the absolute worst part of doing content. I hate it with every fucking fiber of my being. BUT my favorite part is absolutely working with other horror friends. I have amazing co-hosts, turned friends, that I cherish deeply. It allows us to create a space for all horror lovers. We really focus on women, queer creators, and people of color. To really lift the “voices” of those who often go unheard in the community. Seeing the diversity in our connections and the projects we get to promote is the absolute best part of doing what I do.
Me: Do you plan out what you're going to talk about, do you have a schedule you keep, or do you just wing it and go with something random? Once you've selected a topic, what do you do to bring it to life?
AK: In my cases, other than ideas, we don’t really script or outline anything. For movie reviews and certain shows, we have an agreed-upon format (the co-host of that series and me), but nothing else is written in advance. I personally don’t like when shows are overly scripted; I prefer raw and fun experiences driven by conversation. When we do interviews, for example, sure, we have talking points. But we don’t have formal questions that we send ahead of time or anything like that. One of the best compliments in the world was being told that listening to us or chatting with us was like sitting on a couch with your best friend, talking about horror. We fully embrace this on the channel.
Me: What do you do to keep your creative energy flowing?
AK: I haven’t mastered this. In general, I go through lulls like I think everyone does. I think, more importantly, I have just learn to be patient with myself. When I feel like I’m in the zone, I fixate and focus and get things done. If I’m not, I go back to things I love. I play video games, I watch movies, and I listen to music. Sometimes making mood boards helps, but I try to practice patience with myself rather than forcing creative projects when I just don’t have it in me.
Me: What else are you working on that you'd like to share with our readers?
AK: Currently, my co-host and I are getting ready to start announcing nominations for our second annual Sacred Crypt Awards. An award show that has three groups of categories. One for book content, YouTube and podcast content, and filmmakers. The first one was a massive success, so we are hyped to be preparing soon for the second. Additionally, I’m quite a bit into my next novel, ‘Souleater.’ A book about a priest who can’t seem to stop children from dying. More on that to be announced on my socials.
Me: Lastly, being that this is our Women in Horror Movement, what special message do you have for any women out there looking to join in the industry in any capacity as you are one yourself? Thank you again for your time!
AK: I think my message to women is to keep creating. Against the odds, against the comments and derogatory words, keep creating. Find your community and stick with them. No matter how hard it feels, you have to keep creating. We need you so much more now than maybe ever before. And if you need support and love, find me. I’m always here for you.
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