Author Dagmar Rokita Discusses Her Books, Creativity, The Impact of AI, and Writing Process

Dagmar Rokita is a Polish writer and an artist. She writes and illustrates dark sci-fi series called “Bloodstained Skies”. There are two things that inspire her: imaginary world of geek culture and the deepest corners of human psychology. Huge doses of heavy metal and history are her creative fuel. She wants to become a famous artist because she needs money to buy sophisticated food for her cat.

Hi Dagmar, can you tell readers a little about yourself?

I’m from the Southern Poland, near a region called Bieszczady, but I write in English. I started learning English around 2006, when I was five. In 2016 it became my hobby, and I began learning it for myself and not for exams at school. Writing and publishing books was an important part of my motivation. Book publishing in Poland is an extremely tough nut to crack and self-publishing is dead here (all you can do is to post your book on Wattpad and hope for the best.)

I don’t have one consistent hobby. One day I want to be a musician, then I want to be a scientist and finally I decide to be an archaeologist but this idea doesn’t last long too. I managed to fulfill the dream of being a musician; I had a heavy metal band but it broke up after the first album. I had a chance to play at being an archaeologist during my work placement, and that was the best month of my life.

In your bio, you say that two things inspire you; the imaginary world of geek culture and the deepest corners of human psychology. Care to expand?

I’m talking here about the world of imagination and the real world of psychology and science. Psychology is one of my hobbies, and it’s very useful for me as a writer. I always spend much time on creating and developing my characters, and I try to make them realistic. Learning about psychology really helps with writing intriguing characters.

All these things would be useless without the world of imagination. Well, in theory I could write thrillers or crime set in our world, but that still requires imagination. I enjoy creating fictional universes with my own rules. Sometimes I benefit from the imagination of other people too (for example, from their futuristic visions).

What made you decide to become a writer?

Every time I heard a cool song or watched an interesting movie; a mass of ideas exploded in my head. The constant rush of thoughts forced me to write them down. And when I looked at the written gibberish, I thought I could write a book about it. I spent all boring lessons at school on thinking about my fictional universe, and after a dozen of months, I took some coherent shape and that’s how “Bloodstained Skies” universe came to life.

What is a typical writing day like?

As I mentioned above, almost everything can trigger my rush of thoughts. I keep these ideas in my notebook, and when I don’t know what to write next, I take a look at them. My plan is to write 400 words every workday and over 700 every day off. I always divide it into smaller parts, like 100 words every time I open my document. I have a strong tendency to burn-out, so that helps me write more without getting tired.

You’re also a talented artist and illustrator. Tell me more about this..

My most recent book, “The Vanquisher of Kings” was supposed to be a comic book but I encountered too much troubles while doing it. Visual arts let me express the assumed emotions more freely. I draw characters expressing some emotions while doing something, and then I add the setting to provide some context. The viewers can look at the whole picture and then discover more and more details, or they can focus on some little parts and then watch the picture from a distance.

In writing I have to lead the reader from one element to another. I can’t say “the character panics now”, I have to build the tension with every sentence and describe what caused the panic. The readers have to read everything word by word. They can’t just look at the page 4, then 100 and then 5 and understand everything.

Bloodstained Skies has been described as a grim, dark science fiction series inspired my Military Sci-Fi and Space Opera. Tell me more..

My main problem with movies/books from the entertainment industry is the lack of character development, powerful emotions and mind-blowing plot twists. I have a problem with typical “deep” movies too – they’re boring. I wanted to make something that blends these two narratives. Some “Dune” books and quite a few parts of Horus Heresy (Warhammer) are the perfect examples of what I want to achieve. There is a lot of action and fancy battles, but when you stop for a moment and think about it, you begin to realise something important.

Do you have any more books planned in the series or other stand-alone books?

I plan to write stand-alone books or short series (up to 3 to 4 books) but all of them will be set in “Bloodstained Skies” universe. That way I will introduce the readers to my universe but they won’t be forced to buy all books to understand what’s going on here.

Why did you decide to self-publish your books?

The answer is simple – when I read about the whole traditional publishing process, I got scared. It seemed way too complicated to me. I was afraid that I wasn’t good enough or that my book is too “niche” to be accepted by anyone. That’s not completely true because I’m getting mostly positive feedback but I just think I’m not ready for working hard in a content-creating industry.

Honestly, I can’t think about many positive things about self-publishing, but I’m still quite happy with my choice. My favourite aspects of it are:

– Total freedom. I do what I want whenever I want and no one tells me what I should do now. I work at my own pace, so I have enough time to refine everything.

– No-one forces me to be active on social media. I hate working with social media. The algorithms change too quickly and they require a systematic production of engaging content. That’s not for me.

– I know I’m working on my own success only. If I ever achieve anything, it will be my own work only.

If you had to invite three authors to a dinner party, who would they be and what would you ask them?

I would invite Lovecraft, Clive Barker and H.G. Wells and ask them how could they come up with such a clever ideas. I really want to know how to write books that will violently blow people’s minds into pieces. Another thing I would love to learn is how to create a disturbing atmosphere without hectolitres of blood or hours of violence.

What’s your thoughts on AI and the impact of the creative industries?

I think we’re making a bigger problem than it actually is:

1. AI it’s just a next step in the natural evolution of tools and technology. We started with organic pigments and paintings in the caves, then we invented white, square canvas, later we got Photoshop and so on. The same with any other tool. Farmers who use tractors instead of hoes aren’t real farmers because… they make their life easier? That’s how it sounds to me.

2. Creativity is still important. You need some mental gymnastics to come up with a prompt that works well and then you have to choose the best picture. You still need a knowledge about anatomy or shading to know which picture is correct and which one is a failure. It’s just directing creativity and knowledge towards other points than drawing.

3. All these big words like “feelings”, “emotions” or “soul” just make a fancy background for creating art and help artists feel special. You don’t need them to make good art (but they’re extremely helpful and inspirational). Art is about stimulating the VIEWER emotions, not yours. If someone finds a beautiful AI art and feels some emotions, then the art fulfills its role.

4. People who are fascinated with human-made art will buy it no matter what. It’s just a personal choice, like the choice between Etsy and AliExpress. I bought a hand-carved cup because the artist was nice and he had an interesting collection. I could buy a mass produced cup from a factory but I didn’t.

Care to speculate on the possible AI Singularity and it’s potential to become a threat to humanity?

I can’t say it’s impossible, but it will be very hard to create something like that. We don’t even know how our consciousness evolved so how can we create one (or create something that will evolve into an intelligent being)? Anyways, we’re safe if we don’t give the singularity its own body/tools to create its body. What can it do when it’s locked in the computer/internet? Threaten us on Twitter? Jokes aside, it will be dangerous to our internet and economics but not our existence itself… unless somebody decides to make their own Terminator.

Any final words of wisdom or advice for aspiring writers?

Be careful because there is a lot of individuals who lie in wait for your money. Scammers are everywhere, and desperate, inexperienced authors are their perfect target. Always do research before buying anything.

Next thing: constructive feedback isn’t your enemy. If you write on your math exam that 2+2 is 5 and you teacher says it’s wrong, are you going to get angry and call him a stupid, jealous hater? Hide your ego for a moment and look from the other perspective: somebody wants to help you improve your skills. Accept the fact that you’re not the best writer ever and do something to be better every day.

Visit Dagmar Rokita’s Website:

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