Meet Cora Dessalines- Creative Writer 🇩🇲

We had the pleasure of speaking with British Dominican Cora Dessalines

Rianna: Why did you decide to study Creative Writing, what inspired you?

Cora: I would say I chose Creative Writing because writing is my way of interacting with the world around me, whether that’s to contradict it, cooperate with it, or respond to its conflict. Writing is how I make sense of the world. I knew that studying it at degree level could help me learn how to fine-tune the ways in which I want to tell stories.

Rianna: What inspires you to write, tell us a bit more about your writing process

Cora: As long as there are people on this planet, I’ll always be inspired to write! I’m all about writing futures that my community can be galvanised into materially creating. Future worlds where there is systemic equity and common ownership. That’s why I love afrofuturism, because there is no limit to what and who we, as minoritised people, can be. To me, such worlds are tangible as long as we are willing to work towards the reality. I look to what’s happening in the world, between myself and other people, or within me, and draw inspiration from that. The writing process, however, is a muscle I need to exercise. I need to be actively engaging with it in some shape or form if I want to improve my craft.

Rianna: Advice to upcoming writers?
Cora: My advice is to read. A lot. Reading voraciously means you’re absorbing how stories are being told, and doing that consciously can help you realise styles you resonate with and perhaps want to incorporate into your own work, as well as what you want to avoid doing. Also, writing, specifically novel writing, is a discipline. It can sometimes be a solitary form of creative release, where it’s just you and an empty page. I find setting myself targets really helpful to just practising how to get into the flow of writing. I don’t believe in the mantra of needing to write every day because I don’t think it’s helpful to your mental health, but giving myself goals means that I’m always learning the logistics of long-form writing. Most of all, have fun with it! This is your world, and you are the only one who gets to decide what to write.

Rianna: Have you ever had writer’s block? What have you done to combat it

Cora: Yes! Oh my god. Ironically enough, my writer’s block almost always stems from a lack of external stimulation. I can’t write without the interactions of people I meet, speak to, see passing by. Which is why I’ve struggled being in lockdown. Even though I’m often writing by myself, I need to be interacting with my community beyond the limits of a screen. When I get writer’s block, it feels as though I’m trying to drink from an empty cup, something I struggled with in my poetry. So, it’s important for me to consume content that spark ideas I can fan into something more. I try to immerse myself through reading, researching, or even providing feedback on my peers' work. All of these things are an integral part of my writing process and help me combat writer’s block.

Rianna: Favourite childhood memory from Dominica? or tell us a story your family has told you about their time in Dominica

Cora: One of my favourite stories about Dominica was through my auntie. She sent me a picture one day of my great-grandma, who was born in 1902 Dominica, now part of the Windward Islands. She lived to be 106 years old. I found out that, like myself, she likes to walk for miles as a form of exercise. And I’m talking MILES miles. The distance between La Plaine and Roseau. My grandma also used to walk everywhere when she lived in Dominica, picking up fresh guava fruit as she went. Knowing that is so comforting to me. It makes my journey on this earth feel accompanied, knowing that my ancestors have already pathed the roads I’m walking on.

Rianna: Favourite affirmation?

Cora: “It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop."

Rianna: When you’re not writing, what are you doing?

Cora: Currently, whenever I’m not writing, I’m doing things to care for my mental and emotional well-being. That could be reading, speaking with friends, or watching Korean dramas on Netflix. When lockdown ends and we can slowly go back to doing the things we did before the pandemic, then I will be hitting up all the art exhibitions, cinemas, and spoken word poetry events in London!

About Cora
Cora Dessalines graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London with a degree in English with Creative Writing.

They were the assistant editor of both their university’s creative writing magazine, Factory, and Guts, an independent publisher of memoirs and short-story anthologies. Cora has also had their work published in Lacuna, a literary magazine that showcases the writing of young women and non-binary people of colour. They grew up in London, where they currently reside. A lover of fashion, colour, and space, they are currently working on their first science-fiction novel for adults.

Say hello to Cora 👋🏽

Twitter and Instagram: @CoraDessalines and @cocco_x respectively.