By Ana Yudin 
Meet Ana Yudin: Your Next Favourite Author
Discover the inspiring journey of Ana Yudin, a talented author whose captivating stories have won the hearts of readers everywhere. In this exclusive interview, Ana shares insights into her writing process, the themes that drive her work, and what motivates her to create unforgettable characters and compelling narratives. Join us as we delve into the mind of a rising literary star. And once you have read this fascinating article be sure to check out Ana’s essay on Responsible Depictions of Mental Illness in Horror
Please tell the readers a little bit about yourself.
My name is Ana Yudin. I’m a horror and thriller author, as well as a content creator, but I trained to be a Doctor of Clinical Psychology before pivoting to more creative endeavors. I was born in Romania and have lived all over Europe and the US.
Which one of your characters would you least like to meet in real life?
That would probably have to be the Celtic witch Kiara from The Curse in Their Veins. Although Kiara is highly resilient and brave, I wouldn’t want to cross her. Spending millennia without human connection can certainly turn someone a villain in their own story.
Which of your characters is your favourite?
Josephine from my most recent novel, A Song at Dead Man’s Cove. She’s a flawed, poorly behaved woman, but I had a marvelous time writing her character arc. She speaks to an all-consuming sense of melancholy. And yet, despite her disempowerment as a woman in the 1850s, she manages to find subtle ways to subvert her mistreatment. Her weapons are quiet but resoundingly defiant.
Which of your books best represents you?
Currently, I have released two novels and written three other manuscripts. I think they all represent me, but in different ways. The Curse in Their Veins represents my grappling with my own heritage. A Song at Dead Man’s Cove represents my journey in finding attachment security.
But I’d have to say the book that best represents me is one that I’m currently editing. It takes place in 1700s Europe. Like myself, it’s drenched in Gothic overtones. I feel most at home writing dark, historical, mystical novels. It’s the same reason why I moved back to Europe—because I wanted to walk across ancient cobblestones and hear the echoes of the people who walked those same stones centuries before me.
Other than the horror genre, what else has significantly influenced your writing?
Jungian psychology! Carl Jung was one of the fathers of psychoanalysis, but his psychological theories can also be used to interpret artwork. I weave many of his concepts as themes and metaphors within my writing. To name a few—the personal unconscious, the collective unconscious, archetypes, the shadow self…
The term horror, especially when applied to fiction, always has such heavy connotations. What’s your feeling on the term “horror”, and what do you think we can do to break past these assumptions?
I love to reclaim words with frightful connotations. If there are those who fear horror due to its heaviness, then I think that’s powerful.
There’s also power in dismantling stereotypes. For example, as a woman and former therapist, I’d like for people to see that horror is not just about gore and jump-scares. It can be deeply healing, psychological, and symbolic. Avoiding the dark side of humanity will only strengthen it—exploring it is nothing to fear.
Should horror be political?
I think it can be, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be. My own fiction tends to be political, with feminist undertones and commentary about ingroup-outgroup tribalism. However, whether all horror is political depends on your definition of political.
Horror often reflects power dynamics, the author’s worldview, and unspoken scripts, but I don’t think that necessarily makes it political. For instance, if I write a novel about a Romanian family, some might interpret it as political because it features an underrepresented ethnic minority. However, I might just have wanted to depict a Romanian family, not to make a political statement. Does belonging to an ethnic minority automatically politicize it? I think not. If everything is political, then the word loses its meaning.
Why do you think so many people enjoy horror?
Fear and excitement sit next to each other on the emotion-graph. In other words, horror makes us feel excited. It also helps us work through fears and allows us to explore taboos. What’s not to love about those things?
What, if anything, is currently missing from the horror genre?
I’m always craving more historical horror. I’d love to read a horror book that takes place in the Middle Ages, for example.
What new and upcoming authors should we take notice of?
I’m a big fan of Olesya Salnikova-Gilmore, whose supernatural Gothic novel released this past year, The Haunting of Moscow House.
And who would be on your Mount Rushmore of horror?
- Silvia Moreno-Garcia, because her book Mexican Gothic was one of the first horror novels I read, which led to my realization that I feel most at home in the genre.
- S.T. Gibson, because she has a lyrical, atmospheric way of writing vampire fiction.
- Bram Stoker, because his novel Dracula paved the way for all subsequent vampire fiction, and because he added a note of mysticism to my home country of Romania.
- C.J. Cooke, because she writes some of the most vivid, haunting prose I’ve read.
Are there any reviews of your work, positive or negative, that have stayed with you?
The feedback that has most stuck with me has been that my writing is very vivid, that it transports readers someplace far away. Like many book lovers, I read for escapism, and that piece of feedback always means a lot to me.
What aspects of writing do you find the most difficult?
Receiving feedback is fine and dandy, but implementing feedback is much harder for me. Oftentimes, editors and beta readers say something along the lines of, “I wish [this] or [that] were different,” but it then becomes the writer’s responsibility to decide what would improve “this” or create more of “that.” I never know whether I’m implementing the feedback fully enough. If a reader tells me they want to see more internality in the protagonist and I add two extra scenes for this purpose, is that enough? It’s so subjective and difficult to know when to stop.
Does writing energize or exhaust you?
It energizes me. When I’m working on a new novel, it’s like reactivating my zest for life. I don’t want to stop even to refill my water bottle, not until I’ve poured all the words out of me. I’m in a total state of flow. Time and self-consciousness cease to exist.
What’s your best advice for new authors about social media?
Begin marketing your novel long before the launch! That was something I didn’t know when I released my debut novel, but it’s important to have an influx of sales on that first launch day. For my second novel, I created a content creation plan months in advance. Just half an hour per day started to add up, and by the time my novel was released, the plan was already in motion.
How do you balance making demands on the reader with taking care of the reader?
I ask that the reader be patient with characters even if they’re unlikeable. I also hope the reader can appreciate a slower pace from time to time, because the beauty of words is more about the journey rather than the destination.
In return, I try to deliver the reader a vivid escape from their real world. I hope my novels entertain the reader through multifaceted characters, unexpected twists, and polished prose.
Writing is not a static process; how have you developed as a writer?
First and foremost, by reading. I see reading as not only a hobby but also my duty as an author. It helps me improve my craft, get a sense of the literary landscape, understand current writing norms, spark inspiration, and so on.
Additionally, I try to develop as a writer by seeking feedback whenever possible, taking part in writing workshops, and learning more about the publishing industry.
Through my ever-evolving development as a writer, I realized that my writing niche was not fantasy as I initially believed. Yes, my writing usually contains supernatural elements, but I became more drawn to Gothic and psychological horror, as well as historical fiction. The worldbuilding of epic fantasy doesn’t appeal to me as much; I like my novels to be grounded in the real world.
What’s the most surprising thing you learned while writing your books?
This is going to sound wildly specific. One thing I learned while writing my unpublished manuscript is that cemeteries in 1700s France were usually communal due to overpopulation. I was trying to describe the typical Gothic cemetery, but after doing a bit of research, I learned that cemeteries at that time didn’t even have headstones. It’s grim to think about—perhaps even scarier than the quintessential Gothic setting we might imagine!
What does literary success look like to you?
I’d love to one day be able to live solely from book royalties. That way, I’d be able to focus every day on what truly lights me up: writing. I wouldn’t need to create content on the side or anything else. To me, a rich life means writing in the morning and reading in the afternoon.
What is the best piece of advice you ever received regarding your writing?
There’s a piece of advice from Dan Brown’s Master Class that has stuck with me over the years. He said that, to heighten the tension in your novel, you should cut in half the length of time in which it takes place. My most recent manuscript takes place in the span of a week, so you could say I took his advice to heart! In many ways, it was a challenge I assigned myself.
Do you have a favourite line or passage from your work, and would you like to share it with us?
This is from my most recent novel, A Song at Dead Man’s Cove:
“…You can kill a person with your hands or with a cruel word, but you can also kill a person with silence. Letting them sink into an abyss all by themselves, until the very act of being alone feels like a prison. In that desolate abyss where there exists no kind word exchanged, no expression of affection, not even acknowledgment—there, a person can truly lose themselves.”
Can you tell us about your last book, and can you tell us about what you are working on next?
My latest book, A Song at Dead Man’s Cove, is a dual-timeline novel that takes place in coastal Washington:
2023. Another person has disappeared at Dead Man’s Cove in coastal Washington. Jaded from her job at the historic Irving Hotel, Zarya wanders to the scene of the tragedy. She has heard her Russian mother’s tales of rusalki—vengeful spirits that have died unclean deaths near a body of water—and never paid them much attention. But now, on a misty headland beside an abandoned lighthouse, Zarya locks eyes with the rusalka and is chosen to be the next victim. She must unearth the siren’s tragedy before Rusalka Week, a period in early summer when water-spirits roam freely on land.
1850. Josephine has just joined her newlywed husband in Washington, in the lighthouse erected by local businessman Hurley Irving. Marriage is not quite what she expected, and her melancholia grows over the course of the winter. The medic prescribes pregnancy as the antidote. What he doesn’t realize is how far Josephine is willing to go in order to become a mother.
As for my next novel… I hope to publish The Splintered Parts in the next year. It’s a work of psychological horror:
A bright, cunning student begins to suspect that someone—or something—is trying to steal her identity after an unexplained fall in the shower. But is this a neurological disease, a cryptid, some sort of emotional decompensation, or something else altogether?
If you could erase one horror cliché, what would be your choice?
I don’t know if there’s something I would erase from horror altogether, but for me, slashers and ghost stories need to bring something original to the genre to feel fresh. Otherwise, it’s just another murderer-is-on-the-loose-at-summer-camp or unsuspecting-family-realizes-their-new-home-is-haunted story.
If your partner was going to leave you for another author, which author would you like them to end up with and why?
Technically, Carl Jung was an author in addition to being a psychiatrist, although he’s no longer alive. My husband sometimes jokes that I’m Carl Jung reincarnated (which is way too flattering to be true), so I guess Carl Jung?
What’s the one question you wish you would get asked but never do? And what would be the answer?
I suppose I’ve never been asked whether I believe in any of the supernatural creatures in my fiction. Unfortunately, the answer is mostly no—I yearn for more mysticism in the mundanity of everyday life, and writing is my way of making it come to life. However, I’m always open to the possibility of being proven wrong by something that goes bump in the night.
Ana Yudin
Biography: Ana Yudin is a Romanian author, content creator, and Doctor of Clinical Psychology. She writes Gothic horror and psychological thrillers.
Book & Hearth – YouTube channel
Psychology with Dr. Ana – YouTube channel
BookTok account
Further Reading
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Jim Mcleod