Inna Strilets: Telling Stories Between Reality and Fiction

Inna Strilets is a writer who, despite growing up in the realities of the Soviet era, chose to follow her own path and returned to writing her literary works after the beginning of russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

She shared insights with Drive Music Media about her short story “Renewal,” published in the anthology “Light Between the Lines,” the real-life inspirations behind her characters, and the challenges she encounters along her creative journey.

Interviewer: How and when did your writing journey begin? Why did you choose this field?

Inna: For me, it is following a calling. Since childhood. At first you invent characters and stories. You read, imagine, draw, write. But the Soviet realities of a family of ordinary workers dictated different rules of life. Who is a writer? Can a writer support a family?

So I ended up with several degrees, different professions. I gained professional and life experience, went through certain transformations and continue to go through them. I realized myself as an employee, a manager, a startup founder, and as a mother — and eventually the time for writing came. It was quite a long road.

Throughout those years I still wrote for online platforms as a copywriter, for gastronomic magazines about strong spirits, wine, and the culture of wine consumption, as well as short articles for the companies and restaurants where I worked.

After I completed my full cycle of work in restaurants and created my own small business producing educational books for children, I finally began writing my own texts. At that time they were children’s poems and short stories. However, they were never published for several reasons, including the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

I returned to writing fully during forced emigration. This time I deliberately looked for a community of like-minded people and began studying at the Ukrainian-British Writing Academy. That’s where a focused and productive writing practice truly began.

Interviewer: Tell us about the anthology “Light Between the Lines,” which includes your short story. How did you become part of the project, which story of yours appears in the collection, and how long did you work on it?

Inna: It’s interesting that you asked specifically about this anthology. The collection includes my autofiction novella “Renewal.” As Lyubko Deresh, one of my mentors at the academy, once said, this story clearly reveals my writing style. It’s very recognizable there.

The anthology itself is valuable because it brings together works by authors who represent a new generation of Ukrainian writers. These are strong texts across different genres, characters, and styles. They reflect what Ukrainian society is living through today during a brutal war — and it’s not only about the war. It’s also about family, friendship, relationships, dreams, and the light of hope that lives in every heart.

By the way, this was the first anthology I was involved in that was printed in three thousand copies. All copies were sold on the day of the presentation, and readers immediately started pre-ordering the second print run.

As for my novella “Renewal,” I speak quite openly about time — a time that does not heal but rather pushes pain and disbelief into the corners of memory. I also write about everyday routines that eventually bring freedom and lead to deep inner transformations and a new understanding of life.

Interviewer: Which story will never see the light of day? If there is one, what is it about, and why did you decide to leave it behind the scenes?

Inna: At the moment I’m not emotionally ready to continue working on my children’s literature project that I had been developing before the full-scale invasion. It’s a pain I still need to process with a specialist. A kind of block has appeared when it comes to writing children’s literature.

There are several reasons for this. Those texts were written during a long and difficult divorce process. Writing children’s literature gave me strength and a sense of purpose at the time.

Then the full-scale invasion began and everything changed. Priorities changed, my place of living changed, my professional activity and workload changed — and I changed as well.

Interviewer: What is your process of creating characters? What is the most difficult part and what comes easiest?

Inna: I’ve tried working in different genres, and many of these experiments will appear in upcoming anthologies. Hopefully in 2026.

When it comes to autofiction, characters are the easiest part. It’s me, it’s people around me — sometimes I write a character based on someone directly, sometimes it’s a composite image.

It’s also relatively easy for me to work with historical prose, alternative history, or detective stories. Even in mysticism the characters have been quite cooperative with my writing. A lot of that comes from reading widely, observation, experience, imagination, and research.

Fantasy characters are more difficult. Those are entirely different worlds. But that also makes them more interesting, because I need to get to know them myself.

So I follow a fairly standard process and create a full profile for each character: appearance, where they were born, what kind of family they grew up in, what they dreamed about, what they achieved or failed to achieve, who hurt them and whom they hurt, what brings them joy, where they feel happiness. Then I add a superpower and a vulnerability, and explore why those exist.

In fantasy you also have to build the world itself. So I treat the environment almost like another character. Inventing something that hasn’t yet been written — or expanding what already exists — is quite fascinating.

Interviewer: Which of your characters resonates with you the most? Why?

Inna: That would be me. I’m at a stage in my life where I can speak about myself openly — without embellishing and without diminishing anything. Simply as it is.

That’s why I work mainly in autofiction.

Interviewer: Why did you choose this particular genre? What makes it close to you?

Inna: Because it allows me to speak honestly. Autofiction gives space to explore personal experience without hiding behind fictional distance.

Interviewer: What projects are you working on right now?

Inna: I’m currently working on a novel told through interconnected novellas. It’s also autofiction. The title is still in development — I’ll keep the intrigue for now. The pitching is planned for spring. I hope our rather “restless” neighbors will allow those plans to happen, because it’s difficult to plan anything with daily attacks and power outages.

The novel tells the story of a heroine’s journey toward herself — through resistance, denial, pain, cruelty, losses, and disappointments. It’s about finding inner strength and accepting oneself in the present reality. Eventually it leads to the realization of life and personal happiness, where it doesn’t matter whether you are with a man or without one. You are a complete person, not someone’s half. You are a woman. You are an individual.

In short: I gathered myself from what remained — and learned to love it.

After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, millions of Ukrainians suddenly found themselves in a harsh new reality where life changed within minutes. Many people are now collecting the fragments of themselves and trying to rebuild something whole again.

Interviewer: What challenges do you face as a writer? What helps you overcome them?

Inna: Being a writer in Ukraine means being a combination of many professions at once: writer, editor, marketer, analyst, historian, psychologist, detective, accountant, crisis manager… and probably a few more roles related to publishing and promotion.

Jokes aside, publishing has never really been a priority industry in Ukraine. Ukrainian authors were often undervalued by readers themselves, who preferred Russian or Western writers.

But the situation is changing rapidly. You can see it in projects like the anthology “Light Between the Lines.” Readers buy the collection to discover new Ukrainian authors and the diversity of genres contemporary writers are working in.

Publishers are becoming more interested in Ukrainian writers — and honestly, that’s incredibly inspiring.

Interviewer: What mission do you see for yourself as a writer?

Inna: Honoré de Balzac once described himself as “the secretary of his time.” That idea resonates deeply with me right now.

The novel I’m currently writing reflects this approach. When we read books from the past, we see the issues and concerns of the era in which the author lived and worked. And this is true not only for literature but also for music, painting, and architecture.

For example, could a woman during the Renaissance publish books about self-awareness, about finding herself as an independent individual rather than someone’s wife? Of course not. Social roles and norms were different then.

Today we can write about these things. And who knows what will change in fifty or a hundred years?

So for now my mission is to capture life as it is — through the stories of my characters and the world they inhabit.

Interviewer: Which word best describes your own writing journey? Why?

Inna: Life. What else could I call everything that is happening to me — both as a person and as a writer? 

The interview was written by Asya Radko. Pictures were provided by Inna Strilets