Martina Braunegger

What was your favorite book as a child?

To be honest, my favorite book is and has always been the one I am reading at that time. However, some books I’ve read as a child are always going to be a part of me. I remember numerous novels about horses and adventures of all kinds. One of my favorites was a series by the German author Wolfgang Hohlbein revolving around Captain Nemo, his submarine, and Atlantis.

Do you remember the original reason or motivation why you started writing creatively?

As far as I can remember I’ve always been writing stories, but until about a year ago I’ve solely written in German. I love reading and I always had that idea in my head to create worlds others can escape to, just like authors such as J. K. Rowling did and do for me. Last year I took a creative writing class at university to challenge myself and find out if I was capable of writing stories in English and I really enjoyed it. I’ve been writing both in German and English ever since.

What was the most adventurous or thrilling thing you ever did/experienced?

I love backpacking, staying in hostels and traveling (with friends or alone). Every journey I’ve been on has been an adventure, but probably the biggest adventure I’ve ever been on was backpacking around Australia for three months, working on a farm, sleeping under the stars in the Outback, skydiving on the east coast, and meeting so many free-spirited and creative people.

Do you listen to music while reading or writing?

I almost always listen to music while reading, especially when I’m in a public place. It simply helps me focus. The kind of music I listen to really depends on the book I’m reading. In my case, not every type of music goes with every text and for some books I even create playlists (by the way, that goes for the texts I’m writing, too). However, Mumford and Sons, the Animals, Imagine Dragons, and Frank Turner, in my opinion, usually go with almost everything.