Nkone Chaka is a writer and visual artist originally from Maseru, Lesotho. Read about their interest in polycephaly in animals, their unique approach to writers block, and more in our Q&A with Chaka. Find their latest story “To Eat Your Own Head” in our [January/February issue, on sale now!]
Asimov’s Editor: What is the story behind this piece?
Nkone Chaka: “To Eat Your Own Head” is about repressed frustration and anger. Pusetso, our main character, has lived in the equivalent of a pressure cooker all her life, enduring emotional and physical abuse in her early childhood. The pent-up frustration continues as she enters the work force, her research constrained by underfunding, corruption, and arbitrary bureaucratic hoops that make her feel like the subject of her scientific enquiry—the bicephalic chameleon snake. Trapped in her own mind and consumed by years and layers of rage, “To Eat Your Own Head” explores the role of early repression in later self-destructive behaviors. It is also an exploration of the ways that unaddressed trauma can result in real difficulties with emotional self-regulation. I’m not a mental health professional, but writing this piece was especially helpful in attempting to unravel some of these concepts for myself.
AE: How did this story germinate? Was there a spark of inspiration, or did it come to you slowly?
NC: The story came from a few different places, all of which coalesced over the course of a month or so. First was a long-standing fascination with polycephaly in several different animal species. This is a sustained interest, and it will show up more than once in my writing should I be lucky enough to get published again. Also of interest was the relationship between being in captivity and self-harm in snakes. The simulated environments of snakes in captivity sometimes results in restricted mobility and overheating. These are identified by herpetologists as the main drivers behind self-cannibalism. This imagery was branded on the inside of my eyelids for weeks before I sat down to draft the story, even causing vivid dreams of snakes attacking and consuming themselves out of fear and frustration. Trying to map that sense of physical and emotional claustrophobia onto the human psyche was difficult, but I like to think that Pusetso is an accurate, or at least an interesting, depiction of this experience.
AE:Do you particularly relate to any of the characters in this story?
NC: Unfortunately, yes. Rage is a very strange emotion, particularly because of the many social norms that dictate how and when it is acceptable to express. There are so many questions regarding whether anger is ever justified, and who has the right to process it in public. Pusetso’s relationship to rage as a black woman in a very specific setting is at the core of the story. While I am non-binary, our experiences are quite similar. Academia and anger are assumed to be diametrically opposed, but some of my personal research is rooted in trying to understand and channel both individual and collective rage. It’s messy and unpleasant, but also liberating and fulfilling.
I have designated time in my week for daydreaming. If something in a story is proving difficult to decipher, I’ll make myself a cup of tea and a dedicated playlist, unroll my yoga mat, and spend hours just staring at the ceiling imagining all the ways that the story can play out.
AE: Who or what are your greatest influences and inspirations?
NC: I tend to focus on single projects rather than specific people—I don’t always identify or find merit in one artist’s entire body of work. These inspirations often vary from time to time and from project to project, but for the last year or so, Nala Sinephro’s jazz album Space 1.8 has been the soundtrack for almost all my work. It hasn’t been out for long, but I can tell that André 3000’s New Blue Sun is also going to be pivotal to my writing process in 2024. Phaeleh’s Illusion of the Tale is one of the best ambient albums for moody science fiction, Shabaka and the Ancestors’ song Joyous is a favorite for my weekly daydreaming sessions, and the soundtrack to Ari Aster’s Midsommar as well as the film itself are at the heart of my current work in progress.
In terms of books, some of my favorites include Jeff Vandermeer’s Annihilation, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, and Becky Chambers’ A Psalm for the Wild-Built. While the novel in its entirety wasn’t my favorite, there are passages from Rivers Solomon’s Sorrowland that had me crying in bed for days.
AE: Are there any themes that you find yourself returning to throughout your writing? If yes, what and why?
NC: In addition to polycephaly in animals, I think I will probably always write about people trying and failing miserably at assimilation. Some of that is personal experience, but a lot of it is a vested interest in understanding the contradictions between people’s true feelings and the ways that they are forced by their respective societies to behave. Social conditioning is compelling for its ability to create very strong internal conflicts. Characters forced to sit with contradiction are the best kind not just because it is realistic, but because it is messy. Despite advice from more skilled writers against melodrama and inconsistency, mess to me is what makes characters worth following because warring with who you are and who you think you should be is such a universal human experience.
AE: How do you deal with writers’ block?
NC: I have designated time in my week for daydreaming. If something in a story is proving difficult to decipher, I’ll make myself a cup of tea and a dedicated playlist, unroll my yoga mat, and spend hours just staring at the ceiling imagining all the ways that the story can play out. Sometimes, I will read or consume other media that is adjacent to the project I am working on, but for the most part, scheduling my imagination time has proved the best solution to writers’ block. I also have a dedicated notebook that I call my “brain fart book,” where I jot down every thought I have about anything from writing to fashion on a daily basis. There are nuggets of coherence in the ramblings that have gotten me out of a writing jam more than once. I highly recommend it. It is also important to note that I am currently a childless postgraduate student using academia to delay real life. I know that not everyone has this luxury, so take this all with a grain of salt.
AE: If you could choose one SFnal universe to live in, what universe would it be, and why?
NC: I’d choose Panga from Becky Chambers’ A Psalm for the Wild-built. I’ve only read the first in this series of novellas, but outside of the main character’s internal conflict, Pangan’s seem to have biophilic infrastructure and environmentally sound policies figured out. The setting is lush, serene, and acutely sensitive to the foibles of heavy capitalist industrialism. The people of Panga have worked hard to create empathetic, inclusive, and well-rounded societies. Emphasis is placed on the importance of social and emotional safety nets as well as compassionate collaboration. The setting is such an open wound in that it addresses the industrialist myths that have come to dominate this epoch while also juxtaposing the current state of the world with what is possible should we choose to make the necessary changes. The entire piece is a gorgeous green solar-punk dream.
AE: What other careers have you had, and how have they affected your writing?
NC: Calling it a career is a bit of a stretch, but I am a visual artist. Because of this, a huge part of my brainstorming and planning process includes various sketches. It can be very difficult to find visual inspiration for speculative fiction, especially if I haven’t yet encountered references for what I have in mind. I draw anything from settings, potential characters, manifestations of magic systems or future technologies if they are present in my story, and I sometimes even storyboard my shorts instead of using traditional outlining methods.
AE: What are you reading right now?
NC: I am trying very hard to read The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. What a book.
AE: Do you have any advice for up-and-coming writers?
NC: Prioritize your pleasure if you can. As a bit of a hedonist, I have found that associating my writing time with taking care of myself or personal enjoyment has made it significantly easier to write even when everything else in my life is falling apart. I would also encourage writers to be as delusional as possible in private. Write like no one is watching because in the beginning, nobody really is. In addition to more serious and polished pieces, I also write mountains of unedited and rambling fanfiction, poetry, graphic novels, and flash fiction. No one will ever see these, but they were fun to write and have been the source of some of my most interesting ideas. I am an up-and-coming writer as well, so if anyone has advice for me after reading “To Eat Your Own Head,” I would really appreciate it!
AE: How can our readers follow you and your writing?
NC: You can find me on Instagram @nkone_chaka and Twitter (?) @nkonechaka.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nkone_chaka/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nkonechaka
From Earth to the Stars 