It is very exciting to have SecondStar_Books with us to feature their book »A Neverland Tale - Hooked« as our  book of the month! Underneath you can find the next interview where we talked about the authors and their story!

AUTHOR BIO

Behind SecondStar_Books are two German authors, DearNovalee and BellOfSilence. It is a collaborative profile under which we wanted to publish our joint stories.

DearNovalee is a young student from Bavaria, and BellOfSilence is a full-time contract employee from Baden-Württemberg.

Despite the distance, we are best friends who have found both a friend for life in each other and a complementary piece of soul in terms of creativity and writing. We also play pen and paper together and love to discuss our different stories and worlds.

☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ

PREMISE

Neverland - a world where everything was possible as long as you could dream it. But behind a shining light, darker shadows are always hidden. What happens when dreams, shimmering like soap bubbles, turn into dark nightmares?

The light of the second star from the right begins to extinguish, and with it, Neverland seems to break apart piece by piece. Where eternity once reigned, time, so far betrayed, begins to reclaim its right.

Amid a chaos of atrocities and betrayal, the island once again weaves threads of fate. It hands over an unexpected beach property to pirates of all people, leads a young thief to the feared captain of the Jolly Roger, and reshuffles the cards of the future.

Between hardening fronts, the two young women must take their fate and that of a dying world into their own hands. For a dark force has poisoned the dream - and what was once a mighty island threatens to dissolve into a sea of shards...

☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ

TEASER

Luke, Chapter 1.5

"You haven't been here long, have you?" (Hook)

"Ah... can you tell?" she asked, and the attempted rough sound of her voice, which even now hadn't entirely lost the softness that could be attributed to a boy, almost sounded a little offended. The narrow shoulders under the wide coat lifted as she shrugged them slightly, "That I don't stink as much as the others, or that I'm so eerily clean, has given me away, am I right?" she joked half-heartedly, tapping the too-large coat almost demonstratively. A leaf that might have been left hanging from the forest fluttered to the ground, and a tiny bit of dust dissolved in a thin cloud in the dull light, like a little performance to distract him. She wrinkled her nose as her gaze darted past him from Hook's eyes. Right and left, no doubt, looking for an escape. But what was there? The window that led across the sea at the back of the bow... only into the depths. And the door directly behind Hook...

"Ah..." Luke grinned wryly. At that, her blood was already rushing in her ears, and her heartbeat was drumming fast enough that it almost tripped over itself to fall awkwardly on its nose. Oh, she was scared. Cursed, even. Enough that her legs seemed like jello- but at least they still obeyed her and didn't just buckle.

"That sounds like I should probably think of the most interesting answer possible..." she mused aloud, raising her hand to very gently but firmly enough to release the rapier from her chin so she could lower her head again and free herself from the uncomfortable position. It was a mixture of audacity and courage, but sometimes you had to step onto the rope above the abyss if you wanted to cross it. A serene shadow settled over her features again, soaking her eyes in the veiling embrace of the umbrella, which nevertheless flashed far too soberly under the cap to be filled with sheer panic. Flickering stars behind blue irises where others had only dull murmurs in their heads while her mind was already working out the escape plan. What she needed... was time.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Fiona, Chapter 6.7

"The captain... Or me." (...) "Better make your decision wisely. You have five moments." (Filou)

With effort, she suppressed a desperate cry of anger, and as soon as the door slammed shut behind him, a soft click sounded on the other side. Fiona listened to the footsteps that slowly moved away; then she rushed to the door. Angry, slender fingers closed around the old metal and tore at the handle... but she had reckoned it would do nothing. He had locked it - just to be sure. Of course, they wouldn't make it that easy for her. Blood rushed in Fiona's ears; for a moment, she stood there, arms crossed in front of her chest, shivering slightly under the new, colder breeze. Slowly she clenched her hands into fists; without realizing it, her nails pressed harder into her palms, and Fiona barely noticed the stinging pain as her fingers left small crescents on the palm of her hand.

She didn't need to cry; she felt jolted awake by the ticking hand of a mental clock cutting off slices of her little time - bringing her closer to the captain's cabin. It was not the moment to sit here scared like a frightened bunny; she had to find some way to escape because there might not be another time.

☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ

INTERVIEW

1. How did you start writing on Wattpad? 

Well, we initially wrote together outside of Wattpad. Hooked is a collection of posts from a written forum roleplay we've been writing together since November 2019. It was our first collaborative story, printed as a book in 2021 for friends who followed the story. We then came across Wattpad and finally published our joint stories under 'SecondStar_Books.'

2. What was the inspiration for your book »A Neverland Tale - HOOKED«? If you could describe your story in only three words, what would they be? 

The idea for the story of Hooked and the background came from BellOfSilence. She is a big fan of the Neverland idea, but especially of darker and more severe adaptations. She wanted to write an adventurous story - with familiar heroes, but in an adult guise. The inspiration for this was the general thought of what would happen to Neverland if it was no longer just a colorful world of children's dreams.

We then created our own world from the basic idea. We discussed the structures, which connections would be exciting and logical, and what we would like to see for Neverland. In this way, a colorful world emerged from the imagination of two authors.

Description of the story in only three words:  Passionate – Adventurous – Dramatical

3. Which details or scenes in »A Neverland Tale - HOOKED« are most unique and interesting? 

Hooked is a mix of dreamy children's playground of the original material with a dark, menacing touch. It transforms the colorful dream you know into something new. This makes it a mix of familiar and new adventures.

The detailed perspectives of the role-playing style make the characters approachable and understandable to readers through their thoughts and feelings.

As Hooked is just getting started, the most interesting scenes are yet to come 😉 Undoubtedly, Fiona's emotional confrontation and critical situation with the pirate Filou and Luke's life-threatening little game with Hook are exciting scenes and the basic building block for many more adventures in Neverland.

4. If you were a character in your story, which one would you be and why? 

That is a challenging question. It may sound trite, but we love all our characters. Each one has been built with thought and background to it, even if it is not yet so apparent in many of those who have appeared so far - and only reveals itself later. For the story, we have breathed life into characters who otherwise only appear in the margins. But they also have tough times to overcome, which you certainly wouldn't wish on yourself.

We have a special bond with the main characters, especially Fiona and Luke, of course, as most of the story is told from their point of view and as it is through their eyes that you get to know the world of Neverland and the characters in it in their facets anew. As the main character, of course, they have the most development and all the adventures.

That's why we would choose Fiona and Luke. They are the good souls of Neverland, helping many of the characters there and Neverland itself change.

5. Do you intend to write another book in the future? What advice would you give to other writers who wish to try writing as well?

As mentioned before, we have been writing long before we started publishing on Wattpad. Therefore, there is already far more text material in all our joint stories than has been published so far. We can therefore answer this question with a resounding yes.

The Hooked story is far from over. Due to our early beginnings, the story is still stumbling along very slowly at the start, but there will definitely be volume 2 after Hooked - HUNTED and volume 3 - MISLEAD. The story is already written, and we hope our readers will enjoy the subsequent volumes and follow the characters on their adventure in Neverland.

We also have the story 'Wolf Moon' which we will continue to publish. When these stories are finished, we have another adventure up our sleeves... but we don't want to reveal too much about that yet 😉

Our advice to anyone who wants to write a book or just a short story: Don't let initial criticism get you down, and write your story for you! When it's finished, you can always change and improve things. But negative feedback should never stop you from trying to publish a book. There are a lot of people here on Wattpad who throw criticism around easily and unprofessionally. However, criticism should always be constructive and helpful. So don't let unnecessary stumbling blocks stop you.

Everyone who publishes their work here is brave. It takes courage to take this step. Be proud of it!

☾ ⋆･ﾟ:⋆･ﾟ

And we end our amazing interview with SecondStar_Books here. Thank you for being with us this July. We all hope you all got to know the author like us and discovered some unique details about the story, »A Neverland Tale - Hooked«. We will see you next month with another amazing story.