Let Life Surprise You by pipwusa

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Author Bio : She is a mother who loves to read her daughter bedtime stories and write stories about life. She writes Contemporary, general fiction, chick lit and romance. Most of her work are intended for older audience though younger readers are welcomed. Her stories bring up adult struggles, complex life issues and probably stuff that adults could relate more. She is an ESL writer and would be more than happy to connect with other Indonesian Wattpad.

I'm a mom of a pre-teen daughter, a coffee addict, an avid reader, and a writer. I've been reading books since I can remember, but I started to pick up a pen (a literal pen because we didn't have a computer yet back in the day) and write a story when I was 9. But I didn't take writing seriously until later in life when I was in my early forties.

I started reading online stories in 2019, and it was when I learned about Wattpad. So my first year on Wattpad was for reading stories, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. My debut story launched in 2020 during the lockdown, and I haven't been able to stop writing ever since.

Logline: How long can a mother keep the father's identity from her child? Not that long if luck isn't on her side.

Premise/Blurb: If being a mom was all about popping out a baby after 9 months of pregnancy, life would have been easier for Charlotte Garnett. Alas, it's not the case for her.

When her baby has grown into a smart girl and starts questioning the father's absence, Charlotte's parenting is being tested. Her worst fear is having to tell her 7-year-old daughter that she was conceived in a one-night stand with a total stranger. Out of panic, Charlotte chooses to lie, promising herself she will tell the girl the truth when she's a little older.The best-laid plan turns to hell as fate decides to bring the man back into her life when she least expects it. And worse, he's the CEO she's cross with at her new workplace. Hell breaks loose. Charlotte is eventually confronted by her own lies.

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Something about your book and it's success.

I wrote Let Life Surprise You for a contest held by ContemporaryLit profile. In my mind, I just wanted to write something fun, something to give my readers a good laugh. Then all the ideas came to mind, waiting to be executed.

I was so ecstatic when it won the contest. Then right after it was completed, readers flooded in like crazy. It had 1k reads when I ticked complete, and the views shot up to over 500k within a month.

What inspired you to write this book.

During my first year reading on my Wattpad, I never found a book about motherhood, except for a young mom with her baby in the mix of baby daddy romance. So, I thought, as a mom, I wanted to represent the struggle to be a mother to a child who could talk back to her. It was also my message to young readers that mothers made mistakes, even the unthinkably stupid ones.

If you were said to relate to one of the character from your book, which one would be the most relatable to you and why?

It's definitely the mom! In Let Life Surprise You, my character is very impulsive and daring, which is everything I'm not, but I do relate to the struggle of raising a sharp and observant kid 😊

Does your characters have any traits inspired from real people? Or are they entirely fictional? If so, who? And please enlighten us briefly about the character development.

They're fictional characters, except for Chloe (the daughter). During writing, I always imagined how my daughter would react in certain situations in the scenes, and it was how I navigated the story flow.

Do you have any favorite romance story/stories on wattpad? And if so what you learned from it as a writer? Did they helped you to polish your skills?

Yes! I'm (secretly) a fan of T.S. Purvis. I devoured every single story she wrote. I just love how she keeps readers on their toes in every chapter, and every character she puts in her books is very relatable. It's like every ordinary person has their own extraordinary life story to tell.

Is there any scene from your book that can be termed as iconic or your personal favorite? What was your mindset at the time of writing it specifically?

I think it's the point where the main character gives in to her impulsiveness and spikes her boss's coffee. On the next day, she's blackmailed by the boss into taking the role of his temporary assistant. When I wrote that scene, I didn't hold back and was determined to make it as goofy as possible; the scene readers would never forget. And it was the first bang in the story.

Can you give few tips to our writers for improving their work?

Whew. This is a tough one. I'm also still learning myself. But what I can say is do not hold back. Don't be afraid to put your ideas into words, even the silliest ones. We tend to worry about what readers would think of us through our stories, but then it's when we actually cut our own fingers.

Thank you for your time!