Welcome to our interview for this month! We are with the award-winning author, JadedElegance, who penned the story, Immortally Beloved for our monthly prompt contest.

Dark Fantasy Team: When did you start writing this story? How was your journey through it?

JadedElegance: I began writing this story in 2018, and finished it in July of 2019. The journey was an amazing one. For a year, I felt as if I had gone to live in this world I'd struggled to bring to life, and what happened to these characters felt as important as anything else happening in my life.

DF: What was the most difficult part of writing your story? What was the easiest?

J: The most difficult part is what I'm currently doing now, outside of Wattpad. I'm planning to get this story, which is over 250k in word count, ready for publication. Editing is hard because no matter how much you want it to be, nothing's ever perfect. The easiest part was often the dialogue between characters. It flowed very naturally for me, because I had this very ingrained sense of who all the people in the story were

DF: Is there a character in your story that is most similar to you or someone that you know?

J: People ask me all the time if I am Eleni, the main character. She's a difficult character to love and very polarising, so I'd like to think I'm a little less like that. There are pieces of her that are very much me, though. Many of the characters are based on people I know, even if only through name or a personality trait or a relationship that's defined my life. Colton Ormond, the Sheriff, is very much based on my loving partner of over 13 years. He read every word of this story over and over, and believed in it more than anyone. I finished the story in July 2019, and during late November of that year, he was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer that had spread to the liver. He passed away in July of 2020, and I couldn't touch the story for nearly a year. It's been really hard.

DF: Did you have to do any research for your story? If so, what kind?

J: I love historical fiction, so I already had a good foundation for understanding the time periods. Half of each chapter is told through Eleni's diary, which takes readers back to the Court of Louis XVI and the fall of Versailles. The other half takes place in modern-day Louisiana, near New Orleans. The culture there is still very heavily imbued with a belief in the magical and supernatural. I actually had to do a good deal of research for this story, as I wanted all the dates, names, and places to be correct. I think I can talk anyone's ear off about the Baroque era after this. ;)

DF: What do you think makes a good story?

J: I think the ability to bring three-dimensional characters that have a story to tell, are relatable, and invest the reader emotionally in what happens to each and every one of them---to me, that's the hallmark of a good story.

DF: If you could describe your story in two words, what would it be?

J: Gothic drama.

DF: What are you currently reading?

J: "Nine Perfect Strangers", by Liane Moriarty. She's a favourite author of mine because she specialises in the psychological drama and the heavily emotional experience of what it is to be human.

DF: Are there any authors, stories, or books that have inspired you to want to become a writer?

J: Too many to mention. Growing up, I remember reading both Jane Austen and V.C. Andrews with equal interest. I learned about London during Cromwell and the Stuarts through some rather trashy romance novels of my mother's, which sparked an interest in historical fiction. Anne Rice's vampire sagas inspired me to create Eleni, because it annoyed me that there was always so much focus on beautiful, powerful men in that genre. I wanted to see a dominant, manipulative woman at the forefront of immortality. I think it was finally George R.R. Martin's "Song Of Ice And Fire" that solidified the idea of "I don't want to just create a story. I want to create a world, populated with characters that people will feel something about."

DF: How do you balance life and trying to write stories at the same time?

J: Honestly, not as well as I'd like. I'm a professional freelance writer and ghostwriter, a step I may have not had the courage to take if I hadn't come on Wattpad years ago and said "My goal is to write a novel." It doesn't leave me the time and energy it takes for me to work on my own work, but at the same time, you've got to prioritise getting paid. I've been really fortunate in the success I've had taking the steps towards writing fiction full-time. It's something I know most people never get to do. Still, I'd love to make a living writing my own stories and sharing my vision and my characters with the world. That's my ultimate dream. <3

Thank you so much, JadedElegance, for being with us and agreeing to our interview. Check out the award-winning story, Immortally Beloved, to support our author!

- The Dark Fantasy Team