Welcome to Fanfic's Hall of Fame, EkemWrites!!!

EkemWrites: Fandoms/Fanfiction is what I believe to be the beginning stages of an author's journey. For me especially; when a person has grown so attached to a character, setting, or genre, enough that they can build upon it, they are free to create entirely new worlds or timelines out of these existing ideas. They are inspired by so much they can, technically, 'reinvent the wheel'. 

It is love at its finest, a bond that cannot be cut, and an origin story that can lead to adventures and stories that can revolutionize what we know and what we do not. And when you age from it like I have, and reach new heights you wouldn't have thought possible (had it not been for your innate love of fanfictions at the start) it means so much more than you know.

EkemWrites: In 4th grade I stumbled across a series called Warrior Cats, by Erin Hunter. I thought little of it, and I wasn't much of a cat person. But between 5th-8th grade, I succumbed to a non-stop reading hunt for these books, tearing through every arc, spin-off, prequel, sequel, and backstory like a rabid fox. The action, the thrills, the backstabbing, the surprises -- it was like going through a Netflix series in your head! It got to the point where the people close to me forced me to leave my fantasy world and read non-fiction books or literary novels prior to high school. And that greatly bothered me.

So, I figured, why not throw my own mind into the books? I wanted to see what would happen if the book went in another direction, if I introduced a new character, a new storyline, a new prophecy... how could I keep that muffled fantasy of mine alive? How could I keep my childhood alive? I started on WFW first, writing stories about other people's oc's backstories into one anthology. When I moved to Wattpad, my love for Warrior Cats fizzled out (I was growing up), and I transitioned to dragons, then dinosaurs, and then Jurassic World (my final fanfics).

EkemWrites: Epicnesss1000, or Helene, is one of the first three people I interacted with on Wattpad. She creates the most insane, powerful, and most gut-wrenching dinosaur stories I have ever seen, and I would often come back to Wattpad to read them over and over again. All of her characters are deeply rooted in emotion and pride, and every tale ends with such meaning. It locks you in until the end and it never lets go. I actually got in touch with them recently; while I was querying one of me books for the real world, I saw her comment! It makes me all the more happy to see one of the coolest friends I know still here, and still writing those kinds of books. She deserves so much credit for what she has made here :)

EkemWrites: (This will be long, so bear with me) My life hasn't been a straight, linear path of goodness. I lost family members. I lost friends and friendships. I've been looked down upon, scrutinized, embarrassed, threatened; the list goes on. The world hasn't gotten better either, it won't for some time. And, sometimes, I feel like I've been removed off the face of the earth, and it is just me and my thoughts that I am left to talk too.

I know it's selfish to think that -- many people say to be grateful for what I have and carry on, and I am. But I shouldn't be demoralized for feeling emotion when things go wrong just because I have what I need. We all grieve in different ways, and the way I grieve is through my writing. It is where I go to when I need to rant, when I need to cry or find my happy place. It's what I do when things feel off, or I feel lost. It's my identity carved into the scrolls of a piece of paper that I can look back upon. It's my journal. My life.

My happiness lives in words, not drinking, nor money, nor pleasure, parties, or greed. And it is what will stand for me long after I am old and gone. So I sink into a character that exists, I feel for what he/she has felt time and time again, I sometimes speak as if they are speaking for me, or vice versa. They ultimately make me who I am.

EkemWrites: I think the coolest part is the control you have. Not everyone agrees with what the original source material has to offer for the said character/setting/storyline, we all have different ideas on what we wanted to happen, and how. And when we find that something we love and create it in our own image, it becomes a part of us in a brand new way, one that we will forever be happy about. You could see yourself as your own Percy Jackson, your own Nancy Drew, or Littlefoot, or Iron Man, or indoraptor. And there's nothing in the way of what you can do!

EkemWrites: I am in my twenties now, and sadly, I've started to digress from fanfiction. It is part of growing up -- that drive I had in my youth has faded, and so is my time. But fanfiction has inspired me to build original content; stories that aren't based on existing things, but things I can now form in my own image, and in my own way.

My final fanfiction was a sequel to one of my fanfictions, more or less a love letter to my fans. It is based on Jurassic World, and I wanted to design something that I can leave them with, while also fixing the Jurassic World: Dominion movie's issues. It wasn't as good as the first, I expected that. But I left a lot of people happy, including me, and that goodbye of my dinosaur characters is what helped me transition to original storytelling. It's honestly my last big mark on Wattpad, as mostly everyone I know who used to follow me left Wattpad after it's conclusion.

EkemWrites:

a. Angelbreeze-has been commenting and voting on many of my books, and I cannot be more happy than to thank her for that :)

b. CroodsGirl has been super supportive and helpful. She has been my moral compass since she joined, and I am always happy to hear of her successes at Disney!
c. VelociraptorGaming, probably. A really cool dude who I met a while back, and helped me build some of my stories and roleplays we did that helped inspire some other books.