Our goal is to showcase an array of LGBTQ+ content and extremely talented authors in the community. We are happy to introduce you to several authors who are standing behind their amazing works with strong LGBTQ+ themes. We are extremely honored to have them join our Fiesta for an interview.

Here is our fifth lovely author!

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✮ Author ✮ Troplet

✮ Genre ✮ YA

Tags: #contemporary #cute #diversity #freethelgbt #friendship #gay #girlxgirl #gxg #highschool #humor #lesbian #lesbianfiction #lgbt #lgbtpride #lgbtq #love #lovestory #ownvoices #prideatwattpad #prom #queen #romance #siblings #valentines #youngadult

When Sam Jackson, a seventeen-year-old artist and her best friend decide to join the prom committee, Sam unexpectedly finds herself locking lips with a candidate for prom queen, Sabrina Jenkins, the older sister of her best friend. Old crushes resurface but there's one little problem. Sam promises to help Sabrina's campaign for the prom queen title and in doing so, she sets up a public running mate and the prom queen's date both of which who are decidedly not her.

What inspired you to write "The Prom Queen's Date"?

I wanted to put a gay spin on something really cliche. What's more cliche than someone wanting to be prom queen? You see prom all the time in American movies. I was writing The Prom Queen's Date in January of this year and decided on a whim that I wanted to have the last chapter posted on the 14th of February. So incorporating Valentine's Day influenced themes and certain scenes too. 

How long did you spend researching before beginning to write the story?

I'm not really a planner so I researched as I went along, depending on what the chapter I was writing needed. There was always google searches like 'What classes do Juniors in America take' and 'When do they apply for colleges?' and finding out what it meant to be the prom queen and what responsibilities they had if they got the crown. I didn't realise there was a full 'court' of princes and princesses. It's kind of cool. While I was posting chapters I asked my readers what the story reminded them of and I was pointed to some prom themed movies Geek Charming, F the Prom, Prom (musical and book). There was this series on Youtube I've still to check out too. Now that the first draft's done I'm doing more research to expand on certain plot-points. Watching those movies have helped. I guess it's easier to research when you have the story done and know what needs to be researched. It's definitely a really different educational experience than in Ireland.

How did you discover Wattpad? What are some of your favorite experiences on the platform?

When I was figuring myself out and didn't quite know my sexuality I searched up some gay books and that's how I came across Wattpad. It had too many to count. As a teen who couldn't afford books this platform helped me out a lot. I thought I only liked reading the intimateness of girlxgirl relationships. Little did I know . . . Hah.

And my favourite experiences, I think it's just a continuous thing of the community always willing to support each other. Whether it be reader or writer. I asked people for book recs a while ago and bam, there was friends and readers hyping up their favourite LGBTQ+ authors on Wattpad. I think it's beautiful to have that freeness of the community geeking out together over their favourite stories. I'm always amazed by that.

If you could invite five people for a cup of coffee— anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would they be and why?

No one. Coffee? Ew. But for tea? Katie McGrath. She's an Irish actress starring in the show Supergirl. From the way she answers interview questions I think she'd be an interesting person to talk to. Another person would probably be the first person who thought it would be a great idea to cut into human skulls to fix brains lol or cutting into bodies in general. Amazingly terrifying. Also George R. R. Martin, Robin Williams and Morgan Freeman. 

What do you like to do when you're not writing?

Usually when I'm in my college city I've got plenty to do, cinema, hanging with friends, going to this pub (even though I don't drink lol) that has a little place out the back with a pizza truck randomly shoved in there. Time in quarantine's given me time to catch up and binge watch a lot of shows. I just started Orphan Black. It's pretty awesome to far. I picked up gardening! I also learned recently I can skim rocks very well lmao. 

What do you identify as?

I always feel weird when people ask me this because I don't say it in real life. I never really have to say it because it is what it is, which I realise is a privilege now that I think about it. But yeah, gay.

Can you tell us what you're currently working on or what's in store for the readers?

Right now I'm working on a first draft of a story called 'It's a Pizza Girl Thing'. It follows a pizza delivery girl who isn't the best at relationships that ends up getting dumped by her girlfriend of three months. She reunites with her high school best friend who also has gone through a bad break up. They explore a casual relationship — that turns into something more serious. They learn what it means to be in a relationship together. I'm also working on a second draft for 'The Prom Queen's Date' that should be up at the end of summer. It's on track to go from 57k words to like 120k words which is both frightening and something I'm enjoying tackling right now. Also Night Owls and Summer Skies is being published on 30th June! It's going to be a fun summer, that's for sure.

What is the best writing advice you have received?

Read your stuff out-loud! You'll catch more errors and poor sentence structure/unnatural sounding dialogue that way.

What advice can you give to writers out there?

For Wattpad writers specifically, I'd say to write your work completely offline before posting it. And not to keep content churning out but so you don't see the dreaded word 'update' and feel pressure. Of course that might not apply to everyone but it's something I've learned the hard way. Pressure kills my creativity! Also write what you genuinely enjoy too. Because if you're writing something that you're not really invested in, it will show. Also . . . writing is rewriting. Get the initial words out there and then you can really delve into the story. That's when you'll really get to know your characters.

re constantly learning" do you agree?

Of course! If you find writing hard, no matter how much you write, that's a good thing. You're constantly learning. It's constantly challenging! From Plot, Hook, Dialogue, Character, Pacing, Stakes, POV, premise, Tone, Tense, Planning, Pantsing, you're not going to learn it all at once, no matter how much you may want to! It takes practice and more practice and more. Plus, life experiences and what you learn from other people, books, tv shows, and outer influences are always going to influence you and how you perceive the world. Your view today might be different tomorrow. That will affect how you create a world. It's kind of amazing when you think about it like that. If you tried writing the same book you wrote a year prior today, how much would it be the same? Plus, if you're researching experiences that aren't your own for characters or environments, that's going to leave an impact on you too. So yes, I definitely agree with that statement.