An interview with glaceon346 conducted by glitterandasphalt.

Glaceon346 is the author of Lost, this year's Pokémon Watty Awards short-story champion. It was nominated for Most Intrigue, Best Accompanying Media, and Best Quote.

First of all, what inspired you to write Lost? I have to say, I really enjoyed this entry!

Thank you! I'm glad you did! :)

Well honestly, I was meaning to write a darker-themed story for a while now. I just didn't know which Pokémon to use as my character. That's was when I found a little comic strip while surfing the internet about a trainer and his Phantump going about their lives. The Phantump in that comic was shown to act like a child, much like the Pokédex entry suggested. I thought to myself, "Hey, why don't I make a story around this?" All of the plot elements and game connections sort of fell into place after that, but I did what I thought the readers would react to and like the best.

I noticed those connects right away, it really makes you feel like part of the larger Pokémon universe. Do you consider your readers often when you sit down to write?

Definitely! I really love it when my readers are immersed in the world I set forth to them, especially when they feel connected with the characters and their feelings throughout the story. It signals to me that I was able to convey the emotions I wanted to through their reactions as well as let them reflect on their own emotions in real life.

And you were very successful in doing that in Lost. I'm going to be honest, it brought a little tear to my eye! And it seems as though the judges thought so as well with its first-place ranking. How did you feel when you found out you were champion of short story?

I have been doing the PWA competition for about three years now. Each time I was a step farther in ranking until finally, Lost won first the short story category! I was glued to the PWA and GRA stream for the whole day, so when they finally announced that I champion, I was super thrilled and ecstatic!! I have to admit that I may have scared my friends a bit in the process of showing my joy... XD

Regardless, I was immensely proud that I had finally reached a long-time goal of mine; it was honestly one of the best feelings in the world~

Aw, it really was an exciting night. So much hype! So, after three years you finally reached your goal. What kind of things have your learned on your writing journey?

I'd have to say that one thing I learned while perfecting my writing is to take lots and lots of notes during the thinking process. Kind of like drawing, you never know when you'll have a great idea, it may suddenly pop in your mind without you thinking at all! Make sure to get it down before it leaves you for good, whether it be on your notes app or an extra journal you find.

Another tip is to check over continuity. One error with the timeline of the story can leave readers confused and, well, "lost!" I taught myself to set a timeline on a piece of paper to help make a guideline for my story. Needless to say, it helped me a lot!

Very true! Did you have time to read any of the other PWA entries? If so, did any of them stand out to you as a personal favorite or something of exceptional quality?

Oh yes, definitely! I only got to read the short story entries to see who I will be competing with, but I found a few that really stood out to me. Symbiont by and was one of them. I thought the story had a great concept behind it and the whole idea connecting to the game really took me by surprise at the end! I felt like we went for the same structures to our story and I was impressed to see it done so well by those two~ Great job to them!

What about your own works? Do you have a favorite story that you have written?

A favorite story? To be honest, I love all my stories, but for different reasons. For example, I love The Mysterious Hidden since it was my first book and my first winning entry, and I love Once Is Enough because of the final scenes of the story. However, if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Lost. I felt like this story was one of my peaks in writing and the whole process of writing it just felt smoother and more intriguing to me. I had fun making it just as much as I had fun reading it!

Do you have any future stories planned that you are excited about?

Yup! I'm currently working on an entry for next year's PWA. It takes place in the Alola Region and centers around a Pokémon from that region as well! Don't want to spoil, but I'm heading down a bit of a different direction with this story. I'm hoping to portray a strong relationship with trainer and Pokémon despite the conflicts and hardships they face together and separately. I'm going to do my best to convey the emotion out forth in the story, so there's going to be a lot of editing. I hope the readers will like it! I may be working on a one-shot too for the PWA, but I'm going to keep the story a secret for now. ;)

Well, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview! Also, congratulations!

Thank you very much! And thank you for interviewing me! I really enjoyed it :)