For the month of June, we had the honor to sit with Birdpaw and chat with her about what Pride Month means for them while featuring their story, Out of Evenfall, for this special occasion.

🏳️‍🌈 Author Bio 🏳️‍🌈

I'm an aro/ace author who likes Dark Fantasy, Space Opera, and video games. I won a Watty in 2022 for my Science-Fiction story Starfall, I won the Open Novella Contest in 2021 for Weight of the Family, and I am a Wattpad Creator.

🦄 Premise 🦄

Adara, a magickae living underneath a king who murdered the magical people of her home when she was a young girl; with no explanation as to why, was left in the care of her guardian. She hides away and hopes for an end to the hate. Evenfall comes with a vengeance, and she faces the world's shadow when she finds her only friend nothing more than bones.

 Unbeknownst to her, two Storm Wardens, Fenrer and Yuven come to the kingdom in search of an 'Anima', a powerful magickae due to the role they played in unleashing the world's shadows into reality.

Everything comes to a clash at the beginning of the end. Forced to leave her home, and everything she grew used to, follows the golden warriors into the same dark she now sees within herself.

🍄 Teaser 🍄

"What did you mean?" Adara asked, taking his steady hand. "When you believed? In the Ancients? Is this world simply suffering by the Derelicts for eternity?"

Fenrer held her hand tight, and she frowned at the heavy weight slowly disappearing, taking with it the bitter taste left in her heart. Of all the loss. Of all the pain.

"I understand," he repeated. "Allow me to take the darkness too unbearable, though we know that this suffering is unavoidable — that doesn't mean it's hopeless. For every dusk there must be a dawn on the distant horizon." He lifted her to her feet, and released her hand, and the weight never returned. Mind unfettered, she frowned at the darkness in his own, but he continued to smile past the pain.

The dawn must always come.

"As to what I meant by what I said when I believed," Fenrer explained. "Is that I believe in our enduring will to survive. In our ability to seek the light within the dark, no matter how bleak. Though we may be in excruciating pain, is it not true strength to move forward, even though we feel like we've lost it all?" he asked with a curious frown, as if he wasn't sure himself. "Is that not worth believing in?" He turned his back to her, staring at the staff in Yuven's hands. "I have always believed that the Derelicts will only win if we give in to our despair, and if we pretend that it will someday cease to exist. You cannot say that the Derelicts are the prime cause of suffering." Fenrer's lips parted into a soft breath. "I believe in the hope that buries itself underneath the despair, awaiting for its full potential to split the skies of pain."

Adara opened her mouth to reply, but she jumped when he sent another glance at her. "If you still don't believe, I'll show you what I mean."  

🌟🌟🌟

🔮 Tell us about your writing journey! What brought you to Wattpad, and how did your experience evolve from there?

I can't really recall when my writing journey started, though I remember taking it more seriously at thirteen when I first wrote a very old fantasy story that I won't go into too much detail about. Around that time, I also wrote the first iteration of Starfall, back when it was called something else. I do not remember what brought me to Wattpad — I think I was looking for a place to post stories and stumbled upon it. As for my evolving experience, I have definitely improved as a writer, learned a lot and met many awesome authors with their own experiences.

🔮Tell us about Pride and what Ace/Aro representation means to you as a writer. What kind of impact do you hope it will have on your readers?

From my own experiences, Ace/Aro representation can mean so many things to so many different people. As someone who has experienced erasure on Wattpad, I am hoping that my work will impact by showing that we do exist in so many different ways. That we do matter, no matter how our stories take form, or how we put ourselves into characters who carry the same identity. Even if I write based solely on my own experience, I am hoping it can extend to others and their experiences.

There is a prevailing belief that if you do not feel these things for other people something is 'wrong' with you. Yes, I have heard this from people from within the LGBTQ+ community. I have had my own characters called boring just because they have no romantic or sexual indications. I have little to no romance in many of my stories because I just can't relate to romances. I can enjoy them; I just can't relate to them.

🔮Let's talk about Evenfall. What went into the inspiration for writing this? How has it changed since the first draft? Did anything in particular impact the most recent version?

There was no particular inspiration apart from maybe some Dragon Age and Final Fantasy influence in the recent version. The first draft might as well have been an entirely different book with how much I changed and grew even as a writer -- as such, there was no particular impact as to why I rewrote it other than to push my limit as a writer of Dark Fantasy.

🔮How would you describe Fenrer and Adara's relationship? We know he's Ace and she's bisexual, but love exists in so many forms, and is expressed in many ways. 

Without going into too much detail, it is the slowest of slow burns, and they develop as friends first. Because in my eyes, friendship is a form of love.

🔮Who is your favorite character in the series and why?

I like Fenrer the most because not only does he represent a part of my identity, but because if I was to be attracted to any guy, it'd definitely be him. I very rarely see characters in books who understand and actively seek consent and have a way of seeing the world through the lens of hope after everything he's been through.

🔮What spin-off story was your favorite to write? You have written many spin-offs, many of which we've enjoyed at one point or another. You're the only person we all know who can speed-write 80k words in two weeks while leaving us all in a trail of dust. How do you do it, and will there be more in the future?

I have too many spin-offs, so I'll go with Weight of the Family, which I wrote in protest at the amount of mafia romances that don't often show the reality of what that subject entails. Also, couldn't tell you how I do it, because I also don't know how I can do it. If my motivation tanks, I can't do it.

🔮Comments often feel like the Holy Grail of Wattpad. They seem so few and far between these days, and we all live for them. So across all of your stories in the series, can you recall a favorite comment of all time that made you laugh, cry, or feel emotional?

I have to go with one of my good friends, WinterSleep85's comments in general. I don't think I've ever met someone who seems to get my books more than me and will listen to me ramble endlessly and endlessly and endlessly and yeah, you get the point. Any of her comments count.

          🔮Agreed. Anyone who has ever seen one of her final comments can attest to her epicness as a reader.

🔮Finally, if you could give any advice to Wattpad writers, what would it be?

There is no advice I can give that will have an answer to that endless artist question as to whether we're good enough. I've been there, still am. But if you're in that moment, that headspace, I can only recommend one thing. Look back and see how far you've come, even if the distance doesn't feel like a lot of difference.

🌟🌟🌟

And that's a wrap! Thank you so much, Birdpaw for speaking with us about Pride and your work. We are truly honored to feature you for Pride Month.

Did you all enjoy this as much as we did? We invite and encourage you all to check out Birdpaw's work and immerse yourselves in the wonderful worlds they've created.