Story Title: The Queen's Maid

Author: AziaElga

Author Bio:

Azia Elga is a scientist by day and a hobby writer by night. As a writer, she writes a jumbled mess of genres, but all her works contain heavy queer elements, with an emphasis on sapphic romance. Having immigrated from Singapore to the Northeast of the United States for work, Azia is passionate about including tons of Asian voices and perspectives in her works.

When she is not writing or daydreaming about her cute sapphic couples, you can find her stressing away in her microbiology laboratory.

Her contemporary romance, Nobody Like You, won the 2023 Wattys Award, while her fantasy romance, The Lightning Mage, won the 2022 Ambys Award, fantasy category, on Wattpad.

Blurb:

After the massacre of her previous masters, Seul-Ki is transferred to the Royal Palace to work for Queen Bae Joo-Hyun--an ice-cold Queen with an unreasonable attitude. Despite the reputation, Seul-Ki finds the Queen to be an enticing mystery, a feeling that is surprisingly reciprocated.

Curiosity grows into passion, and a forbidden relationship begins to blossom between them amidst opposite forces: the Queen's duty to the King, a rising tension in the courts, and jealous wrath from the Concubine who vies for the King's attention. While Seul-Ki falls deeper and deeper in love with the woman she cannot have, the world around her spirals more and more into a political storm she cannot control. There is nothing she can do to protect the Queen, no matter how much she is willing to sacrifice for her.

The world is cruel, and the Queen's maid is powerless.

What sparked your interest in writing, and how did you end up writing on Wattpad?

I've always loved writing and telling stories—I've been writing silly stories the moment Ilearned how to write, which I later transition into fanfiction writing and now, original fictionon Wattpad!

What inspired your historical fiction story?

I loved the sapphic movie, Then Handmaiden, and wondered how perfect it would be if it's set in a historical Korean drama setting. I wanted to experiment writing in a non-contemporary style as well, which was what further prompted me to give this a shot!

What about the historical time you write in appealed to you enough to want to write a story set during that time?

I grew up watching a ton of Asian historical drama, particularly Chinese and Korean historical drama. I'm very intrigued by the royal life during those times, and I've even visited the palace many times and really loved the vibe of it all. Therefore, I would say the political intrigue and the beauty of the setting drew me into writing about the Joseon Era in Korea.

Historical Fiction can be difficult to write in. What was the most difficult thing to convey historically from a modern perspective?

There are many scenes that required lots of research for me to figure out what people in the past did. The most difficult scene I had to write was when the Queen had to give birth. I read so many historical documents on the methods people did and superstitions people had in the past to properly convey the entire sequence of events. But I learned a lot from it so it was worth it!

How do you create and develop your characters? Do you base them on historical figures, or are they entirely fictional?

I didn't feel confident enough to base my characters on real historical figures, so I ensured that the characters were fictional. The main character was essentially a nameless maid so basing on my main character on a historical figure was out of the question anyway.

What's the best piece of writing advice you've ever received?

A combination of "Your first draft doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to exist." and "You cannot edit a blank piece of paper." Both basically telling me to just write! Don't worry about it not being good, just writing it out and putting it out there is more than enough.

Thank you for your time ♥