Hello Mikaela, how are you today?

A: Fantastic! I'm excited for this!

Q: So are we! Thank you for joining us and sharing a little more about yourself with the Wattpad universe. First off, shall we talk about you and writing? When did you first start writing?

A: About four years ago when I was fourteen. I skipped the last half of Spanish class at church because I had started too late in the class and was completely lost. I had some notepaper and was bored so I decided to write something and I started a novel. I don't know why I wanted to finish the story, but I did. That story is my novel, Asleep, which won a couple of awards last fall.

Q: What are your writer's best practices – doing character profiles, maps, visualization, tai chi, anything?

A: I'm a pantser so I don't do much planning. I have made a map of the city in Asleep. That helped give me an idea of distance. I also like to use this fashion designer kit I got years ago to draw the dresses in my space story, Cursed, which isn't on here. I love acting out scenes and getting a good grasp on the dialogue so I can make it realistic.

Q: When and in what setting do you write best?

A: I don't really have a best time or place to write. I write on my phone and laptop. Depending on the story, I sometimes prefer using one or the other.

Maybe at night? Though my rule is if I start writing about sleep, I need to go to bed. I'm pretty versatile with where I can write.

Q: Is there anything in particular you find difficult to write about?

A: Fight scenes. I don't read too many books with them, and since I take ballet, I'm not familiar with fighting. Maybe if I did some type of martial arts it would come easily.

Q: What piece of advice has been most helpful to you since you started?

A: I think it was Beth Reekles, author of the Kissing Booth, who said she writes the books she wants to read. Don't write something if you wouldn't read it, otherwise you'll lose motivation for it.

Q: What do you enjoy more – writing or having written?

A: I love writing more than reading my stuff afterword, because I feel more connected to the story when I'm writing, and I love seeing the scene play out in my head from all angles.

Q: What genre would you write in, if it wasn't sci-fi?

A: I would write Urban Fantasy. I already have one novel in that genre with mermaids. I'm enjoying writing a werewolf one now. It's called My Best Friend's Werewolf and that one is actually on Wattpad.

Q: That's cool! And what about reading? What three genres do you read the most?

A: Science Fiction. My favorite book in that genre is the Cage by Meghan Shepherd. My second favorite is Fantasy. My favorite book in that genre is the Selection by Kierra Cass. My third is Werewolf. I would love to read a published story in this genre, but I'm having difficulties trying to find them. My library on here is full of werewolves.

Q: Is there anything you can think of that you would love to read, only it hasn't been written yet?

A: Hmm...well maybe I want to write it then? (Imagine me winking — which I am not talented enough to be able to do in real life. You know how Iris can't raise one eyebrow or wink? Yeah, that's me.) I'd love to read more stories with villains like Loki. That's why I love writing about Colton from Expiration Date. Loki inspired him. The perfect gentleman with plans for world domination—let me read a story with a villain like that.

Q: What book could not put down under any circumstances?

A: The Cage by Meghan Shepherd. I was pulling at my hair while reading it. Also Storm and Silence by Rob Thier. My heart has never fluttered so much and my stomach has never done so many summersaults while reading a book.

Q: And, I know the readers would really appreciate this, tell us what inspired you to write your book on Wattpad?

A: I was looking on Pinterest for story ideas on my Writing Prompts board. My friend and I both agreed the prompt about having the date of your death tattooed on your arm and not dying when it said you would was the most interesting one. A year and a half later, I'm on the second book.

Q: Can you describe it in three words (and don't be modest!)?

A: Maddening, shocking, deceptive. (As my readers know, you can't trust these characters.)

Q: Which character is the total fan favorite? Why do you think that is?

A: I wouldn't say there's a total fan favorite. Each character has plenty of mixed emotions from the readers. Also each of the main ones have received death threats. I'm going to have to say Colton even though he's the villain. He has haters, but people are shedding tears for him in the sequel. The best part is being able to see people hating him and saying he should not get a happy ending and then later on seeing people saying he now deserves one. He also makes a lot of readers laugh.

Talking about fans, can you quote the one comment on your book, which you will never forget? Please include *SPOILER* if it contains major revelations from the storyline.

A: "We often think that knowing when we would die would be a blessing, making our lives carefree and easier. However, Expiration Date shows the reality of this situation, and I love it! Reading this fantastic book has made me feel happiness, sadness, anger, and joy, all in one book, and I do not regret any of it! I have stayed up late at night for hours reading about the confusion of the 'love triangle' between Erik, Jonas and Iris, and the hate of the society along with both the joy and despair of friendship and family. This book is honestly one of the best I've read. The best books torture you with feelings and leave you astounded and fascinated, and it's amazing! Please don't ever stop writing – I've been sucked into this fandom now, never to leave, and I'm loving every second!"

This comment blew me away, especially as the reader, @ToffeeJoy, understood what I was trying to say in my book perfectly. I didn't just want to explore romantic relationships in Expiration Date and Expired, I wanted to explore friendship and family ones as well. How thick is the line that holds them together? When do they break?

Q: What is your favorite thing about being active on Wattpad?

A: Being able to interact with my readers! They're all awesome and make each day better!

Q: If you had to mention just one Undiscovered Gem of a story or writer on Wattpad, who would it be and why?

A: I've loved all of the books I've read from Ajla H. @The_Phantom_Writer. I've read three of her Phantom of the Opera stories and they are the most well written fanfictions I have read. The storylines are all unique and she really makes the stories her own.

Q: How do you work on your writing style and how do you develop it?

A: For most of my stories, it will start off just a single idea that seems to come out of nowhere. Sometimes ideas will be from a movie, book, Pinterest, or even necklaces. Writing ritual...hmm...I don't really have one. I love listening to music and making the facial expressions that go with each line while writing. My writing style has always been sarcastic. I used to write very passively (telling instead of showing) but it's been developing to where I'm showing much more. Reading published books helps develop it as well.

Q: Is coming up with a title a difficult task?

A: A title isn't as difficult for me as coming up with characters and settings names. I like to take a key element of the story and use a synonym finder for that word to create the title. For chapters I like finding a line from the chapter that I can morph into a title.

Q: What has been your favorite part of any of your projects to write?

A: For me it is Expired. I love all of the characters and so many of them have stories floating around in my head. Vienna's and Colton's story is incredible to write. There's so much emotion, love, and hurt there. Also things are about to happen that none of my readers will be able to predict.

Q: Where are you from?

A: The United States.

Q: Did any of you ever feel like writing just wasn't for you anymore and wanted to stop?

A: Hmmm...not really. There have been times I've been frustrated and I somewhat wanted to give up, but I've always known writing is for me. Well...except for when I was much younger. I couldn't imagine writing a book. It was like magic in my mind. I never though I actually would.

Q: What was your hardest chapter to write and why?

A: Chapter 27: Forceful of Expired. There were certain things that had to happen and had to make sense for them to happen too. Erik needed to be able to sneak up on Iris. The Amoris couldn't get a chance to look at Iris' eyes. I had to figure out what would make the most sense to discuss first, because everything was important and needed to be sorted out. I needed to give Jonas and Colton time to get to the room, and I had to figure out how to get them to hear about Iris' uncle. I also needed to not let Colton kill Iris when he thought she was a rebel. I had only a few hours of time to actually work on the chapter as well.

Q: How can you start a story well so that it pulls the reader in and keeps them hooked till the end?

A: The first sentence is so important. Most of the time it needs to be shocking. It should always give you that wow moment. Also describing characters physical traits in the first two paragraphs makes me lose interest. Personally I don't care what they look like besides hair color. After your first chapter continue to surprise the reader. Give them juicy characters. Keep baiting them in for more.

Q: What is one thing about writing nobody told you about?

A: That I was writing in passive voice. When I found out, many people had seen my writing. My book Expiration Date was already on here. My novel Asleep had gone to beta readers. No one had pointed it out to me until an agent did. Since then my writing has completely changed. I rewrote all of Asleep, and in the contest that a year ago it didn't even make it to the semi-finals for, a year later it won first place in its section and scored the highest of any youth entry. That was all in a year.

Q: Is there anything that you wish you could go back in your story and change?

A: I don't know if there's anything that I can't change. I'm doing major rewrites currently. But I'm a long way from rewriting the chapters that have my main thing I want to change. This one character, Brydan, has a POV, and it now makes no sense for him to have one, especially because he is hardly in the sequel.

Though I do wish that I had named Expiration Date just Expiration. It fits better with titles I have for the series.

Q: How many of you have considered publishing paper copies of your books?

A: Me! Hopefully one day!

Q: How did you start off your stories? Did they end up turning out to be different from what you originally expected and had in store for them?

A: I wrote down the first sentence that popped in my head and that sentence is still the first sentence. I had no idea what was going to happen. I came up with the story as I wrote the chapter and let the words lead me through the story. I couldn't have guessed where it would end up. Now for the sequel I have a much better idea of what will happen but it still surprises me!

Q: What inspired you to write your story?

A: A prompt on Pinterest!

Q: And to finish off, I am going to ask you three more personal questions, but don't worry, I won't dig too deep.
1. If you had to get up and do one of these three things right now, which would you go for?
a. Bungee jumping
b. Singing in front of a thousand people
c. Running a marathon

A: Well the 5k I did was hard enough. I would probably die running a marathon. I don't know if I could even get myself to jump off the ledge for bungee jumping. Even though I can't sing, I'll go with singing in front of a thousand people.

2. If you had to live one year without one of the three things below, which would you pick?
a. Chocolate
b. Ice-Cream
c. Coffee

A: Coffee because I can't live without chocolate!

3. What's your guilty pleasure TV show?

A: Teen Wolf and the Bachelor and its spinoffs; I'm still Team Nick!

Thank you so much for getting to know me!

That was fun!
Thanks for being with us and sharing your amazing stories with the world!