Pen Name: Elle Lawrence

Username: ellelawrence

Is your pen name your legal name? If no, then how did you make up one?

No, it isn't. But it's actually very similar to my real name. I gender-bent my names and switched them around. I really like my pen name because it retains some syllables from my real name but still affords some anonymity.

How many books have you published till date?

None traditionally. My first completed novel, Requiem for a Soldier, is on Wattpad along with some short stories I wrote in school.

What are your future projects?

Currently, I'm working on the sequel to Requiem for a Soldier. After that, I've got several other stories lined up in various stages of development. They include a fairy-tale retelling with a modern sci/fi twist, a prequel to Requiem for a Soldier, a sci/fi fantasy series set in an AU about three strong women affecting change in their planet's history, a paranormal romance about a love that endures through reincarnations, and a scifi dystopian space drama about a connection between two characters that represent this future society's ideal and this society's outcast. This one is kind of a social commentary buried inside a book about space travel and the colonization of new planets. I've actually got more ideas but this is enough to keep me busy for a long time.

What is writing to you?

Creating stories is a way to let loose, have fun, and let my imagination run wild. Writing is how I share that experience with the world.

Is being an author, your long time dream or a hidden passion you found out later?

It's kind of something I've always been. My mom read books to me for hours and hours when I was a kid and I still love reading. I've always been making up stories in my head. Only in the last few years did I start writing them down and sharing them online.

What genre books you like to work on?

Whatever genre my ideas fall into. Typically that's sci/fi fantasy, and usually romance, but not always.

If we challenge you to write a book of another genre we suggest, then would you take it up?

To be honest, probably not. I'm starting grad school soon and I'll be without much spare time to write for the next 3 to 5 years. I've got enough future projects sitting in Wattpad drafts to keep me busy for a long time. But if your suggestion sparks an idea, maybe I could make something out of it.

Writing is a reality that paints a beautiful fantasy. What do you think are the charms of writing fiction/non fictional books?

I like writing fiction because I can dream up a different world and the only limits are my imagination. I feel like non-fiction is more limiting in that sense, but I've also never tried to write a nonfiction book, so IDK.

Who are your favorite authors in and out of wattpad?

In no particular order: Marissa Meyer, Shannon Hale, K. M. Shea, Nancy Campbell Allen, Brigid Kemmerer, Andy Weir, arcticstars, makexbelieve, CaitReynolds, JenniJames

What is your favorite series you have recently watched or read?

Read: The Lunar Chronicles, The Hallowed Ones, The Elves of Lessa, Andari Chronicles, Letters to the Lost Series

Watched: Goblin, The Legend of the Blue Sea, My Love from the Star, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, Kill Me Heal Me

Who is your favorite actor/actress?

Lee Min Ho, Park Bo Young, Dan Stevens, and Jennifer Lawrence.

Who is your favorite Villain you couldn't help but love?

I usually don't like villains. Not a huge fan of The Bad Boy™ either. But Loki will always have a special place in my heart. I don't know if Megamind counts, but I love him too.

What are your hobbies other than writing and reading?

I like crocheting little amigurumi figures - I've made animals, characters from Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon, etc. I also really like problem-solving, especially figuring out how to make computers solve complex problems, but technically that's more work than it is a hobby.

What are your hidden talents?

I can "read" Korean. I don't understand most of it, but I can read Hangul. I've developed the ability to differentiate between spoken Korean, Mandarin, and Japanese somewhat reliably. I can also read some of the ancient Runic text you see in the Dragon Book in the first How to Train Your Dragon movie. Am I a nerd? Yes.

Who is your first celebrity crush?

I think it may have been Josh Hutcherson in Journey to the Center of the Earth. I think I made my sister watch the full movie three times in a row during a road trip when I was twelve.

What is the most embarrassing situation that you have ever been through?

I feel like every time I interact with a new person is a contender for the most embarrassing situation. But I'll settle for this one: I was at a company event this summer where I didn't know anyone except my boss, so I followed him around like a lost puppy for a while until he started speaking to a man who looked vaguely familiar. He introduced me and I started talking to this new guy about the project I was working on, a former project I'd been really passionate about, and just generally geeking out about complex computer science problems and how to work around them. The guy seemed interested and I assumed he was another supervisor-level employee, maybe a manager. Before he moved on to talk to someone else, I looked at his name tag and realized that I recognized the name. After he left, I put two and two together and I realized I'd just been gushing about an intern project to the vice president of engineering at the company. My boss's boss's boss's boss. Four levels above me. One level down from the CEO. I spent the rest of the networking event pretending everything was fine.

One craziest thing you have ever done?

Probably when I decided it was a good idea to take a Ph.D. level aerospace engineering course, work three part-time jobs, and take 16 credit hours during my last semester of college. Oh, and to keep writing chapters to post to Wattpad during this time. And then there was the time I flew an airplane for a few minutes.

There are many authors who just started their journey and many readers who want to write but has no courage to do so. Please give them a tip and a word of encouragement.

I think many authors are so focused on getting people to read and enjoy their stories that they sacrifice their own enjoyment and lose focus of what makes writing so much fun. If you have a story to tell, tell it, and love the process of dreaming up ideas and expressing them. I think a good story starts with an author who loves the story they have to tell. If you love what you're writing, eventually someone's bound to find it and love it too. I see a lot of people on Wattpad complain about being an undiscovered author and that no one reads their stories. Now that I'm on the other side of that, I can see that there were a lot of advantages to being an undiscovered writer. Before people found my story, I wrote at my own pace and never felt any pressure to write more, develop certain plot lines faster, or do other things to make my readers happy. I could hole up in my apartment and write for hours on end. After people started following my story, I'd get flat out demands for updates, demands that my two romantic leads kiss RIGHT NOW and people would complain about decisions I made with my story right after I'd update a chapter. Posting new chapters became a chore and I was concerned about how they'd be received. Writing was much easier and more enjoyable when no one was reading my story (which is why I plan to finish stories first before posting chapters starting with my next book). I'm not going to lie and say that my story becoming popular wasn't one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me, but there are things I miss about being an undiscovered author. Enjoy it while you can.

Please, please, please, PLEASE make your best effort to use proper spelling and grammar. That alone will help your story immensely. And you can even make the computer do it for you. I recently started using the free version of Grammarly. When I'm writing on Wattpad on my computer, it's constantly checking for any mistakes inside my Wattpad draft. I don't even need to copy-paste the text into a special grammar-checker, it's constantly running automatically. I like it so might that I might actually start spending money on it.

Two years ago, I didn't have a Wattpad account and I wasn't even actively writing anymore. In May of 2018, I made my Wattpad account and started posting chapters of my first novel. It didn't really start to take off until January of 2019 thanks to the tag system. Then in September 2019 it won the Wattys. This time last year, I was still a nobody on Wattpad and had less than 1k reads, I think. Now I'm a Watty winner and a Wattpad Star. And I'm not even a professional writer - I'm an engineer. If I can do it, you can do it too. Just hang in there, love your story, enjoy the time you have before your story becomes popular and all the added pressure that comes with that, and use good grammar :)

Last but not the least, have you ever dreamt of writing your own comic?

I actually did use to write my own comics, though I think graphic short story would be a more accurate description. I didn't write anything of comedic value; instead, I told short stories through a cartoon panel format. I'm not a sketch artist, so it was all poorly drawn stick figures with dramatic facial expressions.

What do you feel about this interview?

Pretty good :) it took a lot longer for me to answer all these questions than I expected, but I got through it all! Congratulations to anyone who managed to read through all of it. I'm wordy. Thanks to the folks from AllArt_OnePlace for reaching out to me for this interview

Hope you had a great time answering our questions. We appreciate you for your beautiful works and also spending valuable time with us.

We wish you to write many more successful stories and be a bestselling author one day.