Interviewer : Cx_Kxng

Interviewee : deargodwhyamihere

'22 RGAs Winner - First Place in Science Fiction

Please introduce yourself.

Hi! I'm MJ, (high school) student and aspiring writer! I'm inexperienced (which probably shows) but very passionate about writing (which I really hope shows)! I'm a pantser, a grammar freak, and a sucker for the Halloween section of Walmart.

When did you join Wattpad and why?

I joined Wattpad somewhere around May of 2020 because my friend and I had written a joke fan fiction and didn't know what to do with it. It's long since been deleted as I've started to take Wattpad much more seriously.

Wattpad has gone from being something I mocked because I didn't understand all the wonderful things about it to being my favorite app ever.

What inspired you to start writing?

I couldn't tell you what inspired me to start writing. I've basically been writing since before I could spell (dictating stories to my mom totally counts as writing, right?), and up until The Prince and the Punk, I had a habit of starting stories and completely abandoning them after about a week.

Wattpad helped a lot with that, because there were suddenly people that actually read my story and gave me feedback on it, which was a first. I was and still am very hesitant to show my work to people I know personally. Wattpad has been helping me with that, and it's also helped me realize that writing is something I love, that I am actually capable of finishing a book, and that I want to do it as a career.

Tell me about your story that won in the Rose Gold Awards.

The story that won-The Prince and the Punk-was actually the first one l've ever completed. It took about a year and a half to eventually finish, but it was a hugely important moment for me when I finally did.

The story is a near-future sci-fi/romance about a girl named Janice who falls in love with a prince named Xavier. Xavier's father, the King, doesn't want his son associating with someone like Janice, so he tries to separate them, which (without revealing too much leads to the chapters with aliens in them.

How did you come up with the story idea?

I came up with the idea out of nowhere. I'm a pantser, so I sort of just started writing one day with the goal of getting to a ballroom scene. Once I'd passed it, I just kept on writing. The original goal was to write a sort of fractured fairytale, but halfway through it became less like Cinderella and more like Starship Troopers. And then I don't know what it became. I do have a rewrite planned when a few contests end, and then l'm hoping to add more grit and less sap.

How long have you been writing it?

The Prince and the Punk took about a year and a half to write. I remember drafting chapters in my journalism class about 3 years ago, and I also remember my mad dash to finish and edit in time for the 2022 Wattys (no luck there). It's still not done in a lot of ways.

The smart thing to do would be to leave it the way it is and move on to other, potentially better stories, but I can't leave it alone and I'm planning a second round of much more thorough edits.

Who is your favorite character and why?

My favorite character is probably Janice. I know it's cliche to like my MC best, but I loved writing her and I spent quite a lot of time in her head. I also put a lot of myself into her, so go figure.

What is your favorite chapter/scene and why?

Um... pass? My favorite scene honestly depends on my mood. Sometimes it's one of those romantic scened between Janice and Xavier and sometimes it's an action scene with a bad outcome, so I really don't know. I think the alien scenes are usually my favorite, though.

What do you love about your story? What makes it unique and interesting?

I like to think the story is unique because it doesn't go where it seems like it's going to go.

I tried to create a futuristic world that might actually come after ours, rather than one that was full of crazy gadgets and whatnot. My characters are really meant to be the focus of the story; their personal conflicts make up huge chunks of the plot. It's definitely light sci-fi, but I think it's still a compelling story that's hopefully different from a lot of others.

What do you plan to do with your story in the future? Will you try and get it published, or just keep it on Wattpad?

I'd love to publish The Prince and the Punk, but it's probably just going to live on Wattpad. As my first story, I'm pretty sure it's full of holes, and I'm trying to use Wattpad and my living-at-home years to really hone my skills before I attempt to publish anything.

Have you made any other accomplishments with your story? If so, what are they?

I've entered a few other awards, but this is one of the few in which l've placed first! I've been featured by a few Ambassador profiles (Stories Undiscovered, ScienceFiction) but other than that, not much. I'm impressed with my read round though! I never thought I'd hit 6k!

Are you writing or planning to write any other stories? If so, tell me a bit about those.

I'm planning on editing both The Prince and the Punk and my ONC entry, In Limbo, but l'm ALSO plotting out a new story. The only issue is that I don't know whether I want crypto's, aliens, ghosts, or all three! I just need to make up my mind about that, and then hopefully the plot will stop flopping around like a firehose and get linear.

Thanks very much for the interview and for the wonderful awards experience!