Meet L.N Roberts (LNRoberts1). In her fantastic forties this native Californian owns her own Interior Architecture business alongside passionate hobbies of writing, gardening, art and dancing. With her husband and two girls she now lives in Oregon and enjoys days filled with tea, breakfast burritos, snuggly cats, skateboarding, etymology, afrobeat music, and astrology.

Her novel 'The Fate of Our Hearts' won the grand winner title in the 2024 Nano Watt Award in the young adult category and follows the swoony yet at times angsty love of young couple Lauren and Gio.

It's the mid-90s on the West Coast: grunge music, mix tapes, pagers, skateboarding and baggy clothes. Lauren, an ordinarily shy 8th-grade girl, risks the first move to approach her long-time elusive crush, Gio, a gorgeous and mysterious outsider who has a secret crush of his own. The night of the school dance, they get exactly what they dreamed of: a first dance, a first kiss...but the timing isn't on their side, and the budding relationship slips through their fingers.

Fast-forward to her junior year-the worst year of her life so far-and Lauren feels anything but confident. Gio reemerges at school after a three-year absence, and the unexpected encounter sends tremors through both of their lives. But their attraction to each other is as intense as ever, and interactions between them heat up quickly. However, Gio's school life is a disaster, and he harbors a secret he won't share, but it's the truth that Lauren keeps from him that really threatens to tear their young romance apart.

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Congratulations on being a grand winner of the 2024 Nano Watt Awards! How does it feel to be in the top 9? Did you think you'd make it this far?

I am very honored to be in the top 9 this year. This books companion book won a Amby last year, but this first story has sort of stood quietly in the shadows, so it's so wonderful to give it it's own spotlight.

In your own words what is your winning entry about and what was the inspiration behind it?

This is a sweet, funny, and angsty teen/young adult romance set in the 1990s before cell phones and texting were available. I tried to make as realistic, drawing from some of my own high school experiences. In dual POV, it follows two relatively shy outlier teens as they navigate all the intense first love feels and experiences: approaching and talking to a crush, first relationships highs and lows, uncomfortable sex talks, a smidge of immature communication we were all guilty of in our teen years, avoiding the L word at all costs out of fear of rejection, and being brave enough to finally confront your fears.

This book was inspired by a dream I had about a crush I had on a boy in middle school. The dream was so real, and when I woke up I knew exactly who it was, but I couldn't remember his name. I finally found an old diary of mine tucked away and found him in it. Back [when] I was 14, I was so shy about approaching boys, that I never talked to him, and to my dismay, his best friend ended up pursuing me before he got expelled from school, just like Charlie. In retrospect, I wish I had summoned up the courage to go talk to my crush, who knows where it would have led, so in this book I had Ren work up the nerve to do it for me. ;)

What was the journey like taking your book from idea to finished product? Were there any challenges or pleasant surprises along the way?

I had not written creatively since I was around 14. I read my work and determined I was a terrible writer and never thought I would try again. If anyone had asked me 3 years ago if I would ever write a book, I would have said no. But then I had that dream, and I couldn't get "Gio" out of my head.

To help with that, I wrote the book's middle school section with the intent that it would only be 6-8 chapters long, but I loved writing it so much I kept going. It was only when I got to chapter 30 that I realized I needed a story arch and got to work on that-I had just pansted the whole thing till then. I felt like a reader, not knowing where it was going even as I typed out the words. Sometimes, I would almost react out loud in shock at what I had written, like, "OMG, he did not just say that!" The first draft poured out of me in two months.

It was not written that well, and I have edited it many times over in the last two years, as well as completing a second novel and starting two others. So, I've learned that you should never dismiss yourself as a writer. Everyone has a great story in them to tell.

In terms of its genre, How would you say your book defies or compliments its expectations/tropes?

There is a Destiny/Fate Trope, Instalove, I Have a Secret, as well as Childhood Sweethearts that are fulfilled pretty standardly in this book. There is a bit of a love triangle in the beginning, but that resolves by 1/3 in. I think what I do twist, as far as typical romance conventions, especially in the teen romance space, is that there is a Good Girl/Bad Boy Trope at play, but the "good" girl is older and more sexually experienced than the "bad" boy. My characters are never "cookie cutter," and no one is ever all good or all bad. There is also a secret that the MMC keeps that is something (especially in today's world) that happens more often to girls than to boys.

If there was one character that potential readers had to read your book just to meet, who would it be and why?

Most of my readers love my book for Gio-he's been described as "cush perfection".

If you could have a crossover between your book and one of the books of a favourite published/ Wattpad author, who would it be and why?

Oh, easy, and it's a Nano Watt winner from last year: LVann26 and her book "The Love I Found." We have already discussed doing a cross-over book between our MMCs, Gio and Cal, because we think they'd get along so well and have more than a few similarities as adults in their sequels. Two of my favorite hot book boyfriends working on/or driving fast cars and geting into trouble sounds very fun to write and read to me.

When it comes to writing style and storytelling what authors and/or creative media have influenced you throughout the years?

I'm a very slow reader (I think I have a mild form of dyslexia), so I have not read a great deal of books in my life-but what I do read, I imagine in vivid detail in my brain and I retain much of the story in my memory even years later.

Up until the last two years, I mostly had read classic literature and contemporary novels; many of which feature young people. I've read the "Secret Garden" numerous times and nearly all of Charles Dickens. I think my books are not as fast-paced right off the bat as some books but rather build throughout the story. I've read "The Fault in Our Stars," and I especially loved the book "The Goldfinch."

Right before I wrote The Fate of [Our] Hearts, I read "Perks of Being a Wall Flower," and I loved the way the narrative comes, through, in that. It really feels like the kid is talking to you. I tried to give Ren and Gio that young voice and make it feel as if they are talking to you, the reader, as a friend.

And what's one hack that's been consistently helpful in your writer's journey? Your holy grail, if you will.

One hack I use when I get writters block (which really didn't even hit me till this year) is just get something down, even if it's only 200-500 words, it doesn't have to be perfect, you can't edit a blank page.

The other hack I have for planning out my romance novels is the short book "Romancing the Beat" which lays out a basic romance novel structure and can really help make sure you are hitting those romance beats readers expect if you get a bit lost in the weeds of your plot.

What other works or stories in the works can readers look forward to from you?

I am currently publishing weekly chapters to my latest WIP-Fate Mistaken. It's the third book that features Gio and Ren, but I'm switching genres (yet again) and doing a Mafia Kidnapping Drama with a dash of young forbidden love-very different from The Fate of [Our] Hearts.

Here is the logline: Drugged and held captive by the Italian Mafia to extort unpaid gambling debts from his grandfather, Lucas, an overprotected, anxious teen, falls for the grand daughter of a powerful mafia don.

Now that the award season has ended, what can you say on your Nano Watt 2024 experience? Can we expect to see you in 2025? 😄

If I finish Fate Mistaken in time, then definitely.

And before you go we must know....cereal before or after the milk?🥣🥛

I guess I've been living under a rock becuase I didn't know pouring cereal on top of milk was even an option!

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Thanks again L. for chatting with us and congrats on your win!

You may find her winning entry The Fate of Our Hearts in our TNW GRAND WINNERS 2024 reading list or visit her profile at LNRoberts1.