Greetings! Welcome to the Underrated Story Spotlight project, where our team of scouters and markers are picking the well-written and well-executed, yet, quite underrated stories for you to take a look at. We are starting the project with a magical (genie) novel, written by StephanieProchaska

Our team also had a good time talking to the writer about their work.

We hope you read and enjoy the story as much as we did. Step ahead and meet the writer:

Interviewer: AakritiPathak (A) - In bold font
Interviewee: StephanieProchaska (S) - In normal font

A. Firstly, welcome to Esthetíque, Stephanie. We're glad you joined us for this interview, and we feel happy to start our Talent Showcase Project with your book ✨

S. Thanks! I was really glad you enjoyed my book, and I'm very happy to be in the Talent Showcase Project!

A. To start with, we would like to know about you and your writing journey.

S. I actually started telling stories when I was a kid, but I didn’t realize it. I had trouble going to bed when  I was little, and my dad told me to tell myself stories to go to sleep. They started out as simple things like, “tell yourself all about what you’re going to do tomorrow at the pool”. Then, they morphed into finishing half-watched TV episodes, and how I thought they’d end. It wasn’t until around high school that I started making my own stories with my own characters. Eventually, I got to where I started writing them out in the hopes that other people could enjoy them too.

A. Childhood habits sometimes flourish into adulthood talents!

What was your first story about, and what made you hit the publish button for first time?

S. My first story was actually something that I wrote a couple of years ago— a vampire story called You Were What You Eat. I've recently published it on Wattpad, but it was something I worked on during college. I wanted a character that might sound cool, but that you wouldn’t really want to be friends with in real life— so, a vampire.
It was actually really hard for me to hit the publish button the first time. I kept worrying that it wasn't very good, and thinking I needed to edit it more. Finally, I realized that I would always find something to tinker with, but that if I never published it, I'd never know if it was any good. It was still one of the hardest things to actually do though.

A. First step towards publishing is definitely the hardest, but once you're in there's certainly no going back. Good to know about your story. Where do you derive the inspiration and motivation from?

S. I don't really know. I think I get inspiration from a lot of places. Lately, I've been doing a lot of competitions on Wattpad, trying to see if I can make stories with the prompts they've given us. I've found that really fun, and I've made a couple of stories that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise.
I also like to read and watch tv or movies. Sometimes, I'll read or watch something and wonder what would have happened if the characters made a slightly different decision. Either I'll make an entirely new story with new characters, or I'll see if I have any characters that were in a similar spot that I can use for that.

A. Aye! It's unique how different writers derive inspiration from varied sources.
A pretty mini thing we'd like to know. A quote or an advice that helped you a lot in writing journey?

S. That's really hard! I think the best quotes I've seen in a long time was from CFarley982 who basically said that he writes because he enjoys it. (I can't remember the exact wording.) I think that's a great way to be, because writing can be really hard, and it takes a lot of work. But if you do it because you enjoy it, you'll be able to keep at it longer, and it'll be more fulfilling than if you're just doing it in the hopes of becoming rich or famous.

A. Amazing! What is your narrative style while writing? Also, it's a pretty cliche question that each of the writers must have encountered at some point – how do you handle writer's block?

S. When I write, I tend to use a third-person limited perspective, and my stories are almost never told in a linear format; usually there's at least one flashback somewhere. Lately, I've also been doing stories that change perspectives. Both "Nobody Likes Megan McGowen" and the fourth book in the "You Were What You Eat" trilogy ("Monsters are Forever") have more than one narrator. I think it ads a bit of interest to see the story from more than one perspective. As for avoiding writer's block, I don't tend to write anything in order. So if I have a problem, I skip over that part and come back to it later. It gives me time to think about why I'm having a problem with that particular plot point, while still being able to work on the story. Usually, that extra time lets me come up with a solution.

A. That's a good point!
We would like to know more about this book of yours, "Nobody Likes Megan McGowen". You can start with the summary, and then proceed to the plotline inspiration.

S. The story itself is about Megan, a struggling high school student who finds a genie. She wishes, mostly sarcastically, to be popular. She has a few problems with it, but decides she can put up with them for a while at least, especially since she doesn’t trust the genie not to purposefully misunderstand and make everything worse.
I wanted to make a story about a relationship with a significant power imbalance, where they *could* be friends, but it would always be really hard for each of them to know if they were being used.
One of my best inspirations for the story came from my brother. We'd been discussing the idea, and he suggested telling it from the genie's perspective. I realized I probably couldn't tell the whole thing from his perspective, but he does have his own narrative pieces within the story. It also helped to give the genie a lot more personality that he otherwise would have had.

A. Certainly interesting! Our team of story scouters definitely enjoyed reading, we hope the story gains more exposure in coming time.
Something you'd like to say to your readers & supporters?

S. Thank you!
I just want to say that I'm so grateful for all the support I've received. The people I've met on Wattpad have been fantastic, and have really inspired me to keep writing. Writing can be a fairly lonely thing, but I've met a lot of people who've definitely helped to make it feel like a much more inclusive event.

A. Are you a morning writer or a late night writer?
And,
Do you prefer the classic pen & paper for jotting down ideas, or is it entirely digital mode now?

S. I'm usually more of a late night writer— I'm definitely more of a late night proofreader! But now, I tend to write more on the tram on my way to and from work.
Along the same lines, I used to be much more of a pen & paper person, but since I tend to use my phone for drafts a lot more these days, I've gotten to where it's mostly digital now.

A. To wrap this interview with, since this Talent hunt project is all about finding and sharing the underrated works. Feel free to drop recommendations, if any, of either any particular story (stories) or writer(s). You can also give a shoutout of appreciation to your reader or fellow writers – totally a way to spread some positivity.
Anything else for us to ponder over?

S. I don't have a lot of feedback— I thought it went really well. I was kind of nervous, but it was nice and smooth, and I had fun doing it.

A. Happy to know this! We too loved talking to you and getting to know more about your writing journey. Thank you for taking out time and getting on with this.

Have a good day ahead 🌻