Hey I'm Syd and let's give the wonderful and amazing author Krissy, or Krippy93 a warm welcome! Krissy is the author of Bloodline and Spirits, which both have an English and Italian version.

So Krissy, how did you come to the big platform of Wattpad?

I joined a few years ago just for reading. I decided to start publishing some of my works around January, because I felt the need to share my writing with others. Before that, I used to play write/role-play games in italian forums, where I created most of my stories. I just felt the need to distance myself from those platforms for a while and write for myself.... and then the quarantine happened.

I understand that, social media can be soooo distracting! When writing, is there anything you do to keep yourself in the zone and help you to not get distracted?

Well, it wasn't exactly a social media platform. When you write with others you have deadlines and expectations, and sometimes the story in your head cannot see the light exactly as you picture it. It was a difficult moment for me in real life, and I needed to escape society for a while. To concentrate when writing, I usually put up an instrumental playlist or album on youtube and start writing. Luckily for me, when focusing on a scene I automatically zone out and focus so it's not difficult most of the time. I just need to be inspired though.

Ah so music helps you get your creative juices flowing, I can relate to that! Any specific songs that you listen to help you get into the writing mood?

For example "In the Woods" albums such as Ulvesang, which I highly recommend! I also like to put on electro jazz compilations when I need to energy in the background

Oh I don't think I've heard of that album, I'll have to check it out! So, I've been wondering how you came up with the idea for Bloodline, it's really good by the way.

Woah thanks! Well, Bloodline originally was the background story of Vanessa, which I created as a character for one of the role playing games I used to play. But after I began writing it, ideas started flowing into my head and characters started popping into my mind... so I decided to change it to a book! The original draft was less descriptive, so I had to work on it a lot. I'm still not super happy about the first 10 chapters because I think they're the ones who are mostly affected by this sudden change.

So did you rewrite some of it?

Absolutely! I have the whole story planned out (I have a big timeline with each main event brief description) ever since 2016-2017, when I started writing it. But when moving from forum-to-forum in Wattpad, I had to rework a lot of chapters. First of all, I used to write with colors and change font size and style accordingly to emulate shouts or whispers graphically, but this is not something you can do when writing literature. Hence I had to change the style in a way that it was more like a book and less like a manga. Compared to the first draft I also added extra chapters that I completely came up with, starting around chapter 15-16. Originally they were just small events like flashes of other characters' stories, but then I expanded them. The black market chapter is completely new for example, because a dear friend (@victoriaStephan) challenged me.

I'm glad to see how much time and effort you put into your books! How long have you been writing it for? Is there anyone who helps you edit it or smooth out your ideas?

I started writing Bloodline back in 2016-2017, but it has been on hiatus for years because I had writer's block. My second book Spirit came to life for the Open Novella Contest of this year, so I came up with everything in the short span of a few months, although the character and setting were decided beforehand (she is another of my characters from the role play game I used to play). As for the editing, I first write in italian and get a lot of tips from the readers of the book club I'm in, then I translate and do some adjustments with the help of my english readers as well. Readers' feedback is super important to me because they're basically strangers who don't know much about me or about my style so they're unbiased. My friends or my family tends to be less constructive in this regard because they know me.

That's so interesting, and you went on hiatus for a few years? (Can relate on a personal level), so about your book Spirit, can you tell us the jist of it?

Yeah I stopped writing Bloodline for around a year, maybe even more. Each chapter was so difficult for me to write, and I always felt drained afterwards. Apparently though, the quality of it wasn't that bad, so at least that's a plus. Spirits is a novella about a thievery adventure. This character, Kiritsubo, is a Shaman Spirit with some Hindi deities talking to her in her mind. She has traveled the world since her birth 2000 years ago, earning her living by robbing or tricking others. She has some cool powers too, like she can use enchanted smoke and, if a god possesses her, she can use a bit of his or her powers. One day she's travelling in Paris and decides to steal the Mona Lisa to make a fortune, but of course her plan goes wild after a while.

Oh that's really cool! How did you come up with that idea?

The Open Novella Contest is based on writing prompts. I picked one that resonated with me and thought "Huh, that would really work out with Kiritsubo adventures!" Writing about her is easy because she's a character with a huge backstory and she's super versatile, I could write a lot of short novels about her adventures and never get tired.

That's incredible! Are you close to finishing Spirit or/and Bloodlines?

Spirit is completed! I had to rush (I did like 20000 words in the span of a week to be able to hit the deadline of the contest) but I made it, and even got longlisted. Bloodline is far from completion though; I already have an entire arc planned out but with it I think we'll reach the middle of it. It's strange because I actually started writing this story from the end. I know how I want to end it and I even have some of the late chapters already written down, but building the story backwards is complicated sometimes. Even if I did a lot of worldbuilding to plan everything out, sometimes I still have to draw things out on paper to be sure it's working right for example with battles.

20,000 WORDS IN A WEEK?!? Dang, I wanna read it! So you've written two novels on Wattpad, have you written any novels behind-the-scenes, or ones you plan to publish?

I will probably write some more Kiri's adventures in the future, but for now I'm trying to stick with Bloodline. I have been writing it for so long, I just have to get it out of my mind!

After that, who knows. I don't know if a sequel or something like that is a good idea. I do have a book with some horror short stories too but it's italian only.

Speaking of writing in other languages, how do you get the motivation to translate your stories? (This question was asked by your nominator @TheFirstNailInTheCoffin) Is italian of english your first language?

My first language is italian, but I use english for work everyday so I'm pretty confident in it, even though sometimes I make huge mistakes. Not gonna lie, writing in both languages can be tiring because the two styles are different. For example, I found out that in italian we use different quotation marks, not to mention that sentences tend to be shorter in english, hence I often have to shorten them when translating. It's a nice way to train my english though! I decided to translate them because I wanted to reach a broader audience at first, then it became just so fun to engage in conversations with both communities! The insights are so different yet so useful at the same time. Language really codes our brains!

That's so cool, makes me want to learn another language. Which story has been your favorite to write and why?

Hmm... I'm actually fond of both but in different ways. Spirits was a super fun novel to write because of Kiritsubo's character and how amazing she is! When I write about her, it's like she possesses me and makes me do what she wants. My nickname is Evil Witch because of her. But Bloodline hits me on an emotional level. There are many characters in there and all have a piece of me in them. The scenes and themes I touch in it that are darker and sometimes heavy to read, there are even sex scenes and disturbing ones so it's difficult to write yet challenging, I feel like I improve as a writer every time I write a new chapter of it.

Wow, sounds like your true labor of love! Who's your favorite character in Bloodline?

Tough question! My favourite is a character that has not appeared yet, so for now to avoid spoilers, I'd say Virgil... although I love them all.

Wow it's interesting that your favorite character is one we haven't seen yet! How many more chapters or words do you think you have to write until Bloodline is complete?

I think at least 4 arcs, so maybe 40 chapters.

Oh wow... you do have quite a ways to go still! What does your writing schedule look like?

I wonder if I even have one! During the quarantine I tried to write at least a chapter per week but after a while it changed to 2-3 chapters per week. Now that I'm back to work it's more like that I write whenever I have the time and the inspiration to!

Sounds a lot like me and my schedule, what's your strongest skill in writing?

Hmm... I'd say dialogues, but I feel like they sound better in italian because I use a lot of slang that's untranslatable, so in english I think it's probably the descriptive parts.

Wow, I find it really cool that you write in both languages! When did you first start writing? What brought you to the writing world?

Interesting question! I'd say I was around 11 when I first started writing. At the time role play games were super popular on italian forums, so I started playing there with other people. I think my first forum was about Harry Potter.

Being able to play with others that way helped me improve tremendously. I still play sometimes, and I honestly think that without role play forums I would have been a crappy writer.

Role play games huh? I'll have to try that sometime! So we know you took a hiatus for a few years, how did you pick up writing again?

Oh it was because of work actually. I graduated from University in 2017 and started working there as a Ph.D. student so my time schedule was all messed up. I finally got some time to write again during the quarantine.

Ah so quarantine brought you back! (It did to me too) so when things go back to normal, will you continue writing? Take a break? What are your plans?

Things are already quite normal here so I'm afraid my time on wattpad will be critically reduced. I'll try to write at least a chapter per week, let's hope it works!

Hope it does, I'll be wishing you the best from the sidelines! So, is there a genre that you've never written in, but would someday want to try?

I'd say maybe standard fantasy, like with elves and faeries, or a good old horror story!

Haha I'd love to see that! Thank you for the wonderful interview Krissy, and is there anything you'd like to say to your readers or even aspiring writers?

Thanks to you for your time, it was super nice talking to you! I would like to say that every story should be told, one day or another. If you have it in your mind, you should probably try writing it: it's like the story itself is asking you permission to live! It doesn't matter in which form you'll write it down, everyone can improve over time and even poorly written stories can become gems if polished enough.

Couldn't have said it better, thanks again and I wish you and your writings all the best!