Dayeon, from CLN, had the pleasure of interviewing the talented author, TrushaJi. She is the author of several books on Wattpad including Not A Guardian Angel, My Guardian Reaper, You Won't Understand Me and several other stories.

Hello, I'm Dayeon from Crazy Late Nighters (feel free to just call me DY). You have been nominated by LINALOUICE for an interview. What name or pen name would you like to go by and what are your pronouns?

Hi DY, my name is Trusha.

My preferred pronoun is she. Thank you so much for asking this question about pronouns as it's always better to approach people this way. I appreciate you for that ❤️ It's better assuming things wrongly.

It's great to meet you, Trusha! And no worries, the last thing we wanna do is assume something like that!

Agreed! (responding to "it's better than assuming things wrongly").

Alright, let's get started. If you could describe yourself in a single sentence, what would it be?

Umm...bubbly, happy go lucky, "trying to stay in my own world bcuz the outside world is cruel" type of girl.

That's so relatable. I often find myself escaping from life where I can!

How did you get into writing in the first place and what drew you to it?

I actually found Wattpad in October 2019. I read many stories. Each of them was different in how the writer tried to show her imagination onto the virtual platform. So I was like "I would like to try that too"... And that's it. I talked with a fellow Wattpad friend who had already been writing books. She guided me through it and I wrote my first story in January this year.

I would like to thank her, @Kawaiisakura1992. Jie, you are awesome!

Wow that's really cool! So you haven't been on the platform for long then and you're already doing so well. It's always good to have friends to help out when it comes to writing.

Is there a particular author who's inspired you? I'd so, who?

Yeah, actually was an author named Endless infinity. She has written a lot of books and all of them are really very unique and nice to read. She is a really good author. I admire her a lot.

Oh, I haven't heard of her. What genre does she write?

She writes FanFiction with many other subgenres. There are a lot of emotions in her stories.

She sounds really cool!

Sometimes it can be really hard to find inspiration for a story; where do you get yours from?

Aah, that's so true. I find inspiration from the things around me. Say a cat or the rain. They are simple things but then my mind starts playing a story about "what if?" And then I think harder about it and it forms a plot line. But there are often times when like nothing happens. My brain just decides to go blank.

Wow, so your inspiration comes from the little things? That's interesting. I guess you'll get a whole lot of interesting stories that other people might not even think to dream of.

You said you write if the idea forms a plot line. Do you have any tips for keeping plots consistent?

I am sorry but I horribly fail at keeping plot lines consistent if the story goes too long. So I decided to make shorter stories that are either oneshots or things about 10 -15 chapters. The longer the plot, the harder it becomes to keep up with it. My mind cannot persist for too long and I began to think that the story might start dragging. I myself am a fan of fast-paced stories so I try to do that with my stories too. I really admire the authors who can write longer stories. It requires a lot of persistence, hardwork and willpower.

Haha keeping to a plot can be so hard. It seems like you've got a solid method for working around the struggles of long stories!

Your books are really popular and you have quite a few followers. How do you like to interact with them?

Through comments I guess. I love reading their comments and replying to them. I try to reply every single comment as I love interacting with people and knowing their thoughts. I even talk on DM with some of them. They are practically my friends now. I feel really lucky to be surrounded by awesome people. All you guys are great, love ya!

Comments can be so encouraging as well. It's so nice that you've become friends with your followers. You seem to have a really good relationship with them.

Speaking of followers, LinaLouice would like to know why Yibo has to suffer so much.

To LINALOUICE, sorry homie, I don't mean to make him suffer but I can't help it. He is someone who doesn't show his emotions unless it's really necessary. So I guess such characters have more emotional turmoil on the inside even if they appear fine on the outside. But I promise he will have a happy ending! Is that a spoiler?... I don't know. Maybe we will take some longer path to happiness which will include a lot of angst and fight and all. But we love Yibo so there's no way I'll give Yibo a sad ending...or not. Stay tuned to find out!

And thank you for nominating me. Lots of love and hugs🤗💕

I'm sure LinaLouice will be happy to hear that! You've obviously written an amazing character that has captured the hearts of the readers.

How do you name your characters?

Actually, my stories are real person fanfictions. So the names are of celebrities. Except the names, nothing else is related to real life. It's all imaginary randomly popping out of my head. Maybe someday I will form my own characters and present them to the readers. Let's see!

I guess that makes naming so much easier! Do you have any secondary characters that aren't based on people in real life? I know some fanfics do

Not till now, because as you said naming becomes much easier this way and I am really terrible at naming people. But in my upcoming story I am planning to make my own side characters. I guess that would be a new step on my part.

Good luck with that! I'm sure they'll turn out great.

Even though your characters are based on real life people, you'd still have to put some thought into their character arcs. How do you develop solid characters?

I believe that every person has various shades of personality and character. They may show some to the world but may decide to keep others within themselves. I am trying to explore the ones that they hide. Like in my recent story, a seemingly perfect doctor who always wears a smile on his face while greeting his patients and diligently performs his surgeries, he can be suffering from insecurities and an ongoing emotional battle from years with his partner. However no matter what is going on inside his head and he is crying internally, he would show his happy and perfect facade to the world.

I try to keep my characters down to earth which are not perfect but are merely people with visible or invisible flaws.

Sorry for the typos.

Yeah, it's so true what you said about different "shades" of personality. It really adds that layer of depth when you give your characters flaws. And not just flaws, but realistic ones.

Do you think writing has changed your view on the world? If so, how?

No worries about the typos. I've made heaps xD

Yes it definitely did. As I have talked about the shades of people, I got to know them better. We cannot characterize everything as good or bad, black or white... there's also grey. Every person who may be good to someone may not be so good to others. Same is applicable for a seemingly bad person. There are all kinds of people, with all kinds of personalities. Nobody is the same. We all are unique. So every story I read, I can see how this character is different from the other character which I had read before. This is why reading has an important role in my life. It taught me that all are unique and to accept people wholeheartedly as they won't necessarily fit your criteria of "good".

That's really insightful! Writing can develop us in so many ways that we never even realise.

How do you avoid clichés?

Now that's really hard. Maybe at some point, I too have added cliches. But I usually try to avoid them. I try to think outside the box. Rather than having the main characters reunite under the rain and propose their love, I would better leave it when they see each other in that situation, giving it an open ending. I did the same with my first story. In an open ending, there are endless possibilities leading to endless results. It usually depends upon the reader what they want and hence they can form their own ending.

That sounds like a great method! If you're thinking outside the box then you won't really run into cliches as much.

While we're on the topic—are there any cliches you think are actually important to the genre of fanfic?

Yes, I do face it. It may last from a few days to a week. At such times I talk with my friends on Wattpad or my younger sister. The people on Wattpad may give me some ideas for inspire me. However, my sister just listens and brushes me off, LoL. Her mobile games are more important to her. But even that actually helps as I feel better after talking without someone and then eventually the ideas will come back to my mind.

Sometimes it can be great to just take a step back and to share things with others, even if they don't really do much about it!

Have you faced any other challenges while writing?

Yeah, as English is not my first language, I tend to face difficulties with the synonyms of some words. Also, there are grammatical mistakes and punctuations and the paragraph composition and length. I am trying to overcome them and I think I am doing better than when I started but still there is a long way to go. I am still learning.

You learn as you go! Even as a native speaker of English I mess up all the time (more often than I care to admit).

Do you like to plan your stories or just jump straight in?

I plan them in my head and also write them shortly and save as drafts. There is the starting and the planned conclusion which may vary as the story goes. I don't write about the progression much. I have to fill in the rest of it in the middle. But I don't write the chapters beforehand. I may often keep one or two incomplete chapters as drafts after I published the first chapter.

But later it becomes troublesome when the chapters are published and I cannot complete the drafts properly

Oh so you've got a half-half kinda thing going on then? I guess that gives you a guided freedom when writing.

Time for a more lighthearted question: if you could have a meal with an author, dead or alive, who would they be and why?

Paulo Coelho! I love his books and his writing style. It explores through the brain of the MCs, all their thoughts, positive, negative, their view of the world, just everything! Even though I may literally freeze upon seeing him, let alone having a meal together. He is awesome! So awesome! I admire him a lot.

I've never heard of him, but he sounds like a talented writer! In all honesty, I'd be terrified to have a meal with a famous writer...

Do your story's contain any messages or morals you want your readers to take away? If so, what are they?

You should read his books, I highly recommend reading "the alchemist", it's one of his best sellers.

And about the messages that my stories contain. I initially thought of with as a way to escape reality. But I slowly kept adding some messages that the reader would take away. Like communication is the most important thing in a relationship. Violence can never be a form of showing love (BDSM is another concept). Consent is the must and ultimately love is love. No gender or anything can define it. It solely depends upon with two people in question and nobody else.

I'll check it out! I really need a new book to read (responding to the book recommendation).

Those sound like some really great take-aways and the 'love is love' one is super topical.

If you could go back to when you first began writing, what advice would you give your past self?

I would just say - Go for it, girl! You can do it. There is nothing to be afraid about. You will meet a lot of nice people. Do cherish them. Let your stories be a form of communication and something that would bring a smile upon your reader's face. Keep it up! Believe in yourself! #Gambatte!

That's some amazing advice! Writing is all about taking a leap and seeing where you end up.

Just to wrap up, is there anything you'd like to say to your followers and readers?

Yes, I would like to say a lot but would try to finish up with a few words.

Thank you so much, guys❤️. I am really grateful to have you. Thank you for giving all your love and support to my stories. It means a lot to me. I will try my best to give you better stories in the future. Thank you for bearing with my shortcomings. I promise I will do better. I am really so lucky to have you. Virtual hugs to all of you and lots of love💕.

Have a nice day, everyone.

Ah, that's so nice of you! I'm sure they'll be so happy to hear that.

Well, that concludes our interview. Thank you so much for your time and all the best with your writing!

Thank you so much. It's my pleasure. I really enjoyed the time. I was both excited and nervous initially. But it became fun as it went.

That's good to hear!