risen_phoenix: hiya Echo Awards! ^^   i'm here, as you can see, and also in quite a cheerful mood because i just finished my maths homework :)

dragonwritesthings: Lol, I know the feeling, I'm studying for my math final right now, so we can share in the suffering

risen_phoenix: i have a history test coming up, so yep! lots of numbers ... and dates ...

dragonwritesthings: Oof, history tests are the worst—I think last year my social studies course focused entirely on history, which was great until all the ridiculously long and confusing names came in...

risen_phoenix: well. oops. at least the toughest thing i need to learn at the moment is Why Hitler is a Bad Person. doesn't help that our teacher is A Bad Teacher.

dragonwritesthings: Gkgkgkgkg, I'm dying

risen_phoenix: please don't die! *tries to revive* *professional voice* ahem.

risen_phoenix: I'm pretty sure you could classify me as an 'average teenage girl'. I just have way too many ideas in my head and not enough time to write all of them down — so, that means, when I settle on a story, I stick with it.

Or try to, at least.

But that's easy for me to do when it's concerning science fiction; I love the idea of building your own worlds and people and them forcing them through obstacles of great magnitude. I like writing the aftermath and how they pick up the pieces, and try to fill in real life between the gaps of fractured reality, which, in my story, is time travel and real-life dinosaurs

dragonwritesthings: That's so cool! I definitely can relate to that :) If you could have the chance to change anything in your past works, would you?

risen_phoenix: Oh, I would change lots of things! The first few novels I published on Wattpad — under this username and another — were train wrecks. Like, absolute garbage. One was a WerewolfxVampire story.

Thinking back on it gives me the heebie-jeebies. After that, I became more experienced. Luke Skywalker after he spent time with Yoda, y'know? I wrote a few stories, and this one, coincidentally, that I am writing now, sat in my drafts for eight months before I actually published it, even though I'm not actually sorry because those eight months allowed me to get more publicity, and more readers for when I eventually published it. At the moment I am planning on editing my current work, actually. There are a few things that I'd like changed and I'd like to develop my characters further. If I could go back in time to tell the Risen who had been on Wattpad for one hour only, it would be to write the most original stories possible. I think that's what went wrong for my first few works.

dragonwritesthings: Oh boy. Well, if it cheers you up, when I was little I wrote the most horrible fanfic known to mankind for the Keeper of the Lost Cities books. Ok, anyhow, for something more personal—if you could cure any one disease in the world, what would it be?

risen_phoenix: oh, oof, at least it had a decent name! If I had to cure a disease in the world, it would definitely be cancer. My dad is a survivor, and so was his mom, but two of my friends' fathers passed away from the illness. I remember how awful it was for my dad — the chemo, the nausea, the everything. It served as a huge life lesson though, like to eat healthier, and appreciate life as it comes. I'd still cure it if I could, though.

dragonwritesthings: I'm so sorry, that sounds really hard. What do you hope your writing can do for other people?

risen_phoenix: it strengthened us as a family, and my dad survived, which is all i can ask for ^^

I hope my writing can take people on an adventure! So many people struggle with their lives today and bother over topics like climate change and politics. They commit suicide over exams and starve themselves to look like models. I would really like to take my readers away from all of that, and let them live the story. I try to ensure that they'll be able to live fantastical lives in the form of my characters before they need to face the day, or week, or year, of mundanity. Which is exactly why I always publish on a Monday, unless there's something to celebrate! Mondays are the worst, and I want people to wake up and read my chapter and feel better about the week! :)

dragonwritesthings: Ugh, I know, Monday's are the worst! What do you think most readers don't know about your genre?

risen_phoenix: I honestly think sci-fi is an EXTREMELY underrated genre.

When most people hear 'science fiction', they immediately think of space and laser guns and space ships. I'd really like to tell them that it isn't all about that! I mean, MY science fiction has dinosaurs, for goodness' sake! :) That's about as far from space and Star Wars as you can get! There're more science fiction stories, like my own, which have elements differing from Hollywood's own themes, and I'd love it if they actually became more popular!

dragonwritesthings: Are there any books/movies/tv shows that inspired you to start writing?

risen_phoenix: A Wattpad novel that definitely spiraled me into dinosaur science fiction was @Epicness1000's own dinosaur stories, specifically Raptor of War. I published my story as a little tribute to her, and didn't actually realize how popular it would get :) As for movies, Jurassic Park was a major influence!

dragonwritesthings: Do you have a set writing schedule, or just write when you feel inspired?

risen_phoenix: A mixture of both. My deadlines are Mondays, and I usually only have time to write on weekends. I stay ahead of publishing by at least two chapters (I have a principle that for every chapter I publish, I must have another to replace it), so if I hit writer's block or don't have inspiration, I'm kinda stuck. Luckily that hasn't happened majorly though, and there's too much tension in my story at the moment to lose momentum! :)

dragonwritesthings: Do you read and respond to comments?

risen_phoenix: I try to respond to every comment I receive on my stories, especially feedback I get from book clubs!

dragonwritesthings: Any writers on Wattpad you think deserve more attention?

risen_phoenix:

cjtruz

one-for-sorrowEpicness1000ElijahCole11SpinyKyvernaand me?

dragonwritesthings: How long have you been writing?

risen_phoenix: Phew ... All my life, I guess? When I was little, I came up with the stories in my head. The first legitimate story I started writing in a hardcover book — and that I completed — was a story about two lion cubs that was heavily based on Warrior Cats.

I wrote about four books in that series before I realized how awful it was, but I was planning on making at least two arcs and spanning from the main characters of the first story's children. Ah, good times! I started seriously writing on Wattpad about two years ago.

dragonwritesthings: Audiobooks, ebooks, or physical books?

risen_phoenix: Physical books. Nothing can beat the smell of new pages.

dragonwritesthings: This is actually getting pretty long, so I guess I'll let you go? It was so much fun talking to you :)

Make sure to give risen_phoenix a follow and support their work however you can :)