Namaste India!

Welcome to Writers Adda, a space where we sit down for a chat with some of the gems of the Indian Writing Community and get candid with them about their journey on Wattpad.

Joining us this time is placeformyself.

But before we get started, check out a 250 word excerpt of their Desi Indian story, "Elevator Encounter," on our AmbassadorsIN Stories Anthology.

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placeformyself: My top three favorite genres are Crime & Mystery/Thriller, Romance and General Fiction. My favourite authors on Wattpad are caramelstreet, superstar806 and Onthecloudsx_, while off wattpad, I grew up reading Munshi Premchand and instantly fell in love with his stories, while later in my teenage years I discovered Sherlock and ended up becoming a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's brain!

placeformyself: My sister introduced me to this amazing platform, and of course just like every other wattpadder out here, I too started with reading fanfics lol. However, soon I discovered this other side of this platform where cozy stories and wonderful plots circulated. Stories after stories, I found I was slowly getting addicted to reading and living in the fantasies of my mind. It was not soon before my own brain started cooking plots and I started writing what I wished to read. My favourite wattpad authors have been an inspiration in the journey!

placeformyself: I write my stories in English, however, I do sneak in words of my own mother tongue, sometimes even a few dialogues, if I'm in the feels, lol. Also, my stories are always based on Indian representation, mostly, because I wanted to write characters I can see myself in. The choice of language hardly impacts my stories negatively. My audience is 80% Indian, so most readers relate to what I write, and for the non-speakers, I make sure to provide translations or information in the comments.

placeformyself: Ah, well I'm infamous for this one among my readers! XD So, basically, I'm a big coffee lover, and I make sure to keep a mug full of coffee with me when I'm writing. It gets my brain working at its best, I believe. Sometimes, I end up overdosing on it though, lol. Besides this, I also like to curate a specific playlist for each book of mine, so I make sure to play it before writing a new chapter, it gets me in the perfect feels.

placeformyself: Inspiration comes to me spontaneously. Sometimes, it's a song that I'm listening to, sometimes it's a cover that I made mindlessly, or a conversation I had with someone which was way too interesting, sometimes it's a cooked up 'what-if' for my own life, and sometimes it's just observing things and people around me.

I believe as a person, everyone has their own story, and then there's another story that somebody else weaves about us from their lens, and I think that's what helps me in maintaining creativity to my work, I try to incorporate both the lenses without overlapping them too much.

placeformyself: I would love to collaborate with my author friend Onthecloudsx_

She writes amazing stories wrapped with a lace of mystery and thrill to them, which she complements with geographical trivia. Her stories are very informative, and I would love it if we could collaborate on something similar, maybe a mythological fiction. Her awesome storytelling skills, geographical knowledge and knack of creating mysteries, mixed with my mythological obsession would prove to be a fun project, I believe!

Thank you so much for joining us for this interview, placeformyself! 

We really appreciate you taking the time to share your insights with the community.

[Interview by RookWri78]