Interview with: erenslaeger
Pronouns: She/her
Most Popular Book: Ambition (Eren J. x Reader)
Tags: beachlasagna_

1. How would you describe your Wattpad journey so far?

Unexpected. I started writing on a whim with the expectation of MAYBE having a handful of readers by the end of it. Having the amount of support that I do now blows my mind and is something I could have never guessed would happen to me. Building up a following from absolutely nothing is extremely tough with Wattpad's system, so I'm lucky to have gotten to where I am now :)

2. How do you deal with hate comments?

It depends on the comment. Most of the time I ignore them or don't read them at all, but if I see a comment that's EXTREMELY rude or disrespectful I mute the reader. I don't understand how readers forget that we write for free and that nobody is forced to read our writing. Each of my readers' opinions and experiences are so vastly different that it's impossible to channel everybody into "Y/N", so I understand where frustration can come from. But at the end of the day I'm just writing for fun, and it's honestly just not that deep for me.

3. What book gave you the most writer's block? 

I'm only a few chapters into it, but my newer Aki Hayakawa x reader book Devilish is already giving me such bad writers block. I'm trying to think of ways to incorporate manga characters without spoiling what hasn't been animated. I'm also writing it having not read a single Aki fanfiction so that my headcanons for him are purely my own, so it's been more difficult writing him, but equally fine. Also the Y/N I'm writing in that story is a devil, so she's pretty unhinged. It's been challenging to find a balance between crazy and relatable to the readers.

4. What book of yours do you think you could've done better on?

Ambition is the only book I have near completed whereas I just started my other two, so I have to be dumb and say Ambition again. Although it's been so fun to write it is my first book, so when I go back and read the first 10 or so chapters I want to edit the shit out of them. I was just getting into my groove, and I think my writing has improved so much since I started.

5. How long have you been on Wattpad?

My account was technically made 9 years ago in 2014, but I didn't start using it for reading until January 2022 and writing March 2022

6. What made you want to write in the first place?

I loved reading college au's but so many were overly serious or sad. I just wanted to write something fun and comforting to read for the most part. And anyone who knows me knows I'd do anything for Eren Jaeger, so he was the perfect muse to start writing.

7. What do you do when writing?

It depends on my mood. Usually I listen to music. I made a playlist for each of my books so I listen to those when writing. Other times I prefer writing in silence. Regardless I'm usually laying in bed in my pjs relaxing and letting my mind drift off to it's own little world lol

8. What time of day do you usually write at?

I usually write at night, but some days I'll feel super motivated and start in the early afternoon. Those are the very few days where I have nothing to do and I can dedicate my entire day to writing

9. What made you want to have "erenslaeger" as your username?

I honestly have no idea. I used to say slay more a lot than I usually do and when I changed my user that was the first thing I thought of 😭 sort of a random thought that stuck with me

10. Does writing ever get stressful for you?

Yes. I compare my own work to other fics a lot and it gets hard to be proud of what I've written sometimes, which in turn makes it hard to continue writing. Now that I'm in medical school I'm stupid busy and always studying so I don't have as much time as I did when I started writing. However I would never leave a work unfinished so I'm going to keep keep finding the joy in developing my characters and creating their stories until they're over!

11. Did you ever think that "Ambition" would get as popular as it is now?

Absolutely not. I expected like 1k reads at the very max, so to currently almost be at 250k reads before ambition's first birthday completely baffles me.

12. Favorite music artists?

Valley, Stephen Sanchez, Chase Atlantic, Sleeping with Sirens, Cigarettes After Sex, The 1975, The Band Camino

13. Favorite anime's?

Attack on Titan, Chainsaw Man, Naruto Shippuden, Vinland Saga, Fruits Basket, Jujutsu Kaisen

14. What career do you want to pursue in the future?

I'm currently in medical school to become a pediatrician

15. Any hobbies other than writing?

I love reading especially fantasy, watching movies, hiking, and going out with friends!

17. What anime universe would you want to live in?

As much as I don't want to say it...the aot universe. I know everyone is miserable but I think I would be so good with odm gear and killing titans

18. Favorite movie?

Oh that's so hard there's so many good ones. I don't think I can pick one, but if I did it would have to be between The Fellowship of the Ring, Legends of the Fall, or Phantom of the Opera (weird array of movies I know)

19. Favorite fanfic that isn't yours?

The Bastard by B0UND-2

20. When and how did you realize that your account was getting more and more popular?

I posted a tiktok about ambition that blew up unexpectedly (most of my TikTok's only get about 1k views if that) and overnight my reads went from around 17k to 50k. That's when I had a woah, people are actually reading my story moment. Since then I've gotten a ton more reads and many messages from readers saying how much they love it and how much the story means to them. Those messages and the comments people leave really shock me almost every time because the story itself has gotten so much more popular than I could have ever imagined

21. Favorite book of your's that you've written? 

At this point in time Ambition is the only book I've been able to really write most of, so I have to go with that one as of now. I've had so much fun developing Eren and Y/N's relationship and their dynamic in the Attack on Titan group. I love writing the smut for them too. Honestly I think it'll always be my favorite since it's my first, and it's gotten me to where I am today.

22. Anything you want to say to your supporters?

I would like to say that I love each and every one of them so fucking much. With Ambition ending soon it's coming into perspective how much I've been able to grow in writing as a hobby I cherish so much because of their support and constant kind words. Each and every comment and like and message has meant the entire world to me. So I'd thank them forever and I hope that they follow me into my next Eren royalty au and my Aki csm au 🖤