365 Interviews

Interview 12: david_bob

1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
My last name is actually Bob, and it's from Romania, not America. I am the oldest of three, me being 17. I just learned of this new band called Florence + The Machine, and I am totally in love with her music. I love photography and drawing, and try to get them up onto DeviantArt whenever I can.

2. What inspired you to write?
 Writing was an escape for me. Whenever things got overbearing at home, I would shut my bedroom door and dump my feelings into my journal before I transitioned to the internet to write.

3. What do you do when you are not writing?
I'm usually drawing, or playing on my Nintendo 3DS. If I have homework, I rarely do it.

4. Where do you get your ideas?
My ideas? I get them at random times of the day. Whether I'd be watching a TV show, reading a book, in the shower, at school... Yeah, there's never truly a specific place I go to to get new ideas. They just come to me whenever.

5. Do you ever experience writer’s block?
Oh yeah! Writer's block is frustrating, especially when it comes along while I'm writing a chapter and prepping it for upload. It's like you hit a brick wall--you just can't think of what to do next. That's what writer's block feels like for me.

6. Do you work with an outline, or just write?
 Many times I construct the outline in my head, during the day. Literally, I'm thinking about how I'll be writing a story while I'm in History class or something! But I keep all the ideas I get throughout the day on Google Keep on my phone, so that when I get home I just work off of them. Then if I use those ideas up, I just start to write--just branching off of the ideas I already wrote down.

7. Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up?
Um, Suzanne Collins of "The Hunger Games" trilogy really influenced my writing, by keeping a story grounded in reality and placing yourself in a character's shoes. I think empathy plays a huge part in how someone writes.

8. Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
The themes interwoven into my books are definitely based off of my own experiences. Most of the characters in all my books are based on real characters. The other stuff is pure imagination, really.

9. How did you come up with the titles?
Well, sometimes it just comes to me. Like, BAM! Other times it's something in the story that sticks out and I'm like, 'Alright, you're the title!' and then other times I go on Google and search for a Random Title Generator...

10. Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp? 
 In all of my novels, there's a consistent message. It's that everyone is human, in a sense. Everyone deals with external and internal conflicts, all in different but relatable ways. And many times, I know readers can relate because they reply with, 'This story was amazing!' or 'I loved it!'

11. Do you have a specific writing style? 
 I try not to make my writing too simple, but I try not to be too complex. And I also try not to be too redundant or make things too over-the-top. I dunno, it's confusing to explain, but... yeah.

12. What distinguishes good writing from bad writing?
Emotional intimacy. If an author doesn't weave in some kind of basic emotion into his writing, if the tone of the story is drab or dull, or if the author just threw in all the ingredients and called it good without a second glance, then would the reader think it's good? Probably not.

13. If you were writing a book about your life, who would play you? What gene would it be? Action, horror, comedy, romance etc? 
(laughs) I think a girl would be better at knowing me, honestly! Girls are the ones known to be anxious and worry-worts all the time, not guys. I must be an exception or something. As for the genre, I would go for a deep, complex, realistic-fiction drama.

14. Imagine your characters are on survivor.  Who will they vote out of the book?
If all of my characters were survivors, I'd think that Kurt (the main character in "The Perfect Boy") would be voted out first. I mean, from a reader's perspective, he's such a wimp! Even though he's essentially perfect.

15.  Do you see writing as a career or a hobby?
 I've thought about it, but I have greater aspirations in cinematography. Dealing with camera equipment and such. That's what I like more.

16. Will you have a new story coming out soon? If so can you tell us about it?
  I will! Actually, I have several ideas for what it'll be. One of them is a drama centered around Louis Tomlinson's perspective, and how he rose to fame in the band we currently know as One Direction. It's gonna be a Larry fan-fiction (how many nosebleeds out there?), and I have no idea on when it'll be on Watty Wattpad. Probably mid- to late-2014.

17. What was the hardest part of writing your book? 
Out of all of my books, the number one most difficult thing is to know where the story's heading. And because I don't usually prepare to write before I actually start typing on the computer, I often lose direction on where to go. So I just improvise, and call it a decent job most of the time.

18.Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it? 
I learned that it's not bad to write fluff throughout the story. As long as it's contained and doesn't take over (depending on the story) and you keep your eye on the flow, fluff isn't necessarily gonna drag your story down. Unless your story IS fluff, then this answer doesn't matter!

19.Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers? 
Yes--readers, please do not aggravate us with demands for an update! Remember, YOU are on OUR time, not the other way around. Telling an author once to update when he hasn't for the last six months is fine, but annoying us with it won't help and will cease to motivate us. However, if you want to suggest ways to continue a certain story of mine that hasn't been updated in six months, I won't mind anyone messaging me twenty times a day.

20. Do you have any advice for other writers?
Writers out there--like I said before, throwing stuff into a story and calling it good probably won't get you many reads. You have to think things through, plan them out, and be creative! Spice things up by being original. Find ways to make your story different than the one you just finished. I'm not saying delete the fifteen chapters you already wrote, but try making your characters do something unexpected, or write the next chapter in a different way than before, or whatever suits your desires! The world of writing has no boundaries.

Alright, than you for your time! Loved being interviewed, and I hope I didn't bore any one of you readers.