365 Interviews

Interview 33: conscience

1. Can you tell me about yourself?
Sure! Lol. I’m a teenage girl, living in New York City. I spend most of my free time philosophizing about life and the remainder of my time obsessing over fictional characters. My dream is to travel the world one day, though it’s unlikely to happen. 

2. What inspired you to write?
Believe it or not, reading inspired me to write! Back when I was about ten, I used to read romance novels on Quizilla and before I knew it, I started writing. I actually still have some of my old “novels” posted on Quizilla and they’re so hilarious to read.  

3. If you could have one of your characters come to life who would it be and why? What would you do with them?
Omg. Well, I guess Charlie Brunner is my character. He’s from Tidal Waves and Hurricanes, the story that I’m co-writing with my friend, Valarie. He’s the coolest guy in the entire world. Ugh. I’m so in love with that guy. If not Charlie, then definitely Jude, from The Thing About Us. Jude is a sweetheart. And he can play guitar! Omg.

4. Where do your ideas come from?
I don’t even know! It takes me about an hour to get to school and to get home from school every day. And because I live in New York, I have to use the subway to transport. Usually, I have my headphones plugged into my years—listening to some underrated indie music—and I see people doing the coolest things. The ideas kind of just generate there. 

5. Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?
It depends on my mood, really. For some stories, I actually follow a fixated plot. But sometimes, I get so many new ideas that it’s just impossible for me to stay within the outline I’ve created.  

6. How do you think you've evolved creatively?
I think I’ve gone from saying “I painted my walls blue” to “I painted my walls blue, the color representing my uncanny depression and lack of will to carry on.”

7. What is the hardest thing about writing?
The hardest thing about writing is actually writing it out. Most of the time, I just stare at a blank screen, waiting for the novel or the short story or the poem to write itself.

8. Would you call yourself a wattpad celebrity? Why so or why not?
No, I wouldn’t call myself a Wattpad celebrity. I actually have no idea why, lol. I don’t feel like one. I guess that’s reason enough, haha.

9. Are you working on any new story you can tell me about?
YES, I AM. OMG. I’M WORKING ON LIKE FOUR DIFFERENT ONES SECRETLY AND I’M SO EXCITED FOR ALL OF THEM BUT IT’S THE BIGGEST STRUGGLE TO ACTUALLY WRITE THEM OUT DUE TO THE STRESS OF SCHOOL AND STUPID MIDTERMS. I AM ACTUALLY WORKING ON MY FIRST NON-TEEN FICTION NOVEL.

10. What is your favorite quote?
I honestly don’t know! I know I have one but I’m completely blanking out right now. But if it answers the question, I love almost all the things that Friedrich Nietzsche and Elisabeth Pfeffer say. 

11. What is the weirdest thing that has ever been said or done to you by a fan?
A fan once threatened to track me down if I didn’t write a One Direction fan fiction. 

12. Where can you see yourself in 5 years time?
This is actually the scariest question. I don’t know where I see myself, lol.

13. What is your favorite movie and why?
I actually have four, omg. My favorite movies are: The Art of Getting By, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Stuck in Love. They all have beautiful stories. I could relate to the main characters in all of those movies. Especially “The Art of Getting By.” Freddie Highmore is amazing. 

14. What advice would you give to your younger self?
“Don’t create a Facebook or Tumblr account.” 

15. Which famous person, living or dead would you like to meet and why?
Friedrich Nietzsche! His philosophies are so interesting. And Melina Marchetta! She’s the greatest novelist in the world. (Or Logan Lerman or Jesse McCartney or Joe Brooks, because they’re so hot omg.)

16. If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?
(On the) Jellicoe Road, by Melina Marchetta. That novel is a novel unlike any that I have ever read—in the end, it leaves you breathless and longing for more, yet so satisfied. Jellicoe Road is a novel that doesn’t just make you “sad” or “happy.” It makes you feel a whirlwind of sensations, most of which you can only gain from reading a genuinely brilliant book. Ugh. The book is amazing. I recommend it to everyone!

17. What was the hardest part of writing your book? 
The question is not what was the hardest part but what was not the hardest part. Lmao. 

18. Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it? 
I learned that writing is so hard omfg.

19. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers? 
Hi everyone. Omg, thank you so much for supporting me and for reading my books and I hope I never let you down ugh even though my writing can be majorly crappy 99.9% of the time. 

20. Do you have any advice for other writers?
Nothing much to say. Just pick up a pen and bleed.