365 Interviews

Interview 90: Whysocurious

1. Can you tell me about yourself?

Well, my name is Whysocurious and I am 20 years old. I am a Filipino, born and raised here in the Philippines. And I'm a writer... sort of. I really like to write even at a young age. I remember giving my older siblings Scooby Doo mystery stories that I wrote. The other day, I saw one and reading it made me laugh hysterically because the story made no sense. Anyway, I've been writing for quite a long time now but I used to only write short poems. Only when I reached college that I tried writing stories and novels. Why? Because that was the same time I started reading books. I hated reading books but then I stumbled upon some fantasy books. I tried reading them and they just opened up a whole new side of me. Since then, writing has been my escape from life, from stress. When I write, I'm in my own world with different set of characters, themes and plots.

2. What inspired you to write?

I can't say I was inspired to write because I wasn't. I just found writing as an outlet to express. Because sometimes, emotions are very hard to express and sometimes, expressing them vocally to someone isn't really the best way to go. So I decided on writing. I guess I could say different emotions plus my endless imagination "inspired" me to write.

3. If you could have one of your characters come to life who would it be and why? What would you do with them?

I have this story, "Happily Never After", which revolves around fairy tales. Of course there are the familiar names, Snow White, Goldilocks, etc., but I also introduced some of my own characters like Gray, Seven and Rage. If I had to pick one, I'd pick Rage Bane. His full name is Raoul Georg Bane. It's a weird name, I know. Haha! Anyway, I picked Rage because he's the charming, kind of show-off-y type of person but also witty and humble. But, he also has a wise, intellectual side. He can read people easily, feel them in a way no ordinary human could. I picked him because he's almost flawless, physically and mentally. I can't reveal for now why I said "almost flawless" but it'll be revealed soon in the book. Anyway, the way I created him, imagined him, it's just so impossible to see someone like him in real life so it would be awesome if he came to life. And if ever he comes to life, I'd just hang out with him.

4. Where do the your ideas come from?

Where do they come from? Hmmm. Good question. Normally, they just come from the last movie I watched, or the last book I read, or the last moment I remember in my mind. I almost steal other people's ideas but I put my own twist to them that they become original enough. I'm not saying I plagiarize, I'm just saying I get inspiration from them. For example, when I read the Percy Jackson books (greek myth), I thought of doing a Norse mythology story. I had a premise but I wasn't able to write it. Also, when I played Final Fantasy XIII-2, I thought of a story that revolves around the Final Fantasy universe.

The story that I'm currently writing, Happily Never After, I thought of it while finding a fairy tale book. I remembered we had a fairy tale book, a thick book, that contained many fairy tales. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find it. So, I decided to watch the television and coincidentally, the series "Once Upon A Time" was on. Suddenly, the theme inspired me to write something that revolves around Fairy Tales. Since I was still 19 when I started writing, aside from "Fantasy", another central theme is "Teen Fiction", that's why my characters are in their teens or early twenties. Unlike OUAT which consists of adult characters.

5. Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

Yes and No? In some of my stories, I preffer not to outline because it limits me. And since I have a very crazy imagination, these limitations sometimes hinder me from writing what I want, what the story needs so I try not to outline and just let the ideas take me to where they want to be. However, I've also encountered the bad side to this because sometimes, I forget what had happened in earlier chapters so future chapters tend to negate what had transpired during the earlier chapters.