❤ Interviewing Writers ❤

Interviewing @LLSanders

1. What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?

"Character development is essential. Readers follow your characters along their journey and fall in love with them or love to hate them, or what have you. Readers are usually invested in the story because of their connection or relatability to the characters. Without character there is no story. So, no matter if your character is unique or cliché, good or bad, this or that, by making sure they have flaws, wishes, motives, fears, beliefs, etc., you're that one step closer to writing well."

2. How many books have you written? Which is your favorite and why?

"I've written between 20-30 books on and off of Wattpad of all different lengths and genres. My favorite is Passing the Torch as I wrote that story as a way to cope. Its major theme covers parental abandonment or absent parents. Yes, writing it was my therapy and it helped me use my creativity and imagination to come to terms with some heavy burdens I had been carrying."

3. If you were given the opportunity to form a book club with your favorite authors of all time, which writers would you want to become a part of the club?

"I'm such a V.C. Andrews fan, and although she had passed years ago, I would love to have her in the club. I'd enjoy hearing her opinion about story plots and characters and wonder if she'd explore the family secrets and twisted motives in books just as she had with Flowers in the Attic."

4. Where did your love of writing come from?

"I've always been a storyteller. That started when I was a child, sitting across from my mother, begging her to tell me more scary stories. She would make up all kinds of haunted and ghostly tales to keep me satisfied, often framing them as if they really happened to her or someone we knew. In grade school, after seeing Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark on the library bookshelves, I knew I wanted to see my name on a book cover just like that one. "

5. Which of your books were the most enjoyable to write and why?

"Burying the Hatchet was the most fun to write because I had a handful of Wattpad readers who looked forward to my updates, read voraciously, engaged and gave feedback regularly to help me shape the story. They inspired me to keep writing and made it fun. They stuck with the story to the very end as well. It was the best! "

6. What, according to you, is the hardest thing about writing? And how do you overcome it?

"Writer's block, also known as procrastination, is the hardest about writing. It's difficult to maintain that motivation you had at the beginning, especially since writing is usually a long and solitary endeavor. It's easy to get sidetracked by life's responsibilities or even other ideas. The best way to overcome writer's block for me is to not let it become a thing in the first place. I push myself to finish daily goals, write before I do anything else, and don't ever say, "I'll do it later." Do it now."

7. Tell us about your first published book? What was the journey like?

"My first book was self-published, and boy did I learn a lot. I was so excited to see my name on the cover of a physical book that I actually kissed it. It was a dream come true for me and the exhilaration still lingers to this day. I will never forget it. However, I learned a lot about expectations and hard work after that. Because the next step for me was to tame my expectations of what should happen and work even harder to turn my visions into reality."

8. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received, that you would like to share with us?

""Make readers care about your characters before you kill them off." In elementary school, my English teacher read over a short horror story of mine and jotted that sentence down in red ink at the bottom of the page. She explained how readers must connect with your protagonist to truly care about their journey. That way, all their struggles, and their death leaves an impact on the reader. I'll never forget that piece of advice."

9. Do you have a favorite character that you have written? If so, who? And what makes them so special?

"My favorite characters to write are the unreliable narrators, like Mesa Kingston in Passing the Torch. She's also my favorite because I pulled from pieces of myself emotionally and subconsciously to make her a well-rounded character. And although everything may not be what it seems with Mesa, her character requires a lot of change, transformation and growth. In my opinion, that makes the best type of protagonist."

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I'd just like to say thank you for answering these questions. It's so great learning about other writers and seeing how far they've come on this writing journey. It was loads of fun reading your answers and to everybody reading this, I hope you check out LLSanders books!