Wattpad Book Interviews

Interview With @davrose65 - Beast of Burden

1.What is your book called?

My story is called "Beast of Burden". The title was politely stolen from a great Rolling Stones song.

2.What is your book about?

It's about five different characters (four students and one mother of a student) each going to the same high school prom in Lower Manhattan. Each chapter jumps from one character to another, chronicling their night and different viewpoints/biases that they have toward the event. While this is happening however, a demon that feeds on lifeforce coincidentally awakens on that same night. Now the five characters must band together to defeat the malevolent threat while simultaneously dealing with their own personal burdens.

3.What genre is your book?

I like to call it a "cosmic horror romantic comedy" but if you want specifics I'd say it's a horror, teen drama, and dark comedy.

4.Is your book a series?

As of right now no. I was thinking of splitting the story into two books since it is getting rather large but I still haven't decided yet.

5.Is your book complete?

No. I'm 21 chapters in and I still haven't introduced the demon yet. I write WAY too much.

6.What gave you the idea for your book?

Well I came up with idea back in May, at the tail end of high school. I was in a rather glum place having just been rejected by this one girl I was really into and also having to hear my peers discuss our senior prom non-stop to the point of numbness. These two things combined both angered me and gave me much needed inspiration. From there I knew I wanted to write a story about a prom adding in the right amount of cynicism and sarcasm as a way of myself personally dealing with the event. When I starting writing it one of the main characters Michael Sibelius (whose based on me) was the only character I had so I decided to expand it in an effort to get multiple perspectives on the event other than just myself. Finally I wasn't sure what the "grand twist" would be, I wanted to have one from the beginning because I'm not the type of guy who can just write teen dramas without having something nerdy also happen. First it was going to be an alien invasion then a horrible murder spree caused by a "Carrie" type girl (as a nod to Stephen King) but I finally settled on an inter-dimensional demon because at the time I was also introduced to H.P Lovecraft. And after that the story just began writing itself.

7.What do you do if you have writers block?

The good thing about this story is that each chapter is from a different character perspective so when one guy is getting stale I start writing for someone else but when I really get stubbed I just step away for a while, do other things and try not to force myself to come up with an idea. I always try to allow ideas to come naturally which is one of the reasons for my excessive procrastination (that and being lazy).

8.Do you have any goals for your book?

To finish it [laughs to himself because he has no friends].

9.Do you have a favourite character? If so who and why?

This is hard because 1) I hate picking favorites and 2) most of the characters are based on people I know and a lot of them I don't think very highly of in real life (sorry) but if I had to choose right now it would be Martha Knight. She's the mother of one of the seniors who is sneaking into the prom to spy on her daughter. She's a lot of fun to write for and having a mother complain about teenagers is just hilarious to me.

10.Are you happy with your book?

So far yes. Oh course I feel like it could be better but that's what second and third drafts are for.

11.What has been the best compliment you have received about your book?

I don't think anyone has given me any feedback,. not only on Wattpad but just in general. It's a pretty personal story so I don't want to show people I'm close to just yet. So yeah, no compliments.

12.Why should people read your book?

It's funny, heartfelt, sad, scary (hopefully), and just plain weird. I also pay a lot of attention to the intertwining storylines so there are lots of fun references and winks between chapters that I think readers will have fun finding.

13.Any last words?

I don't think so. Thanks for interviewing me though, you're way too kind.