Watty Awards 2012 Interviews - Round Two

Maya_2011 - nominated for best On the Rise, Non-Teen Fiction

*Two hot jets of air trail along the crowd, blowing up bits of debris, as the Firefly class space ship Serenity hovers overhead as Wash looks for a place to land. It touches down gently in front of the orange carpet and the cargo bay opens as the dust settles. I take the first steps out with my date hovering at my side and my Posse with the whole Serenity crew follows closely behind.

   Down the carpet walks Maya_2011 dressed in black skinny jeans, white Star Wars Bobba Fett T-shirt, a black blazer over it, hair down loosely with a black fedora hat on. A simple geeky elegance. Followed by her trusty Companion cube it all its glory, wearing a Browncoat and her posse Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Anna Torv, Neil Patrick Harris.*

Ana: One, two, three… eleven… fifteen, sixteen. I have to say you have the largest collection of plus one’s I’ve ever seen. How are you going to sneak all these people past the bouncer?

Maya_2011: Here all going to hide under Cube’s coat, and if that doesn’t work I’ll slip him a fifty.

Ana: Jon Jon’s a cheap bribe only slip him a twenty and save the rest for another day.

Maya_2011: Thanks.

Ana: That piece of advice will cost you a fiver. *Groaning Maya_2011 passes over the note* Pleasure. So, your story “Dragon’s Treasure” has been nominated for best On the Rise, Non-Teen Fiction. How did you react when you got the news?

Maya_2011: Woke me up immediately. I was up late, not being able to sleep from the excitement and when my gf woke up to get ready for work, cracked my eyes opened, reached for my phone, and sleepily checked if the results were on.. and they were!! I almost started jumping up and down on the bed. It took me a while to go back to sleep afterwards.

Ana: It would, your bed must have been all lumpy. Tell us a bit about your story.

Maya_2011 looks a bit confused: It’s a twist to the Dragon-Maiden-Knight in Shining Armor (Prince) triangle. It’s not a dragon rider story. Here’s the blurb and you’ll get the idea: How do we know that dragons are evil? That the fair maiden is helpless and needs saving? That all knights are good and brave? Kaden had spent the last 157 years, cursed and hiding away in his cave, hoarding the treasure he had no use of or ever would. People hunted him for the monster he appeared to be, so he was used to their fear and ignorance and his own loneliness. That is, until one day, a small and fragile human woman stumbled into his cave with a pair of wolves chasing after her. He never imagined that she would be the one to bring the change in him. Olivia has led a sheltered life with her adoring parents. She's strong-minded and naive at the same time. When it's decided she should marry a man she doesn't love she acts in desperation and runs away from home.

How will she react towards her unlikely savior? Will her feelings go beyond gratefulness?

Ana: We’ll have to read the book to find out. So, what’s your favorite genre to write?

Maya_2011: Fantasy, I somehow find it the easiest, feels almost natural.

Ana: Really?Tell me a little about your self.

Maya_2011: Only a little?

Ana: Well you could try for a lot but I have a really short attention span.

Maya_2011: Okay… I’m 29, a geek, a wanna be writer, animal lover and a gamer. Short enough? On a more serious note, I started writing first before I ventured into the world of reading. It was only a few geeky fanfic (Star Trek and Star Gate) stories. In my opinion, I started reading when I started going to university. It was my girlfriend who introduced me to the world of books, by giving me a book by Elaine Cunningham, fantasy genre. Now, I mostly read fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal and romance. After I've been on Wattpad for about half a year and started editing, I decided to give writing a more serious try, since I haven't been writing for over 10 years. That's how Dragon's Treasure was born. I live with my gf and our three cats, I’m a geek as I said, so I’m into sf&f movies and tv shows, books, comics, RPG and such. Oh, I’ve been an extra on Game of Thrones…there.. it finally might be something interesting about me. ;)

Ana yawns: Sorry what? … Just joking aren’t RPG’s a type of gun?

 Maya_2011: There a type missile launcher you get in some games but I meant Role Pla-

Ana: Know any bad jokes?

Maya_2011: Wow, you do have a short attention span.

Blinking, Ana stares Anna Torv feet: what kind of shoes are you wearing.

Maya_2011: Hey Goldfish, up here. Me, bad joke remember.

Ana: You’re not a bad joke.

Maya_2011 starts to talk really s-l-o-w-l-y: No, but I know plenty… or is it that I tell jokes badly. Anyways here goes nothing: Knock, knock

Ana: Who’s there?

Maya_2011: Boo

Ana: Boo who?

Maya_2011: Oh stop whining *snickers* It sucks I know *giggles*

Ana: But it made you laugh. Well I had better let you get on if you are going to try and fit fourteen people under one oversized coat.

Maya_2011: It will be a challenge. Bye.

Ana: If you want to check out Maya_2011’s story “Dragon’s Treasure” click on the external link on the right of the screen or you can click on the dedication picture above. Give it a read so you know your favorites come Awards voting time.