Tales Of Wizardry - Authors' Interviews

Candid with M_A_Hartman

Hello Everyone, it's been long since we haven't conversed with our magical writers. 

So here with are with M_A_Hartman. She is the winner of our previous contest. Let's dive into a magical conversation. 

About Author: Hi, there, I'm Melissa! I hail from the western half of the great state of Massachusetts (the part that is NOT Boston). During the day I work as an administrative assistant and at night, I craft stories involving female protagonists, magic, gods and goddesses, mythical creatures, and talking animals. Ever since I was six years old, the fantasy genre has been my home. While I do read the occasional historical fiction or history (usually involving royalty), I find the greatest enjoyment in escaping reality through high fantasy, urban fantasy, and paranormal novels. When I'm not writing -- which, these days, is a lot -- I enjoy gardening, cooking, obsessing over The Mandalorian and MCU, and watching far too many gamers on YouTube. 

Synopsis for "Death Will See You Now": Addison Knight's grandmother made her memorize an ancient rhyme when she was a girl. Little did she realize that the rhyme was part of a bargain between her female ancestors and the Lands of the Dead that she was destined to pay. 

Q1. What intrigued you to start writing on Wattpad?  

- Well, I've been writing almost constantly since I was a kid, but I fell into a long-term slump after losing my father and my job in the same month. I figured that if I joined Wattpad, it would re-energize my creativity -- and it did. 

Q2. What challenge did you face while writing the story?

- The word count limit. Often with these contests, I keep writing and writing -- and soon, I find myself well beyond the word count! The limit has forced me to take a good look at my prose and remove all the extraneous material to best fit the criteria, while still retaining a plot that makes sense. 

Q3. What intrigued you to create such magical strong characters?

- I've always enjoyed reading about strong female characters because, well, I'm a woman! So it doesn't take much to want to create my own and live vicariously through them for a little while.

 Q4. Who is your favourite Fantasy author? 

- Hands down, Mercedes Lackey. I grew up on her early Heralds of Valdemar novels and they provided hours of entertainment for this imaginative introvert.

Q5. Do you have any Wattpad favourite book which contains lot of magical/mythical creatures?

- This is rather embarrassing, but I must admit I haven't read a lot of others' work on Wattpad. Things picked up after I joined a book club and even more recently, started working on my Open Novella Contest story. Of the entries that I'm following, I'd have to highlight "Light and Shadow" by @carolyn_hill and "Scaling Moss and Stone" by @stormridden

That it for this month will be back another month we another fabulous author.