WIA Author Interviews

01 | MikaelaBender

As a thank you for the many new followers we have gained, we decided to interview a few of your favorite authors! Starting with MikaelaBender !

Every author started writing a different way, and in the beginning, they were never as successful as they are today. If there are any questions you'd like us to add, feel free to let us know in the comments and we will try our best in future interviews!

1.  Thank you for joining me for this interview. How are you feeling today?

Thank you for having me. I'm feeling fantastic. Thanks!

2. Were there any events that led you to begin writing? How and when did you start writing?

Kind of an odd event led me to it. I skipped the last half of Spanish class at church because I had started late and was completely lost. The teacher was asking the questions in Spanish. Yeah, totally lost. I didn't come back to the class for the last hour after the break. Since I had paper left over for notes, I started writing a story that was popping into my head at the moment. I hadn't ever thought about writing a book before. The want just came suddenly, so I thank God for introducing me to it. I was fourteen.

3. What was your first novel?

That novel that I was just talking about. It's titled Asleep. It's not published but I would love to publish it traditionally. It won a couple of awards last fall. It's about dreams and it's actually science fiction and not fantasy as you might think because of the dream part. I'd give more details but I don't want the idea to get stolen. I had a nightmare about that happening. 

4. One of your most successful works on Wattpad is Expiration Date, what is Expiration Date about?

Well the description is; The society knows when we're going to die. They imprint it on our arms at birth. I was supposed to die yesterday. I'm the girl who's Expired.

What the description doesn't tell you is that it's about politics, lies, trust, and deceit. Love, friendship, and betrayal. And so much more. It tests the boundaries of relationships. I love writing it so much. That's something important. You have to love your story.

5. You mentioned in the description that the idea of Expiration Date came from a prompt on Pinterest: Was the story entirely based off of the prompt or were there things you added along the way. If so, what do you believe to be the biggest change you added? 

The prompt was pretty basic. You have the date you're going to die on your arm and you were supposed to die yesterday. Besides that it all came out of my head. So I wouldn't say the story is based off the prompt. The prompt doesn't say what happens after. It doesn't say how the Marks work. The prompt was the beginning of the story but not the middle or end.

I think what's different about my story than other stories that used the same prompt is the way death dates work in Expiration Date and who gives out them.

6. All the characters you write about are very rounded and you can see their personalities spread evenly amongst each chapter of Expiration Date. Were any of your characters inspired by people in real life?

Thank you so much! I love all of these characters to death (Did you get the pun?). So many of them have stories and lives in my head that will probably never be told. Each of them believe the story is about them and none of them know if they are the hero or the villain. I believe that's what makes them rounded. None of them are based on people in real life except for the waitress in Chapter 3: A Stuck Up Farmer?. She is based off of my waitress at a restaurant I was at while rewriting that chapter. 

7. Expiration Date is an ongoing novel at the moment, but are there any other stories of yours that we should be sure to find and read?

Well there's Expired, the sequel.

My Best Friend's Werewolf is about the best friend, Addy, of the girl who was kidnapped by her mate. So the girl who would be barely a secondary character in werewolf stories is now the main character.

My novel Insurrection was also chosen by Written In Action. I'm currently in the process of changing the genre to science fiction from fantasy. It's about a princess who is supposed to serve in her father's army. Against killing anyone, she runs away and is caught by rebels. The rebel leader is super swoon worthy. 

8. As a very successful author, you had the honor of being huge in the Sci-Fi Wattpad community and having "Expiration Date" to be the #1 featured in Science Fiction. Do you have any advice you'd like to give to people who aren't as well known and are striving to become noticed as well?

I'm blushing right now! I'm authorgirling! That's a word I made up. (Fangirling for authors.) I'm trying to get it to catch on.

My advice is to be involved. Respond to comments on your story. Form bonds with your readers. Update as often as your can to build traction for your story.

If you search "Wattpad covers" on Instagram, you'll find cover making accounts. It was an account on there that made the cover for Insurrection. Participate in contest on Wattpad. The science fiction group I'm in, SciKick, will be hosting contests for science fiction stories. I'm not sure when this interview is going to be published, but when you're reading this, we may be having our first one.

Once your story is finished and polished, submit it to be featured by Wattpad.

Most importantly, just be kind. People appreciate it. You never know just when they'll remember your kindness. You may find yourself with unique opportunities. That's how I ended up writing on Wattpad.

Thank you for interviewing me. I am absolutely honored for this and for you adding my books!