Interviews

@Tethie

        So for this weeks interview we we're able to Talk with Tethie and ask her a few questions about her and her writing! We want to thank her for letting us interview her!

Name or username:
"My nickname and username is Tethie, but I also go by Tessa."

A little about yourself:
"I am a seventeen year old girl, about to start my last year in highschool. I am from Europe. I was raised as a Christian, but really found to Jesus when I was about fifteen years old. I am more of an introvert, I like to play the piano, read and listen to music. My favourite dessert would probably be ice cream."

When did you start writing?
"Well, to be honest, before I stumbled across Wattpad I had never written a story before. I only made stories up in my head, but never actually thought about writing any of them down. After about two or three months on the website, I didn't have much to do, the school year was nearing its end. And so I ended up being bored all the time, until I realized that maybe I could try and actually write down a story. And that's how I started writing."

Why did you start writing?
"A part from having nothing to do, I also started writing because at the time I was reading a book. At first, I really liked it and I was rooting for the two main characters to get together. But, unfortunately, they didn't end up together. As you can probably tell, I was really disappointed. And that's another reason why I started writing. I wanted to read a story about an archeress (not sure if that's an actual word) that had a good ending, but I couldn't find one. So, instead of searching for the book, I decided to create it. And that's how my book Daughter of the King came to be."

What author was really an inspiration for you?
"Well, there wasn't one in particular, but rather a bunch of them. One of them would be Karen Witemeyer, a christian author who writes books that take place in the 1800s. Her books where one of the firsts I have read that made me realize that it is possible to involve your faith and what you believe in into your books. So, yeah, that was really inspiring for me to try and do the same thing."

What genre/genres do you like writing the best? Why?
"I prefer 'adventure' and 'fantasy' simply because I love writing retellings. I am a huge Disney fan and anything related to fairy tales. One thing I like to do while driving to school or home is coming up with different twists on a fairytale."

What approach do you use to get what's in your head, down on paper?
"Hmm, that's actually pretty hard, to be honest. It often takes me ages to just write the first sentence of the next chapter, but once I have, like, the first paragraph, the story just kind of writes itself. What I like to do when trying to write something is put on some good music that helps me get into the mood of the book. I often listen to the same song while writing three or four chapters. It also helps reading over the last chapter of the story to freshen up my memory".

What would you consider as your best story or book?
"I would consider The Curse of Adelaide as my best book so far. I have learned so much about writing over the past year and although I still have plenty to learn, I feel more experienced with every story I write. So, even though, it's not the most popular one of my stories, I feel like The Curse of Adelaide is the story that just shows how much I have grown as a writer."

How have you grown as a writer?
"Well, for starters, when I started writing I had like zero experience with it. I had no idea how to keep up a proper dialogue, when to start a new paragraph and my grammar was horrible (I still struggle with it). And I had absolutely no idea how to talk about the protagonist's feelings. Over the last year, I tried to read as much as possible on wattpad to see how other authors wrote and I must say that it really helped me to improve on all the things listed above."

What advice would you give to new writers?
"I have three pieces of advice for new writers. Be unique and make sure your story is readable. Be creative, don't just write another good girl, bad boy story. These days it's really hard to find a story that has a unique plot. Don't be another cliché, be the one that sticks out from all the other stories. And make sure you read through your story at least once before you publish it. Nothing can chase readers more away than stories with bad grammar. Trust me on that one. To top it off, make sure to have a cover that stands out from the others. Books do get judged by their covers here on wattpad. If you're not good at making a cover on your own, just look for so called "cover books" or "graphic shops" and request a cover there. The payment is most likely going to be a follow or a dedication, which isn't that hard to do. Three things, unique plot-line, good grammar and a nice cover. That's all you need to start a story that will gain the attention of other users."

   

        Stay tuned Next week for more, exclusive interviews!