365 Interviews

Interview 47: AlexiaPraks

7. How much of the book is realistic? 

If you are talking about His Hired Girlfriend, then some of them are realistic. I mean definitely the part about Alexandra and her family and their struggle through life. When I was writing the book at the time, there were a lot of small companies here in New Zealand closing down due to bad economic and many people lost their jobs in the process. I knew a few people in that regard. You have no idea how badly this could affect some people’s lives. I heard one committed suicide after he was made redundant. Referring back to His Hired Girlfriend, I guess people could do anything to help their love ones, such as Alexandra for example, who agreed to pretend to be Jayden’s girlfriend in order to get the money to save her father’s life. 

8. Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life? 

Both.

9. What is your main goal with writing books?

My main goal is to leave worthwhile messages for the world to think about. I want the world, or at least the people who have read my books, to feel, understand, and appreciate that what are in my books are messages that reflect the real world. In His Hired Girlfriend, yes the story is fun and about a romantic relationship between two very different people (Jayden and Alexandra). Behind that, however, it’s also about the value of family and friends and the trust in a relationship. In Falling For Sakura, again it’s about family relationship and romantic relationship. It’s about a young woman going through a journey to finding herself, where she belongs in society, overcoming her fear (in this case being bullied as a child) and ultimately, finding her one true love.

10. What job did you want to be as a kid? 

Actually, I had no idea what I wanted to do as a kid. Growing up in the camp, all I could think about was to find enough food to eat. 

11. Do you ever experience writer’s block?

Yes. Definitely. 

 12. Do you work with an outline, or just write?

When beginning a new story, I just write. That’s how it start—with a scene that wouldn’t go away in my head. It just wouldn’t until I write it down. Then about half way through the story, I’d begin outlining. It’s weird I know, but I can’t start a book without seeing a series of scenes like in a movie.

13. Imagine your main character dies on page one.  Everything else remains the same.  Describe the new plot to your book.

LOL! Dear God! This one is super hard. Okay, if my heroine dies and everything remains the same, the plot would still be the same because she’d come back as a spirit and hence everything proceed as per normal except she’s a spirit. LOL! 

14. Where do your ideas come from?

I think I might have mentioned this in question five. My ideas come from many places and things. Books, movies, dramas, animes, posters I see, photos, and mostly, a-moment-of-epiphany. Then it’d be like bang-bang-bang! The ideas just reveal themselves, and I just type what I see within my mind’s eyes. Sometimes I type staring into space as I conjure up the scenes That’s why most of my books are movie-like with the way I present or describe things because that’s the way I see things when I write.

15. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Definitely the editing. That bloody editing! Pardon my French. It’s so hard. And second hardest? You wouldn’t believe it if I tell you it’s in choosing my main characters’ names. God, I could spend the whole day choosing characters’ names. You see, I have to be totally head over heels in love with them and they have to have meaning and totally suite the character’s personalities.

16. Will you have a new story coming out soon? If so can you tell us about it? 

As you might have already known, I’m currently writing the Falling For Sakura Trilogy. It’s about orphan Sakura who gets adopted into a wealthy family. The story tells of her journey to finding herself and her torn love between two very different brothers. But ultimately, she will find that she loves one more than the other. There will be lots of dramas and comedy of course. After this trilogy, I will be writing two more trilogies, though I don’t know as yet which one I will precede first. One is a young auld/mystery about a girl who witnesses her identical twin sister committing suicide and decides to pretend to be her sister in order to find out who were the culprits behind her sister’s death. The other one is a romance and it’s about a rich young woman who meets her new bodyguard for the first time and feels an instant attraction. When someone tries to murder her on her twenty-first birthday, she finds that her new bodyguard is actually a demon who she has sold her soul to in order to save her brother four years earlier. Both of these are quite dark and deal with bullying, punishment etc.

17. What was the hardest part of writing your book?

Writing bully scenes. I hate bully, but I want to send a message out there that bully is horrible and shouldn’t be done on anyone. I want to tell people that karma does exist and that if you bully someone, it will come back, even though it might be in a completely different way. I also want to tell people that goodness is one of the most beautiful things out there, and goodness will always attract fortune and prosperity. That’s why all my books have happy ending. It gives you faith in real life.

18. Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it? 

I learn that I don’t know everything, and even if I do know something, I could be wrong. This goes as well as for the hard core facts and the not so hard core facts. I also learn that writing books is very subjective. One person might like this but another might totally hate it. In effect, I learn that I could never please everyone, and therefore, I should just write how and what I love to write and the people who likes how and what I write will come.

19. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Thank you so much for reading my books. Please do spread the words that author Alexia Praks does exist and she will continue to write as long as she lives.

 20. Do you have any advice for other writers?

Write. Write. Write. Learn. Learn. Learn. If you don’t know anything, search because if you don’t search you won’t find it. Here’s a good example. It will help clarify my point. Okay. Here’s go. I want you to look around the room and remember anything that is BLUE. Okay. Done it? Now stop looking around the room and write/type down anything you saw that is RED. See? You can’t! You just can’t because you weren’t looking for red, you were looking for blue. This means that you have to know what you’re looking for and go actively looking for it. My point is if you want to become a good writer and you don’t know how, you go and find a book on how to write a book. If you want to know how to self-publish your book, then go and search for it. Just want to also say that lazy people will never get anywhere further than a step from the couch. My meaning, if you keep putting it off or keep making excuses, you’ll never, ever get it done. That’s another thing—self improvement. It’s a must. That’s why I read a lot of self-improvement/self-empowerment books, and I suggest everyone do the same.