Intimate Interviews

An Aria Antho

[Madhu, After Dark] Just feel free. We'll start off and just go with the flow!
I would love to more about yourself and how you got into writing novels, particularly you're 'after dark' novels?

[Aria, Featured Author] My name is Aria and I live in the United States with my husband and a pet Russian Dwarf hamster. I'm obsessed with my husband, 'the office', my Macbook and I'm quite simply a cupcake trying to leave her mark on the world lol. Unlike most writers, I didn't find myself wanting to be a writer ever since I was little. Though I was interested in poetry when I was in grade school, I didn't actually start writing until I was thirteen. My first book consisted of a fan fiction about the band Linkin Park because I was seriously OBSESSED with their music during my teenage years. I posted the book on a website called 'Fandomination.net', publishing chapters on it much like people do here on Wattpad. After that, I didn't really feel passionate enough about anything in my life to write a book about it and in turn, it led to a creative lull that lasted over ten years!

I finally picked up writing again about three summers ago. I was recovering from surgery and about to graduate from college. I began writing my novel 'Desideratum', trying madly to develop a plot in my brain that I would feel passionate about expanding on. As I wrote, I really wanted people to feel the sexual tension between my main characters, to feel how much they wanted one another.

Before 'New Adult' books became a thing in the literature world, I felt like my reading options were limited to either Young Adult books or full blown Erotica. I wanted to combine both worlds, to write sexy, romance novels that also contained REAL plots and dealt with real, everyday struggles when it comes to finding love.

I began writing the types of novels that I had always wanted to read myself.

[M] So, if you first started out writing on other sites, how did you come across Wattpad? How was your initial response to it?

[A] After writing on 'Fandomination.net' I completely gave up on writing due to my writer's block. Summer of 2014, I stumbled upon an article on Facebook from Cosmopolitan magazine about Wattpad. The article consisted of Anna Todd and her success with her One Direction fanfiction. The timing could not have been more perfect since I had just completed 'Desideratum' and I didn't want it to just remain unread in my computer. To this day, I honestly feel like it was meant to be.

As soon as I finished scrolling through the article, I created a Wattpad account. I've always been an incredibly shy person. I'm a huge, HUGE introvert who prefers people in small doses and I much rather stay in with my husband watching a movie at any given day of the week. It took a massive amount of courage for me to post my work on the internet for strangers to read, especially because I knew that it wasn't my best. I also knew that I didn't have the skin to endure any negative comments about it but thankfully, that has changed over time. I think that hardest part, at first, was finding a cover that suited my novel and of course, getting people to read it. 'Desideratum' didn't get many reads at first, but because of it, I gained a small following of about fifty readers who were incredibly supportive. I can honestly say that to this day, I've never once asked anyone to read my novels. I've always allowed my work do the talking for me

[M] What were the initial results after you posted your first book on Wattpad? And what was the first book you read?

[A] The first book I ever read on Wattpad was Anna Todd's 'After'. I've never been very fond of the plot, but her book really helped me get a sense of how Wattpad worked by reading other readers' comments about their thoughts on her novel.

'Desideratum' didn't do all that well with readers at first. My cover didn't really help to draw readers in and neither did the plot since it is a bit taboo. It wasn't until I started writing my second novel, 'TORN' that things started taking off for me. I owe it all to for choosing to include my novel in one of her 'Wattpad's Best Romance Books' anthologies; I always think of her when I reach another milestone in my writing.