Mr. Popular and I

Q&A

12) Were any of the characters inspired by people you met or know in real life?

Certain personality traits were maybe taken from people I know in real life, but subconsciously. However, a complete real life person wasn't copied, all of my characters originate from my teeny brain. One thing that might reflect from me is that both Lea and River want to be doctors, and that's what I want to be. So they've definitely taken that from me.

13) Who's your favourite character that you've created? Least favourite? Why?

This question is like asking a mother to pick who her favourite child is. I've come to love all my characters, at the beginning that wasn't the case though. Lea, I didn't click with instantly, I don't know why. I think it might be because I'm not good with girls in real life, I'm better at socialising with guys and I have no idea why (any psychologists out there that would care to explain?). So, it took a minute to truly like her.

For River it was the opposite, I loved him from the start. I think that had to do with the fact that I knew what his story was and I felt really bad for him, since I went through a similar thing. Another character that I love is Jake, because he is hilarious and knows how to make a good thing out of a bad situation. He has things going on in his life that make me admire him, too (read TBAI to find out more, ahahaha another innocent plug double wink).

I wouldn't say Emily is my least favourite, but when I understood that she cheated on Nick, I felt so bad for Nick that my love for Emily died down a little. Don't get me worry, I do love her and she isn't a horrible person, she just did a shitty thing (and so did her brother when he kissed Lea, must run in the family shakes head in disappointment). I'm not sure how to feel to be completely honest. Cheating is horrible, DON'T DO IT.

14) Would Nick and Emily still be together if Emily didn't die? Would he have been able to forgive her?

Without a doubt, he would have forgiven her. As for if they would still be together or not...I'm not entirely sure. Nick will always love her, maybe he would want to be with her, but whether she would want to be with him is the question to ask. I can't give you the answer though, I'll leave that up to your imagination.

15) How long did it take you to get to 1000 reads? Did the story attract many comments and readers since the beginning?

I can't remember for 1000 reads but I remember I had just uploaded my 10th chapter and I was freaking out because I reached 100,000 (I still remember how I cried, yep, I cried, talk about drama queen).

For the first few weeks there were a few dedicated readers, maybe I was getting around 20 comments/votes a week, but then after a month people started adding it to their libraries and sharing and then it blew up. It was a right place, right time kind of thing. I see many stories that are amazing yet only have a few thousand reads.

Go into writing not wanting anything from it, other than to write what you love, and if you do that, you will find people that love the book as much as you. Then, the reads and comments and votes will follow, but don't let that be your priority. Write because you love to write. And when you do get a following, remember to be grateful, and thankful, and make sure that your readers feel appreciated. In my case, if it weren't you guys, my readers, I wouldn't have been able to finish this book, so thank you!

16) How long does it take you to write a chapter?

Hahahahahahahahahahah. It's funny because it took me a year to write one of my chapters. Writer's block is horrid. But for real, it can take me anywhere between a full day (if I sit down and write for eight hours straight) to a few weeks. It all depends on how motivated and inspired I am, how well planned the story is and how well I know where I'm going with it.

17) Will River and Lea get married?

I'm pretty sure they will, but not for a long time. Marriage is something that scares Lea because of what she's seen from her parents, and River only thinks it's a piece of paper. So, overall, if they've got each other, marriage or no marriage it doesn't matter. But I'm pretty sure they will eventually tie the knot.

18) Will River and Lea have kids?

I'm leaving this up to your imagination for now. They both want to have kids, but whether they will have them together is the question. You may wink find this out wink in TBAI wink.

19) Are we going to get more of what's going on with Marissa?

Oh my God oh my God oh my God maybe.

Like I said earlier, I would love to write a book about Ky (and I hopefully will), and that may wink include Marissa wink. Sorry guys, my eye is having a spasm.

20) How much did the storyline change – as the story developed - from how you first imagined it?

Oh my, I can talk about this for days. Never think that your storyline will remain the same as how you first started out, well at least that's not what happened for me. I was really bad, I didn't plan for this book. I just started writing, it wasn't until it was getting to the complicated stuff that I had to plan otherwise it would've been a mess with plot holes everywhere. Don't do that kids.

It changes majorly. At first, it was supposed to be a cute cliché teen fiction with some humour. It still is those things I think, but I never thought someone would die or get shot. And I didn't think it would get deep or emotional, which at points it does. The plan was at the start was to make it into a dare book (hahahahahahahah my fourteen year old self). But then I grew up and grew out of that idea and came up with the Emily plot, and the rest sort of fell into place after that.

So, did it change from what I imagined? Yes. Though keep in mind I didn't have an actual plan, so I just went with the flow (WHICH IS BAD, DON'T DO IT, PLAN FIRST, THANK ME LATER).

21) How did you come up with your title?

Like I mentioned in the above question, the original plot for the story was that River and Lea were dared to do stuff together. So, I had the idea of starting every dare with 'Mr. Popular and I were dared to do such and such blah blah blah'. So, the title came from that. Loads of people keep telling me it's grammatically incorrect, that it should be Mr. Popular and me. Yes, that's true, but in the context that I was going with (see the sentence above), it would've made grammatical sense. But anyway, it's just a title, you can name your book anything, whether the spelling is right or wrong or if it is grammatically correct or not, it's your book, name it what you want. 

***

Thank you so much. For everything. I can't quit saying it because your love and support makes me so happy. Thank you for coming on his amazing journey with me and sticking with me even when I disappeared for a year. You're truly amazing, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I have had such an amazing few years writing this book. It was hard at times, but your support made it so enjoyable. 

Group hug!

Stay beautiful (you always are),

Indie xoxo

P.S. I'm weeping right now because this feels so sad, but know that I'm always here. Whether you just want to chat, or you need someone to talk to, send me a message or an email. I'm here. And this book will always be here too.