100 Interviews with 100 Wattpad authors

Interview with theolddarkness

1. What inspired to to write?
 I was inspired to write by none other than the great J.R.R. Tolkien himself. Well, indirectly. Basically, my first story was about a hobbit who fought a dozen orcs at Weathertop. It was all downhill from there.

2. How long have you been writing?
 I've been writing since I was nine, on and off, but only started to take it seriously when I finished school, about a year ago. I have a lot more time for it now that I can study what I like.

3. Movies, books or plays?
 Books, anyday. A decent book is a lot better than 99% of movies or plays, even though I will admit some of these last two are quite good. It's a shame so many books get really bad hollywood adaptations, to tell the truth.

4. Do you listen to music as you write? If so what? 
Most of the time. I find it helps to get the gears rolling, and it's otherwise hard to find that little space where the writing just flows. That said, I also rather like it when it's completely silent. There's just something to be said about the sublime sound of my fingers tapping away at the keyboard. What music? Hmmm. Depends on my mood, but generally it's either Negramaro's Mentre Tutto Scorre album (an Italian band), or a collection of Anime Openings and Endings. I'm quite fond of the Toradora ones. 

5. Which character of yours is your the most like you?
 I like to think there isn't a character quite like me, not in the whole world, but that'd be my ego speaking. To be fair, the question should be inverted, seeing as most of my MCs (main characters) are aspects of the person I want to become. That said, I think the person I'm most like is Karan from World's Ending: a gentleman, slightly humorous, and a little bit dark.

6. If you could have one character become an actual person who would it be and why? 
 This is easy. I'd choose the wattpad persona I've developed over the past few months over conversations with two of my friends, Ferretlp and -1812-. I've turned into a strange being that's part-vampire (the Bram Stoker kind), part-dragon, part-Jedi and all Pokemon. That's all kinds of cool, to be honest.

7. What's your favorite thing about writing?
 Oh, this is hard. If I had to choose, it would be something genre-specific. Seeing as I write Fantasy, I'd have to say it's the moment of the great, grand Idea. There is nothing so satisfying, so enjoyable, as the moment when it all clicks in your head and you start to go over everything. In High Fantasy, this is even better, because you get to create a whole world, with its own history, geography and culture. I still remember when the whole World's Ending story clicked. *Loses himself in reminiscence*

8. What's your least favorite thing about writing?
 It's the Big Swampy Middle (BSM). I borrow this term from an author I admire, Jim Butcher, because I find it perfect. The BSM is the most boring part of writing, because it's when Writer's Block--that great enemy of Writing--sets in. And, to tell the truth, no one wants to write the middle. We want to write the lovely, easy Beginning, then get straight to the Climax, and finish the story. So yeah, BSM it is.

9. If you could publish one of your stories which would it be and why? 
  Definitely Twilgiht Luv. I'd do it for the laughs, even though I hate it. I just wonder if anyone would bother looking at it. Okay, seriously, it'd be World's Ending. I just feel that I've invested so much into it--the writing, the content, the world, the characters, the plot--that to see it published would be the best thing ever.

10. What are some writing tips you can give the readers? 
 Writing tips? Just write. It's the best tip given to me. Just last week I was struggling with writing, and a friend (who's also a published author) told me that if I wanted to write, then I should just sit down and do it. All I had to do was muscle through the first half an hour, and I was flying.
Well, actually, in the book I was writing I was sailing, but that's not nearly as nice a metaphor, is it?