Your Favourite Wattpad YA Authors

hjnelson

1. How long have you been writing? 

 It's hard to remember a time I wasn't in love with stories, and reading and writing them. I grew up listening to my dad tell stories at night he'd adapted from his favorite novels; books like The Hobbit, The Three Musketeers and The Princess Bride. I loved how he changed them, and added his own flourishes and endings. I think bedtime stories turned into a love for reading, and then a love for reading turned into a love for writing. I have always dreamed about being a published author, but I don't think it was until I started posting on Wattpad in 2015 that I started to wonder if I could actually make that dream come true. 

 2. What inspired you to write The Last She? 

 It's wasn't one specific thing; more a compilation of things. I started writing The Last She at a very lonely time in my life. I'd just moved to a new state where I knew no one, and my husband was working long hours as a grad student. I found myself drawn to this story of a young woman also separated from her family, and all the adventures and dangers she went through to try and find them and find herself. I also grew up camping, backpacking and skiing in the mountains of Idaho with my dad, and I have always wondered how well I would actually do if I had to survive in the wilderness. Thus I created a character who had also learned these survival skills from her father but was now forced to use them.

3. What's your favorite aspect of Wattpad? 

 I'll cheat and say two things. One is the accountability. Tackling an entire novel can be a daunting process, especially when I've calculated that it takes me about a year per book! Inspiration only lasts so long, so at some point I've learned I need to find something to motivate me. Wattpad helped me by letting me break the project down into small, achievable goals (like 1 new chapter a week). It just makes it so much easier to accomplish. You also become accountable to fans, as they start waiting for a new chapter each week, and I hate to disappoint them. I tend to be a perfectionist, and want to rewrite over and over again, but with Wattpad I just have to push through and get chapters done. 

 The second thing is how close you are to the readers of your book. I love reading the comments, they encourage and often inform me how to make things better and what readers are enjoying. Writing can be a lonely craft so I enjoy that Wattpad makes it more social. 

 4. What's one genre you've never written but would like to? 

 I would love to write a historical romance... but I'm not sure I would even know where to begin researching something like that! I also like to change things on a whim, so not sure that will ever happen.... Perhaps a historical romance with a sci-fi or fantasy twist! 

 5. If you could have a cup of coffee with anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would it be and why? 

Probably J.K. Rowling. I love her books, but I also love her the story behind the books, and how much perseverance it must have taken her to fight through depression and write as a single mother. I'd love to chat with her!

6. How long do you spend researching before beginning to write a book? 

 I don't usually do research before I start a book (thus probably why I've never written something historically based). I tend to come up with characters and plots first, and then just start writing and research things as they come up and become important.