My next brave interviewee is Mimm83 the author of Once Bitten, Young and Dance with the Devil. She is a superb writer who focuses on writing fantasies. Her stories are flawless and detailed; much like her answers. I would recomend her works to all lovers of romance and fantasy.
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1. What is the first story you have ever written?
Oh jeeze, you’re asking a tough question there, asking me to remember something like that as generally I can’t remember what I had for breakfast, lol. Not counting anything in elementary school, the first “real” story I wrote I must’ve been twelve or thirteen. It never had a title, but it was a very in depth fantasy story that I never completed even if I was over a hundred pages in. In theory it was pretty basic, it was based in a world where it was always light on one side and always night on the other (I know, there are other stories out there like that, but c’mon, I was twelve and it seemed original to me) it had your standard warring families from both sides of the world, princes and princess forced to fight the war of their father’s, some reluctantly and some with gusto. Of course there was some magic involved, battles for the thrones, struggles within their own realms and I’m sure a wrong-side-of-the-tracks love story or two…but in all that I got lost and couldn’t figure my way out. Honestly, I was in over my head. Maybe if I was a little better with taking notes, or at least plotting out characters and whatnot I might have made it through but at the time I was naïve to how easily a story can take on a life of its own and drown you. I often think of trying to revisit it as it is still to this day my only attempt at epic fantasy and not the urban fantasy I do today, but this time around I would make sure to sit down and draw out the family trees, maybe even a map of the land so I wouldn’t confuse myself. I had a fellow writer offer to give me a hand with it but I couldn’t pull her into something I myself wasn’t sure I could commit to. As it stands it sits in my “Random Ideas” folder waiting for its time in the sun…or on the page as it may be.
2. How did you come up with the plot line for Once Bitten?
Um…I didn’t. I had absolutely no foresight to that novel when I got started. From moment one I was pulling that out of my ass, I never plotted out a thing. Even if I thought I had an idea of the story’s
direction, Anya would show me something that would change the story’s path so eventually I gave up trying. Looking back on it and seeing how it evolved (along with the sequels) there are some places I’d like to go back and tweak just for consistency reasons, nothing story-line altering, just bits where I said one thing only to change my mind later on and contradict myself.
3. Do you plan to make writing your full time occupation or is it more of a hobby?
Plan or hope, because I certainly hope to make writing a full-time occupation. Thing is, I need some help. Somewhere along the way I’ve lost sight of the basics of writing, so I think before I dare try to
make a living at this I need to go back and take a couple of writing courses just to smooth myself out…either that or win the lottery so I can keep an editor on retainer, ha, ha, ha!
4. How do you fix your writer's block?
You can fix writers block? I’ve always been under the assumption you couldn’t alter forces of nature…
Writers block is a funny thing though. I’ve never understood how your muse can go from being generous enough to give you pages of material one day, to absolutely nothing the day after that…or the day after that, or the day after that. I’m not sure how I “fix” it though. Sometimes I just push through it, others I give in and play Plants vs. Zombies for days on end instead. I’m very distractible though, Squirrel Syndrome to the nth degree here, so I think most of the time I just kind of…forget
I’m stuck somewhere and by the time I get back to my work my muse is
ready too.
And yes, I’m a big believer in muses, divine yet horribly fickle creatures who inspire. Mine is currently pouting as I refuse to write while I attempt to catch up with my holiday to-do list. I’ll give it some homemade fudge when I get home though and that’ll tide it over for now…and yes, I am completely ready to sacrifice my waistline to keep my muse happy.
5. What styles and genres of writing do you prefer?
Fantasy for sure, urban fantasy specifically but I do okay with the paranormal romance too (wait, does that sound a little cocky?) I don’t know why but I’ve never been able to write about the “real” world. I think my best attempt recently was when I re-tooled Snow White in my story Neva Whitney. But even then, it was a fairy-tale to begin with so can we really consider that the “real” world? Being normal is boring to me, and I think it’s more fun to believe in magic, or that humans are by far outnumbered by the “others” in this world (or any other) You can do so much more with a story when you don’t work within the constraints of what is believable.
6. What is your favourite Wattpad novel?
Well if we’re talking completed work then its Hmmcghee’s Essences Sagas, which is actually two novels and not one, but as it’s the same series I’m going to lump them together. My only complaint is that she mentioned she’d have the third in the series out last March and as of yet there
is still no sign…which makes it my turn to pout. An in-the-works story I like is SRae91’s Crossing Time, a great paranormal that has kept me guessing.
I’m remiss to admit I don’t read a lot on Wattpad, and a lot of it has to do with incomplete work. Whether because the author themselves has given up (see the aforementioned writer’s block) or that the story itself is incomplete, lacking depth or description. And as we’ve already stated, I’m not a professional at this, but I get frustrated when the story is a lump of grammatical errors. It’s too distracting to my brain to be correcting as I’m trying to read and I don’t get far. Plus, I’m really picky and I don’t read teen or fan fiction, and we all know that’s a major chunk of what’s here.
7. What is your favourite published novel?
Impossible question! There is no “one” book that I love more than any other…however there is a character, Riley Jensen. Find her and her creator and you will see what I strive to be ;)
8. What do you hope Wattpad will be like for you this time next year?
Now that’s a stumper, I don’t tend to think that far ahead usually…. I suppose (without it sounding too selfish) I would hope for more of about the same, a steady draw of new fans, more chances for my characters to be known and seen as the read count goes up on my stories…and hopefully more stories for my fans to enjoy.
9. Do you base any of your characters on real people?
Ah…yes and no. There is no one character in my stories that is wholly based on someone I know, but I do take traits and habits and mix them in. There was this run I was on though where I named my characters after people in the bands I like, and my other half is named in one of my novels, but that’s about as far as it goes.
10. Where do you get your inspiration?
Everywhere.
Music is my most obvious as its where my pen name comes from (M.I.M.M stands for music is my muse) but I can find a story in just about everything. TV, movies, books, dreams…even looking at the clouds I can find a story. Just the other day I was driving down Main Street on the way to work and all the pretty lights had me thinking how one of my characters would react…well there was six pages. Waiting to pick my daughter up from school and staring at the iron gates, ten pages. Eating at my favorite buffet…a whole short story.
And I’m not ashamed to say I’m inspired by other’s work in movies or books. It’s not about copying what they’ve already done, or altering it, it’s about taking an idea and making it your own. One of my own favorite characters was inspired by Riley. Are they the same character? Not at all. Do they suffer the same trials? Nope. But what they have in common is their attitude and they’re determination. After reading the Riley books I wanted to write about a character who was just as strong as Riley, who I could watch grow and achieve and get what she really deserved after all the heartache and struggles. Case in point, Riley’s creator, Keri, has another series called Myth and Magic and it was started after she watched the Bourne series. She wondered what it would be like if a female character had to go through the same thing, total memory loss and the path it took to find the truth…and she got her own series out of it. Now of course it’s not the espionage story that the Bourne series is, but that’s my point. Nothing about the two stories is the same except the idea: recovering from memory loss.
11. What does writing mean to you?
Well, I love to write, and I was going to say everything again, but realistically, it’s not. I might act like a modern woman but in truth I am the literal translation of Suzy Housewife. My family is everything to me. I think I probably could survive without writing even if it would leave a gaping hole in my life, however the loss of my imagination would kill me. I can retreat in and out of it so effortlessly that to not have it there would leave me at a loss at what to do. Writing is very important though, don’t take my previous statement to mean it’s not, andI do dedicate a lot of my free time to it, but until the day comes thatI can make a living at it there will always be other things that come first.
12. How did you discover Wattpad?
As a matter of fact it was a fan of mine on Booksie.com that showed me the light, Katherin3Coitier *waves hand* Hi Kat! Ha, ha, ha! Yes, I’m guessing you’ve made the connection from one of your earlier interviews, and there’s a reason, I’ve never had a more loyal fan then Kat. She promotes me without asking for anything in return, has read and commented on every piece of writing I have even though she knows I can’t offer the same (she does teen fiction, and though she’s great, I can’t get through the trials and tribulations of teenagers) Really she’s become more than just a fan, I’m emotionally invested in her, but she’s the one who suggested I check Wattpad out…and so I did and I haven’t looked back.
13. If you could live as a character in one of your stories, who would it be?
Someone you have yet to meet, Kyra Michaels. Some of my fans that have carried over from Booksie may remember her in her earlier incarnations, but for any of those who happen to read this I can tell you now, the woman has grown. I think I put a little bit of myself in all of my characters, but she’s the one I’m wrapped up in the most…and she also happens to be the one I want to push for publishing so I’m keeping her off the net (for now) until I know where her stories stand.
A character ya’ll have met though… (Yes, I just ya’ll’ed you) I’m torn between Vee and Maddie. Maddie has more fun for sure, but I like the romance of the era that Vee lived in.
14. Where is your favourite place to write?
Well I’m not sure if it’s my favorite, but I do the majority of my writing when I’m at work. I manage a small sub-station for a larger company and I spend most of my time working alone. It has it’s slow times and it's busy times, but it’s in those slow moments I bang out my writing. It works because I can throw myself into my character’s worlds without having to keep one ear open for the kiddo…or the man for that matter who is about as good as another kid, lol :x
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Thank you so much for answering and we wish you all the best for future writing.