❛ K E Y ❜
A: alex
D: dylan
Z: zarra
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Hello everyone! Welcome back yet again to another episode of weekly dose with Alex and Dylan.
How are you all? We hope you all are fine, as at summer is on it's peak, may you all are having fun with cold beverages. Hopefully you all are ready and buckle up to enjoy watching - in your case reading this interview.
D: Today we are going to interview none but one of the most amazing writer, whose writing is just plain awesome, Zaara.
A: Yep, so Zarra, How're you?
Z: I'm good. It's been quite exhausting lately but feeling positive and fresh talking to you guys.
A: A fresh start, I see huh?
D: So how do you feel sitting here in front of millions of people?
Z: Eep, shy, nervous? But also, so happy and kinda cool. *waves excitedly* How is everyone?
D: I'm definitely not good, I paused my supernatural for studies. I do not know how I did it, my boys. sighs.
A: It was bound to happen dylan, now you ready for this zaara?
Z: Let's do this!
A: Does writing energises or exhaust you?
Z: I think I write best when I'm really busy. My brain thinks it's funny to throw ideas at me during exams and it's tormenting to tell myself, "Just wait till exams are over." To answer your question, I think when I write and receive good and encouraging feedback, it's very energising. The more feedback I get, the faster I update. That's true. At the same time, sometimes, picking up after a hiatus can be exhausting because you have expectations from your own self. That said, I really love to write. It lifts my mood and just makes me appreciate people and things so much more.
A: Though you always find your way to pick where you left off, that's the most important part.
D: Agree on that, so have you ever got reader's block?
Z: Yes. *cries* I am studying Literature and more often than not, reading stuff outside the syllabus can be a bit of a problem because there's hardly any time but I stubbornly read widely and as much as I can. However, when classes get too busy, reader's block hits me in the gut. Also, syllabus books? Magnets of reader's block, more like it.
A: Oh man I so agree on syllabus books.
D: Ooh, I never get the syllabus book reader's block I think I might like to study once and for all.
A: I always knew you were a nerd dyls, so zaara, do you try to be original or deliver what the readers want?
Z: I love my readers and when I ask them for feedback, I do learn from their responses but I have to admit, originality is always my forethought when it comes to art, especially my writing. And I think if us writers deliver good original stuff, our readers always appreciate that. It might be slow but it's worth it.
D: Yes, yes, yes oh my gods it's totally worth it.
A: So which writers inspires you the most?
Z: Lots and lots. I think to be a good writer one must be a good reader. Slightly biased opinion here since I am a bookworm (have you seen my bookstagram: @zaaraofthesea ?). So, when it comes to me, lots of writers inspire me. There's Jane Austen who taught how intelligent romances ought to be written. There's Agatha Christie, who's the Queen of Crime Novels. Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, I can go on.
A: These are defo lots so do you view writing as a kind of practice to relieve your worries?
Z: Write to stress-bust? Yes, yes and yes. Writing makes me happy and I write best when I'm in a good mood (but also stressed as I've mentioned before...*gasp* Am I a workaholic?) but when I'm down in the dumps, writing is a saviour.
D: My my, workaholic. Do you believe in writer's block?
Z: Oh my God, that monster! For me its worse because I have a thousand ideas floating in my head but if I don't sit down and write right away, *bam* writer's block. How unfair is that! My schedules are packed these days and writer's block pays me a visit every now and then, chiding, "You should have written it down while it was all fresh and exciting."
A: Fresh and exciting got me pumped so what's your favouite genre to write in? What draws your attention to it?
Z: Contrary to what most people think, my favourite genre is Fantasy. I love the creative potential in it, creating new worlds and creatures with powers; and there's this dystopian fantasy I'm writing on the side. Maybe I'll post it on wattpad soon? I would love to try writing a crime fiction/mystery novel. I had this one planned in my head but I don't know when I'll be able to write it.
D: How much reseach do you do before writing something new?
Z: Depends on the subject material. You won't believe the amount of research and nit-picking I do when I write short stories for contests both on wattpad and irl. Similarly, when I write "Soul Harbour" I do a crazy amount of research making sure I have a mental picture of where my characters are. Also, art as a theme features--subconsciously, but it's been pointed out lately--in most of my writing *cough "Talks and Texts", much? *cough* and I love reading up on art; paintings, sculptures, museums *heart-eyes*.
A: What can I say research is one of the most important element.
D: Have you ever tried writing out of your comfort zone?
Z: That's what I always try to do. It's such an adventure and the thrill is addictive. I would like to think I'm doing an okay job of it *laughs*.
A: Have you ever felt emotionally or physically attached to a charachter of yours?
Z: Ooh, happens a lot. I think Zarine from "Omegle" (find it on my collab account @cristiano-) is one character I just love to bits. She's a fangirl, she's funny, she's quirky--yep, I love her. But I think as writers, we generally like the characters we create--even the nasty ones in some way. I don't know how people kill off characters but I guess I'll find out soon enough. *hugs "The Grimm Life of Adam Topaz" and *wails forever*.
D: What advice would you like to give to your readers?
Z: Read, read, write, repeat. Write what you want to read. Write diverse stuff. Be good and great. And if you're not writers, be good and great people, people writers can write about with pride. I love you all so much.
A: When did you start writing? What made you sit down and actually begin writing?
Z: I think I was always writing. Even when I was not writing I was thinking up stories. It is a part of my life, part of who I am. Online, I started off with Fanfiction.net, happy days. Then I joined wattpad as a writer in 2014 because I wanted to experiment more as an original fic writer and have not looked back ever since. And what made me sit down and actually write? Hmm, the fear that I would forget the stories I thought of, the desire to revisit stories ad go beyond what I had read and the availability of MS Word.
D: Quotev is a good site to start off with sometimes too. huh.
A: Which do you perfer more; emotions or action filled ride?
Z: Both. A good story should have both. Even if there's no outward action, there should be action in character. The very emotions have actions. Conversely, action fics cannot sustain without a certain amount of emotion. They're like two sides of the same kind, I guess.
D: Words worth millions.
A: Which is the hardest/easiest thing in writing?
Z: Hardest: completing. Easiest: starting. There you go. That simple.
A: Now babe this is worth trillions. Omg. ahaha.
D: What's your favourite line or exceprt from your own work?
Z: Aaah, this is so tough. I think "Soul Harbour" has the best writing? So I'll share a quote from that *blushes like a tomato*:
"Ten minutes in the cool air, with a million thoughts to siphon through, stray tears to get control of, shaking hands to calm down, she decided to face Carlotta and Anthony again, not knowing a word of the inevitable conversation about to take place. She had worked so hard, to let the past stay in the past, even to not fall in love with the present so much that it would begin to define her future but Time doesn't know divisions. Time isn't the hands on a clock, moving determinedly from one second to another. Time is the waves on a beach, making patterns and destroying them as it pleases and Auburn who liked the sea more than the beach was beginning to learn this."--"Soul Harbour", Chapter 0.59. There you go.
A: Okay that was wow.
D: It's so perfect.
A: With ice creams.
D: Cube roots. Oh holy mother of gods, I gotta zayn to study.
A: Pfft, fine. Don't forget to click that little star below, vote to appreciate author and hosts, comment about how do you like it, share your thoughts with all of us. Until then take care, we'll be back soon, next week with another author and with another amazing ride of answers.
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