At last, Wattpad’s Corner managed to get an interview with SydClair, a well known writer and one of the ambassadors in Wattpad. :)
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Let’s start with the common questions first.
Who is your favorite author?
Oh man, this one changes probably weekly. Right now, I’m really into both Jodi Picoult and Charlaine Harris; though . . . definitely recommend anything by either of them.
What is your favorite book?
If I’m basing this on what book I find myself loving enough to read over and over again, I would say it’s Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers. I’m always spellbound every time I read that book.
What is the first book you have ever read?
I think it was called “See Spot Run”. Very riveting, haha.
Which do you like the most: reading or writing?
I'd come down slightly on the side of reading. As much as I do love to write, there is something so much simpler about curling up with a book that is already written and just getting pulled into that world for a while. I actually find that if I stop reading, I stop having as much inspiration to write, so reading is definitely a huge part of it.
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Wattpad related questions:
When did you start writing?
I've always written little secret stories and stuff on my computer. To this day I'm still really secretive about my writing, and all my stories are password protected on my computer under random file names like "Receipts" or "Grocery List" so no one at home stumbles upon them accidentally. The first time I actually put my writing out there was when I found Wattpad and started writing and posting Just Jason.
How did you find Wattpad?
I actually came across Wattpad by accident. I had started reading Pride and Prejudice, and did a search on my phone's app store for somewhere I could read the rest of it on my phone, and the first one that came up was Wattpad. And the rest is just wonderful history. :)
What's your favourite Wattpad story?
There are SO many good stories that I've come across on this site. I'm constantly so into one story or another. Some of the ones that I'm reading now are: (WC: She actually forgot to fill this one in. Lol. xD)
Who's your favourite Wattpad writer and why?
I think my favorite is JollynPalliata. She wrote a story called Amber Eyes that was just so incredible; I absolutely can't wait for the sequel.
What genre you liked the most and why?
I'm a sucker for anything romance. I'll read pretty much any genre as long as there's some kind of romance sub plot happening in there somewhere.
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About you:
You wrote Self Portrait (poetry), Midnight in the Garden, Fairy Dust, Always Have to Stop Myself, Just Jason, Vivid and your latest one; Lies You told Me. Which of these books is your first written book?
Just Jason was my first story.
Out of all of your stories, which one did you enjoy writing the most?
I think I enjoyed writing Vivid the most. Just Jason was a lot of fun since I really liked the character of Jason, but overall I had the most fun with Vivid.
I’m a fan of your book, Vivid. Tell us more about Vivid and what inspire you to write it?
Vivid kind of came to me out of the blue. I woke up from a nap one day, and for some reason the line "let's just get one thing straight. . ." was stuck in my head. (Does that happen to anyone else, getting words and lines stuck in your head?) So I grabbed my computer and that became the first line of Vivid and I just wrote as it came to me. I’m terrible about having long term plans for stories, so I tend to just kind of wing it once I have a particular line or plot event that I know I want to write around.
Vivid classified as a complete book. Ever thought of writing a sequel?
Actually I haven't really thought about it at all with that one. With Vivid I mostly just am itching to go through and do a lot of editing to try and fill up some of the holes and things like that.
Just Jason is also one of your well known books. What inspire you to write Just Jason?
When I first joined Wattpad, werewolf stories were still way outnumbered by the vampire stories . . . which I never really understood, because I've always been completely team werewolf. So Just Jason came around as sort of my way of wanting to see more werewolf stories around. I also kind of wanted to focus not only on the actual wolf aspect of a werewolf, but also the part of them that it half human. Werewolves have feelings too!
Why is the story titled as Just Jason?
When I started Just Jason, all I really knew about the ending was that the last line was going to have the phrase "just Jason" in it, because I knew I was going to be writing a story about a girl who viewed her best guy friend as "just Jason" in the beginning, and by the end was going to get to a place where she could never think of him like that again, so I felt like that phrase itself was important enough to use as a title too.
Will you write another werewolf story?
My newest story, Lies You Told Me, is actually another werewolf story, so yes!
Are any of your characters based on real people?
Yup, Jason from Just Jason is based after my husband :). Actually, pretty much all the guy leads that I write about in my stories have qualities and personality traits that I've stolen from my husband, haha.
Who's your favourite character out of your stories?
My favorite character so far is probably Jason. He's so fun, and always knows exactly how to make people laugh.
I believe every writer experienced writer’s block, how do you get over it?
For me, the best way to get over writer's block is to start reading something that inspires me. When I read something amazing, it makes me want to start writing again because I feel like I want to create something like that.
Aside Wattpad and Inkpop, do you have any other account where we could stalk you?
Haha, not really. I did a brief stint on Inkpop and a couple other writing sites that I've come across, but I always come back to Wattpad. It's the only place I'm currently updating any of my stories. I love me my Wattpad :)
In your profile page, you wrote that you like happy endings. Do you ever read any stories in Wattpad that have no happy endings?
I'd say that I'm open to it, but I haven't found any that I've loved just yet. I'm open to suggestions though. With sad endings I always find myself thinking, "That ending was good, and I get why they wrote it that way, but I still wish everything had worked out!"
In the future, will you be looking into maybe getting your work published? If so, which story will it be and why that story in particular?
Ah, I don't know. Possibly. It'd sure be pretty cool, but if there's a story I would try to get published, I haven't written it yet. I feel like I've still got a lot to learn before I try to go that route. I know you need a tough skin in the publishing process—and that's something I definitely don't have, haha.
Do you have anything you would like to say to your fans or anyone reading this?
Well, first off, I’d say hi! *waves* And secondly, come talk to me! If you've lasted this long through my rambles I definitely want to say hello and thanks for reading! Most importantly though, I’d like to say that you should write for YOU, not for anyone else. Write what makes you happy and stick by it, popularity really isn't everything, but that warm, fuzzy, awesome feeling you get when you finish a story is truly worth it.
-SydClair :)