Hello again, loves! I'm Cassie, and I'm very excited to be a part of the Wattpad Block Party for the second time in a row! A massive THANK YOU! to the beautiful KellyAnneBlount for inviting me again to this amazing event!
Today, I'll be answering writing-related questions as well as introducing the first chapter of one of my WIPs. Let's get started, shall we? :)
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1. Fave book/books that inspire you?
- Ah, I've got so many favorite books! But if I were to choose my Top Three, it would be:
a. Looking For Alaska - John Green
b. Eleanor and Park - Rainbow Rowell
c. Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
2. Music/other muses that help you write?
- Aside from listening to music, watching TV series and anime really help inspire me to write. If I want to write something emotional, I watch angst-filled shows that help me feel and connect with the characters' emotions and the overall theme of the show.
3. How and when did you find out that you wanted to be a writer?
- I found out that I wanted to make stories of my own when I was in elementary school. I wrote a lot of essays, short stories, and poetry back then, and one of my teachers even recommended me to join the journalism club at school but I didn't because I thought my work wasn't good enough.
Fast forward to my sophomore year in high school, I attended a seminar and was placed in a group along with my other classmates. Our batch was divided into groups and we were each assigned with a group leader that would help us with the games and activities. Our group leader had a friend who wrote stories on Wattpad, and she asked us to check out her friend's stories if we were interested. I was already a fan of reading stories, so I checked it out later that night.
The first ever Wattpad story I read was The Despicable Guy by shirlengtearjerky. Her works inspired me to try and write my own stories again.
4. Any artists/singers that inspire you or helps set the mood when you're writing?
- Most recently, I listen to a lot of BTS songs to relax and set the mood for my writing. Spoiler alert, I'm actually working on a series of one-shots and short stories that's inspired by their music!
5. Where do you get your story ideas?
- Mostly I write stories that are based on personal experiences. There were certain moments in my life which I couldn't help but think, "What if this happened instead of that?" and from that, I imagine various outcomes of what would've happened to me or to someone else if it went differently.
6. Balancing wattpad life and real life?
- It's important to put your priorities first (i.e. going to school/studying for exams, spending time with your friends and family, etc.) before your hobbies. I know that for most of us, writing is an outlet, an escape from the harsh reality of the world, but we shouldn't forget about all the hard work we're exerting in order for us to have a bright future. But don't stress yourself out too much, remember to take a break every now and then!
Whatever you're trying to accomplish right now, I'm sure that you're doing awesome! Fighting!
7. How do you overcome negative feedback?
- Each of have our own likes and dislikes, and I absolutely respect that. I'm well aware that not everyone who encounters my stories would automatically love them. That's okay with me.
Whenever I encounter negative comments on my works, I try to understand what they didn't like about it. It's a different story when I read hurtful or offensive comments, though. Comments like that are either ignored or deleted; I don't like dwelling in negativity and most of all, I don't want their negativity to affect me or my writing.
8. Internet safety tips?
- I don't know much about this except for the basics, hahaha.
a. If you're a forgetful person like me, I'd suggest writing down all of your social media accounts' username and password on your phone's notepad so you won't lose any important information.
b. Don't use simple passwords. Use symbols or capital letters or numbers if possible. It's one step to avoid hackers taking over your account! Remember to write it down later if it's a complicated one!
9. Any advice for people who want to write but are too shy or ashamed to try it?
- You don't have to be shy or ashamed about writing! Writing your own stories is a good way to release stress! First and foremost, write for yourself because it's your passion. Write because you want to, because you enjoy it, because you have a message to world that needs to be heard, because you have a beautiful masterpiece that needs to be shared with other people.
Don't be ashamed to tell people that you're a writer; if anything, you should be proud of yourself! Don't be discouraged if people say that you'll get nothing out of writing—you have the power to create magical worlds and amazing, relatable characters that speak so much to other people's emotions and experiences.
10. Will you write stories with happy endings in the future?
- I may or may not be working on a certain OTP's happy ending right now. ;)
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And now, here's the first chapter of Crooked. It's a very personal story for me, and I might release it on late 2018 or early 2019 because I'm still working on it behind the scenes as well as other stories saved in my drafts while I'm in uni. Thank you so much for checking this out! As always, your votes and comments are highly appreciated! 💙
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For two years, Janna had worked as a customer service representative, and honestly, she didn't want to go back to school anymore because she was making money on her own without the help of her parents.
Janna liked being independent. She liked being able to buy whatever the hell she wanted whenever she was in the mood to indulge herself. She liked being able to travel, to step foot on different foreign lands, to meet new people and talk about the differences between her culture and theirs. She liked being able to help her mother with the finances, especially when she was the other half who provided food on the table.
Needless to say, despite the exhausting schedule, Janna liked working—a whole damn lot, really.
She only applied for a job because of her family's financial problems; she and her three younger siblings attended private schools—their father refused to enroll them at a public school. And to quote him, "I don't want my kids to go to public schools because I didn't do that when I was a kid."
Janna's dad, he was a freelance laborer. Right before she landed her job, he was some sort of messenger in a brokerage in the city. Her mom, on the other hand, well, she was a stay-at-home mom.
Their family was far from perfect, but they were happy. Sure, they've had lots of ups and downs throughout the years, but no matter what, they always managed to get through it.
Well, that was before.
Two months after Janna graduated high school, she moved into a dorm near the university she was attending. She was happy with taking up Communication Arts as her course; since in the third year, she was going to take up Journalism as her major.
But Janna didn't get to take up Journalism.
It was two days before their final exams, and it coincided with one of her ex-roommate's birthday. Later that night, Janna, along with her six roommates, threw a small party for her and ate dinner at a small restaurant near their dorm.
After taking pictures, shoving their faces with cake and ice cream, giving the birthday girl her gifts, they decided to walk her home to her new apartment. Everything went well, really. Except for the fact that she sprained her ankle and acquired a deep gash while walking back to their dorm.
To make the long story short, Janna wasn't able to take her final exams that semester, and her parents picked her up a day after the accident happened to take her home.
She opted not to be taken to the hospital; she didn't want to take up any of her parents' time because they were already busy with work and taking care of her younger siblings. She didn't want to be another burden on their shoulders.
Janna ended up being bedridden for two whole months.
She was extremely frustrated with herself for the first few weeks of being unable to move around a lot; she wasn't used to being physically incapable of walking and doing household chores. It was the most frustrating experience of her life.
And to add fuel to the fire—since she wasn't able to take her final exams—her grades went downhill, her rent still wasn't paid for, and so was half of her tuition fee. Also, she noticed that her dad started getting really bad mood swings lately. It pissed her off.
Everything was turning into shit.
And because she still wasn't able to pay for her academic fees, she wasn't eligible to enroll for the next semester. That was the first time she had to stop going to school. Well, the only good thing she was happy about was the fact that she could walk straight again and she didn't need to rely on crutches anymore.
It was okay at first, really. Janna could relax at home, watch TV series that she'd missed, and sleep whenever she wanted to. But still, she missed going to school, and she missed hanging out with her roommates and the group of friends she had at the university.
After a few months of her recovery, Janna was shocked when she found out that she wasn't going to attend the same university anymore—her parents decided to force her into shifting courses, insisting that she'd be better off with finishing a degree that had something to do with businesses and brokerages.
Being the obedient daughter she was, Janna hesitantly agreed on transferring to a community college that was only half an hour away from her house.
So that's what happened. But after passing the entrance examination and submitting the needed requirements for enrollment, her dad insisted on starting over with a clean slate—the subjects she'd taken up in her previous university weren't credited.
That academic year, Janna was a freshman again and had a full load of subjects instead of only having two or three if she'd credited everything she'd taken up before. She decided that it was alright after all—she had more stock knowledge than most of her classmates, so that meant an easy A.
Janna liked being one of the smartest people in her class.
As time passed, she noticed that her parents were fighting a lot more lately. Growing up, she was always aware of their shouts and curses that echoed throughout their house. Her younger siblings were just as aware as she was. They got used to it and they tried their best to tolerate it whenever it became worse. Sometimes, whenever their parents' fights would occur during the night, they'd simply close their eyes tighter and tune out all the screams that never failed to haunt their dreams.
Most of the time, she'd never get an amount of sleep because of it. She always wondered how her siblings could sleep through it all.
One day, their family received another round of bad news—all of a sudden, after being kicked out of the company he was working at because of his cocky attitude and irritatingly loud voice, her dad had lost all hope in applying for a new job. He became mopey and depressed again, just like that time when his application papers for overseas jobs were refused by every company he tried to apply in.
Her mom was the one who revealed his dirty little secret one night.
Turns out, her dad had been dealing, selling, and doing drugs behind their backs for the past five years. Sometimes he did it at work, sometimes he did it inside their own house—inside their own bathroom.
So that's why he always took long showers—that's where the unfamiliar pungent smell came from. That's why her secret stash of money only had several coins inside it instead of paper bills. That's why their fridge didn't have that much food anymore, despite his weekly salaries being larger than the usual. That's why he had erratic mood swings, bloodshot eyes, and an uncontrollable temper.
In her head, she'd done the math and realized that he'd been doing it since she was in high school.
Her dad was becoming a monster.
Personally, Janna wanted to turn him in. But of course, her mother couldn't do it; she didn't have the heart to do it to her beloved husband. So she just let her poor mother cry into her shoulder for the rest of the night and decided to keep quiet.
And just like before, her tuition fees became too much to handle—Janna didn't take her final exams for the second time around.
There had been several times, wherein her dad would go out of the house and come back the next morning—sometimes two or three days later—not even bothering to spare them some change to buy food. She had never felt so helpless and pathetic in her entire life.
Janna didn't care if she went hungry. What mattered to her was her siblings, her mother. It pained her whenever the kids would ask her when they were going to eat, what they were going to eat. She was completely heartbroken.
Never mind the fact that she cherished her collection of books; what she wanted to do was sell everything she had so they had food on the table, and her family wouldn't go hungry again for a few hours.
So that's what she did—she sold her entire collection of books online and bought food from the grocery store afterwards. It made her heart feel warm and happy when she saw their relieved faces upon noticing the various plates of food on their table.
Her dad, he absolutely disapproved of either her or her mom working. According to her mom, it would damage his pride a whole fucking lot, if either of them tried to apply for a job anywhere. He even threw a huge fit several times to prove his point.
But desperate times called for desperate measures. Even though her mom was overage already, she still tried to apply for jobs. Janna was there with her, during her mom's first interview. She ended up applying for a job as well; she knew how much it would help their family more.
Their applications and job interviews were clandestine efforts; but eventually, her mom told her husband about it. Truth be told, Janna tried her best not to scream when her dad threw another goddamned fit, but as usual, her mom did her best to calm him down and explain why they even bothered to apply for jobs in the first place.
All her mom wanted was for him to go back to his old self and start applying for overseas jobs. She had so much faith him, so much hope, and sometimes, even though Janna didn't want to think of it, she thought that it was pretty stupid for her mom to do so. She thought that her mom was just too blinded by her love, trust, faith, and hope for him.
Her mom believed that he was able to change for the better, because that's what he promised her. Again.
It pissed off Janna every time she'd hear her mom delude herself that her husband could change.
Both of them were accepted as customer service representatives in the same company, but under different accounts.
Everything was doing so well. Miraculously, they managed to pay off her tuition fees in both schools and they did their best in paying for her siblings' fees, too, and her dad's seminars and training sessions.
But of course, not everything in her life was meant to be happy and peaceful.
On a Sunday morning, Janna found something weird under her bed. Immediately, she showed it to her mom and asked her what it was. Her mother's eyes, she'd never seen someone's eyes hold so much sadness, disappointment, and grief at the same time.
When her dad came home from his mother's house, her parents got into a huge fight. It wasn't a very pretty sight. Janna opted to retreat into her parents' room, convincing her younger siblings that everything was going to be alright over and over again.
Janna was convincing herself the hardest.
Her mom ended up throwing out her husband for the fifth or sixth time that year. And honestly, Janna wished for him to never come back in their lives.
It wasn't that hard to get used to living without a father—after all, even when he was still staying with them, he wasn't around all the time, anyway.
Finally, after a long time, Janna was able to breathe.
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To celebrate the #WattpadBlockParty, I'll be giving away two character aesthetics to one lucky winner! My giveaway is open internationally!
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ENTER THE WATTPAD BLOCK PARTY GIVEAWAYS BY CLICKING HERE: Shortened Link to Blog: https://goo.gl/2c6YUP
OR HERE:
Regular Link to Blog: http://kellyanneblountauthor.blogspot.com/2018/07/wattpad-block-party-giveaways-summer.html