365 Interviews

Interview 64: starlightt

1. Can you tell me about yourself?

My name is Daven. I'm sixteen years old (almost seventeen), a junior in high school, and from the irritatingly sunny California. I love writing, but I also spend a lot of time reading, baking, and surfing the internet. I dance too, and have for about five or six years now. Oh, and I like to eat. A lot.

2. What inspired you to write?

When I was little, my best friend at the time suggested that we become famous authors, and since I thought it was just that easy, I was totally on board. I stopped writing for quite a few years after that, but started again in 8th grade because I rediscovered my love for it, and I haven't stopped since.

3. If you could have one of your characters come to life who would it be and why? What would you do with them?

Oh god, that is such a hard question... I'm inclined to say Sam, but that would mean taking him away from Ellery, and I couldn't do that. I guess I'd have to say Aeryn; she's a kick-ass baker, and I feel like she'd be a sort of older sister to me. We'd definitely have a lot of fun (except I don't think I'd be able to handle her soap opera fixation... I'd have to introduce her to Doctor Who).

4. Where do the your ideas come from?

Everywhere! Sometimes I'm staring out the window and an idea comes to me... or I'm watching a movie... or I overhear part of a conversation and it just hits me.

5. Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

In the past year or so, I've started using pretty detailed outlines, especially when it comes to shaping character and setting. I'm a bit more lax on the plots because those always change even if you plan them, but I like to have a general idea of where my story is going to go, so I don't get stuck.

6. How do you think you've evolved creatively?

Wow, well... I think I've come a long way in being able to actually use writing as a form of expression without outright barfing (maybe not the best word for this) my emotions and experiences onto paper exactly as they happen. I've learned to channel my creativity and the things I feel into my characters and adapt them into their situations, and I think that makes them more realistic.

7.What is the hardest thing about writing?

Writing. Okay, that's a bad answer. But seriously, it's hard to start writing and keep at it. Writing is so, so, SO much fun, but it also takes a substantial amount of effort and sometimes I just want to...not.

8. Would you call yourself a wattpad celebrity? Why so or why not?

Nah, I don't consider myself a Wattpad celebrity. I guess it's because regardless of the numbers of fans and reads (all of which I'm super duper grateful for), I'm still just a normal teenager outside of Wattpad; I don't live some kind of crazy untouchable celebrity life. Like, honestly, I barely leave my bedroom.

9. Are you working on any new story you can tell me about?

I am! It's called Dream Locked, and it's a dystopian story. It centers around two characters, Ellie Andrews and Isaac Cole, who live X number of years in the future in a small, independent nation called Tricirca. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but it's heavily focused on dreams... it's also the first story I've ever written in third person, and I'm quite excited for it.

10. What is your favorite quote?

"In the depth of winter, I finally found that within me there lives an invincible summer." - Albert Camus

11. What is your favorite film and why?

This surprises a lot of people, but it's Silence of the Lambs. Anthony Hopkins was so brilliant as Hannibal, and it's literally such a creepy movie but it's also so clever and the acting and wow wow wow, I love it.

12. Where can you see yourself in 5 years time?

In college, hopefully! I'm not sure where yet, but if all goes well I'll be off at college majoring in English and still writing. Maybe not for a living, but definitely still writing.

13. Imagine your main character dies on page one.  Everything else remains the same. Describe the new plot to your book.

Oh. Wow. Um, okay, let's see. I'll take Beautiful Dreamer. So, if Parker were to die on the first page, it would presumably be because of the demons/sleep paralysis. I think then, Logan and Juliette would team up to find out what killed her. Logan would be his same skeptical self, but Juliette would be more superstitious and probably would be able to convince Logan that all the weird stuff is real. And Parker's mom, I think, would be more of an antagonist, because she would be keeping a LOT of secrets about Parker's death. And then there probably would have been some kind of romance between Juliette and Logan, because best friends brought together by grief and all that. Oh, and Laury and Aubrey would probably be a lot more important.

14. What advice would you give to your younger self?

Take more risks. Don't spend freshman year terrified of everyone; put yourself out there. Don't trust the average person so easily, but know that you can trust your friends with anything. And when it comes to your friends, remember that even if you sometimes disagree, they really are there for you, and they care. But you have to show them that, or they'll move on.

15. Which famous person, living or dead would you like to meet and why?

AMELIA EARHART I can't even tell you why, I just love her so much and I think she's amazing and I love her story and I want to meet her.

16. If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?

"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. That man is a genius, and the amount of emotion in that book even though it's so simple is amazing. And the descriptions - they are the most unique and beautiful things ever, the entire story is just brilliant and the whole time I was reading it, I was just thinking "Man, I wish I could write like this."

17. What was the easiest part of writing?

I don't know if it's a part so much as a point; there's this point where everything suddenly clicks, and the words are flowing so quickly that you can barely type fast enough, and it's like the universe and your characters are sitting there beside you and saying, "Hey, don't worry. We know what we're doing. We've got this. Just write."

18.Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

I've learned a lot through writing, but the most important thing is probably that I have to write for myself. I love my readers, and I appreciate their inputs and opinions and everything, but ultimately, the plot and the characters are at my disposal, and I should write them the way I feel that they should be written. That, I think, is important for every writer. Not everyone will like your writing if you don't cater to the masses, but you will - and when you find people who do, they will really love it, because it'll be real.

19.Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

I love you guys. So, so, so, so much. Your support of my writing means the absolute world to me.

20. Do you have any advice for other writers?

Don't stop. If you love writing, don't ever stop. Sometimes, it'll suck; you'll have days where you want to scrap everything and burn all your journals and just go back to reading because it seems like that's all you're good at. But if you want to write, you CAN, and you SHOULD. It's tedious, it's painful, it's annoying at times...but honestly? It's worth it.