Welcome to the Wattpad Block Party - Summer Edition III!
Round SIX of this popular event is coming your way the entire month of August 2017 and it's going to be epic! The invites have started to roll out and everyone from your all time favorite Wa...
It's the hilariously evil Saralee Relasay Arystenn, the one and only Ice Queen of Lessaenes! (That sounded better in my head...I promise). Today, I'm excited to share with you three never-before-seen facts about the inspiration behind my soon-to-be-published science fiction novel, Glitches, one of which may or may not have something to do with ice cream. Make sure to stick with me to the end, because there will be a special giveaway!
Watches
In all honesty, I love watches. You might say it's just another one of those weird, geeky things about me, but the truth is, I could sit in a chair watching the hands of a fancy, old watch tick for hours on end. And one special day, three summers ago, that's exactly what I was doing. Except, I wasn't just looking at the watch...I was thinking. As I stared at the little slivers of metal go around and around, something happened. Something clicked. I realized what I had to do to give my overused idea of a lost princess story some semblance of uniqueness- I had to give it the element of time. Now, I know this sounds like the most cliché inspiration story you've ever heard, but I can assure you it really happened...as surely as I can assure you I'm not actually an alien Ice Queen trying to take over the world through this little website you humans call Wattpad.
2. Bread
Now, all readers of the Glitches series know that the snarky, self-absorbed antagonist, Queen Saralee, is named after me (or I could actually be her...you can never know for sure on the Internet, can you?) The less known truth, however, is that she's also named after this:
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Yes, that's right. I was going through possible names for a villain as I did my homework when I decided to grab a piece of toast. The brand name on the bag of bread caught my eye, and the triple-coincidence worked its magic: the Ice Queen who remained unnamed for almost one and a half books finally became Saralee.
3. Ice Cream
Yep, we're finally here! I was about to say something about ice cream....ah, yes! Strawberry ice cream. My username lets you know that it's a favorite of mine right off the bat, but what if I told you that the pinkish sweet treat also played a huge part in shaping the plot of Glitches? Now, before we get into that, let's set the stage: I'm not talking about the cheap strawberry ice cream you might find in the middle of a two-dollar popsicle- I'm talking about the creamy goodness straight off the top of a cup with real, frozen strawberries inside. It's important to remember those frozen strawberries...they're what inspired the Glitches in Glitches.
Now, how, exactly did my brain get from strawberry to teenager with superpowers? Allow me to explain: the strawberries are the bumps in a world of smooth ice cream, just as the Glitches' use of their powers disrupts the relative calm of the coded world around them. The strawberries have the "power" to give you a serious brainfreeze, while the rest of the ice cream can't really do much to an experienced eater. The Glitches are the same way- powerful in ways that regular people aren't.
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I know what you're thinking: why in the world would anyone want to know about watches, bread, and strawberry ice cream? The truth is, it's not about the watches, bread, and strawberry ice cream- it's about the story I pieced together using elements from ordinary, everyday items. People often ask me how I stay inspired, and this is the "secret": don't wait for inspiration to come to you, take it from the people and things that are all around you. Inspiration doesn't always come in a huge epiphany...sometimes, it just comes in a bowl of ice cream (or in a Wattpad Block Party post by some random author named Saralee Arystenn.)
And that's all for today! To celebrate the Wattpad Block Party and all of the wonderful bookishness going on here, I will be giving away a shoutout AND a critique of a chapter of ANY book to TWO lucky winners! My giveaway is open internationally! You can find the link to enter below this post.
Thanks so much for reading, and feel free to keep up with my profile for the latest news on Glitches as it approaches publication.
Stay Glitchspired!
<3 Saralee
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