Interviews With Wattpad Authors

Interview with shygabs + A/N

*A/N: I can't add anymore people to the cast list. It only lets me add a certain amount of people and I've reached that limit. I had to stop and JustAdriana, unfortunately.*

I interviewed shygabs next, who wrote the story Prince with Benefits. I really love this story, which, as of this interview, has almost 40 million reads. Here's the interview:

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Do you have any advice for up and coming wattpad writers?
My advice, and if you've read any other interview it may feel repetitive, is always to write for yourself. Your passion and love for your story will make it different and even if you're still unnoticed, don't sweat it, keep writing and keep reading others stories and always vote and leave a nice constructive message. In my case, if I like a comment or message, I always check out the people's profile and sometimes, if I like their story, I read it without them asking me to.

Did you do anything specific to have your story become popular?
I did the R4R or C4C thing at first. But I honestly don't know how it happened. I always try to read and answer private messages, even if I take weeks or even months to answer and I tried to comment on every message on my story. Now, I just read them and comment randomly. I guess it had to do with the fact that I wrote a story I'd love to read. That's it.

Is there a writer on Wattpad, or an author in general, who influenced your style of writing?
I've read a lot in here. The first ones that come to mind are Jordan Lynde, Kate (Darknessandlight) and Kay (kpcglover) I'm not sure if I spelled their names right. I love to read and every time I read and find a word that I don't know the meaning or a phrase that catches my eye, I write it. And I go back to that list always when writing a new chapter.

Can you relate to your characters?
I guess there's a little bit of ourselves in each and all of them. I relate to Emily because she's latin and clumsy, like me :) and my husband is constantly teasing me like Scott teases her. But right now, I feel more connected to Cassie from Turn Around. I'm writing everything I felt when my mom passed away...so I have to say that she's probably most like me.

Did you ever imagine you'd be in this position?
No. I never imagined that. It still feels weird when someone thanks me for answering their message. I mean, I'm just a regular person, like you and me, so I think it's really cute and kind of weird when it happens.

How did you find out about Wattpad?
That's actually a funny story. I had just given birth to my second child and my sister gave me in Ipod, so on one of those sleepless nights I found myself on the AppStore searching for iBooks or something similar and wattpad was my first choice on books, so I downloaded it and clicked on the first complete story that appeared on the screen: A proscriptive relationship...and OMG I found a new world of books and writers and I got completely addicted to it :)

Who's your favorite author?
At first I was going to go with Jane Austen but then I remembered J.K.Rowling and Veronica Roth...haha I have a few, but those three are on the top of my list.

Do you think you'll still be writing in the future?
Yes. Without a doubt. I've discovered that I love writing. Like really love it. :) It's now a part of my life to be here in wattpad :)

What was your reaction when you first hit over a million reads?
I didn't know how it happened. Really. One day PWB was 20,000 (still a lot) and the next thing I know it was over 2 millions...it was just crazy. I don't have the time to be glued to wattpad so it came out as a surprise to me. Still is. How I felt? I don't know...I'm still surprised at it. It still feels surreal.

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Thanks to shygabs for making this interview happen! Check her out and read her story Prince with Benefits.