❤ Interviewing Writers ❤

DelaneyBrenna

1) Is writing your full-time career? Or would you like it to be?

"Writing is not my full-time career. I am currently a full-time University Grad student and while I love to write it's not the primary career I'm hoping to have. I'm an avid environmentalist and am hoping to get into a career in conservation biology. I'm hoping that one day I'll be able to bridge both my love of literature and writing and my love of nature in some kind of project but for now writing is just something that I like to do for fun, although I would love to see something of mine published one day."

2) What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?
"For me the single most important element of good writing is having strong grammar and a clear plot line. As a reader, I'm willing to read books that are a bit more cliché and without a lot of character depth so long as the grammar is good and the book is entertaining. The moment I become distracted by a lot of misspelled words or poor sentence structures then I tend to quit on a book and find something else to read."

3) Writing can be an emotionally draining and a very stressful pursuit. Do you have any tips for aspiring or young writers?
"Writing can be an emotionally draining and a very stressful pursuit. Do you have any tips for aspiring or young writers?The one thing I always tell people is to write for yourself first and for others later. In this, I mean to find a project that you like to work on and don't concern yourself too much with updating on a strict schedule just to appease your readers. While scheduling updates can be good for time management, I've often found in my own writing that when I stick to a schedule, the quality of my work decreases. This is because I'm more concerned with publishing it then actually paying attention to my characters and the world that I'm building. I also generally tell people not to force it. If you start working on a project and after a few chapters you start to get bored, then find something else to write (and maybe come back to this project later). If you get bored of your writing, chances are that your readers will get bored too. Plus, it's a lot easier to write and enjoy writing when you genuinely like your characters. I tend to write about 10 chapters of a book before I start posting it because by then I have a pretty good idea on if I'm going to like writing it. If I'm having a hard time getting through 10 chapters, there's no way I'm going to be able to write 20-30 more."

4) What was your favorite part, and your least favorite part, of the writing journey?
"The hardest part of writing is not receiving validation for what you're doing. It's really difficult to be posting and not having any feedback, positive or negative. It can feel like no one out there is interested in what you're putting out (which is especially hard when there are some books at the top of the charts that have poor grammar and overdone plots). In the past I've taken books down or completely scrapped them because I haven't gotten the validation or feedback that I was hoping to get from them and that can be very discouraging. The absolute BEST thing about writing though is being able to connect with people. When readers do eventually find your book (and they will!) being able to connect with them is really special. I've had really amazing conversations with people about my books and about life in general outside of books/Wattpad. It's great to be a part of that community and every single comment, vote, private message, etc. always manage to bring a smile to my face when I receive them."

5) How many books have you written? Which is your favorite and why?

"To date I have written about 10-12 completed books; however, not all of them are on Wattpad. A few I have had posted previously and have removed while I undergo edits/re-writes while there are others that I have written and are near completion but have never been posted. The latter are books that I may or may not ever put up on Wattpad and were more just fun projects I work on whenever I get writer's block on the books that I do post.It's hard to pick a favourite but I'd have to say 'Mayfly Melodies.' It was the first book I decided to tackle as more of an adult-centric romance (as opposed to teen fic) and also the first book I wrote in 3rd person with switching perspectives. Overall it was just a really fun and exciting book to work on and I never got bored of being in that story."

6) Do you have a favorite character that you have written? If so, who? And what makes them so special?

"Again, it's really hard to pick a favourite character. Each character I've written has something of me in them somewhere so I feel connected to all of them. Overall, I'd say my absolute favourite main character is 'Noah Hartley' from 'Mayfly Melodies'. Noah was a character that ended up quite different from how I'd originally intended to write him but he stands to be one of my favourites. He had a traumatic experience in his past that I decided to make a central theme in the novel and through him I wanted to normalize grief and PTSD and show that men can be both strong and tough and vulnerable all at the same time. He was really special to me because he was also a character that very much put others before himself and I've always thought that there is something really interesting about that form of self-sacrifice. Through it all he was also a person who was funny and charming and just an all-around good guy so he's definitely a character I loved to work on."

7) Is it easier to write romance genre or fantasy genre?

"I wouldn't necessarily say that one is easier to write than the other. On Wattpad I've personally had more success writing romance than fantasy (though I am currently working on a fantasy piece that may be posted in the near future) but I think that just comes down to the fact that I've practiced more with romance than I have with fantasy. Personally I find it difficult to find an original storyline that hasn't been overdone in both genres so it's really important that the characters and motivations are strong. If you're going to have a plotline that has been done a thousand times over, then you need to find a way to set your story a part from the others. I tend to find that this is easiest in the backstories of your characters and finding them unique challenges to overcome throughout the course of the book. Personally, I've been trying to incorporate more issues surrounding mental health and PTSD into my books and I'm currently in the planning stage for a romance book that is entirely centred on the LGBTQ community because you don't get to see many popular romance books that outside of the straight male-female relationships and I'd love to see something different and fully representative of what love is today in book form."
8 )How many plot ideas are just waiting to be written? Can you tell us about one?

"I have so many unwritten plot lines it's gotten a little bit ridiculous lol. I have an entire document that has plot ideas and character names that have yet to be used (I think as it stands right now I'm up to about 40 unwritten plot lines and this includes books I know that I will never write but would LOVE to read so if anyone ever wants help developing a plot line feel free to message me!). There are a few projects I have in reserve right now that will hopefully be written soon. I've decided to try my hand at writing a supernatural fiction again so I'm working on a book following a character who hunts down supernatural creatures but faces a moral issue when she is unable to kill a creature she is sent to dispatch. I'm also working on the sequel to my novel 'A Game of Secrets and Lies'. The sequel is espionage-oriented, like the first, but even more is at stake in this second book. I'm currently mid-way through a fiction semi-romance novel entitled 'Thirty-One Letters' which is following a girl as she overcomes the grief of losing her twin brother via completing challenges he wrote for her prior to his death and this is one that is being uploaded as often as I can to Wattpad."

9) What's your favorite novel that you have read as an adult that first comes to mind and what audiences do you recommend it to?

"What's your favorite novel that you have read as an adult that first comes to mind and what audiences do you recommend it to?This is a really hard question because I love to read everything! I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and dystopian so anything that is in that realm is generally on my to-read list. I think one of my favourites continues to be 'The Host' by Stephanie Meyer. While I was not the biggest fan of the 'Twilight' series, I found 'The Host' to be a really interesting take on the alien genre and is a book that I continually go back to no matter how many times I've read it. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes sci-fi or romance. The themes are not too mature overall so while it is classified as adult fiction I'd probably recommend it to teens as well. 10) What famous author do you wish would be your mentor?I'd love to get mentored by authors like Cassandra Clare, S.J. Mass, G.R.R. Martin, or J.K. Rowling because I think it's incredible the way that they were all able to build truly fantastical worlds and this is something that I struggle with. I've been able to teach myself about writing romance and teen fic but I'd love to get a crash course in writing an entirely new world as well."

10) What famous author do you wish would be your mentor?

"I'd love to get mentored by authors like Cassandra Clare, S.J. Mass, G.R.R. Martin, or J.K. Rowling because I think it's incredible the way that they were all able to build truly fantastical worlds and this is something that I struggle with. I've been able to teach myself about writing romance and teen fic but I'd love to get a crash course in writing an entirely new world as well."