Client: Fata_Viola

Interviewer: LadyLightScribe

Congratulations Fata_Viola on winning first place in the Sapphire Stories Award for Home Free the second book of your book series Stories of The Purple Pearl. I am ecstatic to have this opportunity to interview You.

What was the inspiration behind your award-winning book? Can you tell us about the spark that ignited the idea?

Since this is a sequel, my main inspiration originates from the first installment of the series. Herera was actually a side character I played in a Dungeons & Dragons session with my brother. He did a campaign with his friends with time travel so for this session I got to choose the time period and setting. I chose pirates! The background story I had to (more like wanted to) write, was the main inspiration for the first book and the start of the whole series.

During the writing of Home Free, however, I was journeying through New Zealand for a few months. The nature, quietness, picturesque towns, and basically everything there, inspired me to create the world in which this book would take place, and later the story it would tell. Mostly, New Zealand proved to me that one island (although Incinerate Island is a little smaller) can have intricate woods, cute and cultural towns, impressive cliffs, sand dunes, misty mountains, and quiet coastlines all in one country. That's how Incinerate Island was born, and that's how I started writing this book.

How does it feel to have received this award, and what does it mean to you?

It's amazing of course to know that people actually read, enjoy and appreciate my work. I'm pretty okay with receiving negative criticism, but praise is always nicer.

It's funny because we know that Wattpad awards aren't "the biggest thing in the world". You don't get money out of it, you don't get contacted by a publisher, and yet, it feels like the most important thing that can happen for my books. Especially when it comes from a community like yours. That means my book has reached a community with readers who are actually interested in my book and like it, and that means so much to me. That's one of the reasons I publish my books on platforms like Wattpad.

How does it feel to have your hard work pay off and receive so many awards for this specific book?

A bit like I said before. I don't necessarily write for the praise, but it is still nice to know that people like and enjoy it. It confirms that I am doing some things right, but most awards come together with feedback, so there are still things I can do better. It both reassures me and encourages me to continue writing.

If you had to give a new reader a teaser to your book, what would it be?

That's so difficult because there are so many different dimensions in this one. For Herera, it would be easy. Just one of the many action scenes, but Home Free has action scenes, some emotional moments, romance problems, political issues, descriptions of different atmospheres...

I think I would give some snipped from Chapter 2 where Herera talks with her childhood friend, Frido. This conversation raises a lot of questions about the town, the woods, the magic, the people, and already teases that there are some underwater species in the picture as well.

Or I'd just give Herera's quote from the end of Chapter 1. "Going home. Ending slavery would definitely be easier." That pretty much sets the tone, hahaha!

If you could have dinner with any fictional character from your fantasy novel Home Free, who would it be and why?

Definitely Lemington. That gnome has been around for so long, he must have the craziest stories to listen too. He can be goofy, but also serious. Funny, but wise. I think I could learn a lot from him ad just have a nice evening at the same time.

What's the craziest or most memorable thing that's happened to you since becoming an author?

Looking back now, it was probably not the biggest thing ever, but at the moment, it felt pretty awesome. I won a Belgian publisher's contest with a short story of mine, and they published it in a short story collection. So, I had a contract for 2 years with an actual publisher. Of course, it didn't sell pretty well (short story collections aren't the big money-bringers), but it gave me such a confidence boost and some recognition at an actual publisher. The contract is over now, I didn't earn more than 10 euro, but I still sometimes think of that moment when I got the message that they were going to publish my work. It was amazing!

Can you tell us about your favorite writing spot? Do you have a dedicated office or favorite coffee shop?

I'm going to sound corny, but I love writing together with my girlfriend. She is a writer too on Wattpad and we often just spend whole weekends on the couch together with our laptops writing our own stories

with a cup of coffee, occasionally helping each other out or throwing writer's block-frustrations at each other or wasting hours looking for one specific English word.

When we go on a city trip or on a vacation, we often drag our laptops with us, just in case we find a nice spot to settle down for a few hours and write. We did the same in New-Zealand .

If you could switch lives with any character from Home Free for a day, who would it be and why?

Probably Catharina. She is nice, beautiful, smart, has cool magical and shapeshifting powers and she is loved by everyone. I don't really care about that in real life, but if I were a member of a pirate ship, I'd want to be involved in the cool activities and being badass and loved is a good start, I think.

Can you walk us through the writing process for this particular book? Were there any challenges or surprises along the way?

Like I already said, the island is inspired by the nature and stories I learned in New-Zealand. Creating Absorb Wood, the Underwater World and Port Ember went surprisingly easy. While working those out individually, the possible problems between them emerged quite naturally as well. So world building was certainly not a problem.

My characters walking around the island, however, that was a problem at some point. I sometimes still take inspiration from DnD sessions, and I often let some characters go on a side quest, like researching something, buying something, ... very logical things they have to do when docking at an island. The result was that at some point I lost track of all these side line tasks. I ended up re-reading the whole thing and creating a document titled "who is where, when, doing what?" to keep track of every single crew member during every chapter. That made me realize I had a dozen problems to solve with only 2 chapters left. So, Home Free became a little longer than I had planned, hahaha!

What do you hope readers take away from your award-winning book?

I hope this won't be received the wrong way, but one of my favorite story lines in this book is the shift in mindset from certain characters about one specific theme.

One of the main problems on Incinerate Island is the prejudice and – like they explicitly say at some point – racism towards other species. I wanted to bring up this topic from different approaches, including some of the less likable sides. It's all very popular when you write narrow-minded people who stay narrow-minded morons, or when you write the tolerant heroes fighting racism and bringing peace and inclusion to the world. But there are other dimensions within this topic. For example, someone who was raised by the narrow-minded people and just followed their advice, not thinking for themselves. Maybe those people deserve a chance at redemption. And maybe the tolerant people are being too harsh om some of the narrow-minded people, not being able to look at the situation from their perspective.

I know that this is a dangerous line to walk upon, because many readers will apply this to the real-world problems of discrimination. So, to be clear, many points I make in this story are not applicable to our real world. Some are. I just hope to give a light-hearted approach to not only the two far-ends of this theme, but also the different shades in between.

What's the most surprising or unexpected reaction you've received from a reader?

Not very unexpected, but just a funny one: "Wow, you really knew what you were doing while writing this." That's hilarious, because I never do.

What's the best writing advice you've ever received, and who gave it to you?

"The reader is not stupid."

I got this from my creative writing teacher at university. Sure, you should describe things to the reader, but remember that a reader is also a person with a brain, who lives in the same world as the writer does.

When a character enters an underground dungeon, the reader will already make the surroundings dark. Instead of describing the darkness that the reader already made up for themselves, you should describe the one little light source from the small window, or the smell that hangs in the dungeon or some markings against the walls.

When a character leans against the door frame, do you really have to describe that it's with the shoulder against the inside of the doorframe with some weight slightly on one leg? Do you really think the reader would automatically put him with his forehead against the wall behind the door still leaning on both legs evenly? That's just illogical and no reader will automatically make that picture in their minds.

Ironically, this teacher and I did not get along. We had very different perceptions on what fiction could be and should be, so I often got bad grades for her course. But still, this is one piece of advice I kept with me and I regularly give to other people as well.

How do you handle criticism or negative reviews? Do you have any strategies for dealing with tough feedback?

I learned to take criticism during my studies. I studied applied linguistics with a master's degree in translation. Most of my time was spent peer-reading my co-students' translations, and rewriting my own translations when getting their feedback. In year one, we didn't dare say one bad thing about each other's work, and by the end of the last year, our documents were flooded with red markings and harsh comment on what could be better. Gradually I learned to put my writings separate from myself, and that criticism on my work should not be a personal attack on me. Basically, I hardened myself against the emotional damage negative reviews can cause, hahaha!! But it took me a few years to learn that, and of course, sometimes bad reviews still hurt. We're only human, after all, and our books are still personal works.

Lastly Are you working on any new projects that you can tell us about?

Always! I plan to make The Purple Pearl a series of 10 novella's. Book 3, 5 and part of 8 is already forming in my head, but I'm currently actually working on another story.

The Eternal Ice will be my first real novel (I consider The Purple Pearl books more as novella's), and it will be the first book of a trilogy. It is a fantasy novel, set in a poor, dry land with some kind of feudal system. Higher lords and superiors exploit the townspeople to the extend that you could call it slavery. The story will start with the main character living in one of those poor towns, but things change – physically, romantically and magically – when a foreign warrior woman arrives at the town, bringing new mysteries to the scene and setting new events in motion.

Thank you for taking the time to complete this interview and sharing your passion for storytelling. I look forward to seeing how your book series evolves and to any future projects you choose to pursue. The Gemme Community supports you and wishes you all the best!

-LadyLightScribe

With pleasure and thank you very much for these lovely questions. Talking about writing is just so fun! I loved it. All the best! Xx Fata_Viola