ღೋ Hello, Wattpad readers and writers! ღೋ
 
I'm Anna Santos,

Most known for being the author of "Captive", the Young Adult book which I've been working on for the past seven months; and the author of the story: "Soul Mate".

I'm a Wattpad writer for one and half years. It amazes me how long has been since I first started in this website, another unknown person, sharing my first stories in English; and amazed by the number of stories and readers in this website.

Wattpad has allowed me to connect with readers and build an impressive fan base for my books. Something I have never dreamed possible when I first joined this amazing website.

My lifelong dream has been to be an author. My passion lies with my stories, and it would be amazing for me if I could make my living as a writer, as well as giving back to my wonderful, supportive fans through Wattpad. I still have a lot of work to make that dream come true. For now, I enjoy sharing my "worlds" and characters with my readers, and keep improving my writing.

Reviews and comments have been highly positive and encouraging, but I'm not going to spam you with those here. You can always read some in my books.

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 For this Block Party, I didn't know what exactly I should write. It's never easy to write about ourselves or our work. So, I asked my fans/readers if they had any question they wanted to ask me. Of course, that I won't put spoilers about the story. Therefore, next, there are some of the pertinent questions that people asked about me, specifically.

 ═══  ೋღ♥ Questions asked by my readers♥ღೋ══

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 1.      When did I begin to write?

I began "writing" when I was a small child. I didn't know how to write yet, but I would grab a pen and I would scribbled waves, forms in a sheet, just because I wanted to write. When I was four, I was always asking my mom: when will I go to school so I can learn how to write? Of course that I didn't have an idea of what was writing. No one in my home was a writer, my dad used to read books in his summer living room. I would play with my dolls, and I would make stories up with them. So, I was always extremely creative.

When I was old enough to write, I wrote poetry, small poems for school and the usual essays. Nothing extraordinary. I liked to draw too, I copied stuff into my desk (what was not good since I would get detention because of that). The first short story I wrote it when I was eleven. I have it somewhere, something really lame. Then I wrote an even worse story when I was 12. At the age of 14, I wrote my first novel. It was a fan based fiction, 'cause I had a huge crush with one of a boy band singers (blushes). And when I was 16, I wrote my first high fantasy story. I have 5 books of it, one universe with mythology and a language with a dictionary and grammar included. They are on my language, so I can't share with you.

I just began to write in English, almost three years ago. "Guardian Angel" was my first one, just for fun, when angels weren't trendy. I wrote short stories. "Soul Mate" is my first novel, supernatural one, because I adore paranormal things. But I wasn't aware of the world of alphas, vampires and stuff that was happening in Wattpad. I had no idea it was trendy or that my story was so different, because there was no rejection on it. XD But I'm glad to write something different. I'm just sad I can't share my Portuguese high fantasy novel.

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2.      What inspires me to write?

I have no idea. I just imagine different things, worlds, lives, since I'm little. I think I read somewhere that writers are the only ones allowed to be schizophrenic. I have to agree with that. I never felt normal. I couldn't live without writing. I can stay some time without it, but I wouldn't be me, if I wouldn't write. I would also be sadder without my characters, my worlds.

People in my family think that I'm odd, or just intellectual, so they don't really pay too much attention to it, I'm just different from them. I don't share with them this part of my personality. Not even with my "friends". I had a close friend when I was younger, she read my stuff. We would share a lot of things in common. We grew apart, like most of us do from our teenager friends. Hey, but I have you all now :).

Having several people reading my stories is overwhelming. I knew that I liked to write, but I have to tell you, that here (my country), writing is not a life's solution or professional career alternative. It's a big step back. My mom always said that I should stop wasting my time with this. I should be like the other kids were. I was, kind of, I was just quieter, I guess.  I would rather spend my time writing and reading than watching TV or going out. But that didn't stop me of doing those things.

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3.      Why do I write?

Because I must, because I can't live without it. Because I have a fascination with words, feelings, and I write because when I read what I wrote, it makes me feel good, even if I have to change it or I think isn't exactly what I wanted to be.

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4.      Will you try and publish this book (talking about "Captive")?

Well, yes, but I need money for that, since I need to pay an editor and an artist to make me a nice cover. Not just Captive. My immortal series have four books planned. I've in the verge of finishing the second, I've already started the third and have ideas for the fourth. I think every writer wants to publish, but I don't want to publish something without having it neat and professional looking. If it was my own language, I didn't have to worry about the editing, but English isn't my language, so I need someone to edit and as I found out, editing is what costs more nowadays.

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5 - One thing I do wish to know is when you are writing your chapters do you have them all planned out with what you want to happen, or do you just go with the flow and write whatever comes to mind?

When I start a story, it's like a puzzle being built. Sometimes, I know a lot about the past of a character, it plays in my mind; others, it builds along the story. But I don't write the story in a linear way, it's recursive. Meaning that I can write chapters that haven't happened yet and then get back to fill the blanks with the other chapters necessary to give structure and coherence to the narrative.

I guess that structuring a story came with learning over the years how to build a plot. But characters have a mind of their own. I may have written a chapter that then I had no use for it, since it changed because the character did something to change it. I know it sounds weird, but most readers think that the writers can decide whatever they want to write, and it's not true, at least for me it isn't. Our characters are outsiders from us. We aren't them, we are just the instrument used to write a story, sometimes the narrator, others, if pov, the one that is using the keyboard to bring that person's ideas/actions to the reader.

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6- I would also like to know, do you ever put little pieces of your personality into the characters and their past? If so who and how?

I don't put pieces of my personality in my stories. They have their own personality. That doesn't change the fact that there are a lot of things in our own personality that can match my character's personalities, since readers can find some things to relate to. However, I like to observe people, since young, I like to see how people act and react to things. But, it's impossible not to use the way we feel about something, like the love we have inside of us for someone, the fascination, etc, etc, to add more reality to the story. Writers fall in love for their characters, we must, or else things wouldn't feel right when reading it. We also assume different personalities, because like actors, we need to give you those feelings. I sometimes cry when I write sad bits, it's nice (not in a weird way) when I read people saying that they felt sad just for reading my words. Means that I touched their soul. It's also nice when they laugh to tears and daydream about my story.

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There were a lot more questions. I tried to reply to every one of them in my Wattpad block party's post in the book. But if u have any other, please feel free to ask me. However, I won't reveal things about the story or give spoilers.

 ═══  ೋღ♥ Look in the comments area for the link to win a dedication and a critique♥ღೋ══

Do you have any other question you would like to ask me?

 ═══  ೋღ♥ YES / NO ♥ღೋ══

Do you mind answering me a question?

 ═══  ೋღ♥ YES / NO ♥ღೋ══

Well, what story, from the ones I wrote or I am writing, do you like the most? It doesn't need to be just one. I can't decide between red and violet either. :)

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You can find me here:

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/anna.santos.336

Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/user/AnnaSantos5

Twitter:https://twitter.com/AnneSaint90

Blog:http://annasantosrandomthoughts.blogspot.pt/

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Don't forget to comment, vote, and feel free to share your ideas with me.

Hugs,

Anna Santos۹⌤_⌤۹

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