Q: What was/were your influences and inspirations for The One Series?

A: My biggest influence and inspiration was the CW TV show, Gossip Girl. Glee and 90210 (both the original 90s version and the CW version) were also major influences, but Gossip Girl was a big one for me. Blair Waldorf was what shaped Alyson's characterization (along with High School Musical's Sharpay Evans, Glee's Rachel Berry, and moi!) Chuck Bass was also major influence for shaping Andrew. Hell, even Chair (Chuck/Blair) were what greatly inspired Andyson (Andrew/Alyson)! Other aspects of Gossip Girl include changing from originally using a public school setting to a prestigious private school setting; upper-middle class spoiled kids; the "glamorization" of bullying people to worship the anti-heroic protagonists; and having unlikable characters be the main characters.

One thing to point out is that I don't advocate bullying others. It sucks, but it exists. In the case of The One Series, I chose to place to focus on the two main characters, Alyson and Andrew. They're the main bullies in the series. They're the type of people you don't want to see succeeding. Yet they have their reasons why they are bullies in the first place. They have their stories and dreams to tell. By doing this, I'm breaking Wattpad conventions. Now is this something that could be sold by an audience outside of Wattpad? Possibly. Is this something that would show up in the It's Hot list of teen fiction? Never. Alyson is not the sweet, innocent, pure little girl; and Andrew is not the possessive, obsessive, controlling, cold-hearted bad boy.  Even their earlier incarnations were never like this, nor will they ever become those typical Wattpad tropes.