This interview is with Vicky_nfs.
She's the writer of Carrying the Weight of the World and Absolute Contamination, as well as her short stories Letters to Be Told and Silent Storms. She also is a poet who has a collection of poems written in The Depths of an Empty Mind.
Her poem titled 'You Will Never Know ...' was one of the winners of Wattpad's Frontenac House 'Get Your Poem Published' Contest.
As if doing all that really good writing wasn't enough, Vicky is also a Wattpad volunteer and, together with Emmiie and Leigh19, runs the writing group Writing-101 where you can find Wattpad for Dummies and a host of other useful tips and advice for writers.
She took a long time in answering these questions but it was definitely worth the wait.
Enjoy!
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1. What did you use to do in your spare time before you found Wattpad?
Not much actually; reading, going to the movies and the occasional concert... I spent most of my time reading anyways, so finding out about Wattpad only made me read even more. However, ever since I found out about Wattpad, I must say that I barely even watch TV anymore. Maybe I must add that before Wattpad I also used to spend a little more time being busy for school. As amazing as Wattpad may be, it's horrible for procrastinating people with a serious lack of self-discipline - especially when it comes to work for school.
2. You've said before that you don't use your last name because you don't want people who know you to know that you write. Are you normally shy or are you afraid of getting a less than warm reception and why?
In real life? Yes, shy and quiet - I've always been referred to as the "quiet one". And I've always been more of a listener than an active speaker anyways. I just love to listen to other people's conversations and get to know them like that instead of asking questions and talking about myself. Nonetheless, several people on Wattpad have told me I tend to talk a lot, which is rather funny to hear after all these years of hearing that I was too quiet.
The main reason why I didn't use my last name is the fact that I never did any writing before. It was so new to me and I didn't quite see myself as a writer, so that's why I kept it to myself - and the many people on Wattpad of course. Writing is something that I never saw myself doing, but look at me now - I'm writing several stories.
After having been on Wattpad for several months, I sort of told my youngest sister about my love for writing. She wasn't allowed to tell it to anyone else though, but she liked to tell her friends which I found quite funny. She seemed to think of it as something 'great' and 'amazing'. You know how it goes in school, whenever you're not talking about yourself, you go like 'my sister does this' and then someone else has a brother who is better because he does that and so on and on. That was alright to me though, because I didn't really know any of her friends.
Not telling anyone probably had to do with the fact that they - just like me - had this picture/image of who I was, and I didn't feel comfortable changing that. But, a couple of months ago I had to tell my mom about winning that poetry contest on Wattpad. I mean, there's only so much you can keep to yourself, right? So, I told her about the poem that was going to be published, but still kept quiet about the stories. Don't ask me why though, because I feel much more comfortable with the thought of being a story writer than a 'poet'.
