Wattpad Filipino Block Party 2021

april_avery's Author Interview

The Wattpad Filipino Block Party 2021

QUESTIONS / MGA TANONG

How did you adjust your writing in your stories, may naapektuhan ba because of work/acads and life?

Making time for something you love requires sacrifices and compromise. Passion requires sacrifices and it's something I'm willing to take. The process of writing takes a lot of time and effort, sometimes more than our job in real life. It's like having homework for the rest of your life. You go home after a long day, you open your computer, you start writing. Before you sleep, you plot the next scenes of your book. The story lives inside your head. But that's what passion is all about, isn't it? It's being consumed by the intense desire to create, to reach out to someone, to make a difference to your life and other peoples lives. I don't mind the sacrifices. I like what I do.

What do you prefer to write: Series or Standalone stories? Why?

I used to prefer standalone novels. I pour my best to every story I write. I don't reserve. But series is something I recently find interesting and challenging to do so I plan to venture on it.

How do you motivate yourself to keep writing?

Sometimes, motivation and inspiration don't come to you no matter how much we want to write. Sometimes, your head isn't in the story and procrastination is a close friend. You just have to deal with it. Drag yourself to write despite the lack of motivation. If you wait for the right time and for inspiration to smack you in the head before moving, you'd be waiting forever. Writing is a scary process that writers avoid at all cost. Ironic, isn't it? We usually do everything to delay it. From cleaning our rooms to just going on a vacation completely abandoning our work. But sometimes, you just have to go through with it, push through, crawl if you need to. Inspiration and motivation come in the middle of writing, not before, not after. If a story is worth writing, it will push you through.

Among your stories, what particular scene is difficult for you to write?

There were several scenes I had a long time writing, not because they were hard but because of indecisiveness. There are times when we are presented with options for the next scene and we can't choose what to write. This usually happens when a story doesn't have a solid plot. So what I do is I rewrite until the story is intact and I don't have to choose for options because the story itself dictates the scene. A good, well-plotted story has a life of its own.

Saan kayo mas nacha-challenge sa pagbuo ng first chapter o sa epilogue?

Epilogue. It's where I tie loose ends, make amends to the characters, clean up the destruction I made and create a fresh start for the characters I tortured (haha!). There's this fulfillment in the ending, a calmness after months of the story living inside your head. It's like saying goodbye to old friends but at the same time, introducing them to people who you hope will love them as much as you do.

If you can bring one of your characters to life, who will it be and why?

I don't. I can't bring back a character's life. Their role in the story is dictated by their purpose and bringing them to life will defeat their purpose. My characters who had perished all did a good job, all did justice to their characters and I'm proud of them.

Among your characters, who's the closest to you? Why?

My 'Something' stories always have a special part in me. They're part of who I am or who I used to be. Isabelle from Something Spectacular was the student part of me and her experiences were my experiences, her struggles were my struggles, her dreams were my own. Gab from Something Phenomenal is the part of me that's been sick for too long. I wrote these stories to reach out to readers and make them understand what it's like for people like Isabelle and Gab to live. There's a lot of them out there, I believe. People who aren't brave enough, people who have restrictions to live. If I could reach, even a single person, and made a difference in her perspective through these stories, I think my purpose is fulfilled.

If you could collaborate with any author (local man or international), who would it be and why?

I'll go with John Green. I like his literary take on mental health. I would love to know his thought process and how he can delicately intertwine serious issues to young adult stories.

Anong famous story (be it classic or contemporary Literature) ang hinihiling mong ikaw ang nakapagsulat? Bakit?

Not a specific story but there are several lines and quotations from different people and stories that left me in awe, thinking 'damn that's so good, I wish I wrote it'. Most are lines from Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway.

What are your future plans in your writing career?

I usually don't commit to something, specially when things and health aren't stable for me. For the longest time I don't have plans set for my writing career. I just go where it takes me. Only recently that I decided to commit to it, to let myself be drown by it in a good way. I like being drunk with passion, to live for it, to be perpetually and consistently in love with words. For the longest time I was afraid to call myself a writer. The title holds a great responsibility to write and be right, to give, to create. But this is who I am now and maybe... this is who I'm meant to be. There's no specific plan in my mind but to write until words run out of me, until it all dried up. That's the only way I can truly be a peace.

BONUS: Please leave a message for your readers.

To my readers,

You've been my constant companion through the ups and downs of writing and being here. You know me like a book. You've read my thoughts which I wasn't afraid to share. I can be bare, broken, and vulnerable in front of you and we would dance in our mess together, cry and console each other. I hope you know how much I appreciate you and your company. If my words could do the same, I would gladly dried myself out of words for you. Let's be mess together. Let's live our best lives together. Let's breathe together.

Sincerely,

April