A Drop In The Lake

~ Author Q&A ~

Thank you
Olivia Testa (the author)
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"Is Wattpad a good platform for writing? Would you use a different website if you write a new story?" ~Snapchat

Personally, I think Wattpad is a great platform for writing and publishing stories. I know there are some stigmas about the types of writings uploaded, but I think it is really easy to use and navigate. In the future however, I hope to publish this story to other platforms as an updated version. If anyone has any suggestions for platforms I can upload to, please let me know.

"How are you so talented & determineddd plz explain" ~Instagram

Awe uwu. Thank you for the comment, and I'll be honest, it was not easy. Uploading twice a week was a pretty hard schedule to keep up with, especially at the beginning of college, but once I got comfortable with everything, and really got into the story, ideas/chapters were pretty free flowing.

"How did the master class in fiction w the spectacular talented youth affect ur novel?" ~Instagram

For some context, in the summer of 2019 I took a master class in fiction writing at Columbia University. There, I met a lot of talented writers and got to participate in a series of workshops with some amazingly talented teachers.
This workshop helped a lot with writing this story, in a surprising fashion. With the help of my classmates I was able to develop a voice as a writer as well as figure out what it is I want to write. While at the summer program I learned the discipline that went into trying to write a full fledged story, and the amount of thought that had to go into each detail to ensure consistency. It was truly a great help, and I'd say that for anyone looking to write a story, taking a program of some sort is very beneficial.

"How much planning goes into a chapter/ how far ahead do u know what is gonna happen nex[t]?" ~Instagram

Generally speaking I like to keep 6 chapters ahead, so each time I upload a chapter I have to write a new one, but that new chapter won't be up for at least another 3 weeks or so. With that being said, I have to keep track of everything on a google document so that I'm sure to not contradict previous information – this is very hard to do admittedly, because as I become more familiar with the information and the story, the less I was able to discern what information I would need in the future.
In terms of the storyline, I went into writing with an idea of how I wanted the story to unfold and some major plot lines I wanted to write. However, the end of the story was more freeform, and it wasn't until I decided I wanted to focus the attention of the end of the story on understanding Brooklyn and resolving the story line between Maximilian and Cameron, that the necessity to combine the two unfolded. With that being said, I hope to expand on the end and flesh out each of the story lines a bit more so as to make the bringing together of the story lines more seamless.

"What is your favorite part about the team stories?" ~Instagram

While this is directly addressing my high school's Instagram stories, I wanted to address it to express how much of a help social media has been in writing this book. While I lived the life of a rower for 3+ years, I don't know every angle of it. Most of my background knowledge for the story came from my own as well as my brother's experiences and sentiments towards the sport, but when I actually had to sit down and write everything out, I had to turn to more official platforms as well as social media to get an understanding of how everyone feels on the boat, not just the stroke seat. Because of the differing perspectives I've also had to immerse myself in the competitive world of men's rowing (it's a whole new culture).
Anyways, back to the question, the storie posts from Peddie have helped a lot with knowing when certain regattas and races were going on so I could watch them, as well as understanding the mentality of different rowers going into a race. (More on this later)

"When are you going to write more poetry?" ~Instagram

That's a good question. I'm always down to write poetry, and I have a lot of poems started and ideas jotted down, but if y'all wanna see a poetry story, I'm down, so lmk!

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So...
This is it, the last authors note of "A Drop in The Lake"
*dramatic drumroll*
It's been an adventure, and I don't wanna get all sappy again cause I've already had a few crises about this book being over, but I wanted to express how much of an amazing learning experience this book has been. Not only have I learned how to put my ideas into words, but I've also learned a lot about legal proceedings and even head injuries. Who would've thought head injuries were so prevalent in rowing. I also learned a lot about the interplay between sports and schooling, and how much one can affect the other, it's insane.
With all that said, the greatest part of writing this book was getting to write a story about something that I love so much and have wanted to write for so long, for myself and for others.
So thank you all for reading, and I cannot wait to see the next story I'll think of and bring you all along with me : )