Meet The Authors Showcase Edition #3 (3 of 3)

A showcase with @High_Priestess_Elena

 author of: The Five Cursed Witches: Volume 1 - Zoe, the Witch of Innocence  

1 what inspired the idea of your story?

So it all started when I once upon a time came across an ad on Facebook for a werewolf-story. I got curious and checked it out, and well... I was immediately hooked. I kept reading quite a few of them and the mate concept was really what I enjoyed the most and how, because of it, the stories are fairly similar but at the same time they are all just vastly different. I wanted to myself explore the mate-concept, but I've always been much more for witches than basically any fantasy creature, so it felt very obvious to me to have the story focus on a witch rather than a werewolf.

2 what is something you struggled constructing with your story?

The ending. I always write without that much of a plan. I know where I wanted to start and I know where I want the main character to end up, and maybe one or two things that'll happen along the way. But that's pretty much it. In this case, I knew all the what's for the ending, but had no idea of the how's. The original ending of the story was... terrible. It was lame and boring and just... no. So, I rewrote the end completely from the first draft to what I'm uploading, and with that I also had to change quite a few things throughout the book.

3 what did you enjoy writing most of your story?

Geez, how am I going to answer this without spoiling too much XD

Let's just say that there's some of the magic in the later parts that I enjoyed writing tremendously. It let me explore certain more psychological things from a very interesting perspective. If you read and get to the "thread-labyrinth" chapters (that as of now are yet to be published), you'll know what I'm talking about.

4 what's the overall response of your story from your readers?

Amazing! Or I just feel happy about it. Know there's been at least a few that's ended up reading all that's out in basically one go and, judging by the views, there's a couple that read the new chapter posted fairly quickly. Of course, I've also gotten feedback on things to improve that I'm taking with me. But people seem to enjoy the story.

5 is your story a stand alone novel or a piece of a series ?

Well... As can be understood by the "Volume 1" in the title, it's not a stand-alone, but the first in what I plan to be a six part series. And it was always planned like that. The first things I wrote for this whole series is actually what'll be the prologue of book number six.

6 what would you like your readers to take away from your story?

To always accept yourself and your past. That what you hate about yourself might be a great source of strength. 

7 what advice would you provide to fellow writers, when it comes to focusing on their own story?

Don't try to write everything perfectly. I've seen far too many people try to write things perfect the first time around and that usually ends up with them not getting anywhere. So just write for yourself and because you enjoy it. Think about all else when you're done with your first draft. Editing exists for a reason.

8 does your main character share any similarities to yourself?

Probably. It's not really anything that I ever think much about. It also probably becomes hard for me to say because of how the whole series is structured. It will have a new main character for each volume, and as much as I don't plan, I have a distinct view of their personalities, goals, and struggles, and I have likely put some of me into all of them. But if I would name something from Zoe, it would be the childlike happiness she sometimes exhibits, I'd guess.

9 what is something about your story you believe would draw in new readers?

It is a romance and it has the cute moments of a romance story, and the juicy ones. But there's also a lot of more serious parts of coming to terms with who you are and the past. I tend to end up writing about mental illness or just general inner struggles in one way or another, and this book is no exception.

10 do you have any future projects?

Oh well, just you know, finishing the other books in this series. And if I'm not completely sick and tired of this universe when I'm done with all six books, then I do have ideas for spin-offs and to basically give some of my favorite side-characters books of their own.