WATTPAD INTERVIEW

Interview with LittleCinnamon

How did you stumble upon Wattpad?

A Twitter friend of mine actually sent me an article, I think from the Daily Mail newspaper, all about Abigail Gibbs and her journey to publishing after gaining a following on Wattpad. Before that, the only place I had posted my work was on my wordpress blog (which had about five followers lol!) so I decided that it might be worth giving Wattpad a try, if only to reach a wider audience. It wasn't long before I was hooked on the site and I've been a Wattpad addict ever since!

What inspired you to write?

Ah well, here's a question I can't necessarily answer in just a sentence or two! If we're talking what originally inspired me to write, it's more 'who' as opposed to 'what.' I was always an avid reader, in love with the works of Enid Blyton and Judy Blume, but it was only when I progressed to reading adult horror at the age of 11 that I really felt inspired to write. I fangirled over Stephen King and James Herbert and dreamt of one day seeing my books next to theirs on the book store shelf. However....by the time I reached my teens, I barely wrote a thing. What can I say? I was a teenager and cared more for boy-bands and well....boys, to even think about writing. I only began writing with any serious intent after I had my son six years ago - I was on maternity leave, struggling to be a new mother and desperately in need of something that didn't involve nappy changing and baby talk. One night I had an idea for a story and sat down the next day to write it. I haven't looked back since. These days, I'm inspired to write by all sorts of things. Not only am I inspired by my literary heroes, but I'm inspired by my fellow Wattpad writers and by my dedicated readers too. Which probably sounds a bit naff, but it happens to be true!

What was your first ever published story/book?

The first story I ever published on a public forum was Dark Sanctuary, here on Wattpad. I can't even begin to tell you about the love/hate relationship I have with that story! I love it because it was the first full-length work that I wrote, but hate it for so many reasons. I made so many amateurish errors with the plot and characters, not to mention a whole bunch of other stuff, but it somehow amassed a good following and at almost 800k reads it's become very hard for me to remove. I've been planning to rewrite it for about two years lol!

Of all the stories you've written, which one do you like the most?

I would have to say that Playing Dead is my favourite. It was the one that really got me noticed on wattpad and the one I'm most proud of. I can't quite believe it's now at almost 1.5 million reads considering it started out as a two page piece of writing that I wrote to help me overcome writer's block when I was writing the Dark Sanctuary series!

What's your top three favourite genres?

1) Definitely horror! 2) Paranormal Romance 3) Fantasy.

How do you overcome writer's block?

Simple: I write something else! Lol. I know that might sound strange, but if I'm ever stuck writing my main project (I am rarely writing more than one story at any given time) then I walk away from it for a while and write something else. Most of my short stories came to life because of experiencing writer's block when writing with Dark Sanctuary or Whitechapel. I find that writing something completely new helps me focus and brings me back on track.

Any advice for new writers?

I'm always a little hesitant to answer questions like this because I don't know that I have the knowledge or experience to be qualified to give any advice lol. But if you're a new writer just starting out, I would advise you to become an expert planner and note-maker! When I started writing, I never plotted stories, I never made character notes, I literally just sat down and wrote. And that's fine to some extent but you will find you trip yourself up, particularly if you're writing a longer story. Have a plan - even if you just do a rough outline of each chapter, it helps keep you on track and ensures your story has some continuity. Make copious character notes (I still need to get better at this) so you know your character inside out. And most importantly - write something that YOU would like to read. Don't write a fanfic just because it happens to be on trend. Don't write a horror if you're not a horror fan. It just won't work. You need to show you're passionate about what you write and the best way to do that is to write in a genre you are actually passionate about. It will make it more believable in the long run.

Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what kind?

I don't listen to music while I write, I find it too much of a distraction, but I do listen before I write. I actually have a Spotify soundtrack for The Whitechapel Chronicles which includes tracks from Muse, Royal Blood, Kings of Leon, Hozier, Arctic Monkeys, Lux Lisbon, Daughter amongst others. I constantly add to it whenever I find a track that fits the mood of TWC.

What's your favourite TV show or movie?

Fun questions are very welcome! TV show....right now, it has to be Game of Thrones! I was late to the party and literally did a back to back marathon of seasons 1-4 right before season 5 started. I'm totally addicted! As for movies, well I'm a sucker for E.T or Close Encounters. Love me some Spielberg!

If you could go to any place (even in books or movies) where will it be?

Oooh, I think it would have to be Hogwarts. Who wouldn't want to wander the halls and chambers of Hogwarts?

If you could meet any actress/actors, who will it be?

Now I'm VERY tempted to say Kit Harington, who I'm sure is the actor most of my Facebook Whitechapel group would have predicted I'd say, so I'm going to surprise them and say Russell Crowe. What can I say? After all these years I'm still in love with Maximus from Gladiator ;-)

What will you do if a famous director decided to make a movie out of your book?

Retire to a tropical island? Lol. Hmmm well actually...if I ever dared to let myself dream of such a thing, I'd opt for a TV production rather than a movie. I'm not sure a big movie makeover is what The Whitechapel Chronicles needs. It's dark and gritty and I'd hate for it to ever be anything but that so I'd rather go for something on a smaller scale - a little bit niche, a little bit cult.

What about your other stories, would you want any of them to become a movie?

I'm not sure I have anything else remotely worthy of the screen I'm afraid ☺️

If you hadn't discovered Wattpad, what do you think you'll be doing instead?

Probably still scratching about for reads posting via my blog on Wordpress! And writing rubbish too - Wattpad has not only allowed me to reach a wider audience (that doesn't consist solely of my closest friends and my dad lol) but it's also taught me so much about writing and how to improve my skills as a writer. I think I would be a very different kind of writer today if I'd never found Wattpad.

Would you like to say anything to your supporters/friends on Wattpad? Any special shout outs to anyone specific?

Oooh if I start doing shout-outs, I may never stop! It will last longer than an Oscar acceptance speech lol. To be honest, there are so many who have supported me since I joined Wattpad, so I have to thank everyone who has ever hit the vote button and taken time out of their day to read and comment. A wattpad writer is nothing without his/her readers! Special thanks must go to my devoted Chapelites, who support me here and on the Facebook group The Chapelite Asylum. And finally, a big thank you to my original Stokerettes @ladameblanche@hellvis@deathofcool and @alysarden for being just generally blooming awesome and super talented!