Authors' Spotlight Interviews

@HeideHunt

Hello fellow Wattpadders! Today we have HeideHunt with us, the author of the book, Daracka Volume 1: Head Hunt.

I am Abhipreeti (_abhipreeti_), and I have interviewed Heide, a.k.a, HeideHunt.

Heide is a Filipina living in the Pearl of the Orient Seas, the Philippines. She is a full-time engineer, part-time financial literacy advocate, always a coffee addict, bookworm, cinephile, anime otaku, and usually wasting away playing MOBA.

After discovering her passion for books, she has always been a writer at heart, creating uniquely inspired worlds, plots, and characters. Her works on Wattpad are all fantasy, with flavors of sci-fi, romance, action, and adventure.

At what age did you realize that you have a special place for writing? Are you currently or do you ever dream of one day being in the writing industry?

>>Heide: I have been writing since I can remember, in bite-size amounts, mostly poems, essays, and short stories. When I was in college, I was on this platform called Inkpop, run by HarperCollins Publishing, and I wrote a poem that came from a dark place in my mind. It became popular within that community and received a review from one of the HarperCollins agents. They said the thing I already knew, "Too dark." But I realized then that I have a talent for it, that I can create something that strikes people to think and be curious.

After college, I read Fallen by Lauren Kate. It was the very first young adult fantasy novel I've read, and like all the other young adult girls out there, I was hooked on the angst. But one element that captured me—absorbed me like my addiction to sugar—was the fantasy ingredient of the novel. Since then, I've always wanted to read and write fantasy stories, so I was compelled to search for more sources. That was also during the time when The Vampire Diaries TV show became popular in the Philippines on DVDs, so most of what I wrote in my early twenties were angsty teen fantasy stories.

Being a successfully published author is definitely a dream for me. But I know this industry is hard. There's a lot of competition, and my stories may not be able to catch that many readers to get to the level of popularity they need to become successful. It is something that the author Brandon Sanderson (in one of his YouTube lectures at BYU) noted to the students because it's the reality of this industry. So, I always keep that in mind. But successful author or not, I will always be passionate about writing.

Did any story, on or off Wattpad, inspire you ever and help you carve your interest towards writing books?

>>Heide: Well, I already mentioned how I got started with the help of Fallen by Lauren Kate. But currently, I'm consuming so much inspiration from V.E. Schwab's novels, especially The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and Villains Duology. Her writing style is delicious, and the concepts in her books make one think of the world in different ways. She is a beacon for strong female characters.