Author Interviews || CFCU

_reichii - Calathea (Mini Interview)

_reichii is the winner of the "Best Potential" category in my Padauk Mini Awards, a difficult category to win in as it had more participants and was a very high-in-demand category, so that goes to show this story is dang good. Let's give a warm welcome to Rei! I'm very excited to be doing this interview as Rei is a kind, passionate person I've always had nothing but respect for, so you better check out Calathea after this!

Bold will be me, italics will be Rei. There will be labels, too.

Raven: Hi Rei, good to see you! I'm so happy I get the chance to interview you! I like to start interviews with general questions so readers, both yours and new readers, can get a general look at you and what your book is, so do you mind giving us a general rundown of how Calathea came to be and maybe even share a bit about your writing journey?

Rei: Hello, Raven! It's my pleasure, and I'm so excited to do this interview too! Just a heads up that you may find me occasionally digressing in my responses because I tend to blabber a lot in writing! I don't really say more than a hundred words a day in real life, so I make up for it in written stuff, lol. See? Already blabbing, so anyway, on to the question...

I think the idea to make the story first hit me after reading the manhwa (Korean comics), "At the End of the Road." I consider reading that work a guilty pleasure because despite its glaring flaws, which even the author acknowledged since it was their first-ever story project, I just couldn't help but love it for its very unique premise. It made me want to read more stories, whether webcomics or novels, with the same concept, but alas, I could barely find anything at all.

And I guess here entered Toni Morrison's quote that "If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."

I didn't immediately start writing it though, because at that time, I think it was around 3 or 4 years ago, I hadn't really come back to writing yet, so I just spent a lot of days daydreaming about it. And even after I picked up my notebook and pen (or laptop) again, it still took me some time to begin planning the story.

The title I thought for it first was "Overtime," and I also considered other names like "One More Time," "Second Chance," "A New Dawn," and "Reborn," but none of them really made me satisfied because I felt like something was missing from all these titles. Like they didn't have that much of a punch or something?

Then one time, while reading the manhua (Chinese comics) "Heaven Officials Blessing," a particular scene there made me think, "Ah, I want to write a story about the language of flowers again." I've always loved the concept of floriography, you see. In fact, my first fanfiction one-shot and a few of my other short stories have that theme. It was then that I had that eureka moment, I guess. Maybe this was the last vital piece I needed to make the story my own. Thus, the birth of Calathea.

In summary, Calathea was inspired by "At the End of the Road," "Heaven Officials Blessing," and also a bit of another Chinese series, "The Untamed."

Raven: Well, you're in luck because I ramble a lot in writing too, but then never say anything in real life. There's just something about having a keyboard that suddenly makes us type a lot more than we'd ever speak...

Oooh Toni Morrison, now that's a name I haven't heard since high school. Good to know her impact is still present to this day, and I think that quote is something all of us should follow as writers. We have the ability to write such beautiful stories, after all. And I really love that you first got the story idea from manhwa. Who doesn't love a good manhwa that makes you stay up until 4 a.m. to read it and then groan at school/work the next day since you didn't sleep?