Triple A Interviews

Meet Joy

1. You've been writing on Wattpad for over 11 years. How has your writing changed in that time? What aspects of it have stayed the same?

My writing has definitely evolved over the years. I always had heavy inspiration from Percy Jackson when I first started writing so that was present and still is in all honesty. I love humour and action and putting creative spins to the known worlds. There was also an aspect of writing what I was seeing in stories which was cishet white romances that I was desperately trying to mimic when I was younger. You can't see these stories I've written anymore, but I started off writing romance subplots or even romance novels but failing to properly finish them because those stories didn't fully connect with me. Even though I still enjoy writing some romantic subplots, back then it was hard for me to fully go through with a story because it wasn't something I could truly connect to. Eventually, I began to explore my sexuality and identity through my writing and I still am to this day. Now, there's a lot of friendship dynamics taking the forefront of my writing instead of this idea that romance is the end all be all to a character arc.

2. What inspired you to write Slow and Speedy Win the Fight?

Okay, this is unhinged, but I was binging a fanfic of The Powerpuff Girls (More than Human if anyone knows it), and I finished it so fast that I was having reader hangover. That meant I really wanted to write something similar with the same humour, action, and mystery that eventually I came up with my own cast of characters and lore. Of course, I made it more queer and added themes that I personally wanted to explore such as feeling like you don't truly belong anywhere due to intersecting identities and linking that to the characters being made in labs rather than born.

3. If you had to write a spin off story about any of your characters, who would you choose and why?

I currently am passively writing a spin off story of the main characters as children and their misadventures. But if I had to choose any character that wasn't a main character, I would choose Reynard. He is just full of mystery and doesn't open up about his true origins that a solo story of him and how he actually is when no one is looking would be interesting, especially since he always seems to have a mask around everyone.

4. In your foreword, you mention the character Sheldon took on a life of his own and had quite a few things to say about your plan for the story! Without getting into spoilers, what's the most drastic change you've made to a story because a character refused to go along with what you originally had in mind?

There's way too many, oh my gosh. So the first major issue that I found was, Sheldon didn't want to interact with Haresa at all. He wanted to not have to interact with them and would ignore them in class and disappear immediately after classes ended. That doesn't make for an interesting book if my two main characters don't interact at all, especially if I want them to have some sort of dynamic where they fight together. I came up with GSA as a required extracurricular where Sheldon had to participate in it, and eventually I began to write Rudra as a more active character to get Sheldon out of his shell. I didn't intend for Rudra to get so close to Sheldon, but eventually Sheldon began demanding for Rudra to become a romantic interest. I gave him what he wanted, but I don't think Sheldon is pleased with how I let develop over the course of the story.

5. The superhero genre is absolutely loaded with memorable superheroes and supervillains. If Haresa and Sheldon had to team up with any hero or villain of their choosing, who would they pick and why?

Ooooh, this is a tough one. I think Haresa would team up with Ms. Marvel just because they both have that lively energy and Haresa would want to have a partner that they could nonstop yap with in between fights. It would be a breath of fresh air for them especially since they usually are surrounded by egotistical heroes.

For Sheldon, it would be Mr. Freeze because I feel like he would be fascinated by the technology Mr. Freeze uses as well as respecting his serious vibes and backstory. Sheldon is a very "work alone" type guy unless he feels like he can learn from someone and look up to them as a role model.

Huge thanks to JJJ000YYY for the amazing interview! We hope everyone checks out their super story.