Interviews

The-Scrivener

Q: Hello RK And Reb, how are you today?

Strangely nervous and nervously strange.

Q: Thank you for joining us and sharing a little more about yourself with the Wattpad universe. First off, shall we talk about you and writing? When did you first start writing?

RK:  I wrote some stories for my daughter lets call her Trixy, The Clockwork princess and Captain Kitty Hawk & the Sky Pirates. Then couple of false starts but it was really never before the workshop.

Reb: Before the workshop, never so August 2015.

Q: Workshop?

RK: Yeh we both attended a workshop for adults with dyslexia.

Reb: I don't think I would call me an adult.

RK: But you could play one on television.

RK: The workshop was where we met. It was partly about checking out dyslexic technology and partly about gaining confidence. They showed us Wattpad in the workshop - you can hack it to get the machine to read to you. . As a kid I had spent two summers reading Lord of the Rings it took me about 18 months. I read for as long as I could every day. I was really disappointed in the end. I'm like 18 months of my life for that? Wattpad was a liberation for me. I'm able to read stories using assistive technology I love 'reading' I can't get enough.

So we started cyborg's pet as an exercise I don't think either of us could even dream of writing a book before the workshop. We write and let our imaginations run free, on wattpad,we are equal to other people, which when it comes to writing is a new experience for us. I don't have to apologise or feel terrified, or rely on others to 'sanction' my writing, so writing with out guilt is a kind of wonderful existence, it's like floating.

Reb: Yeh wattpad for me is like being let out of jail.

Q: What are your writer's best practices – doing character profiles, maps, visualization, tai chi, anything?

Reb: We don't know anything about best practices, we don't know anything about how to write properly.

RK: People ask about our collaborative process.

Reb: We wrote the first four chapters out in the lesson. We use all sorts of accessibility software so it was quite quick. When people started to read the book we took a piece of A3 paper drew what should happen on it. Each chapter begins with RK sketching out what should happen by the end of the chapter - Jenny goes for a job interview and get's shot. Then I (Reb) take over and start writing. We let Jenny do the talking.

RK: Then I get Reb's word document and get rid of all the smut, swearing, we call that the de-minxed version. It's normally pretty funny. I add in the science fiction stuff, special effects, add some more jokes.

Reb: I get the de-minxed version and then add all the stuff RK deleted back in. I get rid of RK's jokes, add some more jokes in.

RK: We then read it to each other over skype: If it's doesn't get a laugh it get's deleted. I add in references to other Scifi as we go.

Reb: We let it sit for a week - you get ideas so you can go and add them in.

RK: Then I re-read, check for consistency and stuff. Basically if it isn't funny or doesn't push the plot forward it goes. We run it through a battery of spelling and grammar checkers then read it before pressing the publish button. The minutes before publishing are when some of the best jokes come.

Q: When and in what setting do you write best?

Reb: In bed on a sunday morning. I can't write with people around I feel self conscious dictating to a machine with other people around.