Intimate Interviews

When Sarah Meets Sarah

Sarah, After Dark: Before we get too deep in the questions. We'd like to know a little bit about who you are in your days off of wattpad specifically and writing generally? You can tell us anything you comfortable with. ^^

Sarah Royal: I have a full time job that does not relate to English literature or writing. I write for fun as a way of releasing the pressure of working life. Having said that I love my day job a lot. I do writing on the side as a hobby. I think some of the scenes in my books at times are inspired by characters I have met, but not the names. I use name websites for finding names. But character personalities are inspired by real people at times and some events in book resemble similarities to what I have seen and even experienced. One day I might publish a bonus chapter telling people about which parts of my book are inspired by what events or people minus the crime elements. Off wattpad, I am a non risk taker leading a quiet life. I love shopping and food. If people check my Instagram they can tell, but I am very private due to my day job dealing with so many people. I just don't want to disclose my hobby so openly to people I work with.

Sarah, After Dark: Anyway, I believe that the interviewer before me already asked you about what inspired you to write A Mob Boss's First Love. So, I won't make your fans bored by the same question agan and again. Instead I'm curious about how did you find the 'I want to write' moment? And why that particular moment made you want to write?

Sarah Royal: I found the moment in 2013 to write on wattpad after reading so many books to read. When I was young I loved descriptive writing. I wasn't great at it, I loved it. I had a diary and enjoyed describing everything that had happened at the end of each day. I think I recommend everyone in school to write a diary. It's a good literacy exercise. I don't read the diaries. I discarded them. So yeah, I always loved writing. So when I ran out of books to read, I started writing my first book, Her Heart His Obsession on wattpad. I just had the scenes of the book in my mind. I don't know if I can call them day dreams. Maybe they were. So why the moment made me write was because there were simply no more books to read for me as I scrolled through search engine of wattpad. I had read most of them in genres that interested me. I was looking for a book mysterious and about magic. So, I wrote my first book which has a villain called Dante in a world ruled by wizards and witches.

Sarah, After Dark: Anyway, can you tell us a bit about how did you discover wattpad?

Sarah Royal: I bought a smartphone that allowed me to download apps. I started discovering ebooks on iBooks app. After a while I decided searching for other apps that allowed reading books for free. So I searched in App Store the phrase 'free ebooks'. Then I discovered wattpad. I am very surprised I never came across wattpad website using web searches, but I guess better late than never. I found wattpad in 2012.

Sarah, After Dark: A Mob Boss's First Love is a story that has set in the past. And sometimes it made me curious how did you find those references for all the information you have in the book? I mean, is there any historical reference you take in order to support your writing? Would you like to share it with us?

Sarah Royal: I have tried to make the books I write as fiction as possible with no historical reference. I think that's an area to develop for my future books. I need to do more research if I want to write more seriously, but as I mentioned, I am writing as a hobby. So, no research. I write about criminals and try my best to stay away from historical facts. And make it pure fiction. I even changed some characters names because they are related to some historical figures. I have seen Godfather movies, but I would like to think my books are not similar to Godfather elements. I write PG13 books and I try to keep a teen fiction feel to the books. My books are not teen fiction, but targeted at young adults and teens too as well as adults. I also choose 1950s to start my book because I wanted to write about a generation and always had aim to have a sequel to show present day and the next generation.