The sunrise awards summer2019 | ✔️completed✔️

Interview With @Joonalez

Introducing... joonalez !

What is your Wattpad username?
joonalez

what is the title of your winning book(s)?
Noctura

When did you get the idea to write your winning book?
I came up with the idea around summer of 2018.

What are your inspirations for writing this book?
I wanted to write a story with vampire elements, but didn't want to use vampires exactly so I came up with creatures of my own and just started writing the story. I was also inspired by the members of Winner because they were my favorite group at the time, so I used the members in the story and made it fanfiction.

Are there any special dedications for your book?
I would dedicate the book to the members of Winner since they were the basic foundation for the story.

How old were you when you began writing this book?
I began writing around 17 years old.

What do you believe the strongest and weakest part of your writing is, in general?
I believe I am good at characterization and character development, but I feel I could always improve in plotting and moving the story along.

How many drafts of this story do you have? If applicable, will you continue to rewrite? If applicable, do you think you will do a rewrite if you haven't already?
This is the only draft of the story. I would only ever rewrite if it was to be published and I needed to change some elements of the story to make it better for publishing and remove the fanfiction elements.

What is one reason why you believe everybody should check out your book?
Noctura is a new, fresh concept with elements of creatures we all know and love: vampires. The story makes people care for the characters and I believe it is a story people could be pretty invested in.

If someone were to offer you a publishing deal tomorrow, would you take it? Would you still leave your work for us to admire on wattpad?
I would take the publishing deal, but I would change the story so it would not be fanfiction. The fanfiction version would definitely be left on Wattpad.

When writing, do you have a plot in mind, or do you write it on the fly, as you come up with it?
I usually write down the basic plot up until about the middle of the book, then after that I write what I feel is best. I find that if I plot out too much, I try to stick with exactly what I had thought before and it ends up not working out as well.

What, if anything, do you do to help yourself concentrate when writing?
I usually listen to soundtracks of movies and video games when writing.

What is the best piece of advice that you can give other writers?
Just write. Even if what you think you're writing is absolute trash and all you want is to go back and keep editing, you must keep writing. You can always go back again later and change it, but if you just write and keep writing, you'll eventually get into a groove and will be able to write very good stuff.

This could get very weird very fast, be honest, what, exactly, were you doing when you learned you won first place?
I had just woken up and looked at my phone to see I had quite a bit of notifications from Wattpad, clicked on them, and found out I had won!

What was your reaction when you read that you won?
I was very humbled because I think my writing is good, but I didn't really have my hopes up that I would actually win first place. I was very happy and excited as well!

Do you have anything to say to your fellow genre competitors?
Everyone always has their own opinions on things and I always think there are lots of people who like certain works and you will always have fans of your work because it is meaningful to you and to them, even if you don't win any awards and things.

Is there anything else about yourself or your writing that you would like to add?
Although Noctura is not my first book on Wattpad, it is the first one I truly enjoyed writing and still love that I created it, so I am so glad I was able to showcase it in these awards!