Meet The Authors Showcase Edition #1 (1 of 3)

A showcase with @paintblotches, author of Hi beautiful

1 what inspired the idea of your story?

to be completely honest, my lack of experience writing a full length novel inspired this. i had trouble thinking of something that i knew could work out and i'd really enjoy but i'd only get so far before hitting a wall. so i thought making a text story with a few longer chapters in between would really help me get the idea of what it's like to constantly write something. i also wanted something that wasn't so typical to a boy/girl love story and really make it more about a journey to finding self-love, which i think is really important.

2 what is something you struggled constructing with your story?

its so easy to fall into a hole of cliches when writing your first ever story, you see it so often and you know how many people love it, so you think it'll make your story appealing. i didn't necessarily want my story to be completely cheesy (even though at times it definitely can be) so i tried my best to write it in a way that i would want to read a story.

3 what did you enjoy writing most of your story?

my favourite part of writing this story was definitely the little segments of text that i knew might get a reaction out of people because as i wrote it it got a reaction out of me. it always makes me laugh when new comments come in on the things i hoped would have them

4 what's the overall response of your story from your readers?

extremely positive, i'm yet to get a negative or mean comment (knock wood) and that obviously helps extremely with your writing journey because it reassures you that people are really enjoying the work you put all your effort into, it's really comforting.

5 is your story a stand alone novel or a piece of a series ?

a stand alone

6 what would you like your readers to take away from your story?

self-love. it's so important. it's taken me so long to get there and although i'm not where i want to be i'm closer than where i used to be. so many young girls and boys struggle with loving themselves and they drown themselves in relationships, emotional or sexual, to find validity from someone else and for someone to  do the loving for them. i learnt the hard way that you will never truly be in a secure, loving relationship with someone if you don't find love within yourself. it is such a hard thing to do and no one is ever lying when they say love yourself first. happiness and love absolutely comes from being with someone, but you should never rely on someone to provide happiness and love, because when they're not there you won't have it. always find love in yourself before doing it with anyone else, but you can also find love in yourself by being with someone too.

7 what advice would you provide to fellow writers, when it comes to focusing on their own story?

I once read something somewhere, i can't for the life of me think who said it and where, but it will always stick with me (this isn't quote for quote): "if you think your work is boring, others will too. if you don't enjoy what you're writing, no one will". i think it's really, really important that you work on something that you enjoy, not what you think others will enjoy. you should laugh and smile and groan at everything you write, you should feel emotion towards your story because then i promise you so many others will too.

8 does your main character share any similarities to yourself?

absolutely. i think most of the negative roots actually come from me hahaha. self-love and insecurity is something i have always struggled with so i probably find some attachment to the main character with that

9 what is something about your story you believe would draw in new readers?

I wrote my first story as a majority text story because i know there are some readers out there who struggle or don't enjoy reading lengthy chapters or stories (sometimes i can be that reader) and so for those who just want something quick but will also feel every emotion under the sun to read, could always reach out to my story!

10 do you have any future projects?

I absolutely do! I'm currently (slowly) working on two new novels you can find on my page! they are called 'the happiness theory' and 'rich girls can't love' and i can't wait to share them with everyone!!