Vintage | Phoenix Interviews (𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐃)

Karenj128

Syd, had the chance to sit down with one of the founders from CLN, Karenj128. Karen is the author of I Will Save You, Don't Give Up On Me, The Truth and Can't Stop From Falling.

Today, I had the honors of interviewing CLN's very own founder, Karen!

So Karen, I can honestly say that I am excited to interview you! Your books have a number of reads, one of them being "I Will Save You" with over 50k reads! How did you come to Wattpad, and did you ever think you would get this far in your writing journey?

I found Wattpad through the game Chapters, which is one of those interactive story games. After reading one of the stories in the game, I wanted to read the actual story that was on Wattpad. As for how far I've come on Wattpad, I didn't expect to be in the place I am now. I only wrote I Will Save You to see if I could write a story and finish it. I never expected people to read it or for it to get to 50K reads!

Wow, that's a really cool backstory! I think most of us can relate to writing a story just to see if we could finish it... and then it turns out to become one of our biggest stories! Let's go back to before you wrote I.W.S.Y, how did you get the idea for it?

I.W.S.Y started out as a collab project between my sister and me, but due to personal reasons she left after chapter 6. Once she left, instead of keeping with our original plan, I just wrote when I was in the mood to write. I had no clue where the story was going or how it was going to turn out.

That's very interesting! I know personally, that when you write to see where your story can go, writer's block can creep up on you out of nowhere and knock you down. Have you ever experienced writer's block when you were writing I.W.S.Y? How were you able to get over it?

I was lucky with I.W.S.Y, and didn't experience it with that story or Don't Give Up On Me. Unfortunately, with the two ongoing stories that I have now, I've actually had quite a bit of writer's block. Since I always listen to music when I write, I will attempt to get rid of W.B by changing my playlists and push through it.

That's a good idea! It seems that for some authors, they don't experience writer's block until their upcoming books. I've noticed that most of the books you've written usually contain a mixture of bad boys and abuse, is there any reason for that?

Not really, I mainly read teen fiction... and my stories somewhat follow the same formula as others in that genre. They have a different concept, but are still somewhat the same as the other books in teen fic.

I can understand that, after all, other books inspire us to write! So, out of all the books you've written, which is your favorite and why?

My favorite book of mine is Don't Give Up On Me, I wasn't in a very good place when I was writing it, so it created a nice distraction from real life. It's definitely not the greatest book out there, but it will always be the one I cherish.

Aw, so it has sentimental value! There's nothing like creating your own perfect world and disappearing into it... or maybe not so perfect. What is your greatest flaw when it comes to writing?

I have many flaws when it comes to writing; spelling, grammar, and I'm not great at describing things, but I think the biggest flaw is self doubt. It's the one thing that can make me not want to write. There will always be someone better and that's fine. I have to constantly remind myself that I write because it brings me peace, and it's not about what others think.

Wow, that is a really good mindset to have as an author, I know authors who only write for fame and fortune, and others who don't know why they write at all... do you have anything to say to these kinds of authors?