Golden Interviews

Interview #1: @amelierhys

Author: amelierhys

Interviewer: LdShadowLady4eva89

I'll be asking questions about It Burns Within Us, so for the first question.

Q. Where did you get your inspiration for the plot of this story?

A. This story started whirling in my brain when I visited a college campus as a part of my job. I met with a disability coordinator for the campus so that I could better learn about how students with disabilities are serviced in the college world. As they described the experiences as young adults with learning disabilities, I began to form this picture of my MC - Bren, a young man with a LD who is looking at college as a fresh chance to be successful, but is too proud and reluctant to ask for help or take advantage of the options available to him. From there, I began to develop my other MC - Madie - a girl who will ask for all the help in the world when it comes to school but won't utter a single word about the thing she's truly struggling with. I literally imagined the two of them meeting as I was walking around that day and then went on to develop the rest.

What a thoughtful and interesting response!

Q: My next question for you is as follows:
When you began the writing of It Burns Within Us, what made you decide on the abusive relationship Madie was trapped in? Did you write about something you've experienced?

A. Sometimes the girl with the smile on her face is the girl who is struggling the most, and I wanted to write a character that reflected that. Women are told to tone it down or simply hold it in far too often and that extends further than the topic of abuse. But I really wanted to write about a relationship that clearly show how women - or anyone - could be manipulated into believing that everything is okay when it really isn't. I've never been involved in an abusive relationship, but I have experienced other forms of abuse where I've had to tell myself that I was okay that they did that when it really wasn't. I also know how prevalent different forms of abuse are in our society and tried to show the complexities of it.

Wow! That was an awesome answer! Alright, next up: a simple question.

Q. Where did you find the name Bren? I had never heard of it before and I was dying to know!

A. The creative process isn't too exciting hear, I'm afraid. I wanted a slightly unique name and just browsed online name lists until I found one I liked.

Well, that's always fine too!

Q. What part of the story did you most enjoy writing?

A. I loved writing the part where Bren and Madie hop in the car and run away together. There's a shift in the mood - it's lighter, more hopeful - and it was fun to write how their relationship starts to develop past being friends.

Of course! A fun shift in the tone of the book is always nice after such a story. After this, we only have one more question!

Q. So, what kind of mood were you originally looking to give your story and did you stick to it?

A. When I wrote out the forward for the story, I stated it was going to be raw and emotional. I would definitely stick by that description. The emotional tone is heavy, but it does shift between good feels and not-so-good feels at times.

I noticed that, yes. I would agree that you stuck to it pretty darn well.

Q. And for my last question, how did you feel when your book became this popular?

A. Oh, I was quite shocked to be getting the number of reads I was! I previously had only written Historical Fiction on Wattpad. I wasn't confident in my skills writing contemporary fiction (or also writing in the first person), and I didn't think that a lot of my readers from the Before series would follow me over to a completely new genre. I've been pleased to find that some of them have! I've also gained some new and different readers as well. I'm so happy people have liked the story so far! It is very close to my heart and it was a huge jump out of my comfort zone to write.

Well, that was all folks! What a wonderful interview with my favorite author!

*cue the applause*

Be sure to check out It Burns Within Us and it's sequel The Fire We Started that is updated regularly!