Interviews

December 2020 - Interview with karinberry

Hello beautiful people of Wattpad, and welcome to our December interview! My name is Rob, writeyourname97, and today we have karinberry , the author of the breathtaking novel, Boneca.

Rob: Welcome, Karin, to the Adult Fiction profile! Let's start by talking a little bit about yourself, who are you outside of your stories, everything you feel comfortable sharing about your life!

Karin: I'm a boring, antisocial South Asian woman who spends most of my time at home when I don't need to be outside. Just finished my postgraduate study last week after five freaking years, so it's liberating coz I'll have more time to write now! And maybe get married? XD I'm bilingual, having an interest in Romance languages.

I am a scientist, having Chemistry and Nutrition degrees, but having linguistics as my true passion. You can definitely see health science and linguistics influence in all of my books XD

I (can) draw and bake too, yet never found much time for it.

P.s: I need to stop drinking bubble tea every day lol.

Rob: Congratulations on finishing your studies, and wow, you are a modern polymath! The influence of your knowledge is definitely felt in your work. Would you say your real life persona is closely related to one of the characters from Boneca? If so, are you more of a Luuk or a Jona?

Karin: Thank you!

I'm more Jona than Luuk, as I am South(east) Asian too. Not saying I am as polite as Jona, but I am sure not Luuk. XD Luuk is a sonorous man. With that hubris of his, please God, I don't want to be like him haha!

Jona's words are my words. His mentality is my mentality. He is my own 'empathic' character. My reflection, sometimes a conflicting notion that I keep deep in my heart.

Rob: I'm glad to hear that, haha! Not to hate on Luuk, he has his lovable moments, too, but Jona is just so sweet. What inspired you to write this story? What were your intentions when you first started outlining it? (I assume you did outline it, it feels like there's a lot of thinking behind it, but do feel free to answer the 'plotter vs. pantser question as well, lol).

Karin: I can't possibly answer that without spoiling the whole ending haha! Let's just say... I want to show people, especially Wattpad readers, 'the other side' of being LGBTQ+. That self-discovery LGBTQ+ book doesn't need to always be about coming out stories.

And the story is the first-ever story I have written in my life, so it somehow is written to prove to myself that I am capable of being a writer too. So it's a bit personal to me.

I am a pantser! XD If I have the idea in mind, I'd just start writing (the same applies to my latest book: Black, Blue, and Dripping Red).

As Ray Bradbury says: First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!

Rob: You mentioned Ray Bradbury; would you like to tell us more about what you like to read outside of Wattpad?

Karin: Similar to almost everyone my age (30), I believe we all grew up with Harry Potter books. Then I read Cecelia Ahern. I love Khaled Hosseini too. I mostly enjoy self-discovery books. I also read Stephen King, but not for the story. I don't quite enjoy his stories haha! But I LOVE his writing. There's this freedom in his writing that I adore. He uses parenthesis left and right, not caring how some people say parenthesis is redundant or bad writing. He mixes very slang-ish and informal words in his writing. Reading his books is an escape. And his books are my reference, so I would love to believe (though I might fail at that) that my style is influenced by Stephen King (even when we both write a very different genre).

Rob: So what drew you to becoming a writer in the first place?

Karin: To be honest, I just want to 'try'. I tried to find my kind of story (on Wattpad), but I couldn't find it. So I wrote it myself. And my family is full of journalists. My father, 4 of my sisters. English is not our first language, but my father was the editor of our national English newspaper. I guess in the end, it's in my blood.

Rob: What's next for you? What are you working on now?

Karin: I'm working on Boneca's spin-off, Black, Blue, and Dripping Red, a story about Aarón Chaves (Jona's ex friends-with-benefits). It's Crime Erotica. And I am waiting for the ONC next year for a novella idea I have. It's probably gonna be Psychological Crime.

For the meantime, besides writing, I am running Concinnity Circle Book Club, concinnitycircle (a community I built) and providing review service in DreamlandCommunity

Rob: Awesome to hear the gears are still very much in motion! Lastly, do you have any Adult Fiction stories on Wattpad you'd like to recommend?

I'm new to Adult Fiction on Wattpad.

I read Wilde and Twisted by willowerdem . It's a coming-out lgbtq+ story. I especially liked the writing. I also remember enjoying (although I just read the first few chapters so far) The Shady Adventures of Fabian by wuckster . The book has great humour.

Rob: Great! Thank you, Karin, for taking the time to do this interview, and best of luck to you! If you want to read my review of Boneca, you can find it here. Thank you all for joining us, and best wishes!