Here's another great interview with another great wattpadder.
Emmiie is the writer of The Not so Secret Life of Helena Callahan, it's sequel, and the award winning Welcome to the Universe. WTTU picked up two awards in last year's Watty's, Best Paranormal and Most Shocking Cliffhanger, and Emmiie is hard at work on a sequel titled Welcome to the Galaxy.
As well as being a very good writer, Emmiie also puts in the work as a contributor to Watty-writers and Writing-101. She does interviews and reviews with Watty-writers and along with Vicky-nfs and Leigh19, on Writing-101 provides tons of great advice and tips for wattpadders and writers. Their Wattpad for Dummies is a must-read for people who have just started on wattpad.
This is one of her best interviews yet and I really hope you like it as much as I did.
Enjoy!
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1. How has growing up in Australia contributed to 'Emmiie, the awesome writer and wattpader'?
Well, most of my stories are set in different parts of Australia, so growing up here definitely helps in that aspect. The other week I went to The Cross (the place where The Not So Secret Life of Helena Callahan was set in) and it was so surreal, like being inside the story.
But then there are the few downsides (and I think fellow Aussie writers will know what I am talking about here) like how we spell things differently than American spelling. So a lot of people will correct you or pick out something that's "wrong," and it confuses the heck out of me because I'm never sure if it's actually a typo or if it's just the Aussie way of spelling the word. Google helps though, thank God for google!
This question reminds me of a book my brother bought a while ago, it was written by an Australian author and actually had a warning that read: "warning, Australian editing." And I thought that was rather funny.
2. Who was the first person to tell you that you had a talent for writing and how did that make you feel? Is that what got you started?
For a long time, I wrote in secret. Mainly because I didn't feel confident enough to share my inner mind workings with anyone-not even my family. I dropped out of school rather young, and am still finishing it, so when it came to writing I was worried that people like my older brother (who is one of those lucky people who are just naturally smart) would pick it apart and tell me how horrible it is.
My boyfriend was the first to know about my writing, and he was always really supportive, then my best friend and my mum. But for a long while, they didn't take me seriously. I guess they thought it was just a phase I was going through, and that I'd soon grow out of it. When I stuck through it, writing every day, and finished my first novel they started realising that this was something I was serious about. But it was when I joined Wattpad that my immediate family and close friends really noticed my passion for writing.
So really it was only recently that people started to know about my writing, and it was my article in Girlfriend that took that to the next level. At the time, when I did it, I didn't realise that everyone would know afterwards. My family was all really excited about it, which was sweet; they are always asking about my books and whatnot, and "spreading the word" by telling their friends and people they know. But I still get a little awkward when someone asks me about my books, like I never know what to say. So that's definitely a work in progress, speaking publicly about my writing.
3. Are you still in school and if so, what are you studying? What do you plan to do when you finish?
What a coincidence, I just answered this in the last question, but I might as well elaborate. Well, school has always been an obstacle for me, to be brutally honest. I suffer from anxiety, and would have panic attacks about school, which often resulted in far too many sick days. I've had anxiety since I can remember, and my dad was always the one to make it go away, so after he passed things became quite difficult. I had to learn to deal with that fear alone. And I think that the fact that he passed while I was at school might have had something to do with my not wanting to be there.
