Coffee Talks

With Keyura

Here's another interview with one of the winners of Watt-A-Decade - With Keyura, who is known as Cluster_of_thoughts on Wattpad. Read her winning story Beauty and the Brother(s)!

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Hi there and welcome to the interview! 

Tell us something about you, Keyura!

I am from Nellore district in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. I am an engineer by profession and a writer by passion. At present, I am working in a MNC. If I have to describe myself in a single sentence, then it would be - "One of those nerds who are usually seen in either library or classroom with their face in the books or in my case mobile (e-books, Wattpad and all)". 

I am an ambivert (only with close friends and family) and an introvert to everyone else.

That's pretty much all about myself.

When and how did you discover Wattpad?

In 2017, I used to watch an Indian TV show. I came to know about fanfics through a site called India forums. When I searched for more fanfics, Wattpad links popped up and here I am.

When did you start writing and what does writing mean to you?

When I was a kid, my father used to bring a magazine named Chandamama. I used to read it every month until it stopped publishing.

I don't remember the exact saying, but I remember it goes something like this - "A reader will live innumerable lives." Even though that magazine company stopped publishing, I never stopped reading. I was never content, sometimes when I used to read a scene or a story, I used to think it could have been written in this way, why it ended like this, there is still so much left unsaid, etc. However, I never wrote anything, all I did was making up scenarios of characters I read or watched.

And when I stumbled upon Wattpad and learnt about fanfics, it seemed so cool, writing about the characters I love in my own way. I have started writing fanfics about an ITV couple #avneil.

I stumbled upon many good writers here. But, my major inspiration behind writing is docritu99. I had stumbled upon her #avneil's fanfiction "A millionaire's first love" in Indian forums. Her story introduced the fanfics world to me. I admire her writing a lot.

In fact, I achieved my first major milestone in my writing journey, when I won Riya's MFL contest. Imagine, winning the contest hosted by your favorite author, I was on cloud nine! 

Before that I never had the courage to participate in a writing contest, Riya's contest gave me confidence. And then slowly I started participating in Wattpad contests. 

Through writing, I am able to express anything, be it stories or the thoughts that keep on troubling me, anything and no one will judge me. That's what I love the most about writing.

What inspired you to write your Watt-A-Decade winning story?

In India, every Telugu classic story starts with - "Once upon a time, there was a king and he had seven sons." I grew up listening to that line.

Disney introduced me to the world of fairytales like Cinderella, Little Mermaid, etc. However, I didn't like the stories that much. I mean happily ever afters are so overrated and then the not-so- popular fairytale "The twelve dancing princesses" came into my sight. It was different, different from all those mushy tales I had read, the princesses managed to keep their secret from everyone to an extent that their father was forced to announce a good prize to the one, who cracked his daughters' secret. Alas! They failed and the dad won.

Believe it or not, I like grey characters. I like villains more than heroes. Heroes are just so overrated (no offense, just my opinion). We all have good and bad in ourselves. That's what I believe. Sometimes we choose to act upon our good part and sometimes on the bad part. We all make mistakes and mistakes are a part of life.

I connected the dance part of the fairy tale to the seven sons, that's how the idea of the story creeped in.

I love the character Katherine Pierce from The Vampire Diaries show. She was the inspiration behind Aurora in my story. However, I was not satisfied with her character arc, like I said I like grey characters. If Aurora wants to kill the seven sons, then her actions must be justified. That's when Medusa, the Greek myths, came into my mind.

Indian origin + fairy tale + Greek myths + a pinch of darkness - Voila, the story was ready!

The main character Becca is inspired by Elena of the same show TVD. She can't do anything, though she knows everything. That's how I wanted the ending to be.

Do you have a favourite part in your winning story that you would like to share? If yes, tell us why!

Yes, my favourite part about my winning story is the riddles. They were quite challenging to write and I love challenges.

Believe me, it took me three days to write those riddles in the form of a song. And that too without confusing the readers. To make the story interesting and keeping the word count in my mind, I chose riddles as a medium to move the story forward.

I love the riddles part, because they are challenging to the writer as well as to the reader.

What did you like about the Watt-A-Decade event the most?

Lastly, I want to thank the Ambassadors for hosting this contest and choosing my story as a winner.

I liked the dedication part the most about the Watt-A-Decade contest. A big thank you to the Ambassadors team, you are doing a great job!

Thank you for the interview! Congratulations on winning Watt-A-Decade's writing contest! ☕