Fantasy Authors Interview

Meet Staris

We've got another awesome Fantasy author for you today. Hailing from the country of The Philippines, please welcome starisredy and let's hear what she's got to say.

 What is your Wattpad Username?

starisredy

What is your country of origin?

Philippines

What other languages aside from English can you speak fluently?

Just Filipino.

Tell us about how you came up with your username. Do you use a pseudonym? If so, how did you come up with it? If not, why?

It's but a fun mixture of two colors I liked when I was younger. Them being red and yellow, which made up the 'redy' part, where the yellow bit is subjected to just the y. And then add my online name Staris!

How long have you been writing? Please tell us about your journey as a writer.

I started when I was in my first year of high school, where I didn't really know anything much or at all about what I was doing. I just knew I wanted to create something—a story—and experience that world, those characters, their journey, and then feel something. Throughout the years since then, I had an on and off relationship with writing. But I'm pulled back in and deeper than ever before in the middle of my first year in university. My goals in writing is still varying each step of the way, but three things are for certain. One, my writing journey hasn't reached even just the small percentage of its entirety—I just know it. Two, I'm never going to stop writing. Even if it's not actual writing or typing the letters and words out, I will continue to daydream and plan about it all. And three, I write for myself. Like when I was younger, I write to create something. For me. For myself.

How do you deal with plot holes?

It depends. And yeah, that's annoying to read. But to give a more concrete answer, I'd say background and relation. Adding history behind something and connecting it to the present or future events of the story. That's not the only way to do it, but it's one way to do it! Just like what many people would say, "Make it make sense." XD

Out of all the genres, why fantasy?

If you think about it, everything fiction is a fantasy in its own way. One could say everything has magic in it. And it doesn't have to be literal magic. Just the kind that opens up millions of possibilities in our heads, make us feel things, and get us thinking and wondering even more so. To answer the question, I'll ask back—because why not?

In all seriousness, there's just something in wondering, then creating worlds under our curiosities and what ifs that we know can never be a thing in real life. Maybe it has more to do with my dreams and wanting to live that dream again, knowing the only way to do that is to let my imagination run as wild as a forgotten dream, and make sure to grasp onto everything that made me feel things I want to feel again. And voila! From that, we have a (most likely fantasy) story!

What subgenre of fantasy do you find most appealing to you as a writer? Why?

Mystery all the way! I love plotting about the connections between things, foreshadowing, and just seeing it all coming together the further and deeper you go into the story. Oftentimes, I like to think what you'll discover (especially TWA) won't be as synonymous to your initial expectations when you start out. It's all about playing with the little details and bigger pictures, then weaving subtle connections in between!