Wattpad Author Interviews

7. Walkstar

Fanfic? Young adult? Fantasy? Sci-Fi? All of the above? Anne, aka Walkstar, has it covered! She has a combined total of 166k reads across her works, her biggest success to date being her beautiful tale of self-recovery, The Other One. But would she turn her talented writing hand to any other genre? And how did it all begin? Read on to find out...

Whereabouts are you from?

I was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles: Altadena and the San Fernando Valley. Cue Harry saying "I live in the valley." I went to college in New York, lived for a couple years in Northern California after that, and moved back to the valley with my husband in 2002. So, short answer: I live in the Valley.

What led you to a career in education, and do you feel your job fuels your desire to write?

My whole childhood, I always said I wanted to be something and a teacher. A veterinarian and a teacher. A doctor and a teacher. A lawyer and a teacher. My maternal grandmother was the smartest and strongest woman I've ever known; she was an English teacher in the Philippines during the Great Depression when my grandfather lost his job as a pharmacist. From a very early age, I was inspired to follow in her footsteps.

I've taught English, journalism, and yearbook at the middle and high school levels for 14 years. Being a teacher definitely influenced my desire to write. Having achieved my lifelong dream of teaching English and ascending to the top of the ranks at my school, I realized I needed a new dream, a new goal. Something to strive for, to work towards. I was constantly reading young adult fiction and began writing my own in 2010. I think being around young people all the time has kept me young in spirit, and probably explains why I'm so fucking immature. (I stuck my tongue out at my phone just now).

But the truth is, just like I've always wanted to be a teacher, I have always been a writer. In my head, at least. When I was young, my house was a scary place to live. Lots of anger. Violence. I often slept in my mother's bed because I suffered from insomnia. In second grade. I remember waking her up one night because I just couldn't sleep. She rolled over sleepily and said, "tell yourself a story." It's not as cold as it sounds. Almost. Anyway, the point is, I started doing exactly that. Every night I would tell myself a story. And I have never stopped.

How did you discover Wattpad, and fanfiction?

Some of my students who were One Direction fans suggested that I read a few of the well known fanfics on wattpad. You'd be shocked to know what high school students are reading these days!

I've always written fanfiction, though I never called it that when I was younger. When I was in high school, I wrote REM fanfic. Oh it was sad. I was so obsessed with Michael Stipe. He's just so pretty. Wouldn't you know, he has (had) curly hair and light eyes. And then in the mid-2000s I picked it up again, writing some Fall Out Boy fics. None of these were ever published anywhere public, which is really a blessing for the public. They were embarrassingly bad, I'm sure.

Your book The Other One recently surpassed 100k reads - congratulations! What was the first milestone you celebrated read-wise, and how did you feel when your books really started to garner attention?

Thank you! I have to credit the continuous support of best1dfic for that. It took me a long time to reach 100k. I have celebrated every minuscule milestone, from 100 reads to 140 thousand. I am stunned and humbled to know that people are reading and enjoying my work.

It's funny, ya know, how this book has kind of caught on in the last six months. I finished writing it in December 2014, and it had about 10k reads then. I really don't think I could have reached 100k without you guys recommending it to people, so thanks for that. Seriously.