@WandoWande is the author of 'The Soup and Sour Digest' and is also an active participant of the thread - 'You've got writing problems? Ask me, the Story Doctor' which is a thread for specific story problems like characterisation, dialogue, plot, description, pacing, writer's block, story flow, sustaining interest, sentence-level problems and pov problems. You can check out this thread by clicking on the external link!
Enjoy!
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1. What do they call you?
A. crazyfish mostly. or Just Wando Wande.
2. For how long have you been writing?
A. I guess three-four years now.
3. Which part of writing a story, do you enjoy the most? (Creating characters, the plot and the subplots, the beginning/ending or the middle)
A. I can't say. I like writing the first draft the most because that's when I think the least and let story mode override my brain. Everything else about writing is a bit torturing for me.
4. Have you faced any embarrassing moments, in terms of writing?
A. When I first started, I'd use words wrongly. It was embarassing for critiques to scold me about wrong word usage. I learned soon enough to use the dictionary to make sure about my intuitive sense of a word was indeed correct. You'd be surprised on how many words I knew incorrectly. Yep, the dictionary is your friend. And bad grammar embarrasses me too much that I went and took a refresher on grammar and punctuation online.
5. Which is your favorite color? Have you made any reference to it in your story/stories?
A. I don't have a favorite color. Serious. I do tend use a default eye color (brown)and default hair color (black) because I'm too lazy to be more specific about those things. And I got to say, I personally don't notice in people's eye color in real life. I can't tell you the eye colors of my closest friends.
6. Out of the stories you have written on Wattpad, which is the most memorable one?
A. I would say my favorite story that I wrote on wattpad is All the World's a Stage.
7. Are you planning on publishing soon?
A. Are you asking if I have a trad publisher? Nope. I don't bother looking for one these days because I tend to fiction that's strongly LGBTQ biased, and these sort of stories are too niche for a big publisher. Do I want to self pub soon? Yes.
8. Which is your favorite book/series on Wattpad?
A. Again I'd default to any of @Seethomashowl short stories.
9. What kind of help do you provide - critiques, free advice or editing?
A. Free advice mostly. I had a Story Doc thread. I find that it gets too involved to give critiques. They take time, and I need to be reasonably assured, especially on a site like wattpad that is full of writers that write for social reasons, that the writer will consider my comments seriously. I'd refer the serious writer to critique sites like Scribophile or CritiqueCircle, if they want honest, helpful critiques. Apart from that, I can just give short free advice.
(Check out the thread mentioned above by clicking on the external link!)
10. Which author do you idolize (off Wattpad)?
A. Alan Hollinghurst. Yeah, he's an obcsure one. He writes gay literary fiction, won a Booker prize back in 2004 for his book, The Line of Beauty. I like him mostly for his lyrical poetic writing style. His style is rather old fashioned, and yet modern. My style tends towards dense and ornate, and I'm always looking for modern successful examples of writers who like that. And his example tells me that I can refine my style enough to be enjoyable without sacrificing my innate tendencies too much.
11. If you were a newbie, which part of the story would you focus on most?
A. For a newbie, I tell them to focus on story structure and engaging characters and less on style and prose.
12. Which is your favorite character (off Wattpad) ?
A. I'm not sure how answer that.
13. If you were given a choice to become one character (of your story posted on Wattpad) which one would you be and why?
A. Probably Carlos in the Soup and the Sorrow Digest. He's a bit of a sociopath, but he also has family side to him that takes him to another level. Or Hao Chen-Li in Dead Stones. A man struggling with pain and living with integrity always gets my vote.
14. Do you prefer dark romance or the usual?
A. I'm not really a fan of romance. But if I'm read romance, I'd go for a darker romance with an unpredictable ending. HEA don't do much for me.
15. Where do you look for your inspiration?
A. Books and short stories tend to inspire me the most. I tend to go for books that aspire for something creatively. I always try to think of how I can make a published story to better suit my tastes.
16. What’s your favorite TV show?
A. I have been following Game of Thrones.
17. Do you prefer more reads, votes or comments?
A. Comments mostly. I like to know to my writing has some kind of effect. if it doesn't, I worry that I'm too hard or boring to read.
18. Imagine the world is collapsing around you, what would you choose to save – technology or books?
A. technology books, at least that way civilization would be saved.
19. What is the best advice you have given and received?
A. Best advice I have been given: People read to be touched, not to be impressed. Read your book aloud. Your ear will pick up bad rhythm and bad flow better your mind's eye. I can't say what the best advice I have given is. That's for the "advicee" to tell you.
20. Any extra tips for our young writers?
A. tips: Worry about your characters motivations and passions, and that goes for the swooning princess as well as the boring housewife character. Once you make them passionate enough for them go out there to solve their own problems, you're half way to creating an engaging character.
Read. Read again. Read books that stretch you creatively. read books that thrill you. The important thing is to read critically to find what of the book you liked and what you hated. Imitate a style or technique you like and ignore those you don't care for. Seriously. Picasso had learned all the styles of drawing in his formal education before going off to do his own thing You can't be meaningfully original if you don't know what is there. It's much easier and more natural to develop a unique style by process of imitation and creative refinement than by trying to develop something from scratch.
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I hope you guys enjoyed this interview !
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