Coffee Talks

With Kuronoshio

Hi, Kuro, thank you for taking the time to get involved with Coffee Community. It's great to hear from authors like yourself and get to know a little bit about what motivates you to write longer works of fiction.

Writing longer fiction is very rewarding. You get to spend a lot of time with the characters and they really grow on you over time.

So, to begin, tell us a little bit about yourself as an author on Wattpad. For anyone who hasn't met you before, how would you describe your fiction?

I write all kinds of stuff. The two complete stories I have on Wattpad are Japanese inspired. 'The Loyalty Tests' is a dystopian horror. I could describe it as 'Battle Royale' meets 'King's Game'. The 'Cosplay Kill Club' is a suicide-circle story mixed with a crime thriller, with just a hint of revenge movie (because everyone loves a good revenge story.)

Writing for sustained periods is a hurdle that every writer, beginner or experienced, faces from time to time. What powers you through those longer bursts of creativity and keeps you focused?

The more love you give, the more love you get. Wattpad is a social writing site and there are lots of inventive, intelligent, talented people on here who will make time to help you if you just take the time to get to know them. Find someone interesting and start a conversation. Even if you don't write a masterpiece, you'll have made some friends.

What top tips would you advise for getting a novella or a longer piece of fiction off the starting line? What kind of story developments motivate you to see it through to the end?

I'd recommend breaking the novel down into chunks and spending enough time planning. If you sit down to write a chapter and realize that either (a) nothing happens or (b) you don't know what is supposed to happen, then your planning has held you back. I like to head towards an emotional resolution of some kind.

How much do you edit on the fly? Or do you prefer to edit after you've finished the initial draft?

I like to edit the awful bits just so I'm not too embarrassed to have my name in the chapters. Other than that, I like to plough through to the end, so I don't lose momentum. If you want to write a seven-book epic, you really shouldn't be worrying about whether you ought to have used a semicolon in sentence nine. There's plenty of time to hate edits if you get a publishing deal.

Personally, what kind of novella -- be it any style, theme, or genre -- would you like to see emerge from the Open Novella Contest?

I'd like to see a good space opera with emotionally deep characters like Red Rising meets Game of Thrones.

Lastly, because we're always curious... What was your ever first experience with the power of the written language?

I'm not sure. I had a beautifully illustrated copy of Alexander Pushkin's fairy tales. Maybe that.

It's been great hearing from you, Kuro, and thank you for sharing your valuable knowledge in storytelling.

My pleasure. I look forward to reading some of the other author responses.

Best wishes for your future endeavours from Coffee Community.

Our goal is to bring you many more exclusive interviews with people who aren't just Wattpad Stars or Staff, but also some pretty awesome authors.
In that quest, next we will be talking to Stacey Polishook, so stick around for more fun!