And hello again! I hope you’ll really like tonight’s spotlight interview. Tonight, I talk to Sage, who can be found on Nanowrimo as sockspower, and also shares her writing over at Wattpad. Hi, Sage!
My experience with NaNo has been a pleasant one, overall. This will be my fourth year competing, and I’ve successfully completed two of my previous three attempts. I’ve found the NaNo community to be a beacon of support and positivity geared towards nurturing writers in a productive environment that truly enables them to embrace their potential. I never would have had the courage to share my work had it not been for this community.
What are you writing about this year?
My novel this year is entitled Anastasis, and in it, I’ll be intertwining a little bit of Fantasy into my traditional YA style while incorporating a touch of romance as well. As my blurb reads:
Lyall Campbell had one thing on her mind her first month of senior year: get through it as quickly as possible and move to the next chapter of her life. Sheltered in a rural community all of her life, Lyall never had to deal with much more than the cattiness and gossip that often accompanied small-town life. But when Alexander Gravarie literally stumbles into her life, her plans for a quick, quiet senior year spiral out of control. She has a natural disdain for anything that gets in the way of her ambitions, but for some reason, she finds herself drawn to the new student. When she and the school’s new arrival are paired together for a class project, she realizes that there is more to him than meets the eye.
This story retains both my tendency towards YA and my old habit of retaining romance as a subplot, while incorporating my love of history and fantasy, and I’m honestly just really excited about it. Anastasis means resurrection or rebirth in Greek, and that has a double meaning for me. The first meaning will be revealed within the plot, but the second is more personal to me. This will be the first piece of serious writing I’ve done in about a year and a half, as most of my time has been taken up with school, family events, and editing projects. I can’t wait to see how things turn out.
What is your favorite movie – you have to pick just one!
I can’t believe this is a question, because there are so many parts of me that love different movies. My favorite modern movie would probably have to be Interstellar though; it’s the first film in a long time to blindside me with an unexpected plot twist.
What advice would you give to all your fellow Wrimos?
Read all you can in every genre, and when you think you’ve read enough, read some more. It makes you a more well-rounded writer, and it will help you flesh out aspects of your writing self that you didn’t even think were possible.
Sneaky Ninja question! Are you allergic to anything, and if so, what?
Does negativity count? Haha, but honestly, my allergies are limited to cats (an allergy which I tend to ignore because I need animals in my life), and just basic seasonal allergies. I did discover I was allergic to Bermuda Grass, so I guess that means no golfing for me in the near future.
I’ve always been a big reader, for as long as I can remember. Reading was my escape from reality, and it seems only natural that a deep, relentless passion for writing would soon follow. I hid this passion from a lot of the world for some time; people knew that I wrote, but I was adamant that no one else could see my work until I deemed it presentable enough. I went through a rough period during which I was unable to write, and now that I’m back, I realized that I don’t want to have to hide this passion’s fire any longer. That’s why I decided to self-publish. After a year of half-heartedly querying agents, I decided to take matters into my own hands, and you can now find my new short story, Lemons and Liars, available for Kindle exclusively on Amazon. Keep a lookout in the coming months as well, because I’ll have other projects, including my first-ever NaNo project, entitled The Journey, which is the first in a series, coming out as well. I’ve missed this world, and I’m ready to dive back in wholeheartedly.
The Kelworth Files 