Interview by Seth_Kiven, Cortlan Blakely, on wattpad.com
1) What is your favorite genre to read?Wattpadian Interviews |
2) What is your favorite genre to write?
Fantasy is my favorite because I can create a world and characters that fit a theme or premise I want to speak about or prove, and the readers enjoy the metaphors and analogies plus they can view the story through a world they created.
3) How did you find Wattpad?
All started out at RedBook, out of San Francisco, one of the first website for authors to show their works, bio, etc. Of course, I was slow and my first book, Rhyonna's Fright, took a long time to write and in the meantime, RedBook (Craigslist owned them) sold to a Canadian company and became wattpad.com as we know it. I came on board as an add-in, 'join or not.' So I joined and has taken me a long time to learn how to use with all the different updates. There is Scribd., which does same and more with a controlled looks and felt hard, too much from too many, so I stayed with Wattpad.com.
4) What are some of your interests outside of Wattpad.com?
My interests outside of wattpad.com. First, is my family, husband, son and daughter their marriage partners, my grandchildren, my brother, his wife, their children, and my pets: dog Elvis, and cats Agarus and Sasha! Next is outside in the air to experience: nature, weather, gardening, walking, and just sitting and working in a garden, which is a form of my exercise. Then my friends are very important; they show what I know and where I’ve been and where I’m going.
5) What kind of music do you listen to?
Music, there are so many styles. Music, I think helps with the story theme and genre. For Rhyonna’s Fright, I listened to Celtic and Irish music, which gave a faery feeling; then for the horror scenes Tangerine Orange; the lively scenes Reggae, and for flying a more flighty feeling with NewWave music.
6) What is your dream job?
My dream job is to be a famed Artist, in mixed media. When I readied for college, my mom would not hear of me applying to an Art School as a graphic artist, which was not women’s work and would not make money. A teaching certificate was only possible. So, out went the artist in come the teacher! I did take as many art classes as I could. I lasted about 13 years as a teacher: first grade, Kindergarten, art teacher, then a home pre-school teacher. I stuffed art into whatever I taught. Now art is in my writing. Creating is important in our lives and keeps us balanced, no matter what type.
7) Who is your role model or who would you want to be?
My role model was my sixth-grade teacher, Miss Owen; she had an art studio in the back of her room. I started reading then. Who would I be if I could, of course, the altruistic person: professional, considerate, educated, open-minded, cheery, authentic, understanding, trusting, giving value to others, famous, an authority in creativity.
8) In your opinion, what is the coolest thing in the world? (Object, Activity, Person, Place)
The coolest, fun thing in the world is movement: dancing, swimming, walking, skipping, hiking, climbing, sweeping, raking, walking up stairs and down, biking, not running! I wish I could fly. I do fly in my head; most of my dancing, I performed inside my imagination. I good!
9) What's the backstory to ‘Rhyonna’s Fright’?
When I was a child in Colorado Springs, CO, I live by Fountain Creek, which is now a freeway. My brother and I with friends would swing across the creek on metal cables hung in the cottonwood trees by the workers who laid the Golden Cycle Railroad from the mill up to Cripple Creek, CO where the gold was. The mill then closed was on the hill up beyond the creek, now with houses sitting on moving sand from the milling. At the creek, the faeries flutter with the other woodland spirits beside horses, frogs, snakes, birds and the little minions that lived there. That is where I met my faery who has traveled with me. I got her on paper after about 35 years of trying to get her to settle, which she did on a dandelion, and her name became Rhyonna.
10) Why do you like to write on Wattpad.com, and what drives you to finish?
The community talks to each other with personal comments. One wonderful place to meet all ages, all genres --> writers, all wording rough draft stories. My followers drive me to a finish a book because they are interested in reading, vote, and leave constructive comments, must different that other social media sites.
Seth_Kiven’, Cortlan Blakely, on wattpad.com receive Rhyonna’s Fright FREE from Smashwords.com with the code, ZN72G (not case-sensitive).