1st Place Winner in the Family & Friends Category of the Romance Reads 2024

🖤🖤🖤

Bio: KeiraKnox is a Reader, Writer, Aspiring Social Worker, Coffee-lover, and Wattpad Ambassador. She is a Gemini and a political science major with a minor in nonprofit management. She is allergic to cats and lactose intolerant, and tries to write characters who are flawed, who can be vain, and who sometimes have undesirable personality traits, because that's what makes them realistic.

Story title: The Bright Side of Darkness

Premise/Blurb: Worlds collide when a formerly overweight teen befriends a blinded football player and is forced to confront her growing feelings for the boy who lost it all.

Tay Statin had always thought a perfect high school career was his God-given right. He had it all; perfect grades, scholarships to big-name schools, and football skills. Everything someone like him needs in Tennessee.

But all that is stripped away when a car accident takes away his brother and his chances at a Division I scholarship. Although his body healed, his vision hasn't. He might never play football again, and the prospect has left him bitter and unhappy.Emori Hagen was "the fat girl" all her life. She grew accustomed to people laughing at her. But, with the help of her determination, she lost all the weight and finally achieved the body of her dreams. The only thing left to remind her of her past is the aching feeling every time she eats an apple instead of a cookie.What Emori isn't expecting on her return to school is to find a broken Tay Statin who no longer smiles, rarely speaks, and doesn't care about anything or anyone around him. He's just existing. But the pain in his eyes is something she understands all too well. Can Emori help him find the hope he has lost?

🖤🖤🖤

What inspired you to write this book?

This story is largely inspired from my own struggles with my self esteem and body image. During lockdown in 2020, I began to write the story mostly out of boredom, but also as a way to kind of envision my life in the future. I wanted to create a character who had the same struggles as me when it came to body image and recovery to bring a little awareness to the struggle, but also who could live the life I couldn't. The story is a romance, but it is also a journey of growing to love oneself as well.

What was the inspiration behind the main character and their love interest?

I already kind of explained my interest behind the female lead, but as a dual POV, the other P is important as well. Tay is someone who had everything his heart desired, then he lost it all. His side is similar to Emori's in that he is also essentially starting over. He has the same friends, same school, same family, but the way he perceives that has changed. So many people wish for the opportunity to start over, but many underestimate how hard that can be. Tay's side of the story is meant to be dramatic in the beginning, but also hopeful in the end as he recovers from his injury and acclimates to his new life.

What sparked your interest in writing, and how did you end up writing on Wattpad?

When I was young, all I wanted to do was read. And as I got older, Ijust thought it would be fun to try my hand at creating a world - a "life". A story. I wanted to bring the same entertainment to others that I found while reading. I ended up writing on Wattpad after I discovered it as a reader and saw how many people those stories reached. I always thought the concept of being able to essentially read people's annotations and interact with them cool, and wanted that for my stories. I love getting feedback and hearing how people feel as they're reading.

Do you have a favorite scene in your story? If so, what makes it special to you?

It's hard to say, but I will say that one of my favorite scenes is in Chapter 8 when Lottie and Tay have departed their first party together and end up in a Waffle House. The conversation they have there is fairly short, but it's that kind of tough-love scene you only see between close friends.

How do you create and develop your characters? Do you base them on real people, or are they entirely fictional?

Most of my main characters are infused with some personality trait of mine that I expand on. I try to imagine them as separate individuals and as I'm writing them I'm kind of able to think how I imagine they would in a given situation, and it's fun to pretend to be someone else
for a bit.

Do you have any favorite romance authors, on or off Wattpad, who inspired you to write romance stories? Feel free to name up to three people and some of your favorite stories they authored.

I honestly do not remember who first inspired me to write romance, but I know that right now, one of my biggest inspirations when I experiment with a story offline is Ana Huang, because her characters are written by the same person, but their POVs are so distinct and
real that I aspire to be able to do that.