Our goal is to showcase an array of LGBTQ+ content and extremely talented authors in the community. We are happy to introduce you to several authors who are standing behind their amazing works with strong LGBTQ+ themes. We are extremely honored to have them join our Fiesta for an interview.

Here is our tenth lovely author!

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✮ Author ✮ FinnyH

✮ Genre ✮General Fiction 

Tags: #1990s #britain #bullying #bxb #england #feautured #gay #genderfluid #genderqueer #generalfiction #interracial #lgbt #lgbtq #london #love #queer #secret #teen #teenfiction #teenromance

I caught my bully kissing another guy. For him, this made ME a nasty little problem.

What inspired you to write "White meat"?

White Meat is a little slice of my own childhood in that I grew up poor in the 90's, without very much, and my playdays were usually spent in communal gardens (which were also used as junkyards) with kids who came and went very quickly. Their parents were up to some questionable stuff, too. I didn't model Rain, the main character, after myself, but a lot of the other characters were based on some of the people in that area when I was young. It wasn't a nice start to life, but I felt I had to document it, and Rain is a pretty happy kid, really, like I was.

How long did you spend researching before beginning to write the story?

A bunch of it was from memory; we didn't have computers and phones and all that, and we only had four channels on the TV, that kind of thing. I did have to research life in urban London though, because that's not where I grew up. But a lot of it was based on real experience!

How did you discover Wattpad? What are some of your favorite experiences on the platform?

I experimented with Wattpad initially; just threw a short novella at it and it did quite well, which was unexpected! I came back after seeing it was a place I could share my novellas after all.

If you could invite five people for a cup of coffee— anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would they be and why? 

Oh, gosh, I'm a massive science nerd and I love composing orchestral music, so I'd probably invite the kind of people I could learn a thing or two from! That probably sounds like the most dull tea party ever, but I'd be well in my element! 

What do you like to do when you're not writing? 

The question might be what don't I do? Sports. I'm about as sporty as a freakin' wardrobe. But, for real, I do art, I programme games, I compose music, I play piano, I travel... and I also like gaming. I've an amazing partner who likes all of these things too, so we live in perfect nerd harmony!

What do you identify as?

That's never an easy one -- I've been figuring that out for years! Somewhere between male and... the hazy middle ground. I'd also say at the very least bi, but my partner is male, so I don't really think about it! I've never been great at putting myself in a box.

Can you tell us what you're currently working on or what's in store for the readers?

I've not put anything on Wattpad for a while -- purely because I've had no time to write -- but I'm dabbling in fantasy at the moment and testing the waters with writing an older character. A troubled, disgraced commander trying to hunt an infamous mage to restore his esteem. I love being able to write cynicism into a character who has been battered by a long life, and not because "his childhood was rough" yadda yadda! 

What is the best writing advice you have received? 

I work as an editor, so every day is a learning day! But, by far, the most useful advice I ever received was to just write and don't think about it too hard -- you can do the thinking later! Get to the end of your novel/novella, leave it untouched for an entire month, write something else, and then come back to your novel and you'll spot everything that is great and not-so-great about it. You need breathing space from a piece of work to be a successful critical reader.

What advice can you give to writers out there? 

Speaking of critical readers, don't let them bring you down or make you feel you have to write their way. It's a hard gap to bridge, but don't be afraid to seek useful feedback. Not all feedback is necessarily useful. In the end, you are the author, and the person giving you feedback isn't. Spot the difference between what feedback will improve your story and what is just the reviewer's personal preference, because as soon as you start trying to write to somebody else's standards you'll lose sight of what matters to you. ♡

"We never really get there, we are constantly learning" do you agree? Absolutely. I think the worst trap to fall into is to think you're there, that you've nailed it, because that's when you stop trying to learn!