This is my interview with tragician_child

They have 6.78k followers at the moment and 33 published works including Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner which is a multiship and Guilt Tripping which is a Frerard with 477k reads.

1. Why did you decide to first make your Wattpad account?

Why? Oh well I think I've said this before, either on my youtube channel (I can't even call it that I've done, like, two videos on it) where I explained it, or in the other interview I did with DoctorGay.

I had loved My Chem for years growing up, my mom was always a huge fan of them so they were always around and then I grew out of them for maybe a couple years or so for some insane reason, I liked them up until the eighth grade and then just faded out.

And then I was in eleventh grade and I had started picking up on them again and I was just googling Gerard with red hair because somehow (idfk) I had only recently discovered any other album besides Black Parade and the red hair was like seeing God for the first time.

So I was googling him and all and I found this fanfic called My Only by ALiteralPieceOfTrash. And it's not even Frerard, it was about Gerard as a groupie and ugh it still has a place in my heart.

Anywhore, I read through that and it sucked me in and I was on Wattpad and downloaded the app and it literally blew my mind that there was this entire community of My Chem shit that I was oblivious about and well, here I fucking am. I made the account back then just to read shit.

Also, on a random note, I did ask people ages ago what my old username before tragician_child was and no one knew lol. If anyone cares my username was (and prepare for ultimate cringe) MCRdreamchild_1096. I know. I know.

2. What did it feel like to hit 6k followers?

Holy crap, hitting my first 30 followers had my uterus weeping for a solid five minutes. Hitting 6K was an amazing and humbling thing for me. I worked hard to get where I am, I mean getting that many followers and reads isn't an easy thing at all. And I was proud of myself that my hard work and ass-kissing had paid off.

Every new follower I get makes me smile and I would follow each one of them if Wattpad didn't have a 1K follow limit that I've already used up.

I am so utterly and completely grateful for having so many followers on here, like, I have a family. I have my close family and my weird and wacky distant relatives and those floaters that come by every now and again to borrow a cuppa sugar (y'know what I mean?).

It's just amazing to be able to have so many people take the time out of their day to follow me. Six thousand is 0.0008% of the world's population. That sounds like a lot to me, tbh and that took me about a half an hour to figure out with a calculator.

3. Do you have a book of yours that you would recommend for people not sure where to start?

A recommendation of my own work? Oh jeez um...well it would depend on what they're there for. I mean if they're one of those late night smut prowlers I'd go for Animals or my oneshots. If they want fluff I'd go for Stitches. If they want something of substance I'd go with either Take Me Away or something along those lines. If they're looking for soul destroying but funny and cringey and fluffy and weird all at the same time I'd go for Guilt Tripping although again that isn't for a first timer who doesn't know me yet or it's sort of sequel that's a prequel for the real sequel Scar Tissue which doesn't get the love it deserves...

I get at least four DM's a week from people telling me I broke them apart because of that book. No regrets though.

Honestly the first thing I'd have them read is Lola and Gee. If you don't know, it's a work of art I started over a year ago with motherpanic, who is sadly gone from Wattpad thanks to the bunch of dickbags who never let them make mistakes.

Anywhore, we decided to take every single piece of research imaginable, spending 9 months on it, to create the most realistic Frerard ever. We read into ever theory and every video and every post and interviewed so many people in the fandoms to create it and it's as realistic of a Frerard that you'll ever get. But sadly, since they're gone, it's taken a step back but now...it's back and up and running shortly, you'll get a note on that soon, don't worry.

4. You have been on this site for three years according to your page and you continue to publish new works consistently. How do you keep up the motivation to do so?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Motivation. How do this? Parker, how do motivations? I don't have any fucking motivation. Let me share something with you. *puts on best Sofia Petrillo from Golden Girls voice*

Picture this, Parker, 2017. He sits at home all day every day without a job while he studies art. He sleeps all day knowing he has a workshop on Monday the 27th of April. A workshop, of course, for Painting, Drawing and Sculpting. That Sunday he thinks maybe he should take a look at what small thing he should do and he's suddenly hit with realisation. That shmuck has to do 13 small drawings, 8 medium size and 2 large for Drawing. He has to do 3 small paintings, 6 medium and 2 large before the next morning and it's already 10pm. So y'know what he does?

He goes back to sleep.

*Normal voice* No I'm not kidding. Luckily they rescheduled for the week. Anyway. Motivation isn't something I have to spare. It's something that comes and goes in waves with my bipolar disorder. I'll have lows for a while and want to do absolutely nothing and then out of nowhere I'll hit a mania and spunk out 3 chapters in one day and run around like a headless chicken on acid. And that can last for days, each side. So the motivation kind of kicks in for itself. To quote Michael from Just Go With It, "when I feel it, I do it"

5. You mostly write Frerard, so how did you first get into that ship?

Frerard? Oh jeez...um, I'm not too sure on where it came in. I did fall into the Wattpad hole like I said, and I think I got bored with the cheesy groupie-meets-bandmember-at-Warped-or-runs-away B.S. and went looking for anything Gerard related.

And as sad as this sounds, to be honest I didn't even know who the other members were back then. I used to confuse Frank and Mikey almost all the time and when they were in a fic I'd have to Google who they were just to have a face to the character. I feel the shame too, don't worry. And then I stumbled onto the tag one night and I had no idea what it meant so I kept reading and then I realised what was happening and I was dead.

I still remember what I read. I think it was a oneshot by MrsLester called Gerard Way Had What You Might Refer to as a Routine. I nearly collapsed off of my bed and I was completely side-winded and disgruntled at the same time but I couldn't stop reading it and then I had to find more because it was so wrong but so right.

And then I wondered where the fuck people even got the idea that they would even be together and then...then I found YouTube and I finally understood. I could see clearly now, the hetero rain had gone.

6. Do you have any difficulties writing multiple stories at once?

Difficulties? Fuck yeah I do. Do you know how many unfinished stories I have on my profile? Lemme tell ya. I have 9 unfinished fics, a rant and art book and a rec list, an imagines book, 2 unfinished oneshots and 3 unfinished oneshot books. 18 incomplete works. And some I haven't touched in months.

It's hard because I get an idea and have to start it up and then it sits and hums and twiddles its thumbs for ages. And I don't do it on purpose, I'm just naturally impulsive. And then I'll write on one and then hit a rut with the plot and leave it because I don't want to deal with it so I move on and jump around and then eventually all of them are stuck and then I don't update for weeks or so on end and ugh...yes, yes I have difficulties. A lot of them. All self inflicted, of course.

7. If you could be one of the characters you have written for a day who would you choose and why?

I'd say Gerard from Guilt Tripping but we are the same person in any case so that doesn't count besides the fact that that's the opposite and I do not, in fact, want to be him.

If I could pick any character...well it's difficult because I've built so much into my characters that all of them have a tiny redeeming quality that I'd want. But I guess if I have to pick one of them I'd probably have to go with Tyler from Baby in the Corner. I have no idea why but fuck I love him in that fic so much. He and Angel!Frank in The World Destroyer are two of my favourites. Or Jamia in Scar Tissue for some reason. Jamia in general, y'feel?

8. What is your least favorite thing about posting on Wattpad?

When it fucks out and doesn't notify that I updated. That really pisses me the fuck off. And some of the readers that ruin everything. God, some people can't take a joke, and some take shit too far. And it's the reason why so many people are leaving. And it's just not fair that there are so many people wiping their metaphorical boogers in the rented coat pockets of everyone else's reading time. (I stand by that metaphor).

It just sucks because then everyone else has to suffer and then us as writers lose readers and people we love and it just makes it less fun. They take the fun out of writing because we make a human mistake. A grammar error, a spelling error and literally launch into a tangent or make fun of it openly with other readers. They have no idea what it does to someone's self esteem. It's not just a joke, especially if you're doing your damn best, and even more so if you're doing it in another language for example. That shit ain't easy but if people demand an Italian speaking Frank, they'll get one even if I don't use the language myself. Y'know what I'm saying right?

Moving along swiftly with malice aforethought.

9. Any advice for someone new to Wattpad who is considering starting their own book?

Advice? Do your best. And don't be shy about publishing. Yeah it's nerve-wracking to suddenly have your work out there, like being naked in front of someone or something. You just gotta give yourself a push. And take it slow, don't rush and burn yourself out either.

And like I said in the other interview I did. Don't steal what isn't yours. And if you find someone else's story similar to something you had in mind, for the love of all that is good and pure in this world, just fuckin' ask them. It saves everyone so much time and less grey hair. Also try and stay away from cliches, unless it's on purpose, I mean after a while it's going to get predictable and people will lose interest.

Don't ramble too much (unlike me rn). Like there's just enough rambling and then there's Dove Keeper rambling that has you either giving up halfway or scrolling through page after page until something happens, y'know? You don't need that.

Each chapter really only needs one exciting event. Don't overwhelm the reader. Keep them coming back for more. Don't, I mean, leave every chapter on a cliffhanger but don't do too much in a chapter. Don't have some smut and then someone runs away and then someone gets shot and then killed all in the same chapter, y'feel me?

Be descriptive, try and describe it as if you were there, don't just say it was a room and stuff happens. That is how you draw things out and lengthen your chapters. When you write smut, avoid too much yelling, don't say 'member' or 'penetrate'. Put your shit into paragraphs. Even my interview has paragraphs ffs. If the readers wanted something chunky, they'd eat my dick. No but seriously, it's a lot easier to follow like that.

And advice wise that doesn't concern writing. Don't be a dickbag, if you don't want someone saying it to you, you don't need to be saying it to someone else.

10. What has been your best moment on Wattpad so far?

Oh god I have a few of those tbh. Let's see...well for starters hitting 450K on Guilt Tripping, getting 6K followers definitely. Making an entire series of books that people seem to love. Pulling almost 5k people into reading my Waycest mix fic that I adore with my whole heart.

I think my favourite and best moment on Wattpad would be when I "finished" the Animals series. It was like a solid accomplishment in my life, like the end of an era almost. I also loved watching people dying. That, and also when I was mentioned as one of the most popular Frerard writers in the entire fandom. Like ??????? I felt like God.

Those are the four best words to use when ending an interview. I love doing these things tbh, I don't know why I do but I do. For the select few anyway.

I hope you enjoyed my interview with the lovely tragician_child

Don't forget to comment suggestions for other authors I should feature next.

Love you all xxx

- starr