The Myth and Legend crew is excited about this next writer. @Dante_Greywolf was this years Open Novella Contest Grand winner with his story The Last Werewolf (Vidar #1).

We wanted to hear how he gets his writers juices going and thought you would too.

What prompted you to become a writer?

I enjoyed coming with stories. Most of them only lived in my head, my form of escapism or thinking of a cool movie as I fell asleep. t some point I started writing these stories down.

What inspired you to write your first story and hit the publish button on Wattpad?

Well, my first story will never see the light of day

I picked up writing again in 2016, continuing (or rather restarting) a project I abandoned in my first year in uni, and someone suggested I posted it on Wattpad. I wasn't sure what to expect, but to see the reads and votes grow was very rewarding. Then the comments came and I knew I was doing something right.

Where do you find inspiration for your newest stories?

Inspiration can hit from anywhere. It's hard to pinpoint where ideas really come from. In same cases it's based on theories I had when reading other books or watching certain series. And then liking my theory more than the actual outcome. Haha.

For my novella specifically, I combined three ideas. One, write about Norse Gods post-Ragnarök (apocalypse from Norse Mythology). Two, a main character who is a werewolf but not the hot alpha with a sixpack and an anger issue. The only sixpack Vidar has is the beer in his fridge. And, three, I've always wanted to write an urban fantasy series set in my home town.

Share some of your writing tips and tricks (i.e. routines, rituals, exercises). When do you find time to fit writing into your day?

With a full-time job and a busy social life, it can be a hassle to fit writing into my schedule. As I'm quite slow as a writer, just squeezing in 15 minutes here or 30 minutes there doesn't work for me. A deadline and word limit, like the Open Novella Contest has, does help to prioritise writing and not curl onto the couch after a hectic and stressful day at work.

As for routines. Each of my chapters go through 3 (4 if you count my detailed plot summary) iterations before they're posted. I first write a very rough draft that doesn't contain descriptions and summarises conversations. It basically helps me show how characters will move from one scene to the next, with what ideas they begin the chapter and with what they end the chapter. Then I actually write the chapter. In a third round, I edit and fine-tune. Usually when there's a typo in the end version, you can be sure it's something I rapidly changed at the last moment.

What are some common themes that appear in your writing?

The psychology of manipulation

Bargaining

Self-doubt

The bond between a parent and a child

There's no happy ending. There's always a but...

What bit of advice would you like to share with aspiring writers?

Two pieces of advice:

1)    It's a marathon, not a sprint.

2)    Having writing as a hobby is totally okay.

I often get the question when I will start querying my stories or if I have any plans for self-publication. The answer is that I don't know if I ever will pursue any kind of publishing. For me personally, writing is something I do for fun, and at this stage in my life I have no intention for it to become anything more than that.

Tell our readers about your experiences on Wattpad. What do you enjoy most about the platform? What would you like to see added to it or changed?

Without Wattpad I probably would have never finished any story. The fact that you have an audience and get direct feedback is something that much harder to find when you write offline. Being on Wattpad gives you that extra push to actually get behind the computer again after a long day at work.

Also without all the feedback and critiques I got over the years, I wouldn't have grown as much as a writer as I have.

Who is your favourite Author and why?

There are so many good ones to pick from. I'm going to say Brandon Sanderson since he knows so well how to execute a complex plot. I hope that one day I'm as good as him. Or I can come up with a magical system and creatures as cool as he can. I also really enjoy how he writes about mental health in the Stormlight Archive.

If you could meet any Mythological or Legendary person, entity, creature, ect; who would it be and why?

I thought long and hard about this one. At first, I was thinking a dragon, but then I figured it would be more running and dodging lethal blasts of fire than having an actual conversation with the creature. So, I'm gonna opt for King Arthur. I really wanna know how much is fact and how much is fiction.