Hello, everyone! Today we have another mythical and amazing author, greydaygirl, sharing her story and discussing her work with us which has been featured on several Wattpad genre profiles.

About the Author: Grey is an author who likes rainy days, tea, and morally ambiguous characters.

About 'The Wandering God': Ao is a wrathful, ravenous former god trapped in a human body and sentenced to roam the Inner Empire for all eternity. 

Eternity is rather dull, until she meets a green-eyed prince and his friends. 

The prince offers her a deal; help him and she can get revenge on the ones who stripped her of her godhood. Sounds like a good offer right? But with the prince's offer comes danger, deceit, and enough almond pudding to drown a dragon. 

 Oh well, at least eternity isn't dull anymore.

1. What made you start writing on Wattpad? What has been your favorite moment so far on the orange app?

I started writing on Wattpad just before beginning my job in 2018. I think my childhood self (who always wanted to be an author) was rebelling against going into full time employment. 😂

My favorite moment? Hmmm probably when I was first starting out on Wattpad. The feeling of writing for myself in new uncharted territory was really fun. Also, anytime I get comments from readers that make me laugh. Which is often! Y'all are funny people.

2. Which mythology and/or legends influenced your story? Why did you choose those?

Soooo many myths influenced The Wandering God! I think the biggest would be the Guardian Beasts of the Four Directions from Chinese mythology, which is where I got the idea for the Five Gods in the Wandering God universe. Search 'Four Symbols' on Wikipedia. I liked the idea of each region of an empire being watched over by a separate guardian deity. So much room for conflict!

The other major inspiration was from the White Snake myth (and other similar stories, like The Crane Wife from Japan). The idea of powerful animals changing shape and living a life among humans always really captivated me. Like why would they want to do that? Would it be worth it? Would they regret it?

3. Tell us about the main character of one of your stories. What inspired their creation?

I'm so glad you asked! Ao is inspired by a lot of myths. One that people rarely pick up on is the story of the sea serpent Bakunawa from Philippine mythology. My favorite version goes something like this:

"Bakunawa was once known to be a beautiful goddess who lived at the bottom of the sea. One night she was mesmerized by a beautiful light. She went up and saw the moon and confessed her feelings for him. However, the moon rejected her affection, so she turned into a water dragon and tried to eat him instead." (Source: Wikipedia)

Ahahahaha could you imagine trying to eat your crush to cover your embarrassment at rejection?

One of the other inspirations for Ao came from a lecture in one of my Chinese literature classes. My teacher was telling us how rain was associated with 'yin', or the female element, in the Yin-Yang philosophy. I asked, "so since dragons are associated with rain does that mean they also fall under the yin element?" My teacher replied that no, dragons fall under the yang, or masculine element, since they are associated with power and the emperor. In fact, a five clawed dragon was a symbol exclusive of the emperor in ancient China.

I was a little miffed, so I started looking out the window and daydreaming of a super-powerful female dragon, who even outranked the emperor's five-clawed dragons... and thus Ao was born. 😂 

4. What were some challenges you experienced while writing the story?

Being impacted by reader expectations was a big one. When I was just writing for myself, I didn't care too much about the next chapter or how it hit. I just wrote what I felt like. When people started reading and looking forward to the next chapter, I was so grateful I felt like I had to make a really good story for them. That in turn made it feel like the story was no longer my own, and it got harder to write. But anyway, we finished in the end! I'm grateful to everyone who talked to me during tricky times, for their patience and encouragement. You the real MVPs. ❤️ 

5. Do you have a song playlist for writing? Can you share one with us?

I have way too many playlists. I made one public on SoundCloud if anyone is interested in listening. It has a some of the songs I listened to a lot while writing The Wandering God. Go to SoundCloud.com/greydaygirl and it should be there under my user profile.

6. What is your favorite myth or legend? Why?

Hmmm I really like the Coyote myths you find a lot in indigenous American mythology. Though it can vary by region and group, generally Coyote is depicted as the ultimate chaotic trickster. And who doesn't love a good antihero messing stuff up?

Put Coyote in a room with Loki and Anansi and my money is still on Coyote.

7. What is your favorite mythical creature? Why?

Is there even a choice? I mean it's gotta be a dragon, right? 🐉

8. If you could have the same powers as a creature and/or deity from mythology or legends, what would it be? Why?

It'd be cool to be immortal, or even just really long lived. Then you could see the world change around you and see your impact on the world. Also, I'd like to fly.

9. What is your advice other writers who want to use mythology in their story?

Read around! You may start off thinking you want to create a story based on one myth, but once you start researching, you'll realize there are a ton of other myths that might suit you concept even better. Plus, you learn a lot in the process!

This was a ton of fun! Thanks very much for having me.

That's it for this month, it was fun getting to know about greydaygirl. You can read her story featured in our reading list as well as her other works.

Until Next Time!