Greetings Younglings,

We had the chance to talk with selchies as our fourth representative for YARomance's School Council.

For the fourth Book Of The Month, we chose  - a short story on a blossoming LGBTQ+ YARomance story.

About the author: Hi! I am Sapphire Nyström and I am from Finland! I've been in love with creating stories ever since I was nine. I fell in love with the idea of crafting my worlds and creating relationships between characters. I originally started as a fanfiction writer on Quotev (I'm pretty sure my first one was a Sasuke x OC from Naruto. A dark past we never speak of) but found my place in writing original stories on Wattpad.

I've been on Wattpad since either 2010 or 2012 (with a deleted account featuring embarrassing stories) and was entrapped by what it had to offer. It gave me the chance to stand out and make a difference. Being biracial (Black and white), I strongly believe in diverse characters. I want everyone to read my stories and see some part of themselves in the story. My goal is to help bring change to the current status of books where characters are predominantly white, cis, and heterosexual.

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About the Book of the Month - Sailor's Moon

It all started with one text from an unknown number at 3 in the morning.

Avid magical girl anime fan and genius in the classroom, Parker Reyes believes no one would love him (he accepted this fact at an early age). However, Roman Nikiforov is the one factor in this equation he was not able to predict. Roman Nikiforov is an exchange student from Russia who is finally able to explore themself.

Roman is the opposite of Parker; they have no self-assurance of who they are or how they identify. All Roman wants is to accept themself with the aid of Parker; they believe it is possible. Who knows maybe, there is a connection between Parker's unknown number and this mysterious new exchange student.

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About other YARomance works: YA Romance books hold a special place in my heart. As a young child, I dreamt of finding my special someone and found myself reading a ton of books about that. I currently have two published YA Romance books on my profile, Sailor's Moon (completed) and its spinoff Meteor's Shower. Both focus on diversity and unconventional relationships.

Meteor's Shower follows the romance of Roman and Parkers' Black child Áurea. She has to learn to navigate prejudice and racism when not in her own country. She also discovers how to open up to romantic interests. Wanting the same romance that her parents have, but at the same time frightened by the idea that she will never get it. Hanzo is learning to go against the standard and welcome new changes into his life.

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1. What made you start writing on Wattpad and what do you love the most about it?

I used to be in a required creative writing class in my middle school and it fueled my need to continue writing. My first published story on Wattpad was one of the first stories I wrote for the class. Reading stories on Wattpad made me see that maybe there is a chance of me becoming a writer. What I love most about Wattpad is the community and the amazing stories that anyone can publish.

2. Which type of young adult or romance concept intrigues you the most? Any trope or concept you would like to try in the future?

I love the fantasy romance genre. I am obsessed with world-building (especially in high fantasy) and the creativity that goes into it. What's more attractive than slaying a dragon or defeating an evil witch while simultaneously falling in love on the journey? I know how cliché these tropes/concepts are, but I can't get enough! I would love to try out fake engagement, accidental bonding, lost memories, and royalty.

3. Your book is about an LGBTQ+ couple who meets over a random text. What is your inspiration? Why "text message" out of everything? Did you face any challenges while doing so? If yes, how did you overcome them?

My inspiration was the rise of social media stories in 2015-2016. I was fascinated with the idea of not using the traditional writing style and trying something that many people haven't seen before. The first time I tested it out was a Sebastian Stan romance story with a Black main character; it did well! I was sitting in my ninth-grade algebra class one day and thought, "If you can make a story using social media and texting, then can you make one with just primarily texting?".

The most difficult challenge with Sailor's Moon was coming up with text conversations that weren't boring to read. It is much harder to compose a story from text messages because you only have those messages to get readers to understand the characters and the plot. That was the main reason I incorporated "traditional writing". I wanted the readers to get closer to the characters and see the world from their eyes. I would get bored reading only text conversations; I felt that adding a traditional writing style added more engagement for the readers.

4. On a slightly different note, would you share with us your favorite movies or TV shows?

My gods! I'm going to be exposing myself right now. Some shows I adore are Yuri on Ice!!! (some of my inspiration for Sailor's Moon came from this show), Arcane, Mandalorian, Boku no Hero Academia, Devilman Crybaby, WandaVision, Love Death + Robots, Winx Club, and H2O: Just Add Water. Some of my favourite movies are Transformers, Twilight, Harry Potter, Ironman, Deadpool, and Harley Quinn. I have so many more, but my mind is blank at the moment.

5. Do you have any favorite young adult romance related stories? On Wattpad or published?

I feel so old thinking about my favourite published YA Romance books because all the best ones were the ones I can't forget from a decade ago.  I'm not sure how these books hold up today, but I fondly reflect back on them the Bloodlines series (I was ADDICTED), Wolfsbane, Nightshade, Tiger's Curse, and Cinder.

For Wattpad, it is Animal Instinct by hepburnettes, Drakkon by CrestFallenStar, How To Be A Queen (Myths Finding Love  by AerithSage, calmeda island by sirynic, Wallflower by thatscool_idk, Far From Home One: The Warlord's Chosen-- A M/M Fantasy Romance by herellwrites, If I Fall (GirlXGirl) If I Fall (GirlXGirl) by LBrooks23 and A Dance With The Devil (GirlXGirl) by OxJDxO.

6. What is your advice for new writers who want to try writing young adults with romance concepts in their stories?

Research is your best friend. When I was writing I watched and read a lot of young adult romance and teen romance to get an idea of how I should take my story. I asked myself why I enjoyed the romance and the romantic concepts in those stories and tried to create my own to get the same effect. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was to "just write it". No matter how stupid it sounds to you or how far reached it is, just do it. Worry about the mechanics later! That's how I wrote Sailor's Moon.

I worried about the mechanics and if everything made sense later because I wanted to know if this story had potential. After I finished publishing a couple of chapters, I noticed people enjoying it! I went back later to work out the kinks and got some friends to be my beta-readers. Even to this day, I edit the story to make it flow better or add details that I felt were important. When you think your story is done, it is never really done.

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Thank you for chatting with us!

Check out the author's works in the profile account selchies!

Have you read their works? Any author to suggest to us for next month?