In this interview, EBC's captain and admin joins us to talk about her Wattpad journey. miqthyhero is a Marvel fanfic writer with a softspot for 5 Seconds of Summer.

Interviewer: CoffeeAndSilverInk

Astrid: How are you on this fine afternoon?

Dana: I'm alright, thanks. How are you?

Astrid: I'm good.

What made you want to be a writer?

Dana: When I was primary or middle school, can't remember exactly when, one of my teachers gave us the assignment to write a story about any topic. So I wrote that story and found out that I really enjoyed writing. Then my teacher also told me she really liked my story so that gave me an extra boost.

Astrid: that's so nice

As a fanfic writer, what do you think is the biggest challenge compared to other genre writers?

Dana: To most non-fanfiction readers or writers, fanfiction is known to be embarrassing or dirty. Because of that 'stereotype', a lot of those people say they never want to read or write fanfiction. These types of fanfictions are definitely there, don't get me wrong, but besides the 'bad' fanfictions, there are also 'good' fanfictions. But unfortunately, a lot of people don't look past the stereotypes (of all kinds). So because of this, but also because fanfictions are usually limited to one fandom only, it's harder to reach an audience especially if you just started.

Astrid: It's been 4 years since you joined Wattpad. Are you where you wanted to be at this point?

Dana: No😂 In these 4 years, I have done nothing but publish and either unpublish works or put works on hold because I kept getting stuck. Don't be a Pantser everyone.

Astrid: I actually wanted to ask you about that.

Why is pantsing your prefered method and how is it better than plotting for you?

Dana: At this point, I don't really think it works better for me😂 Yes, I 'chose' to become one because it gets you to the process of writing faster than when you're a Plotter and that's apparently what I wanted, but the downsides of being a Pantser come at me so hard now that I'm now doing everything in my power to get rid of my inner Pantser.

Astrid: All I read was "Plotter for the win"

What was the process of creating "Angel with a Shotgun"?

Dana: Since you're talking to a Pantser, it's gonna be very anticlimactic: 1. creating the character. 2. figuring out how to include the character into the fandom's events. And 3. write

Astrid: Oh I do that too! Starting with the characters I mean.

Tell me about "Don't forget about me". How did you come up with it?

Dana: Okay, so it has been over a year since I last touched it, so this might not be very accurate.

My ideas usually start with the character and those ideas come from watching a movie or TV show outside the fandom. In this case, the Fandom is DC and the idea came from Star Wars.

Then I started creating the character and because DC has a pretty huge universe, I decided to add my own part of the universe so that I wouldn't have to deal with a character coming from a canonical place that I know nothing about.

After creating the character came the plot. When I came up with this idea, the show only had 2 seasons and until in like the very last episodes, I didn't have a logical place for my character's story to start. That would mean that unless I created my own storyline, I'd have to wait 2 years for the story to start since that's when season 3 finally came out. So for this fanfiction, I actually had to create my own plot for the canon characters + my own to follow.

I don't remember much of what I plotted and if I ever plotted, so let's assume I pantsed my way through it until the fifth chapter, which is when I officially put the story on hold😅

Astrid: Any future projects to look forward to? I recall a Moon Knight fic once upon a time...

Dana: As of now, no. I'm currently trying to get a new chapter out for Angel with a Shotgun, which is going great /s

Astrid: Do you have any writing advice to give?

Dana: This advice is mainly for my fellow Pantsers: don't dive into the writing process of your idea straight away.

Before you start writing, whether it's original or fanfiction, know your character(s). When you know your characters, know your event(s). When you know these two elements, you'd know how your characters would handle these events or how these events would 'change' your characters.

It doesn't even have to be very long or very detailed. As long as you have information to fall back on, it's easier to figure out a solution than when you go in blank.

Astrid: What made you join TSG? Why join as captain? And what is one thing you like about the community?

Dana: I joined the community back in early 2021 by joining the Book Club. Back then I was mainly looking for feedback regarding my writing and story. And the reason I chose EBC is because at that time, the book club had just been around for a few weeks and was still very small, which is something I prefer. When I got accepted into the book club, I also joined the official server and I'm glad I did!

I applied to become a Captain in November 2021 (no, I'm not recalling this from my memory, I went back and searched for it *inserts SG :pandaderp: emoji*). Why I did that is because in those few months, the book club really helped me out so I wanted to do something back for the community.

The one thing I enjoy about this community the most is the people in it. Everyone here is so amazing and helpful with whatever you need help with! I can't imagine how everything would have been if I never discovered The Savant G.

Astrid: Thank you so much for talking to me, Dana!

(Interview Ends)