The First Place winner of Poetry is KingEmpo. Check out the book!

'Ocean Spirit' by KingEmpo

Interview with KingEmpo:

1. Can you briefly introduce your story and tell us why you think it won first place? Why do you want readers to consider reading it? 

My poetry collection is "Ocean Spirit," and it is a collection of poems that details a man's journey of love through all the highs and lows, written in free verse and detailed with vivid natural imagery. I was quite surprised that I won first place, but I believe that I won because I brought a unique message and style of writing to my poetry along with a creative use of color and word choice. I think that if you're looking for a heart-lifting and heartbreaking poetry collection that tells a story of love, life, and the ocean, this collection would be the one for you. 

2. Who/What is your source of inspiration when it comes to writing? 

 Specifically for this collection, I drew inspiration from many different places. A good portion of my inspiration comes from music, specifically albums like Golden Hour, Emotion, and Red, along with just other tidbits I hear on the radio. The other big portion of my inspiration is my memories and experiences in real life, weaving in portions of them into the poetry to convey emotions and help detail the imagery. A couple of my poems were also inspired by movies and television shows that I had watched.

3. What is your favourite genre to write in? Any new genre you want to attempt? 

My two favorite genres to write in are poetry and apocalyptic fiction because both are just a ton of fun to write in. I really want to write a science-fiction / horror island survival story, somewhat similar to Lost, but I've struggled with coming up with a beginning, so that project has been put to the side as I try to finish the two other apocalypse stories I'm working on.

4. What do you think are your strengths and weaknesses as a writer? 

My strengths, in terms of poetry, are probably choice of words and conveying images and connecting emotions with those images. In terms of my general writing, I'd say that because I'm such a pantser, I've got a lot of room for flexibility and creativity since I'm not building towards a particular ending. As for weaknesses, flow is a big one for poetry because I write free-style and an inability to plot for my apocalyptic novels because I lose interest quickly when I attempt to plot.

5. What drew you to Wattpad? Do you have any favourite Wattpad story? 

 I was a writer on FF and FP, but the issue was that FP is a very dead website and there are very few active communities over there. So when I was looking for another writing community to join, that is when I found Wattpad, which has a pretty engaging and vibrant community, and I've stayed here ever since. I don't really have a favorite story on Wattpad (my favorite online story "Journal of the Zombie Years" is on a different website), but I've met many talented writers here! 

6. Have you always had an affinity for writing? 

I wrote a bunch early in elementary school, especially between first and third grade, before this passion slowly faded away. It was only until late middle school that my passion for writing re-ignited, and high school was when I decided to write more seriously and publish my works online. Looking back at my old works (from only a year back), I cringe at how bad they are, and I'm proud that I've grown a lot as a writer since I first started.

 7. How do you select the names of your characters? 

Out of my four books, I've only got one where I've actually got named characters. My method for choosing names is just to go simple and common, but this is probably because I don't write any of the genres where fancy names are common (i.e. fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction). The main reason I do that is to help make the character seem a bit more relatable to the readers because it makes it easier to empathize with the struggles of this average seeming character.

8. How many books have you written? Which is your favourite? 

I've written four books in total, two poetry collections, one apocalypse novel, and one zom-com novel, with one of my poetry collections, "prairie dreams," being the only one that I have completed so far. I love all of my books, but my favorite would have to be this collection because it really is a joy to write and create all these poems.

9. How supportive are your readers? 

My readers are quite supportive of me. I've got 5-6 users that check-up regularly on "Ocean Spirit" every time that I post a new chapter, and they usually leave 1-2 comments, which are always a joy to read. My other poetry collection and two apocalypse novels have received less attention, but occasionally, someone will read them and leave some feedback and compliments, and I'll thank them for it.

10. What time of the day do you usually write? 

Anytime that is not in the morning when I wake up, especially from 2-10 am. My brain is so groggy that I can't really focus on anything. I usually read political news or watch youtube until I feel like getting up.

Fun questions section: 

11. If you could create one new law everyone had to obey, what would it be? 

 I'd ban white shoes (Sorry everyone who wears white shoes). I find white shoes to be time-consuming to clean and completely nonsensical. You wear shoes to get them dirty so that your feet won't get dirty, so why get white shoes that will get dirty and smudged almost immediately. Ban them right away. But in all seriousness, I'd probably sign some law that states that the US has to decarbonize by 2030 because climate change is a big deal, one that I talk about in a couple of my poems. 

12. Mention one goal in your bucket list. 

One goal would be just to finish a book. The closest I've gotten is my apocalypse book inspired by the "Life As We Knew It" series, and right now, combining my published and unpublished chapters, I'm about 70k words in (and that's just the first quarter of the book). Hopefully, I'll be able to finish it one day.

13. What would a world populated by clones of you be like?

 The world would probably be quite boring. I find myself to be a pretty unexciting person, and a world populated by clones of me would probably not be very interesting. We'd all probably find a nice secluded corner and read books or watch movies and television, maybe even write a bit, and probably never talk to each other.