"In the kingdom of Argon, a legend will rise..."

-_ ✳︎ _- ⌘ -_ ✳︎ _- 

[Italics are me (the interviewer), and bold is RainingStorms (the interviewee)]

I N T E R V I E W    T O O K    P L A C E :  J U N E - J U L Y    2 0 1 8

Hey! I was wondering if you were free for that interview? xx

Oh, I'm at school currently, but I can spare a little time I think. 😁 It's recess now, after all.

That's all good! What inspired you to write your story? xx

Hmm, well. My inspiration is actually Japanese animation (anime). It's a bit different from a majority of others. I've always liked anime since I started watching it at about seven-years-old, so when I first started writing, naturally it became my main source of inspiration. The anime I gained most of my inspiration from would be Bleach, mostly the characters. My story, History of Brothers, is actually a prequel of sorts to my series, Stormbringer. The thought of writing this book only came out when I was somewhat done with the draft of my first Stormbringer book. Inspiration of it also came from anime, but gradually, as I continued writing and developing my story and characters more, I began looking to other sources, such as Literature texts, since I'm a Literature student. Macbeth, written by Shakespeare, was a key inspiration for me, and helped me develop my characters' personalities more. So, yeah, I get my inspiration mainly from anime and Literature texts. x3

Ooo, yes, Shakespeare is such a great place to search for further inspiration. I think some of my work has been influenced by Shakespeare at some point xx

What do you want readers to get out of your book? xx

That's cool! 😁

Hmm, well, I suppose it's to appreciate your family. 'Family' is one of my main themes, after all. As life moves on, a lot of things happen to us as we grow. Our family members are the ones always by our side. They're the ones always watching us and guiding us along, be it our mothers, fathers, or siblings, both younger and older. Life is not everlasting, so it would be good to be grateful for whatever your family has done for you through the years, even though there may have been mishaps every now and then. That's what I want my readers to learn. I myself have to work on my relationships with my family members, so my story is something I'm learning from too 😁

Other than that, I also want them to get inspired, to never give up and keep working hard for what they want to do. I want them to focus on their dreams, but not go down the wrong path towards it. The journey can be tough, and all sorts of things can happen along the way, but I want them to know that they can reach their goal if they work hard and succeed x3

Awww, yes! Sometimes we just need another perspective to remind ourselves how important we are to have family xx

Where you and what were you doing when you found out you placed/TPPA-Approved? xx

(Sorry for taking so long to reply, I was having lessons)

I remember that day quite well. I was in school, it was about 1.30PM and it was the last period before dismissal, Social Studies. I was having a lecture when I received the notification, since we were allowed to use our devices to take down notes. I saw that I had placed 2nd, and was also TPPA-Approved, and I nearly had a heart attack. I had to stop myself from grinning and cheering the rest of the period.

Awww, I'm glad you didn't have a heart attack xx

Sorry, I've had work and then I went to sleep. I've been picking up more shifts at work so I have some money to spend while I'm on holiday. Also hoping to save up for a new computer as I've had mine for over five years xx

What does this mean to you? xx

Hehe, I'm glad too 😂

It's okay, I understand 😁 Hope you save up enough to get your laptop soon!

It's really meaningful. To be honest, I thought that the other books in my genre were all much better than mine, and that I wouldn't actually achieve anything. I am actually not very confident about my own writing. I believe that I can still improve a lot more, and I'm not satisfied with my current standard. Winning 2nd, and being TPPA-Approved as well, really helped to boost my confidence in myself, which I am grateful for as I am now less afraid to share my writing 😁

Yay! From my awards not only did I want to advertise people's work but also boost their confidence and less self-conscious of their work. I guess I've done a good job on doing that 😁

What are you up to at the moment? What do we have to look forward to from you? Do you have anything written-wise for us to look forward to in the future? xx

Yes, you did x3

Well, I'm in class currently learning about the sine and cosine of obtuse angles in further trigonometry, which I hate. But for writing... I'm editing and trying to update History of Brothers at the moment, so all my other stories are on hiatus 😁 But after I'm done editing History of Brothers, I will be working on editing my other story, Seasons, which is part of a trilogy. I'm also planning for another new trilogy titled Colour The World, which will hopefully be released after I complete History of Brothers and Seasons 😁

Yes, maths is so mundane 😒

Can you tell me a bit of what you have in store for your new trilogy, "Colour The World"? xx

I agree with that.

Well, I don't want to spoil to much, but it's also an Action/Adventure story, except with more world-building and 'adventure', unlike History of Brothers, which focuses more on character development. The characters are somewhat 'unique', in my opinion, as they are named after the colour that they are born with. The main cast will go on a quest around their world (not mentioning why 'cos that would be spoiling), and uncover all sorts of secrets and faults of their society along the way, as well as discover themselves, as they each have their own backstories that will be touched on throughout the trilogy. If I were to describe it in three words, I would say: Deep. Dark. Epic. At least, that's my own personal opinion about it x3

That sounds so exciting - I wish I could read it now, or had at least come up with such a cool concept of an idea 😄

Do you do your own covers, and if so, how do you make them? xx

I'm still developing the world and everything, but thanks!

Well, the cover of History of Brothers wasn't made by me, but rather by a really good graphic designer, MOCHIIMIN- x3 Her current designs are really gorgeous!

But I do make my own covers at times, using apps like Picsart and Pixlr, with Phonto to help with the font and texts. I only make anime-style graphics, though, since realistic graphics are a little too difficult for me. I do a number of styles, such as monochrome, where everything is just black and white with a splash of colour where I see fit, and manipulated covers, where I edit some features of renders and such and do a lot of blending 😄 It's a bit tiresome, sometimes, but actually quite fun. I have a graphics shoppe, named Thunder, but it's currently closed, and I haven't been making graphics as of late due to how busy I've been, so it'll be closed for quite a while. That's about it 😅

Wow, that's really cool! I like to make my own covers myself so I'll make sure to check out those apps too xx

Would you be able to state a short summary of all the books in the Stormbringer series, or summarise them all in one paragraph? xx

Cool! They're quite fun to play around with, especially Picsart, so I hope they help in your graphic-making!

Wow, that's... quite tough 😁 You see, the Stormbringer series is actually made up of 10 books, with 4 'prequel' stories. One of the 'prequel' stories is History of Brothers, with two others published and ongoing here on Wattpad, titled Red's Secret and Snow's Past. The last one, which is yet to be published, is titled End. It's... gonna be difficult to summarise them, but I'll try 😁

End tells of the start of the current Stormbringer world, with the Five Kingdoms, so it's a prequel that is set thousands of years in the past. The Stormbringer was created during that time. History of Brothers is basically about two brothers, named Storm and Xenor, who are the princes of the kingdom of Argon, as you would know. The story tells of the multiple events in their lives, such as the choosing of who will be the heir, the visits to the other kingdoms to show more of the Stormbringer world, the heir's coronation to officially become the king, and even beyond that, as they all hold significance, which lead up to both Red's Secret and Snow's Past, as the two stories follow the same timeline but are told in different perspectives, one from a thief's, and the other a prince's. Both stories will tell of a rebellion, and eventually lead up to the start of the first Stombringer book.

The main Stormbringer series spans over many years, with all sorts of events and secrets being revealed along the way. There's a bit of a supernatural twist to the series, along with action, adventure, fantasy and the like. While each book has their own story and adventure, such as the war, the falling/rising of kingdoms, and lots of death, they will all eventually lead back to the Stormbringer, and a prophecy from ancient times, which will be touched on in the later chapters of History of Brothers. I honestly don't want to spoil too much of the main series, so I'll leave it at that ;3

Oops, I went overboard 😖 Sorry!

That's all good, you nailed it! xx

Which one of your books are you most proud of and why? xx

Oh phew 😂

That would be History of Brothers, actually 😂 One reason would be because it is the only edited book of mine, while the rest are unedited and thus quite... crappy 😄; Another reason would be because of how this book allows me to expand and go deeper into the relationships between the characters, it being a character-based story after all. I want to create a sort of complexity between them, especially between the two brothers, Storm and Xenor. It's fun to write in both their perspectives as well, and there are times that something unintended happens while I'm writing, and I get shocked once I'm done and proofread 😂 One more reason would be the amount of emotions I've put into the story 😄 I've worked quite hard to put emotions into my writing, especially with my characters, as well as to withhold emotions from my readers so they will wonder what the characters are feeling at that moment and create a sort of suspense. I feel satisfied whenever my readers tell me that they love the emotions in a particular chapter, because that tells me that my work has paid off 😁

Awww, well I absolutely love Storm and Xenor so I think you've done incredibly well! xx

What makes writing a prologue better than starting a story with a first chapter? xx

Oh my, thank you! I'm so happy to know that x3

For one thing, the word 'prologue' sounds a lot better than 'chapter one' when you start reading a book 😂 For another thing, prologues tend to be told in a character's point of view which will never be told in the book again, thus making them, the prologues, really special. They give a bit of insight into what the story will be about from the perspective of someone who is not (one of) the main character(s), showing their thoughts and feelings. It's cool to read prologues, because this particular character's point of view will never come up again in the rest of the book, and they have different views from the main character(s), which makes things quite interesting. What's more, as they start off the book, if written well, prologues can intrigue the readers even more than a first chapter, due to the reasons mentioned above. At least, this is all what I believe, and thus why I start with a prologue rather than a first chapter, so that I can draw readers in like that as well 😂

Ooo, well that makes sense. I stray away from prologues personally, but that's only because it's something I need to improve at. Hearing you say that though, I think now I could definitely try out writing a prologue xx

Last question, and this is from LyndaCoker: do you think writers learn things about themselves as they construct their stories? Have you had one of those "aha" moments? xx

Yay! I wish you good luck at trying to write a prologue x3

Oooh, that's a good question. Yes, I do believe writers learn things about themselves as they write their stories. In actual fact, I'm one of them, so yes, I've had 'aha' moments 😂 Though I wouldn't really call it an 'aha' moment. More of an... 'oh' moment 😂

When I first started writing, which was about... four-five years ago, before I joined Wattpad, I came to realise that I'm a sadist. And right now, I've worsened to become a really, really terrible sadist. I like to torment my characters too much, pushing them to their breaking points and even beyond that. I also like to torment my readers with my characters' pain. I get really happy when I see both groups suffering, and because of that, a reader of mine told me she hated me for doing such cruel things to both my characters and her heart/soul 😅 She's my friend though, so she doesn't actually hate me (if she does I would cry) 😅 That's why I want to put as much emotions as I can into my writing, so I can hurt everyone emotionally >: Sometimes psychologically too 😂 And mentally and physically for my characters x3 It's fun to see everyone in pain (including myself when things get a little too deep but let's not go there) 😃 But I'm sure all writers have a sadistic spark in them somewhere, so this is really no surprise x3

Another 'oh' moment would be when I discovered the type of men that I like while writing my male characters. Cartoons may have helped me along the way 😅 I'm not even gonna go into this, so thats about it 😅 I have a couple of other 'oh' moments, but they're all really minor and not worth saying, so yeah x3

Thank you, LyndaCoker, for the question! 😁

I'm sure will appreciate your answer xx

I think I can be a bit sadistic with my characters too 😂

Did you want to give any shoutouts or had any last words? xx

Ohh, of course! I have so many people I want to thank!

First, my in-real-life best friends, Carisa_2205, rhaceniam, sandhya11082003, and ultsewoon! They're the people who first introduced me to Wattpad and encouraged me to start writing here, supporting me even up until now. All four of them have been with me for a really long time, and I love them with all my heart ❤️ Thank you, guys!

The second group would be those friends I've made on Wattpad! I have so many of them 😅 Let's start with my literal soul sister, mitsume10. I don't really remember how we met, but she grew from a reader to become one of my closest friends ever. She supports my stories quite intensely, and I'm really grateful for that 😂 Next, NikkoTrinity and resseofthedawn! We don't talk much anymore, but they're still friends I hold close to my heart, and they supported the previous version of my story a lot even though it was quite badly written. I'm really grateful to the both of them for everything they've done for me. Third, we have larkarukan and _pastalavista_! They're the most hardcore fangirls of Storm and Xenor respectively, and they're... rather aggressive supporters, if I do say so myself (they spam a lot!) 😅 Their comments really make my day, and I like to reread them whenever I feel down because I know they'll make me happy again 😁 Next, Shuppet_kumo, JCWine, and Chibi_Hobbit! The three of them are all so sweet and adorable ;w; They support my writing as much as they support my art, and they're all really fun to talk to! While one of them may not have read my stories before, she still supports me, and I get really touched :') Then we have . She just started reading my stories, but I've known her longer than that, and she's a really cool person! I'm happy that she enjoys my stories as much as I enjoy writing them 😁 I feel so blessed to have all of my Wattpad friends, I really cannot thank them enough for everything they've done ❤️

And there's a few more!

Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you had a lot of people to thank. Thank YOU for allowing this interview to take place xx

Another group would be these two dudes, sc0pe374 and JamesLester126. They started reading my story due to an assignment or a review, I can't remember which, but their advice really helped me to improve! I'm grateful for their words and insights, and while we've had a few mishaps along the way, they still support me regardless. I've gotta return the favour soon!

And finally, the most important person here. Thank you, Baeli! None of this would've happened if it hadn't been for your hard work and efforts, your blood, sweat and tears, and everything else you sacrificed just to make sure this awards was a success. I am so, so, so grateful to you for this opportunity, and to know that you enjoyed reading my story— all of our stories x3 It's been an honour, and I can't thank you enough. Thank you ❤️

And you're welcome! X3

Awwww, you're too kind ❤️❤️❤️

Nah you deserve it x3

Aww, thank you 😊

You're welcome x3

-_ ✳︎ _- ⌘ -_ ✳︎ _-

-_ ✳︎ _- ⌘ -_ ✳︎ _-

[INTERVIEW WAS PUBLISHED: JULY 2018]

- review yet to be released -