Wattpad Block Party Author: AE_KIrk aka Abi

AE_KIrk

Wattpad Block Party Conntribution: ON Writing, being an Ambassador & more.

LINK: 

https://www.wattpad.com/146986964-wattpad-block-party-summer-edition-ae_kirk

Hi Abi! You're a Wattpad Ambassador and Club Moderator. Tell us how you discovered the site & became an ambassador.

I discovered Wattpad after I had had some positive write ups on my Harry Potter story on fanfiction.net. While I liked the website, at the time the community was hard to reach out to. And after a bit of surfing the web, I came across the Orange W in February 2010 and signed-up. When I first started out, I was very nervous. Wattpad was a new-ish site, had only been up and running for 4 years so, the readers were few and far between. My first story was called "Being" a sci-fi one that I had discussed with my archaeology tutor and she liked the idea. And when I had finished publishing that, I then put up Tattoo of the Black Angel. That was and still is, my prized story. Wattpad then managed to get me featured on Celebrity Dirty laundry and MediaBistro. I became a Wattpad Ambassador after Eva Lau asked me in December 2010. The Ambassador's or Wattpad Ninja's as we were called back then, consisted of about twenty of us from around the world. It was a very new "thing" to happen in Wattpad and the clubs were a total mess. We were divided into certain groups, but generally, we all helped each other out and tried to stop the dreaded "Vote for vote." It still goes on, but not as bad as it was five years ago. The clubs have changed so much, it's amazing what the Ambassadors have done to help keep Wattpad as it is.

You are very forthcoming about your Dyslexia. Do you think you were drawn to words as a means of therapy? Or are you, (like many) just exceptionally creative with any number of stories always coming to you?

Dyslexia is a type of reading disability that anyone can get. As most people believe is it either due to poor education during primary school, or under development cognitive skills in reading and writing. I didn't have the best education growing up as I was always doing other activities, and during secondary school my teachers never helped me and thus, I end up dyslexic. It can happen to anyone.

I was never drawn to words and nor has writing been a therapy. It has been a hobby that began when I was meant to be studying. My main interest has been playing the piano and composing my own music and I had done this since I was about 10. I only became interested in writing when I won a poetry competition when I was 12 but I was unable to fly to Florida to claim my prize as it's a bit far away and very expensive. (I live in the UK). All of my stories are like pieces of music to me. Each scene in the story is like a tempo and the characters are like accented notes that become relevant throughout the entire piece.

Your are an avid writer! What's YOUR favorite story that you've written, even if it didn't get the most attention? And why?

My favourite story is Tattoo of the Black Angel and the rest of the trilogy. I have been so engrossed in that world that I wonder if it's not my own at times. The plot came so easily to me and the characters were people and the scenes were places that are real that it's hard to go back to places and think "That's where Tara danced at Halloween" or "That's the hotel where Tara first met Macie" or "That's the pier where Thera ran down." I have had so much fun writing the story that I can't wait to publish it this August. I'm not usually a proud person, but with this book, I am smitten with it.

What is Social Archaeology? 

My Masters Degree was in Social Archaeology in Mediterranean Cultures and Civilizations. It is a bit of a mouthful, but the course was amazing. Social Archaeology delves into the social aspect of pre-history, for e.g. the Ancient Cypriots, the Cretans and Ancient Egyptians of the Early to Late Bronze Age. It was to learn how and why people created the pottery or the buildings they built, the reasons why and what for and how they made an impact on the landscape and other rural or coastal people's of their country and other countries. One incident that I find exceptionally fascinating was that during the Middle to Late Bronze Age, the island Thera (now called Santorini) erupted. The blast was so big that part of the island was thrown into the air and even as far as the trees if California had been affected by the massive dust and ash cloud. During this time the coastal cities of Crete and Cyprus were decimated, but their experience of their world changed by the scenes they drew on their pottery. Large sea-creatures were painted instead of the local scenes of drinking and dancing and bull-leaping. I find this interesting because these people's perceptions on the world had changed, and so did their social aspect of life.

My interest stretches from Cyprus and Crete to Mesopotamia and the Levant and incorporates anything from the late Neolithic to early Iron Age.

How do you think your studies have affected your work?

My studies have affected my work from one basic practice that I think I go to a bit of an extreme, and that is research. During my studies I had one whole module on research and how to research correctly. It's not really a case of surfing the net and picking out books from your local library. I travelled to London, I went to Norway, Spain, Italy, Vietnam all for research for my books and to me, I think it's important. I want to be accurate. But a lot of things I learnt while in university, have been put into my books just to give people a reason to research (or google).

What advice do you give to fledgling authors?

My advice... To be honest I never got advice when I was writing, I just wrote because I wanted to and I didn't give into peer pressure. If people wanted a vampire story from me, I would find something else to write about. So I guess, my advice would be write what you want, for yourself, not what people want you to write.

You know your history! If you could go back in time, what period would you like to visit? And if no harm could come to you (no weird Twilight Zone twist!) is there an event in time you would like to have witnessed?

If I could go back in time I would like to find out what the Phaistos Disc is for in the Late Bronze Age Crete. It's an anomaly. No one is quite sure what it is or what it means apart from that it's Linear A. script. It's a mystery and I would love to find out its secrets.

Thanks, Ali. That was a blast!