𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀: 𝗕𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗢𝗨𝗦: 𝖼𝗈𝗅𝗅𝖺𝖻 𝖺𝗐𝖺𝗋𝖽𝗌 [𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗢𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗧]
𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿: Beth | BabyBluez17
𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿: Danielle | Dark_Ghostie
𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: 16 July 2024

─⁠──⁠──⁠──⁠─ ⋄ ☾∘☽ ⋄ ─⁠──⁠──⁠──⁠─

𝐃: Hey, I'm Danielle, one of the founders of Mellonia and I'll be the one taking your winner's interview. Before we start, congratulations on winning the best epilogue category!

𝐁: I’m Beth, and I go by BabyBluez17 on Wattpad. I’m 20 years old and I live in the UK!

𝐃: Nice to meet you, Beth! So how do you feel about your win? Did you expect it?

𝐁: Not at all! I seriously didn’t expect it, and I just entered on a whim. I couldn’t believe it when I got the notification that I’d won! 🩷
Also I think the category I won was best character! Just in case you might have me mixed up : )

𝐃: Oh yeah, my bad. It was best protagonist. So what would you say is unique about your protagonist? Can you tell us more about them?

𝐁: Sure! The protagonist I entered was Nova Shields. At the beginning of Code Red she’s 25 years old, working for a special ops group called Fleetwood, located in America. She didn’t have the best childhood. She’s very no-nonsense throughout the book, but has a soft heart behind the cold exterior. : )

𝐃: Wow, that sounds so interesting! What do you think are important characteristics or factors characters in general must have? What should authors look out for or do to achieve these?

𝐁: In general, I think that characters (if a protagonist and not an antagonist) should have a sense of loyalty to certain other characters. Mainly because I think it really helps to shape their character! And if they have no loyalties and wouldn’t sacrifice anything for someone else, why is that?
I feel it really depends on the characters backstory when shaping their personality as the book is taking place. That’s why backstory is so important, even for the villains!

𝐃: That's true, especially since it's the circumstances that shape people, but many authors, including myself, aren't sure how tp properly introduce the backstory while keeping the flow of the story. What do you think is the best way to tell readers more about the characters? How do you do it?

𝐁: I’d say a great way to introduce backstory and my personal favourite, is by characters eventually opening up to another character. But it’s important to build up to that, maybe if certain things in the present time remind them of their past, it’s relevance in the past could be mentioned, but you’re not info dumping too much on the reader. Also, if relevant, you could always throw in a flashback, but definitely not too many of them - just if it’s a scene where your character could have a flashback triggered of maybe a bad event in their past!

𝐃: Oooo those are some great ways!! But besides backstories, how do you make characters believable or relatable? Do you think basing your character off someone is a good idea? And is it important to do some research on different personality types and areas where the character is from if it's based in the real world?

𝐁: I think one of the most important ways to make them believable and relatable is giving them a weakness - something that really makes them vulnerable. Just because in real life, it’s rare you’ll ever meet someone who can go through all sorts of hell but lack any sort of emotion. I feel that flaws are really important also, because no person in real life is perfect. I wrote my FMC with imperfections on purpose, even if it meant me actually disagreeing with her at times - it’s all part of the character development so they aren’t flat!
For example with my own FMC, her vulnerability is deep-rooted from her past, and she’s terrified of her brother. She can also be impulsive and reckless, acting before she thinks in a situation of anger, which at one point is almost her downfall.

𝐃: Well said! Before we end off, do you have any advice to new writers? And what do you think about this awards? Are there any areas that we can improve on?

𝐁: To any new writers, I’d just say trust your gut and write what you love. I wrote my story thinking it wouldn’t get more than 100 reads, and almost didn’t finish it a few times.
For writers block, I’d say just read in the meantime as much as you can! I had severe writers block as I had a surgery in the middle of writing my story, so I just read lots of books to get through it.
Just write what you love and trust me, your writing is better than you think! We’re naturally all overly critical of our work.
As for the awards, I think they’re great as they are! They’re super well organised and a great motivator for writers 🩷

𝐃: Aww thank you so much for this!! Do you have anything else to add on?

𝐁: No I think that’s all thank you! 🩷