FAQ

Q. What inspired you to write Given?

A. I wanted to write the kind of immersive fantasy world that makes people miss their subway stop. I wanted readers, while exploring my world, to forget about the anxiety and stress of day-to-day life, the same way escaping into incredible fantasy worlds helped me cope as a black nerd growing up in white suburbia. I also wanted to make readers laugh, cry and think.

Q. Why did you start posting to Wattpad?

A. Wattpad gave me an audience, and gave me motivation to write. Knowing there were people waiting every week for my next update was the fire under my butt I needed to get the book done.

Q. How did you get published?

A. I posted Given to Wattpad starting in July 2017. Though I wanted motivation to write, I also knew I wanted to be a published author someday, whether traditionally or self-published, so I hoped to build an audience of readers too. I started out posting Wednesdays and Saturdays, as I’d heard the best way to get to the top of the algorithm was to post at least twice a week. I posted in the Wattpad community forums, joined book clubs and exchanged book reviews with other writers, and responded to every comment in the beginning when I could. Given was also chosen as an editor’s pick and featured, which helped give it traction.

Slowly but surely Given climbed up the ranks of the fantasy novels. Wattpad only shows the rank for the top 1000 books in any category and I was so excited to see Given turn up one day as number 800-something. But as the months went on it climbed and climbed until it was the #2 fantasy story on the whole site. By then I was getting hundreds of votes and comments, and over 100 followers a day!

In 2018 Given won the Worldbuilders Watty Award. It was chosen from over 300,000 entries. Later that year Wattpad offered me a contract to publish with their brand-new publishing house, Wattpad Books.

Q. What advice do you have for new writers?

A. Read. Read a lot, and read in every genre. Read books about writing too. Then write. Write using everything you’ve learned. Write even when you don’t want to. And give yourself a break if it’s not perfect. Sometimes I’m not really in the mood and my first drafts are very, very bad, but I just put the words on the page, because I know that once the words are there it’s easier to go back in and make the magic happen.

It took me 10 years of seriously trying to finally get my writing career off the ground. I have many half-formed books and a good number of query rejections under my belt, but I’m grateful for every single word I’ve written. None of them were wasted, because they all laid the foundation to build my dream.

Q: Given challenges many romantic tropes. What was your goal in having the protagonist, Yenni reject the cocky dragon she was supposedly destined to be with?

I don’t think it’s Yenni’s rejection of Weysh that challenges tropes per se: There are tons of “rejected mate” stories around. However, the more possessive and overbearing Weysh is, the more he pushes Yenni away. To have any hope of winning Yenni over, Weysh has to take a good long look in the mirror.

And it isn’t only Yenni who stands up to Weysh. His friends call him out on his behaviour too, which is unfortunately something you don’t see in a lot of paranormal romances. In having everyone challenge Weysh, I’m challenging the damaging ideal of possessiveness as an expression of love.  

Q: What is your favourite book?

A: An Illustrated Treasury of Fairy and Folktales. It’s this hefty tome of folk tales from all over the world with some of the most gorgeous and terrifying art ever to grace a children’s book. My parents use to read it to me as a kid, so it’s their fault I grew up to be a fantasy author.