Interview with liveonpurpose

As interviewed by Little Miss Journalist

Little Miss Journalist: When you write your stories, what do you find inspiration in the most?

liveonpurpose: I don't know why I love H2o so much, but I really do. I think the characters are subtle and well-developed and so easy to get carried away with. I get really inspired by the different relationships in the show. The relationship the three girls have with one another, their relationships with their boyfriends (or ex-boyfriends,) an their relationships with everyone else while concealing such a huge secret. Even though this is a children's show it is so easy to relate to each of them and find yourself picturing stories for them.

LMj: Do you have a favorite story of yours? If so, which one and why?

LOP: My favorite story that I've written has to be Wiped Out, which was a surprising realization. I generally like to write more supernatural stories where the girls are changed or their powers get flip flopped or something else magical happens. Wiped Out had very little supernatural elements to it. It was just a simple story about Zane losing his memory and Rikki having to deal with it. I think the reason I love it so much has a lot to do with the number of positive reviews the story received. I started writing it because I had writer's block on my other story and I just needed something easy to work on. The reviews were so encouraging and so positive that I found myself in love with the story. It was by far the easiest one to write, I just wish I could think of a good plot for a sequel.

LMJ: How old we're you when you wrote your first story? (Childhood) Do you remember what it was about?

LOP: Ha, I actually do remember the first story I wrote. A real story, I mean, from start to finish. We had to write short stories in my 5th grade English class for Mrs. Rink. Mine was about a girl named Alicia who hated living in her boring town. Her mom had left her at home alone for the day and she was watching tv on the couch when all of a sudden animals took over her house. One room was a desert with snakes and things, one was the woods, one was a jungle, one was the frozen tundra, and so forth. She spends the day going from room to room escaping the animals (they were the mean kind, not the cute kind) and then locks herself in the bedroom and wishes for everything to go back to normal, boring. Then her mom comes home and Alicia wakes up on the couch and realizes that she likes things just the way they are.

LMJ: Do you like to read stories one chapter at a time or all at once?

LOP: All at once! Or, at least, until I run out of time. When a book really grabs me it's impossible to put it down.

LMJ: Which story are you most and least proud of, or are they all equal?

LOP: I've got to tell you, the story I'm most proud of is the first story I wrote for .net. I really put a lot of work into 'Flip Flopped,' and I'd like to think it made a difference. I was so excited about writing it and so terribly nervous that I would get made fun of so I worked my tail off writing it. I tried to include mythology, poetry, magic, anything I could think of to make the story interesting. Now when I go back and read it I can see a ton of things I wish I'd done differently, but it was my first baby and I'm proud of how it turned out.

I'm least proud of 'The Secret Is Out.' It's the only story I've written that I cannot finish. I kind of wrote myself into a corner with it, and I haven't figured out a way to be true to the characters and power the story along without it turning out exactly like my other story, 'No More Secrets.' Honestly, with 'The Secret is Out' I had planned to go big-scale with it, having Sophie expose the mermaids to the media. When I started 'No More Secrets' I had no intention of the girls ever ending up public, but the story just kind of took me there. Since the two are so similar I've kinda let 'The Secret is Out' fall to the bottom of the list, but it makes me angry every time I see it there. I hope I can figure something out for it someday.

LMJ: What first gave you the idea to join .net in the first place?

LOP: I used to read the .net fics all the time. In fact, I was reading a story online about H2o before I ever even saw the first episode. I fell in love with H2o a couple years later, and I just HAD to get a story out of my head. So I joined up and I have been happily writing ever since.

LMJ: Do you like to write stories on paper first then transfer it, or write it on the computer and edit and publish it?

LOP: I prefer to write everything out on paper first, but I usually do whatever I have time for. If time is short I go straight to the keyboard.

LMJ: Which do you find more frustrating- when you have time to write but no inspiration or when you are inspired but have no time?

LOP: Definitely when I have time to write but no inspiration. For me, there is not such thing as having inspiration but no time to write. If I've got a story in my head I will try to stay up as late as I can to get it out. The worst feeling in the world is when I have nothing else to do, and open computer in front of me, and no idea what to write.

LMJ: Do you have a writing and/or publishing scheduele? If so, do you usually stick to it?

LOP: I don't. Sometimes almost a month will go by without me writing a word, sometimes I'll crank out a couple chapters a day. It all depends on how far into the story I am in my head and if I have ideas that I know will suit the characters.

And that's it. If you wish to be interviewed, please PM me, but please note that I am gone from tomorrow until July 29, so if you PM me and I don't reply, keep that in mind. Where I'm staying has no wifi :(