The eighteen-year-old author of Alpha’s Second Chance Nymph uses the pen name Miss_Toria_Blue because she isn’t comfortable with people knowing she’s a writer, not yet anyway.
A Latvian native, English isn’t her first language, but that hasn’t stopped her from crafting popular, readable stories for Inkitt! I caught up with Miss_Toria_Blue today on the Writer’s Blog.
It’s really inspirational when writers realize they are never too young to tell their stories. As a teen yourself, can you talk a little about when and why you started writing?
I have been writing for about four years now, starting at fourteen. My writing came from the love of reading.
I really started to love reading, because I wanted to and not because school made me, when I was twelve. I read all these romance stories, and at first, it was fine and I loved it.
At the time, it was my only hobby, just to read all day and use every free minute I had just to read. I couldn’t put my phone down at night because I was so lost in those books.
But, as time passed, it felt like no story ended or even was going how I would like it to go. I kept thinking of scenes I would do differently.
Of course, at first writing scenes myself wasn’t even an option because I was just a fourteen-year-old naive girl.
I had no knowledge of writing a whole book, especially writing a book in a different language.
But you did it! Can you tell us more about your publishing journey?
I wasn’t sure how it happened, but one day I just put up a short chapter on a free platform.
Of course, the grammar and writing style was awful. Even the plot was as cliché as it could get, but somehow there were a few people who read it.
My regular young adult romance stories weren’t really getting the recognition I wanted, and that was fine, but then I noticed that werewolf romances were very popular.
I always skipped them because I thought I didn’t like them… but I was wrong! After reading the first werewolf romance, I went on a speed run of reading werewolf stories.
Eventually, I wanted to create a story like that, but with what I wanted to read. So I did it. I thought out the plot for my book Alpha’s Second Chance Nymph while weeding the garden at home.
I kept thinking about it, and when I was inside I wrote it all down in my notes. Little by little the story got told on its own.
This was the story that got a lot more attention on the first platform, but still it wasn’t enough… until I discovered Inkitt.
Sounds like Inkitt was a game-changer for you. How did you find the Inkitt platform, and what was the experience like?
I thought I could bring more attention to my book than it was getting on the platform I’d been using, so I literally goggled ”where can I publish books online for free” and Inkitt popped up.
Right away, I started getting good comments, nice reviews, and thousands of reads. I never published with the intention of someday making a profit off of it.
I just liked that people were enjoying my work, but when I got the opportunity to publish on Galatea, that was something completely unreal!
How exciting! I’m sure your reader fans want to know more about you. Tell us three interesting, non-writing-related things about yourself.
I am currently on my third year of learning logistics. My star sign is Aries, and I am really interested in astrology. I am constantly learning new things about it, reading about it, and looking into my birth chart.
Another fun fact is that I hate the taste of coffee.
I can’t remember the last time I drank any coffee drinks, but I think that smell of coffee could be one of my favorite smells in the whole world. I guess it’s a shame that I don’t drink it!
What’s on your to-be-read bookshelf? What authors or books have influenced you?
My to-be-read bookshelf keeps growing because there are so many books but too little time for everything. Currently, I am reading Edgar Wallace crime novels.
I really want to dive in into Stephen King’s books. I think that the books that influenced me to write fantasy were Cassandra Clare books.
Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park left me in complete tears, and I would like to someday write like that to make people feel so much.
The book that I don’t really hear people talking about is Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews.
I just loved how that book managed to handle such serious topic and still be entertaining from the main characters perspective. On the list of my favorites is One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus.
Okay, finally, for all the aspiring young authors out there, what’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?
I read somewhere that when you are doing something you love, and you want it to succeed, think about how bad you want it. Ask yourself why you are doing it and how much you want it to work.
Thank you so much, and best of luck with all your future writing projects!
Here’s a teaser from Alpha’s Second Chance Nymph, a fantasy romance story about werewolf Alpha Kairos and Forest Nymph Adelie.
My mother ran up to me. “Mom!” I screamed at her as she was held down by Alpha Hans. He looked as if I could hurt my own mother.
“Run!” Was all she said? I was always obedient to my mother. But this time it took time for me to listen. They were going to hurt her. “Run Adelie!” I was still in place but Alpha Hans walked up to me leaving my mother. He walked slowly and raising up his arms in surrender, his expression was almost as guilt.
“Freak!” said one warrior from beside me who was still in his human form he screamed and threw a knife towards me but something stopped it. My mother blocked it. The knife was resting in her chest as she fell to the ground.
I saw death in front of me. No! That mean that she’s gone. “Don’t take her.” I almost pleaded to him like he could do anything.
Father looked at me “Run!” He screamed making the ground shake, no one else saw him but me and my mother, he had never screamed at me in my whole life.
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