Interview: Haylie Jaed

I will always remind you that I don't accept suggestions on authors here. If there is an author that you want me to interview, please put your suggestions here. There is a list of authors that have already been interviewed, and you can find that here.

I got to interview the lovely Haylie Jaed. She has wonderful stories like Lost, The Angel of Vengeance, and Crash Into Me. I would give you the links, but they are in the interview, so you can just wait a little bit to get them. They are all really good stories, and something I say in every introduction, I highly recommend them. Of course, she is a very talented writer and a very kind person.

Now, I know that you like to read the actual interview more than the introduction, so here it is. Enjoy!

1. What's the meaning behind your username?
-Haylie Jaed was the first character I ever created, back when I was maybe nine years old. She was Harry Potter's twin sister.

2. How long have you been on Mibba?
-I honestly can't remember - it feels like a lifetime! But the first comment on my profile, a traditional "welcome to Mibba!" message, is from 21st January, 2010. So I guess I've been on Mibba for three years.

3. Have you ever used any other website(s)?
-Whenever I find a writing website, I feel the need to try it - so yes. But let's stick to the ones that I actually used for more than a day. I started out my fan fiction journey on HarryPotterFanFiction.com, moved to the original writing site FictionCentral.net after that, found FanWorks.org when I got into band fiction, and got to Mibba after one of my readers over there recommended it.

These days I write on Mibba and Wattpad, the latter of which I stumbled across after finding two of my fan fictions re-posted there without my permission.

4. When did you start writing? Why?
I started writing when I was eleven, just because I grew tired of waiting for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to be released. We didn't have the Internet and I didn't know that fan fiction existed, but I was writing it every chance that I got. And once I started, I just never stopped.

5. What are some of your stories and what are they about?
-Lost is the latest fan fiction that I have finished. It was based around the rhythm guitarist of Avenged Sevenfold, Zacky Vengeance, learning that he was father to fifteen-year-old twins, Lysander and Dakota. I know that a lot of people passed the story up because it sounded cliché, but it's really not what you'd expect. To date, it is my favourite thing I have ever written.

The Angel Of Vengeance is the first original fiction that I have posted on this site. Without giving too much away, it's about a girl who has visions of terrible things before they happen. She has a vision of three men searching for her father, and the story goes from there. Although I only have a quick prologue posted, I'm really excited for this one.

6. What's your inspiration for writing?
-I get inspiration from anything I can - music, movies, books, video games, life experiences. The Angel Of Vengeance came to me while I was daydreaming; the majority of Lost's plot struck me the moment I woke up on Christmas morning of 2011. It really comes from anywhere.

7. Do you like writing original fiction more? Or do you like to write fan fiction?
-I used to say that I love both, but time has made me realise that it's original fiction where my heart truly lies. Even when I'm writing fan fiction, I try to do so in a way that anybody could read it, even if they knew nothing about the fandom. A comment swapper read the beginning of Lost and told me that until they had seen the category, they had thought it was an original fiction - and that is what I aim for. So I suppose I like writing original more, even if a majority of my posted works are fan fiction right now.

8. What's your favorite fandom to write about?
-Avenged Sevenfold - hand's down. There's no other fandom that I write about anymore.

9. Do you have any rituals when you write? If you listen to music, what do you listen to?
-I don't really have any writing rituals.

10. When starting a story, what do you do? Do you use an outline? Or do you just kind of write as you go?
Honestly, it depends on what I'm writing. If I'm just writing for fun and I don't really care, I wing it. Write it as I go. But with things closer to my heart - like Lost and The Angel Of Vengeance - I have outlines that I try to follow. It doesn't always go according to plan, but it's good to have them there to keep me on track.

11. What is your favorite genre to write about?
-Although I've hardly ever posted anything within the genre, I love writing paranormal/sci-fi/fantasy. I love writing about angels, people with special powers, magic in general. It's also my favourite thing to read.

12. What's your least favorite genre to write about?
-I used to say romance, but I've developed a taste for that. I think my least favourite genre - both for writing and reading - is humour. I just really don't care for it. Sure, there will always be laugh-out-loud moments in anything I write, but I couldn't dedicate an entire story to the genre. Even the thought of it is exhausting!

13. What's your favorite story to read on here?
-Is it legal to ask this question? There are so many.

I really love Shadows Creed by The Pies Endure. It's an Avenged Sevenfold dystopian set in a future where bands have been outlawed, and it's just so well written that I could never get enough of it.

14. Which of your stories are the most fun to write?
-At the moment, I'm having a lot of fun with The Angel Of Vengeance. I started a new fan fiction at the same time, Catch Me As I Fall, but I'm not finding myself nearly as drawn to it.

15. Which of your stories are the hardest to write?
-All of my stories are hard to write at some point. I'm having issues with both of my first chapters at the moment, and Lost got really hard at times. I try to make everything perfect and then remind myself that it doesn't have to be. These are first drafts. Mistakes can be made.

16. Do you ever run into writer's block? What do you do to get over it?
-I run into writer's block at least once a day. For getting over it, I find the most useful thing to do is take a break. Step away from the story for a while - watch a movie, read a book, start a new project. Often while taking that break, I'll daydream about the characters and see what they get up to on their own. Then I'll come back to the story with fresh eyes and, hopefully, some new ideas.

17. Is there any authors on here that inspire you to write?
-Katrina; and pawnsinplay. Every time I see a new update from either of these ladies, it makes me want to jump back into my own writing. They're both amazing people and amazing authors.

18. Do you research what you write?
-Absolutely - sometimes a little too much! I got a little obsessive wanting things to be right when I wrote Lost, and I even looked up what the closest airport to Huntington Beach was - specifically, the closest airport that would accept flights from Madison, Wisconsin. But that aside, I find that researching the things that I write is half of the fun!

19. Do you like to experiment with your writing?
-I do, yes. I went through a phase of wanting to try out every genre - and it was this that inspired me to write my first romance, Crash Into Me, which turned out to be my most popular story to date!

20. Are there any authors that inspire you? (novels, books, etc.)
-J.K. Rowling was my first inspiration, but these days the two authors I find most inspirational are Brigid Kemmerer (the Elementals series) and Heather Killough-Walden (the Lost Angels series). I would also say Stephen King, because that man isn't afraid of anything.

21. What would be your advice to a new author?
My advice to any new author would be to read as much as you can, everything that you can get your hands on, and decide for yourself what you think is good. Then when you have that, study it - look at the way that author writes their dialogue, their description, how they develop their characters. Learn from it.

Also, never let anybody talk you down. Ever. We're all terrible when we start - it's only through years of practice that we ever get better. Never let anybody discourage you from becoming a writer if that's what you really want.

22. Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers?
-All I can ever think to say to my readers is thank you - thank you for being such an inspiration to me, for reading what I post, for giving me your feedback. It never ceases to amaze me that people actually like the things I write.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all of my questions. It was an honor getting to interview you.