Featured Story of the Week: Pretty Girls

Pretty Girls is an excellent original fiction, written by grow a pair. This amazing story is filled with love and friendship, with an incredible road trip to tie everything together. In this week's Featured Story, we get a closer look at Pretty Girls from the author herself!

Give us a brief summary of Pretty Girls.

Pretty Girls is about three best friends embarking on a good ol’ road trip, sort of as their last hurrah before they split ways for college.

What inspired you to write Pretty Girls?

I found this quote on tumblr, "The prettiest smiles hide the deepest secrets. The prettiest eyes have cried the most tears. And the kindest hearts have felt the most pain” and was pretty much inspired from that. I’ve always been interested in writing a road trip story – and had written one before but I hadn’t committed to it. From there, it took some story thinking during shower time (does anyone else do that, think up story ideas in the shower?) and my characters were born.

How long have you been working on Pretty Girls?

Since the beginning of February, I didn’t really make a plan, of sorts, before I posted it. It was done on a whim since I find that when I do completely plan out a story, I get bored easily. So all together, I guess a month and a half?

On average, how much time do you spend writing it each week?

I really should be spending more time on it, since my uni schedule is pretty scarce compared to others, but I probably spend an hour a week-ish to write a whole chapter. If I’m feeling the inspiration, I’ll write but if I’m not, I’m not going to force it.

How did you choose the title for this story?

It came from the tumblr quote which I use as the summary, but I plan to work the title eventually into the story so that it actually makes sense to why I’ve named it.

What is your favorite thing about writing this story?

Each chapter is a different point of view, so I enjoy exploring each character and fleshing out their personalities. Sara, for instance, is Australian, and so am I, so I’ve kind of made Sara as what I think embodies an Australian – a chill, relaxed kind of girl, doesn’t take life too seriously kind of thing.

What is the most challenging thing about writing it?

The most challenging thing I’d have to say is making sure that each character has a different view of life from the other. In the past, I’ve made characters sound the same but I’ve been working on differentiating each person so the readers can get a clear idea of who each girl is. Another thing, it isn’t challenging as such but it takes some time, which is finding a title for each chapter. I have to make sure it fits in with the story as well as the mood.

Have you ever experienced writer's block with Pretty Girls? If so, how did you overcome it?

I am currently in writer’s block as I haven’t updated in like, two weeks, but I plan to overcome it by listening to Ed Sheeran on repeat, reading back through my old chapters and feel that inspiration I first got when I wrote this story. I like to read through story comments as well to see what I can improve on and what the readers like, so I can focus on those areas.

Do you write with an outline, or just wing it?

I’m a professional winger, so it would seem out of character for me to write an outline.
Haha no, I have a very loose outline of what I want to happen, but I tend to just wing it. Sometimes I do make chapter outlines, only to realise that by the end of the chapter, I have strayed away from the outline and written something completely different.

Do you have any pre/post writing rituals?

Before I write, I have to make sure there aren’t any distractions – as in, I’ve checked all of my Mibba alerts/subscriptions/etc, there’s no one on FB for me to talk to, I’ve watched all youtube videos I’m subscribed to and I’ve temporarily become bored with tumblr. Then I set up some music and I’m ready to go.

Is there anything you would like to say to your readers?

Despite my infrequent updates, I just want to say that I am committed to this and I have every intention of finishing Pretty Girls! As a side note, I also have a spinoff planned and I can’t write that until this is finished, so I will be sticking to this no matter what. Lastly, thank you to everyone who subscribes/recommends/comments, you’re all freaking awesome.

Special thanks to tabula rasa. and Answering.Alexandra. for editing!