An Interview with Technician

My interview with Technician on the paper-format of the newspaper VOL.103 NO.4

Recently, I had the honor of being interviewed by Technician, the student newspaper at NC State University. Honestly, it felt so surreal to be be interviewed for an article. From the bottom of my heart, I can’t thank everyone in Technician enough, especially the author of the article, Mai, who was an absolute pleasure to interact and work with for this article. And of course, I have to thank all my family, friends, peers and professors who have been very supportive throughout this journey. I would be lost without all of you.

Now, I’ll address the elephant in the room. I know some of you would think, “Of course you’d get interviewed. You had not one, not two, but three books published at 21-years-old! Why wouldn’t you be interviewed?”

Well, you see. The journey has not been easy leading up to that point.

I would dive into how it was attempting to come into my own as someone being homeschooled for my entire life up until the start of my time at Nash Community College. But, that’s a totally different article for another day. Instead, I’m going to focus more on the aspects of my life as a writer.

Yes, I was very much inspired by my mother. In fact, if it wasn’t for her, I’m not sure if I’d be who I am today. She’s from the Philippines, and learned English by reading every page in an old dictonary. Growing up, she would try to read whatever she could get her hands on, from old magazines, to even things people take for granted, like the nutrition facts on cereal boxes.

I wasn’t into reading and writing much when I was a child. After all, I always played outside with my younger brother, Arthur, and my older cousin, Larry, either in the woods near my grandparents’ house or the cornfield near my house in Castalia. But, the older I became and the more time I spent with my mom, the more I appreciated the power and the use of language. And later, I’d find myself wanting to be a writer in middle school, especially after reading a book my mother bought me called “The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan.

This is sooo cool! I’d think constantly while reading the novel. I couldn’t get enough. I read the entire series, then other novels. My favorite ones from my childhood were by far that novel, “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak, and “Plainsong” by Kent Haruf. I wished to be as good as a writer as they were. If not, at least a fraction of their greatness.

So, I’d read book after book. Attend workshop after workshop - all of them being on NC State University. And write religiously - an hour or two a day, sometimes more.

Now, before I came to NC State, I did have two novels already published. “The Life of David Earl Penning” and “NEVERAFTER”. I could’ve just stopped there, since they were both pretty successful. But, I didn’t. When you’re a writer, I don’t think the urge to put words down on the page fueled by imagination and ambition ever stops. Instead, I think it grows.

Maybe it’s just me being an overachiever or overly-ambitious, but I love what I do. Sometimes, too much. Too much to the point that I will pull all-nighters and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else. And if I’m going to be a writer, I want to keep writing stories. And I want each story to get better and better, until I’m physically unable to write.

So, during the Fall semester of 2020, I was in a Middle English literature class. It was a graduate-level class, which was pretty intmidating with me being one of the only undergraduate students. Not to mention, most of the graduate students were either in literature or linguistics. And here I was, a undergraduate majoring in creative writing, so I obviously wasn’t as well-versed as they were in regards to academics. However, looking back, I had so much fun in that class. From the discussions of Middle English poetry, to interactions with classmates who ended up being good friends of mine. But, little did I know this experience would lead me to writing my third published book, “Zero Gravity”. Granted, “Zero Gravity” is much more different than Middle English literature. However, it was something I truly enjoyed writing.

The paperback of my novel, “Zero Gravity”

Synopsis: The world is in a crisis. Almost all power is lost, the U.S. government has collapsed by a terrorist organization known as The Ravagers and there are unexplained, brief episodes of gravity loss which leads to numerous accidents, casualties and little to no areas for shelter. Marlowe Benson is one of the few living Americans left in the United States, but has been separated from her partner, Jayden. After being rescued by other remaining survivors, they struggle to not only fight back The Ravagers but to find safety from the horrific gravity loss episodes known as "zero gravity attacks".

The novel follows Marlowe Benson, one of the few people living in America during an apocalyptic time in which gravity can be lost at any moment. In addition, there’s little to no shelter, and the US has been taken over by terrorists known as The Ravagers who have also overthrown the goverment. Along the lines, Marlowe is seperated from her partner, Jayden, but is rescued by a group of other survivors who are also attemtping to survive these harsh times, just like Marlowe.

I truly had fun with this novel. I felt like I found my own voice. Yes, this novel was challenging to write, but I enjoyed every moment of constructing this book that highlights themes of overcoming hardships, dealing with personal loss, and how life can turn the tables on you for all the right and wrong reasons.

Of course, this novel wouldn’t have been as well-polished as it is without the help of the English Club at NC State University. Holly, Tuesday, Bella, Caryl, Skye, Bryce, Mac, Callihan, Duke and many others, I can’t thank you enough for your feedback and support which strengthened this novel and for making my time at NC State so much better than I ever imagned. I’ll never forget all the tmes this novel was spoken about for the "emotional damage” in it.

Natalia, Michael and Claudia, thank you for always supporting me both personally and professionally.

Tyler thank you for being the first people to read “Zero Gravity” when it was originally a short story. And Ian, thank you for also reading “Zero Gravity” not only as a short story but also as a novel and always being eager to hear my input on literature and creative writing alike. And for being just as excited as I was when we both went to D.H. Hill Library and found the Technician newspaper with the article about me in it.

You can find the link to my interview with Technician here.

You can also buy novel Zero Gravity here.