Interview: Nathanael Planalp

Hi everyone! I'm starting a new series in which I interview fellow unpublished or newly published writers and ask them about their writing. The goal is for y'all to make some new connections and get to know some other authors.

Today's spotlighted writer is Nathanael Planalp! Here's a little bit about him:

I am a twenty year old college student attending Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. I grew up in Columbus, Indiana as apart of a family of a total of thirteen. I'm the forth oldest in my family, and pursue Writing with a minor in Philosophy.


All right! Let's get to the questions!

1.     And the dreaded, standard first question! When did you start writing?

Well, I would say that I’ve always been making up stories as long as I can remember. I didn’t really start writing them down until I was twelve. They were horribly written, but I still really love the ideas I came up with back then.

2.     What was your first MS about?

The first main story I wrote about an elf. I don’t have it anymore, unfortunately, but I wrote quite a bit into the story. The elf was a young boy who lived with his uncle who found out that he was part of a higher race of elves. He, and his three other siblings, were the only ones left. He had to leave his uncle and find his three siblings, of which he had never met before, all while avoiding the dark pursuit of dark wolf-like creatures.

3.     What is your current MS about, and why do you love it?

After all of these years, I’m still running with elves. My main story has gone through a huge amount of changes over the past four-five years, but it’s been a blast to imagine and plan. This one is about a young ‘silver elf’ princess. Her kingdom is massacred by a power magic, and she barely escapes with the help of her three friends. The friends get split up, and each one has a very crucial part of the story. The silver elf princess must find her friends, survive a harsh broken world, and seek an ancient hope that just might restore her lost kingdom. Why I love it so much is that the world allows me to really use my imagination to bring new and old ideas to life. Melleny (the princess) has really become one of my favorite characters to write. She symbolizes a shy spirit that grows courageous and responsible as she accepts how much she must sacrifice for the sake of her people as the last royal silver elf.

4.     Do you have a new shiny that’s distracting you from your current project? How do you keep your focus?

Keeping focus is really hard. Shiny new ideas are like candy to a writer, and starting a project has always been easier than putting one into practice. Trying something new has always been a huge distraction. If I’m writing fantasy, then the genres of horror, western, and sci-fi (all things I haven’t explored much) will often become more attractive. If I need to keep my focus, then I put everything else aside and try to progress my main project as much as I can, regardless of whether I’m in the mood to trudge through an older idea. You want to hang onto inspiration as it comes, though. I keep a list of ideas for later, which seems to help keep me focused on what I would be working on at the time    

5.     What are some things you love that usually end up in your MSs?

That’s actually a hard one. I’ve found that most of my ideas are pretty unique from each other, but there are some things that stick. A variety, and diversity of characters is always fun. The more I get to work with makes the writing more enjoyable, and is a fun way to challenge yourself.

6.     Which fictional character would be your best friend?

The easy answer would be to go with Totoro, but I also think that Hermione Granger would be a fun person to be around. She respects the rules, and honestly I think she’s hilarious.

7.     What authors would you say have most influenced your writing?

Emily Rhoda. Hands down. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were also a huge inspiration, but Emily Rhoda really encompassed the young adult novel in a fun, exciting, and gripping way for me. I haven’t met too many other readers who’ve heard of her, so I would recommend giving her books a read.

8.     Where’s your favorite place to connect with other authors?

I think I’ve done most of this through school. I’ve found it astounding that every single writer is unique in so many different things. The writer’s I’ve had the privilege to meet all have different strengths, passions, genres, and reasons for writing. It’s a diverse field, which sometimes makes understanding other authors pretty tricky, but college especially has given the opportunity to see a variety of authors, all of which have a love for writing.

9.     What else do you like to do besides writing?

I love to draw! This is usually related to what I am writing, but its great fun all the same.

10.  Favorite GIF? 

Tenth Doctor, all the way

11.  Anything else you’d like to add? A pitch? A reading suggestion? An advertisement?

I love writing, but I think it’s important to understand the power of literature. When one writes, they must have the audience and the power of words in mind. Being a writer has great power, which means we always have a great responsibility. Check out silverquestions.wordpress.com for my blog! :)

Thanks so much, Nathanael! Happy writing!