Interview – YA author (14 years old) Lohan Wijerathne
At what point did you decide to be an author and what was your path to publication? LW: I decided to become an author at the age of 9, while I was doing my homework assignment. My father went through my school books and, just like that, he asked me whether I wanted to publish the short stories that I had written. I was shocked, but even though at that time I wasn’t exactly in favour of doing so I decided to agree with my father. My first book, a collection of short stories, was self-published locally. My second book was also self-published, although this time on an international platform: Amazon. But when I was ready to publish my third and latest book, I knew from past experiences that publishing required more than one person in order to successfully publish any book. That is why I decided to work with Sarasavi Publishers (currently one of the most prominent publishers in my country) to traditionally publish the book.
What do you do when a new idea jumps out at you while you’re still working on a book? Do you chase the squirrel (aka “UP syndrome”) or do you finish your current project first? LW: Oddly enough, it’s actually a mixture of both. When a new idea pops into my head, it preys on my mind until I end up trying to work on two projects at the same time. But lately I have noticed that this is becoming more of a problem, so I try to jot it down on my journal so that I can work on it as soon as I’ve finished my current project. Fortunately for me, though, this issue has never really weighed me down too heavily. Not yet, at least.
Who is your favorite character to write, and why is that person your favorite? If picking a favorite character would be like picking a favorite child, which character seems to be the most demanding or your attention and detail as a writer? LW: For me, the protagonist, Jake, has always been my favourite character in the book. He is presented as a good-hearted person who is very unselfish and tries to live by his morals. To me, that is a characteristic that many people don’t have nowadays. Jake as a character is my daily reminder of what I want to be in life. He is in fact based on a real-life person: my godfather’s four-year-old son. His name being Jake, he had always inspired me with his childlike optimism and adorable comments. It had always been important to me that Jake’s character should be as close to perfect as it could possibly be.
Describe your writing process. Do you outline, plot and plan, or is your writing more organic? LW: Before I released my latest book I almost never actually properly planned a book. I would think of something, think very vaguely about the beginning, and then it was a race to finish two A4 pages within 30 minutes. This habit grew in school. As you only got less than an hour to write a short story good enough to get published (yes, that’s the standard my teachers have. They try to compare our work to something from Dickens. As you can already guess, not a lot of us really even managed to pass). Because of this, I created a process which would help me write a fairly decent story within half an hour. And somehow this process always worked for me in exams (I mean, I passed, at least). But now, as I have begun to write more novels I have begun planning and outlining my story more. It’s a painful process, and I’m almost always dying to begin writing, but it definitely helps you get past those moments when you are stuck and don’t know how to proceed.
Tell us what you enjoy most about writing [genre]. LW: No matter how old you are, life always has been stressful, is stressful and will be stressful. No matter how rich or poor you are, there will always be moments when you feel like you want to escape this world. No matter how good life is, there will always be times when it disappoints me, and it happens as frequently as I procrastinate (and I procrastinate more times than you breathe). I find writing as my only way to escape all of this and invent a world where things happen my way. I don’t have to worry about stress because the characters can take that for me. I don’t have to worry about money because I get to decide how rich or poor a certain character is. And the only disappointment you can possibly receive from writing is when something does not feel right. But even that can be resolved in a few seconds. Even playing a video game cannot give you the satisfaction you get from all of that. But even that satisfaction can only be achieved through fantasy. Fantasy has given me a new life.
Do you identify with your main character or did you create a character that is your opposite? LW: The main character is actually based on someone else. He is my godfather’s four-year-old son, and he inspired me to actually write this whole series in the first place. I loved the kid because he was so sweet and kind. Jake is supposed to be a much older version of him, a brave, smart kid who would risk anything for his friends. I’d like to stress that I included this last characteristic in him because there are a lot of fake friends in this world, especially in my own school. Pretty much everyone was rich in my school, and a lot of them had a rotten habit of using other people for their own benefit. I do identify with Jake when it comes to this characteristic because I always aim not to be like those ‘friends’ who use others for their own purposes. So I guess you could say Jake is a mixture of me and my favourite four-year-old.
Describe the [book/series] in 10 words or less for people who are just learning about it. LW: 3 children accidentally travel to another world. Jake, the protagonist, is forced to take refuge in a city and ends up helping them fight in a civil war that has torn the nation apart for decades.
Do you have any odd (writing) habits? LW: I know it isn’t very rare, but I procrastinate a lot. I just can’t help it. But what is rare is the fact that I usually only write during power cuts. In fact, I started writing The Return Of The Time Traveller during a fairly long power cut which lasted a few hours. The first few months were exactly like this (as you can imagine I didn’t get a lot of work done). Among other things, I also have a habit of writing in bed, searching up literally everything that I write, and acting like a lunatic whenever there’s a part that I like (fortunately, though, there’s not a lot).
What has been the toughest criticism you have received as an author? What has been the best compliment? LW: I’d say the worst comment(s) I received was after I published my first book, which I now positively detest. I can’t even bring myself to look at the cover. People still call it ‘one of the worst books that [they’ve] ever read’. On the day I first received that comment, which was on a school day, I cried. I couldn’t bear the terrible remarks that students often showered me with. Thankfully, though, I only cried when I got home. Now I’ve realized that those comments were merely for the purpose of discouraging me, so now I only listen to criticism that actually builds me as a writer. As for the best compliment, it was my English teacher’s review about my latest book, which I’ve included in the book itself. Some others also said that my book was fit to be published internationally. But my most valued comment’s were my friends’ because they were actually constructive.
Share some advice for aspiring authors. What advice would you give to your younger self? LW: Keep writing every day. Write whenever you can. You will feel like procrastinating, but remember that you will never become better at writing unless you actually write. Don’t write, though, if you don’t feel like it. Instead, do something you feel like doing and then begin writing once you feel genuinely inspired to write. If you still don’t feel like writing, take a look at a list of good book ideas you have in mind; when you remember why you were so excited about this topic in the first place you should hopefully feel eager to begin working on that piece of writing. It has always worked for me. Another piece of advice I’d give to my younger self was to accept the fact that there will be haters and admirers no matter what you do. The only comments you should really pay attention to are those that help you improve as an author. Listening to hateful remarks will only make you depressed.
What do you like to do when you’re not writing? LW: Play video games. I honestly can’t get enough of it. It’s also the main reason behind me not writing when for hours on end, and also for those countless times when I couldn’t give my homework in. I also like playing cricket and basketball. Football is also one of my favourites, but only when it’s in the form of a video game. Otherwise, no thank you. I’m a devoted debater, and I regularly take part in Model UN. But none of this can come close to my love for writing.
Title: The Return of the Time Traveller
Author: Lohan Wijerathne
But there is something wrong in the magical land of Weileron. Jake finds himself in the middle of a destructive civil war. Darkness is rising, threatening to destroy the whole land… and possibly even the whole world. Accompanied by his faithful but hilarious friends, Joey and Duke, Jake must journey to face the darkest foe the world has ever seen. A foe capable of death with a mere strike of his fist. Enter Darvius.
About the Author
Lohan Wijerathne is a 14-year-old author living in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Despite his age, he has been an author for over four years! He began writing at the mere age of 9, where he wrote numerous short stories just as an after-school hobby. He always loved the freedom he had whenever he wrote any of his stories, as well as the fact that he could let his imagination run wild. This hobby soon escalated into a determination to become an actual author, resulting in his first book being published on his tenth birthday. His second book, The Time Traveller’s Tale, was published when he was 12. His third and latest book, The Return Of The Time Traveller, is the sequel to his second book. His books are available on famous platforms online, including Amazon. His book is sold locally by one of the most prominent publishers in Sri Lanka.
Apart from his love for writing, Lohan also enjoys taking part in Model UN and drama and is a member of the Pinnacle Gavel Club (a Toastmasters Club) and his school choir. In his leisure time, he also plays cricket and basketball. He is an eager student, who always aims for academic success. He also recently created a website, a forum to help numerous youth internationally develop into talented authors through writing (see www.lohanslw.com for further information).
