Michelle writes as Michelle Midnight. She is a 17 year old writer from a small city in California, and is currently writing her novel, Society's Trial.
Her hobbies consist of reading (in a tree during the summer, on her bed during the other seasons), programming, and of course, writing. She loves all things dark and morbid. (was the pen name a clue!?) Her favourite author is Stephen King, and her favourite poet is Edgar Allen Poe. She loves shows such as Supernatural, Doctor Who, and American Horror Story. Also, she thinks she may have an addiction to green tea.
So let's find out a bit more...
Michelle, how long have you been writing?
I've been writing for about eight years.
Why did you start writing? And what makes you keep doing it?
I started writing in fourth grade when I was nine-years-old. I was in a four-five combo class, and the teacher assigned a writing project for the fifth graders when it was nearly Halloween. She decided to make us fourth graders do it as well, and I had so much fun with it. My story was called Don't Take What's Not Yours. It was a horror story with three characters in it. Spoiler alert: they all died. Since that moment, I realised I loved to write, and I continued to write after that.
Who is your least favourite character and why? If the character is one of yours, how hard is it to write a character you dislike?
It's difficult for me to dislike a character I've created. I've fallen in love with every single one of my characters, even the most messed up and sadistic villains. However, there are two characters who I despise in my current project. Their names are Lars and Drew. They're only minor characters yet they managed to annoy me. I don't have a specific reason why I don't like them. Maybe I don't hate them, maybe I just haven't learned to love them yet. You probably think it's difficult for me to write them, but that's not true. I love to make them suffer.
What is the best snack to keep you going while you write?
The best snack for writing is grapes. They're tasty, low in calories, easy to eat, and they don't leave a mess.
Do you have a day job (student?) or do you write full time? If you don't have a job, is being a writer full time your dream or do you have a job you'd love to do?
I don't have a day job since I'm still a high school student. In the future, I want to become a software engineer while being a writer on the side. Being a full time writer would be fun, but I love programming and computers, so I'd want to do something related to that in my life.
Do you have any unfinished stories that you are not currently working on? If so why have you shelved them and do you think they will be reanimated one day?
I have many stories I've started but never finished. I started my first novella when I was a 12 year old middle schooler. It was a dark fantasy/supernatural kind of story. When I started high school, I got bored of it, so I put it away to work on my novel, Society's Trial. I thought about abandoning that novella, but I changed the characters' names and rewrote the outline. Now I'm in love with it again. It's not a novella anymore. Now it's a novel, and it will be my second novel. Even though I fell back in love with it, I still won't work on it until I've landed an agent for Society's Trial. As for the other stories, I refuse to continue working on them because I'm not done living the world of Society's Trial.
What story are you writing right now? Tell us about the plot (no spoilers please)
I started writing my current story when I was 14. It's a third person omniscient YA psychological crime thriller titled Society's Trial which follows sixteen year old bookworm Jace Woods. After the bully, Claude, pulls a "prank" that went wrong, Jace gets rushed to the hospital, so he could get his injuries treated and get an MRI scan. The doctor notices a change in Jace's personality, so he leaves the room to retrieve the results of the MRI scan. Jace becomes impatient, so he leaves before the doctor can return. It turns out, certain areas of Jace's brain became "damaged." These areas will "turn off," causing poor judgement, empathy loss, and impulsivity then "turn back on" randomly. What this means is, if these areas turn off while he has a violent thought, his brain will be unable to stop him from acting upon that thought.
Can we buy any of your stories and if so where? If not is there anywhere we can read them?
Unfortunately, Society's Trial isn't published yet, since I'm currently querying and seeking an agent. However, I occasionally post snippets on my Twitter (@Writer_By_Night) and sometimes on my Tumblr (midnight-writing-time.tumblr.com)
If you could travel to anywhere in the world right this minute where would you go?
If I could travel anywhere at this moment, I'd go to an empty field with a stack of books with me. I'd place a blanket on the ground, lie down, enjoy the silence, and read. I'd have the most peaceful day ever.
If you could have one super power what would it be?
Only one? That's a difficult question. I'd say the power to control time. The days go by so quick, I wish I can freeze time or slow it down.
Thanks to Michelle for answering my questions and letting you all into her thoughts. Do follow her on twitter and be there to watch a novel being born, and then you can say that you were there before she was famous.
As we don't have a book image to share, here is an image of almost midnight.
Thanks for reading.
