Hello and welcome to Master Adventures! Today our guest is the amazing Action-Adventure author , author of "The Moonlight Boy" on Wattpad's "Middle-Grade Adventures" Reading List.

In Goodharts, the small town between the hills, nobody knows how Ferry Donovan looks. His mother has been keeping him out of sight for over nine years. When the boy finally begins school, the people are not only intrigued by his appearance but also by the strange things taking place around him.

Yet, weird things are happening in Ferry's town, too. Every seven years, a person mysteriously disappears into the forest nearby.

When one of his classmates vanishes into thin air, Ferry is determined to find him. With the help of his friends, who are just as different, he embarks on a journey into the Land of the Unseen.

But is he really prepared for what lies beyond?

I write under the large fantasy spectrum, but if I had to put my books under a specific genre, that would be real-world fantasy or realistic fantasy, as I like to call it. That means I write about reality with a touch of fantasy.

I love to read in a variety of genres, from fantasy, mystery, and adventure to psychological thrillers and horror.

As for the age range of my audience, I'm young at heart, so I write mainly Middle Grade and YA.

There are a lot of sources of inspiration for The Moonlight Boy. The stories I heard, the books I read, the movies I watched, all put a mark on my writing.

But the origin point of inspiration comes from my Romanian roots. There is an old folktale about some strange, perfect circles deep inside the woods where no vegetation grows. They say those circles appear where mysterious forest creatures dance; they are beautiful beyond words, but moody and vengeful if disturbed. They are the Iele (to be spelled Yelleh), the fairies of Romanian mythology. Old people say these creatures used to steal people, young men and boys in particular, and take them to their world from where they never came back.

So I thought it would be fun to write the story the other way around. Not about a human living in the world of fae, but about a fairy-boy living in the world of humans. A changeling, a fairy baby replacing a human child. That's how The Moonlight Boy came to life.

I created Ferry Donovan as the opposite of the smart, good-looking, weapon-skilled male character. I wanted him to be as reliable as possible, even though he possess some pretty impressive magical skills. Because of his fairy features, Ferry is not good-looking (at least not according to human standards). At times, he can be clueless, reckless, undecided, impatient, impulsive, too curious, or too passionate about things or people he loves. He's not the brightest of the characters either.

But he can also be very caring, a loyal friend, compassionate, kind, brave, generous, and a loving son. What defines Ferry the most is his kind heart, something he learns from his human mother who has an enormous influence on him. It is his kind-hearted nature that makes him so likable, being loved and appreciated by the people around him, despite his odd physical appearance or his peculiar behaviour. He's a flawed character because one has to make mistakes in order to learn from them.

Ferry is not based on a real-life person. But I wanted him to be an example of positive masculinity. And I have a couple of good friends that are the perfect example of positive masculinity. Their traits deserved to be put in a book.

The other characters are loosely based on my family. For example, Matilda "Matt" Harper, Ferry's best friend, is a tomboy, just like my sister and my younger daughter. While Benjamin "Ben" Knight, Ferry's nerdy friend, is the character that resembles me the most. I, too, was a nerd looking at the night sky in search of aliens when I was a child haha.

I'm a planner all the way through. I like to know where the story is going before I actually begin to write. I have character charts (with their backstories that do not always make it to the story), plot worksheets, world-building checklists, just to name a few of my plotting materials. And a notebook always at hand in case a brilliant plot twist might strike me when I'm away from my computer.

Also, a board with the rough plotline of the book pinned to it always helps me keep track of all the stages of the plot.

After I sketch the rough outline of the entire series, I plot each book, one by one, in chronological order. However, my method is a bit unorthodox, if I may put it that way. Before actually writing, I plot my book as if telling it to a friend (no details, no descriptions, just the action). This way, I have a few dozens of pages summarizing the whole story, which I then split into chapters. The following step is developing each chapter.

I haven't experienced writer's block too often, and I believe that is because I always plan my books ahead. When I do experience writer's block it's often when I am not entirely in control of a subject or a notion. I usually fix that by doing more research on that particular subject/notion.

Something that also helps is detaching from the story for a while and working on other projects, then turning back on the story. It will give you a whole new perspective on your writing.

But I think that planning/plotting/outlining your book ahead can spare you from writing's block and other writing-related headaches.

I think the revelatory chapters are my most favorite parts of a story. I'm a huge Agatha Christie fan, so I write my stories as mystery books. There's a mystery to be solved in all of my books, whether they are fantasy, adventure, or love stories. I love to plant clues, bits and pieces of information all over the story before a big revelation. Putting all the pieces of the puzzle together it's the most fun (and challenging) part of my writing.

I do have a favorite character, and that is Ferry. That's why he ended up as the main character. I wasn't very kind to him and I put him through a lot throughout the series (there's more to come, mwahahaha) but his flaws and life experiences are what make him a layered, reliable character.

I don't have a least favorite character. I try to put myself in all my characters' skin as I write them, so even the villains have justifiable reasons to act the way they do. No one is entirely good, nor entirely evil in my stories. Just like in real life, for that matter.

I also have a couple of favorite relationships between characters. Ferry and his mum have a special, warm, loving bond that always filled my heart with joy whenever they had a scene together.

As for the romantic part, I like characters that don't show their feelings front and center. I do have two characters that don't have too much page time together, but whenever they do, a simple gesture or a look is so much more meaningful than shouting their love all over the story.

The Moonlight Book is the first in a series of five. I'm currently writing the third book in the series. Both second and third books, The Lost Son and Moons Apart, respectively are available on Wattpad.

I have a lot of plans for all the characters in this series. It is a very ambitious project and maybe that's why is taking me so long to write it. By the end of the final book, all the characters, whether main, secondary, or even tertiary, will have a closing arc. My readers deserve a satisfying ending to Ferry's story, whether bitter or sweet.

Well, I've been writing on this series for the past five years. I'm writing one book per year, and I know my readers don't agree because they are so passionate and dedicated to this series it seems to them it will take forever to finish it.

But the reason it takes me so long is that there is a very intricate story arc, with layers, plots, subplots, and plot twists. Also, there's a mystery to be solved in each book, so I have to carefully put all the pieces of the puzzle together at the end of each book, and each book has to solve the puzzle of the entire series as a whole.

I also have to give my readers clues throughout the story because they love to theorise on different topics and mysteries. They have such amazing minds, and some of them guessed one of the biggest mysteries in the book (I haven't confirmed the theory and the comment was lost somewhere among thousands of other comments, thank God!). Giving clues and bits of information to theorize upon without spoiling the story is very rewarding for a reader, so I have to be careful about that, too.

Also, it might come as a surprise to some, but the books are not presented in chronological order, and that will be a big, big revelation at some point.

So no, I am not a lazy writer LOL.

Yes. Her name is and she is a very talented fantasy writer. I learned a lot from her while we were in a book club together.

I get inspired by a lot of things, places, and people. Of them all, I think nature is the one to inspire me the most. I love to write on an open balcony at night under the soft light of a candle (I find the summer nights very calm and inspiring), or on blanket under a tree from my childhood's garden, on a wild beach with the sound of the waves crashing to the store or by the window of a cabin near the woods (the woods are so mysterious and fascinating and they are present in each one of my books).

Basically, I can write anywhere as long as I have my earphones on, playing my favorite music. Funny enough, I wrote most of The Moonlight Boy at my kitchen table.

When I joined Wattpad, six years ago, I never would've thought I would reach so many people and turn them into such passionate, enthusiastic readers of Ferry's Tale series. Seeing millions of reads on The Moonlight Boy, thousands of comments and endless conversations and theories on this series still feels surreal to me. Knowing that readers bond over my stories, they get inspired to write, they find confort in my writing, they name their pets after my characters, they laugh, cry, or even hit the phone by the walls in frustration because one of the characters is too dumb, knowing they create beautiful art and see the characters as friends in such difficult times is beyond my wildest dreams. So yes, I think I reached my goals on Wattpad as an author. I could never thank my readers enough. They literally make my life better.

My next goal is to actually hold The Moonlight Boy in my hands as a physical book.

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Thank you so much for tuning in! I'm your host , and you have been reading Master Adventurers! Stay tuned for our next edition where we interview an adventurer with a passion for Action-Adventure Dystopian-filled stories!