I would love to be able to say "from the moment I was born" but that would be a lie! My first ambition in life was to work in NASA and be an astronaut—figured that wasn't going to work out pretty quickly though. I've always been an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction, but to be honest I didn't think of writing my own stories until I was in university. While binging TV dramas (I watch a lot of these) in between lectures and tutorials, I realised that 1) there were so many unsatisfying plot points and endings out there and 2) unfortunately there was a finite supply of content for me to indulge in, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and start writing.

I started out with theatre-based work throughout my schooling years, dabbling in acting, directing and writing stage plays. To date one of my proudest achievements is having co-written and directed a full-length musical that was a modern take on the Chinese legend The Butterfly Lovers, music and all, in my final year at university. I later went on to pursue a diploma in screenwriting (a far cry from my degree in Biochemistry), in hope that I might one day be able to see one of my stories on TV or in cinemas. Being currently based in Singapore, the film and TV industry does present limited opportunities, so I started writing novels and sharing them online in order to let my work reach a wider audience!

There is definitely a significant difference in writing for screen and writing novels. One of my screenwriting lecturers said that it's the hardest to teach a novelist how to write screenplays because in prose we are able to show readers what's inside a character's mind, but that's not possible for screen, where you have to use actions to portray everything. Pretty writing is also not something that is much appreciated for screenplays—you just need to get to the point and describe quite succinctly what the camera, and thus the audience, sees. Starting off with writing for stage and screen, I had some issues with head hopping when I first started out writing novels (because hey, my camera can just pan from character to character and scene to scene without viewers having problems right?) but these are just some conscious craft differences that you have to learn to pay attention to when you write for different mediums! At the core of it though, storytelling is storytelling, and regardless of what medium you're using, a good story has the same elements and that starting point has to be the same regardless.

I'm a voracious consumer of media in all forms and I've always wanted to work in the entertainment industry, so I thought it would be a good idea to explore what life would be like behind the scenes, behind all the glitz and glamour that defines stardom. There have been many news reports about how cutthroat it can be for young idols in the limelight, so there's certainly a dark side to the industry that people don't see very often—or choose to ignore. As for how I decided to settle on a hair salon and hairstyling as the main backdrop for The Cutting Edge—I guess you could call it a stroke of coincidence that the entertainment industry story idea struck me while I was getting my own hair done in the salon. Felt a bit like a star when there were two stylists fussing over me with blow-dryers and straightening tongs!

I confess that I am terrible at editing and there is still much for me to learn in this particular area. The good thing is that I try to write fairly clean and polished first drafts so that I have less work to do when it comes to editing. Improving my editing process was one of the key things I wanted to learn when I applied for the Pitch Wars mentorship programme last year, and I am ever grateful to my wonderful mentors Kat Dunn and Daphne Tonge for bringing me through the editing process to make my work shine and sparkle! Now I do reverse outlining and use a beat sheet to help with the editing process—it makes it much easier to get a bird's-eye view of how the different themes in your story are flowing, and to pick out any pacing problems that need to be fixed.

It was certainly a very unexpected surprise when the Wattpad Studios team contacted me regarding the possibility of a TV adaptation for The Cutting Edge—honestly did not see that coming. A series adaptation is a goal I have in mind for all of my stories and I still dream of having my favourite actors/actresses/idols playing starring roles in a TV adaptation of one of my stories one day. It's been so gratifying to see many readers leave comments to say that The Cutting Edge would be fantastic as a TV drama, because that's what I had in mind when I started writing it from the beginning! Every chapter in the book unfolds in my mind as a scene on screen, and I'm so glad it has translated that way in the minds of my readers too.

One of the most fun parts for me would be researching and writing about the various hairstyling techniques there are out there. I came out of that feeling immensely more knowledgeable, although I'm not quite sure what to do with those extra bits of trivia now that the story is complete. I suppose when I next go to the salon I can impress my stylist with how much I know about what he's actually doing to my hair.

I am hoping it has improved! I published my first ever story in 2013, so it's been about 8 years since. When I look back at that very first story, I cringe at my own writing style and how incredibly short those chapters were, but at the same time I'm quite proud to see how much my writing has developed. I'm definitely still working hard at improving my craft, but I think I'm much better able to convey my story ideas in a vivid and engaging manner to readers now than I was before. I'm still not very good at being funny in stories, unfortunately. I think my funny bone is broken.

I've never been much of a plotter, although I'm slowly beginning to change my ways. For the longest time I've started with only an idea and some vibes in mind. I typically know the general direction I want the story to take and where I want it to end before starting, but I'm definitely not the sort to plot each scene step by step. Now I would consider myself a plantser, somewhere in between a plotter and a pantser. I settle on a few main story beats that I know I need to have before starting, so there's some sort of a skeletal outline, and then I fill in the details as I go along—but of course, it does mean that some of these details might end up flying in all sorts of crazy directions when the words actually hit the page!

I am a big fan of K-dramas, and Asian dramas in general, so it's always been a dream of mine to be able to pen a drama that gets to be screened internationally. The rise of the Hallyu wave has been such an inspiration for me because for the first time Asian culture and entertainment has expanded rapidly beyond our own shores, being loved and appreciated by audiences all around the world. I think many readers associate my work with K-dramas because they share many similar features—you might say they have a common story DNA. Unlike most Hollywood productions, Asian dramas are typically more self-contained. A series comprises a fixed number of episodes, for K-dramas it's about sixteen, and the full story is complete by the time you reach that last episode. There isn't going to be a Season 2 or 3. To tell a satisfying story in a limited number of episodes, pacing needs to be fairly quick in order to move the plot along. Also, there tends to be multiple cliff-hangers and mini-climaxes sprinkled throughout the story in order to hook viewers. These are just some similarities that I think my work has with K-dramas. As to why this might be appealing to many people—I guess there is a certain escapist quality to the type of storylines that K-dramas (and my books) have that draw people in.

Fame is not just about the glitz and glamour—there's blood, sweat, tears and whole lot of ugly that can come with it. It can be easy to lose yourself trying to live up to the expectations of others, so stop trying. Always stay true to yourself and your dreams—don't live for anyone else.

Knowing that there are people out there who are willing to read—and who actually like your work—I think that's incredibly rewarding for me. Stories are meant to be shared, and I'm honoured that there are others who would allow me to share my stories with them. Readers who take time to leave encouraging comments are possibly what keeps me going, and I hope to be able to reach out to more people out there in the future!

I have an amazing group of writing friends who provide excellent motivation (or peer pressure) that never fails to drag me back to the grind whenever the writing juice starts to wane. My wonderful readers also help to keep that fire burning with their encouraging and uplifting comments, Lastly, I do have a plot bunny machine that lives rent-free in my head that I absolutely cannot control, so I have no choice but to keep churning those stories.

Write the story that you have in your heart and mind the best that you can—and wish on a shooting star! Honestly I don't have any sure-fire advice or formula that I can give to anyone who hopes for a story adaptation, because I still have no idea how I got there myself. Publishing is a highly subjective industry, and whether or not a story gets picked up by a publisher or a broadcaster has as much to do with trends and what's in season as it does with the quality of the story itself (unfortunately), so there is a bit of luck involved. However, I do believe that if you keep writing and sharing your work with others, it will find an audience one day and there will be people out there who will appreciate the stories you have to tell. Persevere! Keep writing and improving your craft, and everything else will fall into place.