The most awaited interview is here. devianmisfit, founder of SG and all powerful goddess, opens up about the creation of SG, the troubles of sustaining a community alone, and her journey as a Wattpad writer.

Interviewer: CoffeeAndSilverInk

Astrid: I'm very excited to be interviewing the great asura, the founder of The Savant G., owner of 12 reading lists and fantasy writer, Miss Julia Teo.

I did some research on TSG's history, but I'll be honest, there are some blanks I can't seem to fill. But let's begin. How's the *ss kicking of those pesky fairies going?

Devian: 😂 They're definitely going well. But sometimes not really smooth. It was actually a reference to my first book called "Awaken".

Astrid: That much I could tell *inserts SG :kannasip: emoji*

Devian: So I love reading books with the Fantasy genre and particularly there were a bunch of amazing species I discovered. As you can guess— faeries. So that line came about when I was writing "Awaken" a book about faeries, and I imagined that the protagonist would definitely need some sort of foe or enemy fae that would prove as an obstacle against her journey.

That and I kinda imagined that while writing this book it will be quite a tough and sometimes annoying process- since we're all writers let's agree it's a tedious long process -and I pictured myself kicking them as I wrote it for motivation 🤣😂.

Definitely weird, but it works for me.

Astrid: I can 100% agree that it is tedious.

What was the inspiration for Awaken?

Devian: Hahahahaha cues secret laughter
Definitely based on the books I've read. But I drew inspiration from several fantasy books. Gabriella and the general vibe of the book was inspired by "Banished" by Liz De Jager.

Damien and his squad of demi-faes came from another book. I can't recall the title but that book was what inspired the Ten Commandments as well as the creation of a power-hungry society steeped in hate and blindness towards the fae.

Other parts such as the sci-fi aspects were inspired by the Cinder series. Not sure if you've read it before but it's a retelling of Cinderella but a cyborg version!

Of course, I plan to include more but those are still in the making. Drawn from other books I've read but ultimately, the process is honestly more challenging than I thought 😅

I had to go back to search the titles again because they were read quite long ago xD so forgive me for being AFK for a while.

Astrid: It's okay. I've heard of most of those books but I haven't read any actually.

Devian: Usually it's always those books that leave a really deep impression that made you start writing stories inspired by them :3

Astrid: I get it. With me it's more like, the stuff I think is an interesting idea but was poorly executed or not explored enough that makes me want to write my own version

"A Good Way to D.A.I." was your entry for ONC. Why did you decide to join? How was your experience with the contest and what struggles did you have while writing?

Devian: Okay, I'll be honest right here. That was a decision I did not see myself agreeing to but in the end turned out to be me initiating the writing.

Before this came about, I was still quite active in DL's discord, another community and I wasn't as active compared to when I first joined because of SG. But there were several ppl I met there who we talked rather frequently. Especially Fathii xD

Fathii was the one who asked me if I wanted to give it a try. I still remembered back then lots of ppl in DL were all talking about joining ONC and how they were excited and nervous abt it. I rejected her because I knew I was not exactly up to the commitment. But Fathii managed to convince me to join. She said there was also a bunch of others in DL that wanted to participate and she said we could all do it together.

So I had this thought: oh if it was a group effort maybe it would be less taxing and probably more fun. Back then I had never collaborated with authors before and it was something new and exciting to try. So I said yes. Immediately, we created another discord group chat and started to talk about which of the prompts we found interesting. Somehow, it ended up as me starting a first draft in google document and the rest was just trying to give inputs and ideas. There was also someone who helped with the editing of the draft when I was done.

At the start, everyone was really helpful and active. And then as time goes, it wasn't as much and more about me writing more. However, it was still a great experience.

The contest was quite challenging because with every milestone, there will always be a next word count to fulfil. For example, maybe 2000 words in two weeks and then the next is 5000 words in a month. This is just an example but this was somewhat how the pacing went.

Back then, I was doing my internship so I could only write when I commute and we could hit the first few word counts. Until it hit 8K, and I couldn't churn out any more chapters at that rate. That and most of us were just going with the flow and there wasn't a concrete planning of how the book should go.

So I guess the experience would have been better if there was a plan in place in terms of the plot so everyone could follow and contribute efficiently. However, I think because we were a rather big group so we had many ideas but no one to make a decision and make it all concrete.

Astrid: What is your favourite part of writing?

Devian: A lot of aspects actually. But basically imagining an alternate reality and being inside it. It's my escape from stress and life *inserts SG :blushyfroggie: emoji*

Also, creating and thinking how my characters can relate to real life. So that readers are able to enjoy them.

I think the greatest challenge with writing comes from developing the ability to transform the intangible to black and white. It's a special skill and definitely unique because somehow we could inspire other's imagination through words.

Astrid: I relate to that so much

Does overseeing TSG interfere with writing?

Devian: Yes and no. But generally yes. *inserts SG :shockedfroggie: emoji*

I tend to distract myself w TSG when I have no inspiration to write and then it becomes my daily excuse 👀

Astrid: Same honestly.

How did you meet the ex-founder, Heba? Where did the idea of creating a community come from and why did you choose to call it The Savant Girls?

Devian: I met her through a Wattpad competition hosted by someone. She was my judge and from there we chatted and kinda became friends. She wanted to collaborate with me in writing a book, it happened but it did not turn out how we wanted it to go and so we stopped. After that, she came up with the idea of hosting an award on Wattpad, with which she already had judges and other people to join and she had created a secondary Wattpad account to host the specific award.

Back then, she just asked me if I was interested to help out as a judge and I said yes.

The discord group she created already had the community's name. I remembered I had asked her about it like suggesting to create a shared WP account and what should we call it. She said she had it all figured out and she called it "The Savant Girls". As to why she called it, I'm sure because all of the members or all of her friends were all girls and the meaning of "savant" meant to be extremely intellectually gifted or eccentrically smart. Perhaps to reflect our collective passion on reading and writing on Wattpad.

I didn't ask her too many questions about it and I went along with it because my intentions weren't to become an integral part of the administration. But well... it turned out differently after all *inserts SG :sip_02: emoji*

On a side note that was how I met Fathii

Astrid: And you had the benefit of eventually getting to know me, obviously.

The server came to life on 06/07/2020, or at least that's the date on which you joined. If I'm not mistaken you were judging the Short Story category of the Savant Awards May 2020. Was this your first experience judging? And did you like it?

Devian: Yes, that was my first experience judging! I think it was relatively okay, most of the participant's entries weren't particularly riveting-- yes I'm being very honest here --but I was pretty strict to standards and sometimes when I really can't quite get the story I just commented in their books xD But there were some books that were really good too. So it was a mixed feeling.

I think it was just me and Heba and then suddenly new members started to pour in

And right off the bat, Heba started a poll for her face claim for the Dracula book that I was collaborating with her.

Astrid: Reading back, I felt that you were the one communicating between Heba and the members and the one writing the chapters for the workshops. As co-founder, was that your purpose? To be the link between the founder and the members?

Devian: My scope wasn't defined actually. Looking back, Heba just said she needed help and I took up the mantle. At first I was pretty passive because I have no idea what needs to be done having not ran a community before, so I just welcomed people and ask Heba questions on the roles that she had came up with. Most of our convos happened via DMs so you can't find them here. But there reached a point where she started telling me to send announcements between her and the other members, as well as delegating work. I guess both of us are new to this but she has a tendency of not discussing things in details but good at making decisions.

That's about it I think^ but in terms of writing the chapters I came up with it myself, and I had the ideas of a review and graphic shop. Mainly, it will be both me and Heba manning the community account so I guess my role would be more of an SG Admin.

Astrid: There was a promise to host awards every month but that didn't go through. I'm curious about why.

Devian: Right there was that.

In the end, I think there was too much commitment given how many genres we open and also the lack of judges that it didn't happen any more

Astrid: Isn't that every awards issue? Not having enough judges?

Devian: Yupp

And we have to fill the slots ourselves.

Astrid: I'm curious, how did Heba's wedding with Spiderman go? And which Spiderman was she marrying?

Devian: I-

Marvel's spiderman I believe.

Astrid: Never underestimate my digging skills.

Devian: It's kinda scary.

I have forgotten all about it.

Until you said it and I was like right... there was that one time.

Astrid: I would marry him too ngl

tho I like Andrew Garfield more

So, something I couldn't make sense of was Heba's leaving. Her last message was sent on 18/09/2020, a normal text, with no sign of a goodbye, and then she vanishes completely. Help me solve this puzzle.

Devian: I think she was referring to tobey maguire back then but I could be wrong.

She never left the server 💀

She just did not use her account.

She disappeared from discord but appeared in WP.

Or she has been there all along.

In WP I mean.

Astrid: I couldn't find anything that indicated her leaving her role in the community in the server.

She just stopped interacting and then you made an announcement saying the community was going to disappear.

Devian: Well she didn't use the community WP account after she disappeared from here and I became the one doing it which was overwhelming since she just up and left like that. I had to reach out to her thru her WP account and I told her I was very tired and I needed help. She said she felt the same way too and she couldn't do it any more. So I asked her if she wanted to disband it since it was originally her idea.

Back then there was someone who was interested in taking over our community so they would be the founders and we would be members without any admin rights/say on how the community will turn out. I told heba and she at first agreed to hand it over, then disagreed after hearing that we would no longer have a say and that they would be changing things. So the logical step would be to disband the community.

Except it didn't happen xD

Astrid: Why did you decide to keep it?

Devian: Well because it's unfair to the other members to disband the community that we started and leave them hanging. That was the main reason for me. I hate it when someone starts something out of interest and not commit to it, so the rest like me are left hanging not knowing what to do next.

And the efforts would all go to waste

Astrid: Agreed. And I'm very thankful up kept this up.

I have a question, though. You said Heba still wanted to be part of the decisions, but she isn't part of the community anymore, is she?

Devian: Yes. She didn't say she wanted to leave but she said she couldn't do it anymore. And since she was the founder, naturally she had the rights to decide in the end.

I guess it's the same as imagining something you created get taken and transformed into something else by someone else and you can't do anything but watch. I guess that was the feeling.

Astrid: Yeah I get it.

So you found yourself alone managing a growing community. Must have been hard.

Would you say Fathii, the great SG myth according to Haize, was your support when Heba left?

Devian: Yes. 100%

And also Mary

Astrid: Marshmallow?

Devian: Yupp

Astrid: I only met her once I think.

Did you feel back to that position of being alone managing a community when Fathii left and knowing that Mary is mostly offline?

Devian: No 👀

I have you guys.

Astrid: We're amazing.

And that's a wrap or whatever they say in the movies. Thank you!

(Interview Ends)