My Interview With Melissa Ingoldsby, Vocal FanFiction Creator

We have a FanFiction Creator on Vocal, Melissa Ingoldsby. She received 21 Top Stories on Vocal, Wow. She have several published stories on Amazon. What an accomplishment for a mother of two boys.

Melissa (Missouri): Hey Mariann how’re you? You mentioned you wanted to do an interview. I’m free this week whenever it’s convenient for you.

Mariann (New York) : Hi Melissa, I just got done with writing one interview. I don’t know if you are ready but here are a couple of questions for you. It takes me 5 hours to write after the interview. I want people to enjoy the story about themselves. I really enjoying doing this. Where are you from?

Melissa: Thank you for asking me to do this interview I appreciate it.I was born and raised in STL, Saint Louis Missouri. Misery as some call it. Lol, Misery because of the weather.

Mariann: When did you realized you wanted to write?

Melissa: I started writing stories in elementary school. My parents tell me of the time during a parent conference. A teacher was flabbergasted by a “story” I told her in extreme detail about something that I apparently had done over the weekend with my family. She mentioned it to my mom. She was surprised and told her that never happened. Lol. So, I told stories, I guess at first. She told my parents she was amazed by the level of imagination and detail I had provided her . The story had struck her so vividly she had to relay it to my parents.

I always loved stories and read like a book worm. I would read late on Friday and Saturday nights and sometimes be up all night finishing books.

Mariann : How long does it take you to write a story?

Melissa : Novels take me 1 to 5 years , sometimes longer. Short stories depending on how long I need it be , maybe 3 to 5 days .

Mariann: What’s is your real life schedule and how do you fit your writing in it?

Melissa : I am a stay at home mommy. I have two sons, one is 13, Ismael doing Hebrew school and the other is 6, named Noah . They stays at home with me. Noah has autism, my whole week is dedicated to taking him to his daily therapy appointments: ABA( Applied Behavior Analysis), speech and OT(Occupational therapy ). His doctors all highly recommend this plan for him until his starts school full time. I sit in with his therapy, encourage learn and support my son.

My son Ismael is going to have his bar Mitzvah this year !!

Mariann : Are you Jewish?

Melissa: Yes, I’m Jewish. Jewish on my side, Mexican and Colombian on their dads side. We both decided to raise them Jewish with Christian ideals (confusing but we celebrate Christmas too along with the Jewish holidays).

Mariann: What do you like most about writing?

Melissa: I love drawing up characters the most. It’s my favorite thing to do. Their quirks, their childhood, their relationships, bad habits, the way they speak? All of that is exciting to me.

I love to write because I feel like it’s a part of me, and I enjoy it so much. It gives me strength and helps me carry on with life, even during hard times.

Mariann: What’s your main goal in writing?

Melissa: My main goal is to create stories that help others understand their emotions and traumas, their feelings and thoughts. My main focus in my stories are grief, abandonment, anger and forgiveness. These are what I have struggled with and what I feel is a hard set of feelings to understand.

Mariann: Do you like writing romance story more than cartoon scriptwriting ?

Melissa: I really can’t fight this one, lol. I love cartoons and romance equally.

https://vocal.media/poets/india-which-has-no-capacity-to-dream

https://vocal.media/fiction/the-labyrinth-7v993w0ihe

https://vocal.media/fiction/bexley-s-survival-list-to-the-zombie-apocalypse

Mariann: What’s your favorite stories you wrote on vocal ? Why are they your favorite?

Melissa: I think my favorite is I am Bexley. It started because Vocal emailed me as they were going to launch the new fiction section of their community and needed vocal writers to curate a story for the start up of the community. So I wrote I am Bexley as that curation. After that, I couldn’t stop. It turned into never ending chapters, more characters and a deeper narrative and plot. Now, it’s a full length novel. I recently have had it submitted and accepted by a publisher, The UK distributer Resurgence Novels, as my debut novel publication.

Unfortunately, I had to unpublish I am Bexley from the site(Vocal), because of the contract I have with the publisher but I think I have the prologue on vocal.

Mariann: What are your writing accomplishments that you are most proud of ?

Melissa: I have two book signings, one at Picassos coffee, that was on April 22nd. It was so fun! I sold a good amount of my books and had family and friends there for support! And my next one is for the Fantasy Shop for Free Comic Day on May 6th in Saint Charles. I’m proud of this as this was for my self published book on Amazon The Half Paper Moon, which is a collection of two stories, Carnivorous and the title aforementioned.

Melissa: I also have my first traditionally published book, I am Bexley for Resurgence Novels. This road to getting published took a long time and with tons and tons of rejections, so I’m very proud of this work and of the way things turned out, considering the last few years of rejection and turmoil.

It’s so hard. It is not easy but if you keep trying you will do it!!

Mariann: What does your writing space look like?

Melissa : I write best at the stove. When I’m in between burning the rice for dinner, feeding my son, and trying to drink my old coffee,lol.

I truly don’t have a writing space.

Mariann: What’s your favorite Facebook Vocal group?

Melissa: All of the Vocal groups make me feel comfortable and happy. I love sharing with other writers and the community of artists and their passions. Writers sharing community, Great Incantations, vocal media hub and Vocal media support.

Mariann: Who are your favorite Vocal Creators?

Melissa : I love Em Starr(her very moody and excellent toned, gripping fiction), Dharrsheena(her deeply human horror writing), and Oneg For their amazing ability to weave together a beautiful and haunting tale.

Mariann: I will end this interview with Melissa favorite Motto and one of her stories.

Melissa: Hakuna matata

There you have it, A busy mother of two boys and still have time to accomplish her writing dream .