We recently connected with Katya Awar and have shared our conversation below.

Katya, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

The best thing about being a writer is having something physical to leave behind. I hope one day my writing becomes someone’s comfort show/book/movie that they have to watch or read every year, just like I do with my favorite media. The iconic 2000s show have become seasonal routines that I look forward to, and passing on my favorite books to my friends has turned into moments of bonding and understanding.

Katya, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up writing stories on different online forums, mostly FanFiction to give my busy brain some sense of release.
I eventually settled on Wattpad.com to publish my first novel as a teenager, and it garnered over 430,000 reads which inspired me to re-publish it on Amazon Kindle. In college at Northeastern University, I studied Media and Screen Studies and started a YouTube channel where I’d tell entertaining stories about my life, the biggest video hitting over 500,000 views! Through college, my love for storytelling grew in all different media formats, including songwriting, and I fell in love with writing all over again. In my senior year, I took a screenwriting course and discovered I had a natural talent for writing dialogue and fun mysteries, so I chose to narrow my career to writing for Television. I’ve just finished my masters in Television Writing and Producing at Chapman University, and I’m about to start my first job as a Page at NBCUniversal!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

What I’ve learned about social media is that there’s an audience for everything, so you might as well post what you love to make. People favor quality over anything, so when they find quality work that matches their taste, they will start to trust your profile. My social media presence has grown in such an authentic way. I was writing FanFiction on forums, then Instagram, then eventually Wattpad where I had the most following. Then when I started YouTube, I translated my stories from page to performance, and they resonated with people in the same way. I also think telling real stories instead of fiction for the first time was an important stepping stone into making my writing more authentic. Now I’ve had to adapt to TikTok where I’m growing my following by combining all these lessons, balancing being authentic with the performance of being on camera. My advice is to post things you are already doing in your everyday life, and take the time to make them quality experiences.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think a lot of non-creatives struggle to make sense of the instability of my career, and also the “unimportance” of my work. A lot of people are comfortable in a 9-5 job they hate because it’s consistent and there are no surprises. You don’t have to constantly learn new skills or adapt to new situations, and that makes a lot of people confident in their abilities. I, however, love to be multifaceted and hate to live the same day twice. Constantly having to adapt or compete for the next job keeps my brain and skills sharp. Having to constantly be on my toes grows my confidence in myself because I learn that I can accomplish anything. I also think non-creatives underestimate how much entertainment plays a role in their lives. They watch shows and movies to unwind, they listen to music on their way to work, they read books on vacation. Providing an escape from reality can be just as important to society as tangible services.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://katyaawar.wixsite.com/portfolio
• Instagram: katya.portfolio
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/katyaawar

Image Credits

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