asked:
Brace yourself! I have a lot of questions 😄5, 8, 23, 52, 53
5. Books or authors that influenced your style the most.
I can’t say that I strive to write like a specific author or that one or the other influenced my style. If anything, the authors I greatly admire have a very distinct, personal style, and that’s why I love their stories. Authors who, when you open a book and read the first page, you go: Ah, this author wrote this.
I love Neil Gaiman for the way he can build an immersive atmosphere and feeling in his books.
I love Terry Prathcett for how he can disguise serious topics in humor and satire and still manage to deliver his stinging, social critique; how his Discworld is so ridiculous and yet so vibrant, alive, and real.
I admire how Andrezje Sapkowski can make his characters balance on a moral grayscale and be pretty awful people and still make you empathize with them because they and the choices they make feel real.
8. Favorite trope to write.
I don’t know if you can call it a trope, but my favorite thing to write about is character journeys. I love taking broken characters and placing them in a world where they fit and can begin to heal.
23. Single or multi-POV, and why?
That’s not up to me; the story decides how many POVs it wants. I never plan if it’s single or multi-POV because the story usually reveals that while I write.
I enjoy both.
It’s fun to do a deep dive into more than one character and getting both or several sides of the story. But, it’s also more work, and it’s harder to make the text feel “fresh” and not repetitive when you have to show something from more than one person’s perspective.
Writing a single-POV allows for a deeper connection to your character, and it’s less work, but it is harder to make the other characters feel like well-rounded individuals. Also, it’s easy to take the introspection too far to a point where it feels repetitive or whiny.
52. How did writing change you?
I don’t know how it’s changed me. I’ve always been a classic introvert and a daydreamer. I’ve always had multiple stories going on in my head.
When I was a child, I had this cassette player (yes, a cassette player) with a microphone, and I used to sit in this old rocking chair and record myself telling stories; I was four-five maybe.
The only real difference between me at four and thirty-nine is that I type my stories now instead of recording them.
53. What does writing mean to you?
It means a lot of things. It’s fun, it’s rewarding, and it’s a way to connect with and give back to fandom.
It might sound strange, but writing also fulfills a lot of my need for social interaction. My characters are very real to me, and I can go an entire afternoon having a deep conversation with a character in my head.
Writing has also been an emotional lifesaver. It’s gotten me through some pretty dark periods. Writing is my way to disconnect from the world, recharge my batteries, and rest from my overthinking and emotions. It’s my escapism from the world, work, obligations, and myself.
I wrote Scrapbooking during my mother’s illness—cervix cancer—and the first few months after she died. It’s silly and humorous because I was in a black hole and needed distraction.
Likewise, I wrote Phoenix during my grief process. I’m not comfortable sharing my emotions openly and freely with others; writing that story was my way of processing my mother’s death and the changes that brought to my life.
So, writing means a lot; it’s a hobby, it’s escapism, it’s therapy, and it’s just plain fun.
Xenodike 