#author spotlights

[interact-if]

Interact-IF Pride Month Author Spotlight #5: Love The Guard, Be The King

We are so excited to feature @ligiawrites, creator of Love The Guard, Be The King (demo) as our fifth author interview for Interact-IF's 2026 pride month, spotlighting LGBTQ+ games and authors! :)

Ligia's real life as a queer person - raised in a place where existing as herself was a struggle - inspired her representation of queer people in her stories. They live without fear, and are accepted as they are - something Ligia hopes becomes true for our own world as well.

Check out the first, second, third and fourth interviews in our Pride Month Spotlight 2026 Event!

1. Tell me more about yourself! What are some things new readers or long-time readers might not know about you?

a) I play the clarinet! Started last year, and I'm enjoying it a lot. My plan is to record some of my favorite obscure Brazilian classical pieces and use them as soundtrack for my games. ;) I'm also a barbecue-guitar-player (meaning I don't know shit about the guitar, but I can play a few easy, popular songs that have people singings with me).

b) I've been very much out and proud online for the past ~10 years, but I only came out to my parents and siblings around 2 years ago. I'm very lucky that they've shown support (and a lot of confusion, XD which led me to explain A LOT of terms to them), but I know that many people aren't as lucky. Which is why I don't like it when people carelessly try to convince others to out themselves to their families—remember that this is a part of YOUR identity and that YOU should decide who to share it with. There are many places in the world in which it's very dangerous to be queer, so don't put yourself in a dangerous situation without thinking it through. And if you can only express your pride quietly, remember that there's an online community here that sees you! ♥

c) Aaaand "Love the Guard Be the King" is actually my third attempt at making a game solo. The first one was a Metroidvania about a zombie that had to collect pieces of her enemies, consume them, and get strong enough to defeat the bad guy (and save her necromancer mistress). The second was a visual novel about a giant who fell in love with the sun-queen and set out to hunt a corrupt knight commander. ;) Those will never see the light of day.

2. Can you tell me a bit about your journey into interactive fiction and what you’re working on right now?

When I was little, my older brother gave me his entire collection of CYOA books when he entered college (the physical ones with the green covers, in which your choices lead to different pages/paragraphs), and I devoured them. RPG games like Septerra Core and Dragon Age were the next step—and then visual novels. When I realized I could make my own, that was it, hehe. :P

Still, I wasn't really serious about it until maybe 3 or 4 years ago, I think, when I played Eros's "Repurpose," PDRook's "Perfumare," and Cherry's "ATOC." I don't think many games made me feel the way I did when I played their stories. It was everything I loved about books—amazing story, incredible world-building, polished writing, great structure, captivating characters—with the twist of allowing me to interact directly with the plot and choose what was gonna happen. I had played a lot of VNs/IFs until then, but none of them ever made me realize how much potential this medium has. From them on, my passion from interactive fiction only grew, and I decided to devote myself to it. :) Since then, I found a Dragon's Horde of incredible VN/IFs, but those are the ones that really invited me to look at it seriously.

Now I'm working on the second game in a series. "Ward the Dragon, Love the King" starts three weeks after "Love the Guard, Be the King," and it's an expansion of the first game in every sense of the wor(l)d, hehe! ;) I really can't wait to get to some of the more revelation/lore-heavy bits there.

3. What inspired the game/story you’re currently writing?

I wanted to write a medieval fantasy game with courtly intrigue and a Lord/Knight romance, but through the eyes of the "least powerful person" in the room (a servant/warrior with a useless title). As the story grew, this feeling of powerlessness/uselessness became the crux of my story, and finding their inner power through the support of their loved ones became part of the DC's ("Dragon Commander," you!) character arc. :) During the first game, I was also trying to find comfort and my own self-value in the middle of bouts of crippling anxiety, so Mathias, Mand, Mel, and the amazing readers I met through my game helped me more than I could ever imagine.

4. How does your game/story draw from, or feature, aspects of your queer identity / experience?

I think all my writing comes from my understanding of what the world should be, so it's entirely my identity—and by that I mean magical and filled with hot shape-shifting dragons, yes. x) haha joking! More seriously, a place where people can be accepted and loved for who they are.

I was raised in a very religious, very homophobic, very racist country in which hate crimes against women, POC, and people in the queer community are extremely common. The fear and helplessness that I felt growing up, the disgust and despair I had for myself when I realized I was different, and the identities I buried deep and prayed would disappear—all that is what I wish I could protect my readers from. If my stories can offer them even a little hope and comfort, I'll have done my job right.

5. What are some of the most rewarding or challenging aspects of writing Interactive Fiction for you?

Writing is already a challenge. Add to that the fact that you have to use SEVERAL tetris-shaped choices to make a scene feel right, no matter what the players' previous path has been, makes it what is, IMO, the most challenging type of writing there is, hahaha! And, well, I love a challenge. ;)

To me, receiving messages from people saying my stories touched them in some way (or that they feel they have agency in it!!!!) is the absolute best thing ever. I'm also very emotional every time someone says they like my female and POC characters.

6. What’s your approach to portraying queer characters, queer experiences/perspectives, or queer storylines in your IF?

I think queer identities are just a natural part of a character's identity and should be treated that way. And since there is no homophobia/transphobia/ace erasure/misogyny/etc in my worlds, I also keep an eye out for microaggressions and hurtful behaviors that come from those, so I can make my worlds truly welcoming.

As with every part of someone's identity, mainly when it's not my own, I also think it's vital to check my work for harmful stereotypes and any bias I might have—and for that, listening to people and doing research is fundamental, IMO.

7. What is one thing you hope to see in games or interactive fiction in the future—whether it be for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion, or just a personal itch you’d love to have scratched?

Give me more butches and fake relationships, please!!! Maybe fake relationships with butches!!! 🥺 Make them very big and muscular or small and lean butches!!! I'd also love to see more demis like me ❤️✨

8. Are there any LGBTQ+ media, characters, stories etc. that live rent-free in your brain (or that you would like to recommend?

Nowadays we have so many more queer stories that my heart sings. When I was growing up, though, there was nothing but veiled hemoerotic subtext, Interview with the Vampire, and yaoi/yuri fanfics of my favorite animes, which I still keep in a special place in my heart. For newer things I absolutely love: Rien Gray's books (long live lesbian knights erotica!! which you would DEFINITELY find in Mathias's bookshelf, along with all of Chuck Tingle's books—another rec, whether you like monster/surreal erotica or horror), She-ra (the animated show), Hazbin Hotel, Repurpose (the VN), and for IFs: Chasing Stars by @chasingstarsif and Voulez-vous by @hellojoygames (yay for the lesbians!!). Karlach from BG3 is a constant in my heart.

9. Silly closing question: If you were to make a game in one weekend, which of these LGBTQ+ (or general) tropes/cliches would you build the game around? Feel free to elaborate on the silly idea for funsies.

Haha, this is fun. I loved it! I'd choose U-Haul, definitely: They met in a heist-gone-wrong—two very intense days ago—and now a butch-space-cowboy and her new scientist genious gf must fight an imperialist army to protect a data drive with the key to the Machina Mater and haul said girlfriend's stuff back to planet Ursa Sapha!!! You play as the scientist—but will you stick to your loving himbo-space-cowboy-girlfriend, or will the mysterious NB tech-necromata, the one competing with your gf for the title of "second in command," also steal you from her? ;)))

[captainswanbigbang]

CSRT Author Spotlight: mayquita

Today’s Captain Swan Rewrite-a-Thon spotlight features @mayquita!

How long have you been writing for the OUAT fandom? Did you write anything else (original or fan fiction) before joining the OUAT fandom? Are you writing anything non-OUAT now that the show is over? 

Four and a half years I believe.

What sort of fic do you like to write? What sort of fic do you like to read?

I prefer to write AUs, but I have no preference for any particular trope. I read almost everything related to CS.

What kind of rewrite will you be doing?

Rewriting the beginning of an abandoned story and then finishing it.

Tell us about your Rewrite-a-Thon story! What's it about, and why did you decide to rewrite it?

Damn You for Making Me Love You may be the typical story that includes several tropes —best friends to lovers, mutual pining, set-ups, coworkers, bartender / musician — but I wanted to give it an extra little twist, that's why I  also included both Elsa and Liam POVs. Elsa, Emma's best friend and Liam, Killian's brother and boss work as a team with a clear goal, to get Emma and Killian to take the next step in their relationship and confess their love for each other. I found it quite interesting to write Emma and Killian relationship from other people's point of view. I decided to rewrite it because it's one of the many stories that I started, that I have completely planned but that somehow I was stuck without being able to finish it. Why did I choose this story? Because I like the concept, I like the plot and I think there is enough room to improve it. I want to add more depth to the characters since in the original idea the story begins with them being best friends (and in love with each other in secret) for three years. I want to show how they fell in love with each other and the reasons for their reluctance to confess their feelings.

What are you most excited about when it comes to rewriting your story?

Basically being able to finish it and not only rewrite the chapters that I had already posted but also get to put into words all the ideas that I already had planned in my mind.

Check out @mayquita on Tumblr, AO3, and FF.Net!

[cricketmuse]

Author Spotlight: James Herriot

Author Spotlight: James Herriot

Eons ago I became smitten with the James Herriot series All Creatures Great and Small—both the books and BBC show.

The gentle humor, the insights into human nature, the animal stories, the quaint English countryside with all of its unique characters, the appreciation for life even in the hard circumstances of being a country became a tonic for this reader.

It wasn’t until recently, while…

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[lookingforabook]

Our Author of the Week is Sir Terry Pratchett!

Known primarily for his Discworld series, Terry Pratchett wrote a number of books for children, teens, and adults. His bibliography also includes Nation, Dodger, The Long Earth series (with Stephen Baxter), and Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman). His work has been adapted into movies, comics, plays, video games, and more. 

Text: 

Author of the Week: Terry Pratchett (FIC PRA)

Recommended if you enjoy: Satire and comedy, large fantasy settings, serious concepts handled with humor, at least one turtle per book*

*Also, lots of footnotes.

[shadowtearling]

Author Spotlights: Jane Austen (3/6)

Mansfield Park (1814)

[exquisitliltart]

@Skye SQ Supernova Author Interview

Skye - The Day We Ruined Absolutely Everything

What inspired your Supernova story?

The idea for this story came to me (I'm sorry, but this is true) on a dark and stormy night. It was nearing Halloween and I pictured this school with the twisting, dark corridors. It was begging for something scary to happen, for frightened running and Cora (because it always has to involve Cora) and most importantly an absolute tonne of pain. I wrote the original story in a month and then it took me two years (and a nudge from amycarey) to go back to it for the Supernova because I was struggling with the story I'd originally planned for it. 

The first problem I had was that two years ago I was a past tense writer and now I very much am not. Changing 50,000 words of story tense was an ordeal and then after that the real ordeal, self-editing, could begin. If I could edit it I would go more into Emma's life because she doesn't really talk about it "on screen" because everything revolves around the school. I'd develop Marian a little more (you know she would have bumped into Miss Hua somehow...) and I loved the way her relationship with Regina played out. I wouldn't take Emma and Regina's story further. I liked ending it with possibility, and I think it was very sensible of them not to move in just yet.

Tell us about your writing history for fandom/general.

I was a fandom late-comer, shipping Swan Queen the moment Emma threw Regina up against a locker, but not venturing into fandom until much later. This was my first collaboration with an artist and it was incredible! I was a little apprehensive at first (I always hated group work) but in the end I was bowled over by Ti's art. The moments she chose to draw out were so important to me, and the level of detail she went into (we discussed Christmas Market mugs) still makes my heart swell to think about. To anyone thinking of participating in something like this - do it!

What is an interesting fact about you personally or related to your writing process?

I don't know if this counts as "interesting" but I suffer big-time from writer's block, and I don't mean looking at a blinking curser and feeling like a dork. The writer's block I experience is crushing. I have 40 completed works on AO3. Stories have previously poured out of me three at a time and I have loved it. I feel a constant, overwhelming urge to write, but when I start fatigue sets in and I don't have the heart to write stories worthy of Emma and Regina. I know what I want for them but the ground splits and a gorge opens up between me and the story I want to write for them. I must have 20 incompletes on my Google Drive. Part of participating in the SN was about defeating that, about keeping going and creating something I could still love even though my ability to write has changed. Being part of something bigger meant that I'm not strong enough, but maybe we are? (Sorry, I couldn't help myself)

What other stories have you written? 

I think I have written the only OUAT/Welcome To Night Vale crossover out there and I'm pretty proud of that. I'd like to rec every single participant in the SN, my comrades. It's really incredible and I'm so proud to be a part of it.

What is your favorite type of fanfiction?

Angst/hurt comfort

Is there anything else you'd like people to know about you?

I am a big fan of leaving your feelings in comments. Nothing makes my heart sing than people screaming about being affected by something I've written. I try my best to be coherent in comments to others but I have to say, even if you feel like a lemon leaving a comment, you're going to make someone's day if you put what you really mean in there. Shona Rhimes once said "don't leave your [feelings] in my mentions". I don't claim to have written 12 seasons of Grey's Anatomy, but I have to disagree! Comments, twitter mentions, that's where your feelings belong.

[captainswanbigbang]

CSRT Author Spotlight: let-it-raines

Today’s Captain Swan Rewrite-a-Thon spotlight features @let-it-raines!

How long have you been writing for the OUAT fandom? Did you write anything else (original or fan fiction) before joining the OUAT fandom? Are you writing anything non-OUAT now that the show is over? 

A little over a year for OUAT so a bit of a late bloomer there! I didn't write anything else before. I'm considering trying my hand at an original story, but that hasn't actually happened yet. Maybe one day I'll get around to it!

What sort of fic do you like to write? What sort of fic do you like to read?

I'm a Modern AU girl myself. That's pretty much my thing for writing, though I occasionally dabble into other things. It's pretty much the same for reading, but I do read historical fics, canon divergence, etc. 

What kind of rewrite will you be doing?

Taking a story's premise but going in another direction with it ("canon divergence")

Tell us about your Rewrite-a-Thon story! What's it about, and why did you decide to rewrite it?

Second in Command is my overly long fic baby. It's, well, it's about Killian being the second son of the King of England and having been mistreated by his family his entire life because he wasn't the "all important heir to the throne." Killian, on one of his many walks around the city to destress, stumbled into a pub one night where he meets a woman - Emma - and they begin dating and stay secretly dating for five years before it all blows up and Killian's family finds out. The story is what happens after that and how the two of them deal with the public fallout and the fallout with Killian's family. I love this story a lot, both because of the way I wrote it and also because it was my first really big writing undertaking, but with that, also comes the fact that it was my first big writing project and has a lot of flaws. My writing has improved a lot since then, mostly with my ability to plot and keep track of things, and I think it will be interesting to maybe write a lot of my original plot ideas that I didn't do the first time around because I wasn't sure how I would do them because I didn't have faith in my writing. 

What are you most excited about when it comes to rewriting your story?

Getting to work with something that exists and twisting it around to make something entirely new! 

Check out @let-it-raines on Tumblr and AO3!

[captainswanbigbang]

CSRT Author Spotlight: winterbythesea

Today’s Captain Swan Rewrite-a-Thon spotlight features @winterbythesea!

How long have you been writing for the OUAT fandom? Did you write anything else (original or fan fiction) before joining the OUAT fandom? Are you writing anything non-OUAT now that the show is over? 

About 5 years! I wrote Star Wars fic before that, and original stuff. And that's still pretty much how it is now, I still write a bit of SW occasionally and I'm working on original stuff as well.

What sort of fic do you like to write? What sort of fic do you like to read?

My favourite thing to write is characters bantering, working together, understanding each other. I like stories with a bit of action, a bit of pining, and fun, with a balance between making you laugh and making you cry. I think my interests are pretty similar for reading and writing, overall, but I probably write more crack than I read, and read more smut than I write.

What kind of rewrite will you be doing?

Taking a story's premise but going in another direction with it ("canon divergence")

Tell us about your Rewrite-a-Thon story! What's it about, and why did you decide to rewrite it?

It's about Killian ending up in Hades aka the underworld, and Emma going after him to bring him back. That was the basic idea. I started writing it before the show ever went there, so when the show did go there, I sort of lost steam. It felt pointless, and CS on the show had developed as a couple in ways that made me feel like my take on it all was just off. I can't finish it as is, so I feel like this event is pretty much perfect for it. The plan now is to rewrite it with a completely different beginning, basically an alternative take on the Dark Swan arc, and then go from there. I feel like I've improved as a writer since I started it as well, so hopefully I'll do the idea justice this time around.

What are you most excited about when it comes to rewriting your story?

Actually getting to the Hades part! I just about sent Killian down there, but I never got around to writing the rest of it. So I'm excited to actually get to the bit I originally started the story for!

Check out @winterbythesea on Tumblr and AO3!