4) what are some of examples of storytelling that inspires you outside of books?
hmmm this could go a few ways lol for me at least
A lot of my stories could be considered fairy tale retellings? but I don't really like calling them that because I'm not really going about it the same way that retellings are usually done, if that makes sense...like, the way I'm doing it is taking major elements and reworking them so they're more like easter eggs rather than plot points
i hope that makes sense lol
outside of that, I'd say movies and tv shows for sure inspire me the most. mostly with pacing and cinematography? My writing style tends toward cinematic (or so i've been told) and so I like to watch the camera work to get an idea of what snags my focus as well as the camera's focus. And I feel like pacing is self-explanatory when it comes to film/tv
7) tell us about one of your characters who’s an absolute joy to write
this is probably because I'm working on the chapter that introduced her (finally) but Naia Abaroa aka Grea's (and possibly Dracrie's) best girl ever. She is Thala's love interest and she's just an absolute sweetheart with underlying sadness (that will get addressed as the story progresses)...she's the sunshine to Thala's storm, the Hufflepuff to Thala's Slytherin and I'm really looking forward to not only getting to know her better but also developing their relationship into one that everyone can't help but love along side me ^^
(but for real, 99% of the time I love writing my characters, no matter if they're the antagonists or not...Seafoam's antagonists, on the other hand, are the 1%)
19) what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?
research; my beloved, my beloathed
it can be so much fun sometimes lol I definitely do as much research as possible, which can be difficult for fantasy (and also difficult to keep track of all the tabs)...a bit of a curse, though, sometimes because the number of times I get distracted??? jfc... lmao
as for something neat, it's really hard to narrow it down, especially having been writing for a decade now, so that's a lot of research to keep track of. One of my favorite things to research, however, is like...methods of death? whether it's murder or how it feels to die a certain way, idk it's fun (sorry for getting morbid lol)
22) talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you. or talk about several. seriously, writing is cool. you’re making up whole stories out of your brain, revel in that shit.
not to talk about my stupidly long fic on main, but
I was definitely pleasantly surprised by how that fic all shaped up? Like, yes I worked on it for four years, yes it kept me away from writing original fiction like I was longing to do, but overall, I think it really helped me improve my craft? Like it was an entire series worth of words (695k words), and like I said before, I'm a planner, not a pantser, so I had to get it all outlined and do all my research as I went and it was nice to know that I am capable of finishing a major project like that. Not only that, but it was nice to engage with my readers and get to know them through the comments and also connect with a choice few in dms (one of them is now one of my closest friends)
and I know that fic is different from original fiction in many ways, including how you'll be able to interact with your readers, but it was nice to know that something I wrote and put my heart into was able to connect with other people, and that's what I'm taking with my now that I'm returning to writing original fiction: the desire to connect with my future readers through my work.
