4, 11, 12, 13?
4) favorite character you’ve written
From my current WIP? The nameless child-eater, the main reason I finally caved to him becoming the main character. Despite how dark things can get down in there with him, I was having more fun writing his character than anyone else’s. He’s also one of my favorite tropes - a monstrous person who’s trying to come to terms with their monstrosity, how they want to handle it, and what it means for their position in the world.
Overall? I’d say atm it’s split between Dorita, the dead girl from Mostly Dead Girls, and Grace from Portrait of Alex, With Body. I have a huge fondness for angry ghosts, especially ghosts that are not at all accepting of their ‘dead’ status, and Dorita was also very cathartic to write. Grace is a terrible boy, but he’s a sympathetic terrible boy that struggles with some weird mental stuff that’s always fascinating to dig into, and he’s one of the few characters I’ve laughed out loud while writing.
(god, i have so many WIPs)
11) what aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?
Probably my character motivation! Everything’s improved, but I had a real tendency to just write characters who were dragged along by the plot, rather than affecting it. Now, one of the things I like most (when I can make it work) is weaving the plot just around people’s conflicting desires.
12) your weaknesses as an author
Dialogue in longer conversations. Beginnings. Getting sidetracked by a cool thought in the middle of a convo and having the character spend two pages ruminating on their relationship to their first dog before remembering what the original scene was.
13) your strengths as an author
I feel like I’m good at getting people to care about characters, even very grey or villainous ones. And I’m good at writing relationships - at least to the extent that I can convince people that these characters care about each other. Also UST. I like writing it and I think I’m decent at it, even if I always think I’m being more subtle than I am.
