11 and 17 for the WIP asks.
Thanks for the ask @nikkxb !! These are fun ones! So, my current WIP is An Arrangement which is here.
11: Which character do you have the most in common with?
I might have projected too much of my stuff on poor Kagome in this one. It’s a mistake as a writer (but we’re already here, so let’s unpack?)
I set out to make Kagome flawed in this story. I wanted her to start in the grey and have done regrettable stuff because she decided to. I like redemption archs for female protagonists, and at the end I want her to reach the potential we know she has -to be a great and caring person that stops at nothing.
She still wants to do right, but I, uhm, shared with her my complete confussion of what that can look like. I think she can go from impulsive to really cunning, which I want to believe I do as well. She’s a very loving person but her temper gets her -oh, girl, same.
Maybe this is an uncharacteristic reading, but I think Kagome also avoided her feelings to keep peace sometimes, which I strongly identify with.
17: Does your WIP have any themes or motifs?
Yes! I’m so glad I get to talk about this. The main theme is greyness: there’s no clear path, or a perfect division of who’s good or bad, and the only thing left is to try. Another one is loyalty (to family, to species, or to association): almost everyone could do with a little less of that and a little more…principles.
Bodies in general are a thing. There’s a bit of body horror, and -the true horror for me- what happens when an individual is seen as just flesh from which to profit. And as the title suggests, arrangements: how Sesshomaru and Kagome jump from one agreement to the other and how little it relates to their actual relationship. It doesn’t work like that, sadly.
There’s lot’s of smaller motifs too. Ashes and clay are a thing that keeps showing up, and they’re represantations of death and ultimately trascendence-ashes to dust. Dreams I interpret as a view of the subconcious, and they’re a really good vehicle when you have a character in denial.
Narrowness of a place happens quite a lot, to represent feeling like there is only one path, even if the character doesn’t like it (like at the armory, in Miroku’s house, in the well). Cold is also present, to represent a hostile environment.
