Here's 💔💌💕, for the End of Year Ask, pls. Also hope you're doing well, 🎆🎆🌠. May your new year be gifted with more stories to be told!!
Oh hi! It’s been a while since I’ve heard from you, I hope you’re also doing well. And the same to you!
💔 which OC frustrated you the most this year?
Most all of them, frankly speaking. Depression hit me hard this year, and between that and school I just didn’t have the energy to do as much writing as I would have liked.
If I had to pick one, I guess that would be Lydia. Like.. who is she, man? What does she want? The more I wrote her the more I learned about her, but the more I learned the more her intentions and motivations became unclear to me.
Ah, well. it be like that sometimes.
💌 which OC did you write about most this year?
Kenny, probably, as she’s the main character of Lucidity.
💕 which OC changed the most this year in regard to personality & storyline?
That’s a tossup between Yanfeng from The Warrior and the Bookworm and Chaohan from Of Dragons and Princes (both of whom, funnily enough, are emperors, and both of whom are actually canonly related to one another, albeit distantly).
Yanfeng started off as this lazy asshole bum of an emperor who didn’t really care about anything except living the high life—and he evolved into someone more three dimensional, someone who was desperately trying to do his best but always came up short.
Chaohan, on the other hand, started out as this innocent cinnabun guy, but not much else—the plot sort of revolved around him, and he was less a character and more an.. idea, or McGuffin, I guess. And now… oh boy. I can’t really disclose much without giving things away, but suffice to say… he’s changed. For the better of for the worse remains to be seen, but.. there it is.
1) If your OCs could teach a subject in university, what subjects would they teach and why?
Edisius feels like a Language Arts sort of a professor... Amadea is probably something boring like Economics but she’s like.. always late and always slightly tipsy. Dove, I feel would be teaching Law or Psychology, and Falcon would be History, but like, way specific, like the History of Warfare of something like that. Kenny isn’t a teaching type and I feel like Lydia is far more likely to be skipping class than teaching class.
2) What are some of the current obsessions that your OCs have? What are some of your current obsessions?
Kenny is super into dyed hair, Lydia likes seeing how far she can push her magical abilities, Edisius is a collector (of books, rocks, etc), and Amadea has a lipstick obsession. Dove is kind of obsessed with taking her father’s throne, and Falcon... Falcon just does whatever Dove does, really.
As for me.. I don’t think I have any obsessions, currently. Maybe I have an obsession with having an obsession.
3) Which company would your OCs prefer to work in: a growing company full of young creative individuals who can be frequently seen playing table tennis / darts around the office OR a smaller company with older workers who make sure to cook once a week in the company kitchen?
I feel Kenny and Falcon would go for the small company, whilst Lydia, Amadea, and Dove would fit right in with the growing company. Edisius would choose neither, he’s more of a start-you-own company sort of guy.
4) What is your OCs favourite holiday to celebrate? (if they are not from our world, feel free to choose / make up a holiday from their own setting)
Probably the Spring Festival? Everyone loves spring, everyone loves festivals. Win-win! Gaeran spring festivals are really pretty, all green and flowery and stuff, but for Kenny especially, the real winer is the Spring Festival back home (red packets! Home cooking! Yay!)
5) If you could fight for one book to not get published, what book would it be?
Hate to be a downer, but without a doubt it would be To Train Up a Child by Michael and Debi Pearl. Horrible “parenting” book. Hurt a lot of people. Near destroyed some families. 0/10, do not recommend.
6) What is your greatest motivation for writing?
I just have this unexplainable feeling—a belief, I guess—that writing and publishing my stories will be The Answer to everything. I don’t know how to put it into words, it’s just something I believe for no apparent reason.
7) If you could interview a celebrity, who would it be?
Hands down, Tom Hiddleston. I don’t believe in celebrity worship, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to meet him at least once in my lifetime!
8) If your OCs could interview someone in your story, who would it be?
Pretty sure I’m interpreting this question wrong, but I’ll roll with it anyway.
Since a lot of my WIPs subtly not-so-subtly take place in the same universe, this is actually very possible! Obviously, Lauren Ye from Of Dragons and Princes would want to interview Kenny. (They’re sisters! Lauren’s the older one.)
10) What affects you most when you’re writing?
Motivation, or lack thereof? I haven’t had much energy or motivation to write the past few months, but thankfully I think I’m finally starting to get back into it again.
11) What are you most excited about in your life?
University! I try not to set myself up for disappointment, but I’m really, really hoping that when I finally get to go to university I’ll finally get to meet people my age who share my interests, and we can all get along and be friends. Here’s to hoping, anyway!
My Questions:
Describe your dream home library / study.
You have one day to live and the money and means to do whatever you want (apart from saving yourself). What do you do?
You wake up one morning and your favorite character is sleeping on your couch. What do you do?
What is one value or belief that one of your favorite fictional characters hold that you disagree with?
Describe your first OC.
Name one fictional villain with whom you sympathize.
Which OC is most likely to start a YouTube vlog about their adventures?
Would you rather have one year of good fortune in exchange for three years of bad luck, or three years of good luck in exchange for one year of misery?
You are now living in the world of your WIP. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Aliens are here! Which of your OCs is most likely to bring about a successful peace treaty? Which one has started intergalactic space war?
What is your favourite trope?
Anyone can do this tag, but here’s my Tag List: @jaimistoryteller @lourek @mastermasochist @yearlyaquariace @relevy @aschenink @wordsbysarah @firewritten @writer-on-time @indecentpause and @idreamtofreality
5: Search for the word "knife" in your WIP. If you find it, paste the line and explain the context.
I don’t have that word... yet. Maybe this is a sign that my characters need to get a little stabby? Hmmm...
11: Which character do you have the most in common with?
I think each of my protagonists are like me in some way, since it helps me relate to them more. Right now I think the character that is most like me would be Galena Tao (Of Dragons and Princes)? But even that doesn’t sound quite right.
What are the most proud of in your writing so far!?
Hard to say… it’s probably a toss-up between the fact that most of my characters are Chinese, the fact that Kenny (from Lucidity) is a gnc girl and her family and friends are not only okay with that but love and support her all the way (I may not identify as a gnc girl right now but that was a part of my identity growing up and I still remember how much it sucked) or that Yanfeng (ODAP) is a handsome prince who is 5'0 and no one makes belittles or fun of him for it or sees his height as detracting from his attractiveness.
I’m not patting myself on the back for writing diverse characters, make no mistake about that—I’m proud of myself for writing the characters I wanted —needed—to see when I was a kid. Representation really matters, and if no one will give it to you then why not do it yourself, you know?
Thanks for the tag @merigreenleaf! I talk a lot about my Lucidity characters, so I thought I’d change it up a bit and formally introduce the main character of Of Dragons and Princes, Lena Jia.
Name: Galena Abigail Jia / Jia Yuying (家育英)
Nickname: Lena, Gabby (Childhood nickname. She’s trying to get rid of it. Only her parents call her Galena.)
Gender: Female
Star Sign: Taurus (Western Zodiac) / Rabbit (Chinese Zodiac)
Height: 5′2
Orientation: Straight
Hogwarts House: Probably a Griffinpuff
Nationality: Chinese-American
Favorite Fruit: Longans
Favorite Flower: Freesia
Favorite Season: Spring!
Favorite Scent: The local drug store sells this cheap, no-name brand perfume that Lena’s worn since she was eight.
Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate: Tea, preferably hot, preferably sweet.
Average Hours of Sleep: I’d say about nine to ten (Lena is rather fond of sleeping), unless it’s one of those nights when Yuhua drags her out to “train”—aka hunt down evil spirits and fight them. Depending on how well Yuhua thinks she does, Lena could get anywhere between four to six hours of sleep.
Dog or Cat Person: Cats, but dogs are alright too.
Favorite Fictional Character: I mean.. this is probably not going to make it into the actual book, since copyright is a thing, but Lena loves superhero movies, especially Marvel movies. Her favourite character would totally be Loki, Thor, or T’Challa. She has a thing for princes.
Number of Blankets They Sleep With: Three—the toastier the better!
Dream Trip: Somewhere a bit chilly, where she can break out all her favourite scarves and jackets. Maybe Europe?
Random Fact: Lena is trilingual; like most of the people in her extended family, she speaks Mandarin semi-fluently, and she can also speak a bit of Mexican Spanish thanks to having Mexican friends and high school Spanish class.
I swear, some days this game is the only reason I have content to post here 😂 shoutout to @jaykingwrites for hosting these games, and to every writer who sends me asks and tag games. Thanks for supporting me, guys!
Oh look, a __ fell on __’s head!
Oh look, a bunch of leaves and bugs fell on Lena’s head. *cue Yuhua in a tree, smirking his face off as Lena shouts curses on insufferable bunny-eared showoffs*
Sometimes! I have a writing playlist on Spotify that I listen to sometimes, but when I really get into it I tend to switch the music off because it gets in the way of my creative flow.
11 - Books and/or authors who influenced you the most
I think Frances Hodgson Burnett and C.S. Lewis really influenced my writing style, since I read a lot of their stuff when I was growing up.
21 - Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write?
I really enjoy writing “fluid” characters; that is, characters who give off this kind of half-lidded, lazy sort of vibe but they’re also... really seductive and a lot more dangerous than they let on? Examples include Lovelace from my Gaeraverse stories and Yuhua from Of Dragons and Princes.
Fun OC fact of the bloop: Thane Tang, one of the secondary characters of my WIP, Of Dragons and Princess, is descended from Ao Qin, an ancient Chinese dragon god. I also made him up on the spot for a Wattpad RP game, and kind of sort of built a lot of ODAP around him.
