1. What is the first book you ever tried to write and what was its name?
2. What do you love and hate about your own writing?
3. Who is your favourite character from your own book or from an epic you love?
4. What would you love to try next a new story, a genre, a specific idea burning in your mind?
5. Do you wish to publish your work and why or why not?
6. What is the scene or character in your book that makes you feel terrible the one that haunts you?
7. Who is your least favourite character from the epic and why do they unsettle you?
8. Leave a message, advice, or motivation for writers who want to start writing now or dare to publish in the mythological or historical genre.
1. Eh, what exactly do I count as my first? I tried to write a story when I was in second grade, me and my best friends travelling to some magic land. I remember that story pretty clearly for having written it a decade ago lmao.
But if I were to say when I began writing in earnest, I really wanted to write this mega-series on the Pandavas. I'd started off with their childhood in Shatashringa. It never went beyond two chapters, I think. I don't remember the name.
2. I really enjoy my writing! I'll go back and reread and laugh. Particularly, I like the emotionality of my writing. I love slowing it down and exploring the smallest things. I don't like how long I take to write, though. I used to be able to rip out 1k in under two hours. Now it takes me 5 hours across 6 days.
3. Ooh, hard one. Lila, my OC, will always have a special place in my heart. But from the Mahabharata, it has to be Arjuna. Though Krishnaa is almost also in first place. I really can't pick between the both of them.
4. Man, I have so many ideas that I don't think I'll be able to write them all in this lifetime. I would like to write a non-Mahabharata longfic, but at the same time, I also have so many Mahabharata-specific ideas. Two things I've been thinking about recently is my Nakula-Madri fic and also one on Ekanamsha. Ooh, and another on Pradyumna and Rukmini.
5. I mean, I usually write to publish my stuff. There are some stuff that are for my eyes only (and maybe a few loved ones, if they're so inclined), but those are far and few in between. Why? 'Cause I love hearing what other people think. Validation maketh the writer.
6. I can't name one specific scene/character that haunts me at the moment, since I'm not in the middle of any longfic. But all my unwritten works haunt me. The scenes paint a vivid image in my head; however, writing that down is another issue. I'm probably subconsciously afraid that the written word isn't going to match up to the brilliant scene I've written in my head. Which is a problem I'm currently dealing with.
7. I.. not sure? Like, I really don't like Karna, but I wouldn't say he unsettles me. He's also a compelling character to explore; I may rarely or never write on him myself, but I'm not beyond reading fics on him. Dhritararashtra is infuriating, but again understandable. That's the thing about the Mahabharata is that everyone has reasons to do what they did, and to flatten them out into bad and good strips away the nuance of the rich tale.
8. For writing: just put it to paper. You have an idea, a scene, a phrase, a character, anything? Put it to paper. Make it exist. You can make it better once it exists. Write it down, edit to your heart's content, dream more, add more, subtract if you need. Just so long as it exists outside your head. (I am trying to practice what I preach.)
For the mythofiction genre specifically: your interpretations of characters and scenes may be different. That's cool. Don't be afraid to express them. Don't be afraid to write the characters because they're larger-than-life. Focus on one aspect of them, then practice, practice, practice as they say.
