Writing questions about me · 9:56am Dec 21st, 2020
Thought I’d jump on this supposedly recent bandwagon, cuz why not.
1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?
Pretty much all of my attention is centered towards my current fic:
It’s hard to say what it’s about without getting into spoilers. The cover page description is only about the first story arc (first two parts) out of a total of eight arcs, which itself is only the first half of the prologue. It’s about a family of diverse and pretty interesting OCs who change a great deal throughout the events of the plot, though a whole bevy of mysteries and twists keep changing the very nature of the story, and some characters get more spotlight than others. The story gets darker and more otherworldly, but at a pace so gradual you might not notice till it’s too late. I know, not the greatest sales pitch, but it’ll do.
Progress is slow, way too slow in fact. I should have been finished with this thing a year ago, but things kept getting delayed as I developed the plot and characters into deeper and deeper territories. I only have three arcs left, but they’re the longest ones so far. Good news is that pretty much every arc IMO is better than the last. I think I’m improving as a writer.
What I love the most about this story is the characters. The issues they face are profane and get to the heart of the matter, but I don’t know if I’m successfully translating that onto the page. My goal was to make this one of the best (if not the best) all-OC story on this site. I know that’s too ambitious and I’d be getting way in over my head, but if you’re gonna write a 300k+ word story, you may as well have lofty goals.
2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project
There’s a certain scene that happens at the end of the second-to-last arc that I can’t wait to write. It’s honestly indescribable, other than maybe the word “insanity.” Gonna be a high point in the story, I think, as well as a massive subversion of expectations.
3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)
A very detailed gambling scene, most likely involving roulette. I’ve gambled with chess before. I wouldn’t advise doing it.
4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)
I’m gonna cheat here by posting multiple paragraphs, but I like this one quite a lot.
Sharp Heat was vaguely familiar with the tensions between Nova and his father. Having seen the bloodstains on Nova, and having helped him wash up, the question was what had gotten him so bloodied up in the first place. Sharp even knew of Bronze's exploits, due to the fact that Bronze was somewhat famous for his controversial and muddleheaded character.
One would think that the most immediate and direct thing for him to do, having seen the desperate and bloodstained Nova bolt out of his house as he did, having procured his crossbow, would be to go to Bronze's house and find out if anything had happened, and, if so, what exactly; and being convinced beyond any doubt, only then to go to the police commissioner, as Sharp firmly resolved to do so.
But the night was getting darker and darker, and the gates of Bronze's house were locked. He was only distantly familiar with Bronze Pocket—and so he would have to keep knocking loudly until he was heard and the gates were opened. But what if suddenly nothing happened at all, and a jeering Bronze were to go all over town tomorrow telling jokes about how a stranger, the artillery captain Sharp Heat, had forced his way into his house at night in order to find out if anypony had murdered him?
The risk of a scandal like that was certainly possible, and a scandal was the last thing Sharp wanted. Nevertheless he was moved by so strong a feeling that, having irritably stamped his hoof on the ground and given up knocking, he at once rushed his way to Golden Oak, to Olva Velvet.
If she, he thought, would answer just one question—whether or not she had given Nova five thousand bits at such-and-such a time—then, in case the answer was negative, he would go straight to the police commissioner, without making sure Bronze was home. Otherwise, he would put everything off until tomorrow and go back to his rented lodging.
Here, of course, it is immediately obvious that Sharp's decision to go at night, at roughly nine o'clock, to the residence of a society lady who was practically a complete stranger to him, and perhaps get her out of bed (because he assumed beauty sleep meant sleeping in early), in order to ask her an, under the circumstances, astonishing question, was perhaps much more likely to cause a scandal than going to Bronze Pocket. But it sometimes happens that way—especially in such cases—with the decisions of the most precise and coolheaded ponies. And at the moment Sharp was not completely coolheaded.
I think it’s pretty funny, in a dark kind of way. But without context maybe it doesn’t make much sense.
5. What character you’re writing do you most identify with?
Out of all my OCs? I wanna say Airglow. Or maybe Cluster. These two have remarkably similar personalities. I wish I could be as kindhearted as Airglow, but that’s easier said than done.
6. What character do you have the most fun writing?
I’ll answer for the canon characters on this one and say Twilight. She is—or rather, used to be—a very interesting and multi-faceted character. Ironically enough, despite the fact that Rarity is my favourite character, I don’t like writing her all that much.
7. What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?
-Very long dialogues
-Philosophical questions being debated
-Descriptions of characters’ psychological states rather than their physical ones
-The type of wordy prose that feels like one long, giant, tangential anecdote
-Lack of plot structure (anything can happen)
-No sense of pacing
-Characters spend more time rationalizing what to do than actually doing it
-Few likeable (but hopefully interesting) characters
That’s all I got for now.
8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?
Oh yes, what most people call boring and put-down-able, I call a page turner. I like reading Tolstoy, for example.
9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?
Longfic for sure. Longer stories are more interesting.
I wanna say I’m a pantser, where I let characters react naturally to stuff around them, but I do end up plotting a lot. I try to plot in such a way that doesn’t conflict with characters’ natural behaviours. So I guess I’m a bit of both.
10. How would you describe your writing process?
Wildly inconsistent. I might write up a whole chapter in a day, and spend months on another chapter. I’ll write a scene, hate it, put it off till I get inspiration, then come back and write the next one. That’s how it goes. Most of the stuff I read these days is school-related, which sucks.
11. What do you envy in other writers?
I envy PaulAsaran’s work ethic. How does he do it?
12. Do you want your writing to be famous?
Of course. I also want to be rich as hell. Then again, maybe I’ll only get famous after I’m dead (if that) which would be disappointing.
13. Do you share your writing online? (Drop a link!) Do you have projects you’ve kept just for yourself?
Yeah, why else are we all here for?
I have other projects in the back burner, but nothing to link to.
14. At what point in writing do you come up with a title?
It’s one of the first things I come up with, typically after the premise.
15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?
Summaries, easily. I always worry over them. Is it too long? Too detailed? Not eye-catching enough? No way to tell.
16. Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)
My current project is a whole banquet of new things. It’s a big, all-OC story that has both plot twists and straight-up genre twists. It’s also extremely detailed, heavy on realism, and troublesome to write.
17. Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations?
I really have no idea. I’m not popular enough to be on anyone’s radar, or to be aware of that stuff. I just try to write for myself, mostly.
18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterizations?) Tell us about them.
Not at the moment, no.
19. Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favorite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)
I think I repeat the phrase “as it were” a bit too much. I also tend to have conversations last for extended periods of time.
20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)
Life is worth living despite all the suffering. I put my characters through hell and see how they justify not killing themselves (either consciously or subconsciously).
Also, I try to keep my character development omni-directional rather than linear. It’s more believable that way.
21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)
Some kind of webcomic or visual novel.
22. Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?
Only if I’m feeling masochistic and want to torture myself. All of my older works are horrendous. There’s virtually nothing of value in them, other than the fact that they represent my stepping stones.
23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?
An adventure-thriller about time loops within time loops. Time-loop-ception.
24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?
I went from being rejected by EqD for the most basic of grammar errors to being accepted there pretty easily. So... I think so.
25. What part of writing is the most fun?
The process of writing? None of it is fun. I actually kind of hate it, which is why I procrastinate so much. While I hate writing, I like having written. That is, I write for the end product, which I regard as valuable enough to justify all the effort.
