#iwaw23

[arcielee]

Interview With a Writer

Thank you @2kmps for helping me continue this series and giving us some insight into the brilliant process that created this piece!

As always, here is the masterlist to my Interview With a Writer series and the other talented individuals who allow me to continue this self-indulgent series! 💜

Name: 2kmps

Story: Opaque

Paring: OC android x reader

Warnings: 18+ mature themes. Be mindful of warnings.

Where did the idea for Opaque come from?

So, like a lot of my ideas, writing an android x reader story was on my eventual "to write" that just ended up prioritized because of the rise in AI and the anti-abortion laws passed in the US. Even in original concepts, Opaque was always meant to be scathing, uncomfortable social commentary and a bleak, sci-fi interpretation of a future where autonomy and privacy just simply don't exist.

People have lost the ability for emotional connection and now seek it in the form of androids. The story has always been big ideas that I felt I could never articulate until I actually tried. I stand behind calling it my best work to date.

Can you share about your method to the madness?

So, my writing process is... a little bit everywhere.

Typically, I decide to pick up a project because I've accumulated a handful of "main plot points" that are coherent enough to build something out of them. Once that happens, I'll start outlining the story which can be a terribly chaotic process. I usually wind up with three rewritten outlines as opposed to multiple story drafts. My outlines are painstakingly detailed so that I don't forget any important areas to cover in a piece. Following that comes the "concept pieces" wherein I take the overall theme of the story, or one particular plot point and write it out to see how it feels, if it inspires anything, how it's received. The actual writing starts after that and usually takes me at minimum, a month, usually more if the story idea is complex.

A lot of times I'll rework ideas from my outline into something else entirely in the final piece because writing is just that way. I write and edit completely from the "first draft" and have proofreaders to, ah, help me clean house because my writing before being polished tends to be everywhere.

Were you already aware of how it was going to end?

Yes and no. No, because there have been multiple endings that outlined and rewrote and over and over. Yes, because all of those endings were extremely similar to one another and what exists now is an amalgam of all of them together. To me, it represents someone waking up for the first time in their life, and sometimes it takes the sort of journey and final outcome for that to happen.

But, of course, I firmly believe in "death of the author", so however a reader interprets the ending is also accurate.

Was there anything in specific that inspired your Reader portrayal?

The only specific that I had for the reader-character we was that they were DEFINITELY a part of the world that they exist in. I didn't want to create a reader-character who was the exception, but rather could fade away into the crowd. I wanted them to become the exception through the events that happen in the story. And, even by the end, you're left wondering exactly how much they can be set apart from the society in which they were raised.

Can you explain your inspiration for Researcher Kim? What was it that drives Kim? And what made him decide of Reader to become the next auditor?

Researcher Kim chose the reader-character to be an auditor because he knew that they were in a precarious situation and falsifying information on their resume. In this world, to do such a thing will earn you a "strike" on your public profile, which is the only real lifeline you have in this world from being turned into an outcast and forgotten. Researcher Kim banked on the Reader's dishonesty and used it as a means to get full cooperation and devotion to the work he had the Reader to be an auditor.

Can you explain your interpretation of Elio? What drives him to sentience?

Elio is probably one of the most complex characters I've ever written despite being an android. What's important to understand is that Elio is a machine, designed and programmed to be in servitude to humans and comply with whatever request they might have, regardless of what it is. He has always meant to be a foil to the Reader—always meant to ask the hard questions to make the Reader uncomfortable, to start thinking individually. The first few exchanges between them really convey that. However, Elio, himself, says he is superior to his predecessors because of what he is capable of doing. He's able to emulate human emotions in a formerly unprecedented way. He is convincingly humanlike, but still has the habits and mannerisms that really solidify that he's an android.

Whether or not Elio develops "real love" for the Reader by the end is entirely reader interpretation. The ending shows a sort of a selfishness and selflessness that would be too contradictory for any other android. He was driven in the beginning to fulfill his programming, but by the end was driven by a desire to have something belong to only him.

Do you think you would ever write a sequel?

This particular story and set of characters I'm unlikely to revisit outside of brief mentions. But, there is another story that I'd like to write someday within the same world where a reader-character is part of Hyperion staff and winds up in cahoots with a "defected" android hellbent on destroying the conglomerate.

Do you have another WIP in progress?

I have multiple WIPs in progress, honestly. I'm working on a longfic for The Ghoul from Fallout, "Better to Eat Than to Be Eaten", the second half of a Getō Suguru fic, "Persimmon & Ink", and I'm in the early development stages of an original longfic that is sleep paralysis demon x reader titled "Incubus Phenomenon".

Following these, I'll be beginning my neo-western epic "See How the Cat Jumps" which is largely a romance and revenge story. Writing wise, I've got a full plate!

Do you have any stories recently read that you enjoyed on Tumblr or ao3?

A story that I'd love more people to read is "Sepulchral" by @ashestoroses018 on Tumblr. It's a greek mythology inspired romance that's Hades x Reader. In the story, the Reader journeys to the Underworld for their younger brother's soul. This author and I have been best friends in real life for well over ten years now, so her work is special to me. Additionally, I think her writing style is approachable and would resonate with many people