#new tagline: 'my strength isn't that I'm good but that I am insane'

[vossn]

🩸✨Writing Interview Tag Game✨🩸

Thank you for the tag @ineadhyn ! Really excited to do this.

When did you start writing?

I started writing at age .. eleven, I think? It was a story about a girl getting taken to a parallel world populated by elves to save their world. Pretty cliché, but I also took some inspiration from some historical sources I liked at the time, so it did at least kickstart my knack for worldbuilding.

I wrote some more, I stopped, grew up, graduated, entered fandom spaces and remembered "hey, you used to love writing, what happened?" (depression, mostly). I wrote a modern AU for a game I was playing at the time. I stopped again. You'll never guess why. I made writer friends. I created a character I loved so much that I had to bring their story to paper and later created my novel project. I went from zero to hundred and haven't stopped in 3 years. The rest is history.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading more than what you write?

One thing I love that I don't really write much are humorous pieces. Those are my catnip. Other than that, I pretty much read what I write!

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I don't have any big-name authors - but I do have some wonderfully talented friends and acquaintances that, if someone told me our writing was similar, I would be overjoyed. My friend keeps telling me I have a "film noir" style, and I do try to keep that going in everything I write.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I prefer to write in cafés or libraries. Otherwise just at home on the couch or in bed, and those are far from glamorous. If i tell you I am writing, there is a 90% chance I am wearing nothing but boxer shorts and drinking coffee independently of the hour. I also light some incense or scented candles to write. Y'know, for the Omnissiah

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Go on a walk. Play some thematically completely unfitting music. Think long and hard about the vibes. Stop every 100m to make notes on your phone. This works best if it is 2am, I wish I was joking.

Alternatively: Swim for about 2km. Be alone with your thoughts and see where it takes you. Good luck remembering those ideas when you leave the water though.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Religious Imagery and discussion: This one is complicated, because I am technically raised close to atheist, but religion as a concept did have a huge pull on me as a child. If you grow up being told there is something wrong with you, the idea of "Some god made you, and you are exactly the way you are supposed to be" is a magical thing. Of course, reality looks different. Half surprise, half not? When I found out the RT fandom has a whole subsection of fics dealing with the symbols of the Inqusition I was like. well, this calls my name. Also I met some of my closest friends via the discussion of churches as a setting and very angry [redacted] in said churches so. Hello gang. 👋🏻

My ultimate tagline is "Violence as desire and desire as violence" and while the pattern did take me through some introspection, not surprised either.

Repression. Again, are we surprised? No. Not really. I'm generally very aware of my themes, I'd say, but please enlighten me if I forgot something. Submit me to the ordeal of being known etc etc

What is your reason for writing?

I do enjoy it, I have ideas, and those ideas need to out or start paying rent.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

Nope! I enjoy all of them. You can get brownie points for citing favorite lines or saying something that makes me feel seen!

When two people I really look up to in terms of style described my prose as "clean" and "effortless" I just about died, because I never thought of myself that way. Same as when someone observes themes and patterns that even I haven't noticed. Also when a dear person replied to my WIP with "I'm going to eat your fingers", that made me laugh so hard I still think of it.

In short: You have something unhinged to say - Say it. I love comments so wild they have never been heard before.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

"Damn, there is something awfully wrong with that guy but I'm into it. Also that prose fucks."

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I hate how edgy this is going to sound, but my strength is writing darkness. Overdrawn emotions taken into the extreme - obsession, hatred, desire, but also coldness or hopelessness and despair. I love themes and emotions that don't exactly fall in the middle of the bell curve, because writing them is fun, and there is merit in exploring them. I often joke that my experiences at least enable me to write really weird stuff, but I mainly just favor these topics because it allows me to get really poetic with my language.

TL;DR: I put the lust in bloodlust.

How do you feel about your own writing?

This is a tricky question for me to answer at the moment, because I've been going through it™️ and my perception is clouded by that. Generally I'm pretty confident - I know my strengths and weaknesses and I know what I put out there is okay. On the other hand, I feel like the vulnerability is needed to keep me humble. Whenever I approach something with too much "I can do this!" it turns out dogshit. However, I feel at least that what I provide is unique to some degree.

When you write, are you influenced by what others enjoy or might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

Brother. Please take a look at my ao3 and tell me anything on there can be considered popular /s

I write for an audience of one - what I wrote is what I wanted to read. Quite a few of my works are so limited in their audience that they never make it to posting. I get ecstatic when people show interest, and that is the main reason I share, but I try not to keep an imaginary audience in my head when I write. It hinders me. I love doing gift works, and I approach them with the mindset of "I'm going to give you something that's for you specifically but still has my unique spin on it" and of course factor their enjoyment into my writing, but try not to overthink to the degree it stops my enjoyment.

Let it be said, I love my fandom friends, and want to write them all the things.

Tagging: @redbatchedcumbermayned and @galateaencore (only if you'd like, of course)