hiiiiii, I’ve finished reading The Horse Thief and I absolutely love it.
I wanna ask some questions (sorry if they’ve been asked before)
Is there more meaning behind The Horse Thief( both the title and the fic), cuz even after reading it i feel like there’s more behind it, i really wanna know why’d you chose The Horse Thief as the title
2. Is there any other references you made in the fic but you didn’t bring them up or no one noticed?
3.(might be a dumb question) how’d you find out about The Spider’s Thread? I read the story after reading this fic and it’s been stuck in my head, do you perchance know any other stories similar to it? I’m quite interested.
4. What was your most favorite part to write and what was the hardest?
That’s all, thank you very much ^_^
Ah! Thank you so much for your appreciation! <33
These are definitely some interesting questions! They relate more to me as a writer than to the plot of the novel, so I guess some random facts and stories?
The first one:
I know there's a movie with the same title, but I haven't watched it yet. I chose it because I want to find a fitting title for a mysterious painting, and I kept thinking about a story shared by a family friend's uncle. It was about how his ancestor came to the country they live in now. His ancestor was a horse thief, which was apparently a very serious crime in the 19th century. So he dressed up as an elderly woman and sneaked onto a boat to sail across the ocean, which lasted a couple of months, just to escape the crime he committed to feed himself in poverty. Although it was just a funny anecdote shared around the dining table, it somehow stuck with me for years. All for stealing a horse. That's wild.
The second one:
There were many, many references to absurdism. Dadaism and abstract expressionism are somewhat related to absurdism in various ways. They are all so absurd! Also, Scar was very deeply nihilistic, while Grian kept reminding him that there was no need to find a purpose in anything, but he was also a Sisyphus of himself. One must imagine Sisyphus’ redemption.
The third one:
I was a huge fan of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s writing when I was younger. His stories are cruel, unforgiving, simple yet deep with symbolism. There's a Vocaloid song called “Spider Thread Monopoly” based on the story, and I basically came up with the idea for THT while listening to it.
The last one:
The favorite part was definitely Scar yapping lol. He's so utterly permissive and stubborn. I don't think I saw much of that characterization of Scar in the fandom, but I always want to see more. The hardest part was actually fitting all the elements I wanted into one piece. There was so much stuff. I had to cut a lot... But overall, I think I captured the vibe I was going for, even if it's a little amateurish. Writing is so tough!
