#chromalogue

Gardener : Quick, on the top of your head, give me a first sentence for a (genre,) novel.

Have a first sentence for a mystery novel since I don't normally write that genre: Steam rose from the mug, heavy and white, curling like frost on the window-pane, waiting for breath to stir it. The steam would wait indefinitely.

Songbird: If you could pick three songs to capture the feel of your WIP, what would they be and why?

Hmmm... I'll give you three songs that I've been thinking about with regard to a fantasy novel I've been working on since I don't have much in the works by way of fics right now:

Rondeau by Ensemble Galilei

King and Lionheart by Of Monsters and Men

Almost Idyllic by Sleeping at Last

Chronological: Have you ever gotten stuck with a scene? If you have, how do you power through and finish?

Absolutely. With some frequency, even! Sometimes, I'll just skip the part I'm having trouble with and move on to the next thing I'm sure about, other times I'll go back and reread the previous page or so of what I've written, and that will give me an idea about why I'm having a hard time.

🍂Brynjar and Kris 🍂

oh man, uhhhh…..not sure how well i can summarize it but i can like, give it a stab?

it’s a podcast made by the mcelroy brothers + their dad, and it’s? basically just them playing d&d and makin a lot of jokes along the way (like a Lot. a lot a lot)

more specifically, the balance arc of the adventure zone follows 3 lovable goofs as they do a lot of Sweet Sweet Fantasy Stuff, like retrieve the [REDACTED], fight some Dangerous Fantasy Folks (including the [REDACTED] and the [REDACTED]), and grow into a loser-ass Fantasy Found Family

it’s also got a sprawling & distinct cast of characters, a fair bit of queer rep (multiple canon lesbian couples, canon gay dude in the main 3, very explicitly canon trans lady character, at least one character that isn’t, like, explicitly nb but does consistently have they/them pronouns used for them So That’s Something), some sweet sci-fi vibes as it gets farther in, a lot of mysteries & twists & turns, some Really Great Foreshadowing, funny character voices, and Just Plain Cool Concepts (as well as, & i can’t stress this enough, some serious found family elements)

and that’s. about as well as i can summarize without getting into plot details & character summaries, which i don’t know if you were asking after those or not? (i’m sticking some under the cut just in case, partly bc mild spoilers for the first episode or so & partly bc my autistic ass got a Tiny bit carried away)

best month for you this year?

Probably August because it was the Edinburgh Festival which is one of my favourite things ever and I saw so many shows.

what’re you excited about for next year?

I’m really looking forward to February because my mum is taking me to London for my birthday. We’re going to see Hamilton but also The Comedy Store Players and I’ve applied for tickets to a recording of The News Quiz. (Also the Glasgow Comedy Festival in March)

favourite place you visited this year?

The only place I’ve been this year is London so I’m going to have to go with that. I was down the weekend and it was nice seeing it done up for Christmas because I haven’t been down at this time of year before.

<3 <3 

2: summarize your current project

The next thing that I’m working on is a short piece (only five pages) for a scary story contest being held by my university’s literature department. It’s about a camp counselor who, due to an overflow of new campers, is forced to be in charge of a group of children in a cabin that is rumored to be haunted. It’s loosely based on some ghost stories from the summer camp that I worked at for three years.

4: describe your favorite character or characters

I guess I’ll go with the most recent character I wrote about; her name is Jill. Her parents are from the Philippines, but she was born in SoCal. She’s a girl who’s relatively popular in her school and church, and tries to stay out of trouble. As an only child, there’s a lot of pressure on her to be successful, and while she would rather be something like a teacher, her parents would prefer she’d do something like nursing. She doesn’t really have any concrete views regarding religion and politics; she repeats the stuff that’s she’s been told all her life, but she’s never really sat down and thought it over whether or not she would personally believe in those things. On the outset, people see her as someone who has her life in control, but like everybody, she’s not without her faults…

10: what song sums up your current work the best?

I answered this in my last ask, but I see no reason why I can’t add more to it. In this case, it’s not so much the work as it is one scene in the work; I recently watched It Follows, and I really liked the musical score. The track “Snare” is one that I’ve listened to repeatedly; it’s only about a minute long, but I like the atmosphere/mood of it, plus it helped me envision one scene in my short story.