#closedloop

Q1 - Please, introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your project(s)!

Hi! I'm Brigid, and I'm a writer, artist, and overworked college student, dabbling in writing IF. I've got quite a few projects in the works- all science-fiction, all overly ambitious.

Event Horizon is my main project; the story of crew as mysterious as they are doomed, on a one-way mission to stop the second alien invasion before it can even happen. It's a work of cosmic horror, split off into three massive "timelines", each of which showcases a different aspect of humanity (or lack thereof)- to fight, to change, to remember.

lost birds is a side project; a story told in many voices, all revolving around the end of the world and what comes after. Set nine years after the apocalypse, in the American Southwest, it concerns itself with a dead Ranger's quest for revenge- or something you can convince yourself isn't revenge- across the strange new wasteland, a world as hostile as it is beautiful.

CLOSEDLOOP is another side project; a fast-paced, cyberpunk-inspired tear through a dystopic City. Trapped in a time loop by someone or something calling itself "Control", the MC- just an average Citizen- navigates a day that repeats forever- and the consequences thereof.

In the near-ish future, I intend to publish a VN centered around the concepts of ecological succession, loneliness, persistence, and growth- a culmination of interests, and a capstone project for my art program.

Q2 - What or who are some of your biggest inspirations?

I'm unsurprisingly a huge sci-fi nerd, and it shows. Things like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar, Annihilation, Mass Effect, and many, many of the pulp sci-fi novels I read as a teen and young adult inspire my love of science-fiction.

Furthermore, my area of study (other than art) is ecology, so nature and the "nature of things" take huge precedence in my works for better or worse. Honestly, anything that captures my attention and thoughts are grounds for inspiration, things like poetry, tarot, paintings, music, obscure scientific theory, philosophical concepts. Or plants. Like 80% of my Event Horizon "research" was a Wikipedia plant rabbit-hole.

Q3- What excites you most about IF? What drew you to the medium?

I ran into IF completely at random- some artists I follow and look up to had posted art of IF characters and settings. Previously, I'd written short stories and bad notes app poetry, but this was more of chance to expand my horizons (pardon the pun). IF excites me because I get to make things- plain and simple. There's a joy to creating these characters, worlds, and stories- and in interacting with them- I hadn't even known was possible until I found IF.

Q4 - Are your characters influenced by your identity? How?

Yes, absolutely. I write what I want to see, and to me, that's greater gender diversity and WLW/NBLW representation in the realm of science fiction.

Science-fiction is male dominated, with a majority of authors and characters being male. The female characters I grew up with were token "girl on the team" characters, and nonbinary characters were often just robots or aliens, or other non-human characters. I wanted to do better for people who were like me, women and other nonbinary people. I wanted to create competent and multidimensional characters who didn't have to identify or appear as men to be treated as such.

As a lesbian, I like writing WLW and NBLW characters. I didn't really grow up with that representation, and when it was present, it felt wrong, usually because it was written off as a joke, or for men by men. By no means are the relationships I write between women (or the women themselves) perfect- but they come from a place of genuine care and nuance, and I sincerely hope the care I put into my characters and their relationships shows throughout my work.

Q5 - What are you most excited about sharing related to your project?

The move to Twine as a medium has been, by far, the most exciting thing to happen to my projects. I've got a lot more fine-tuned control over the way I get to present my work- and I'm just starting out, there's a lot more I can learn.

As far as content goes- there are a few major updates to Event Horizon and CLOSEDLOOP coming this summer, which I'm trying so hard not to spoil just yet.

Q6 - What would you like to see more of in LGBT+ fiction/IF community?

Is it selfish to say more WLW/NBLW characters and relationships written by women and nonbinary people?

Just in general, diverse authors writing diverse stories in a number of genres, anything and everything from slice-of-life to science- fiction.

Q7- Lastly, what advice would you give to your creators and readers?

Be persistent.