#insomnia asks

So far, I've not been successful🥲 what helped me in the past is now completely useless. Alas.

Emerald Skulblaka actively only listens to musicals, but will listen to everything other people put on😂 but since I'm listening to music primarily in the car, that music is from musicals!

The Lost Boys cast recording came out fairly recently, so I've been listening to that a lot. It didn't quite meet my unfairly high expectations, but it's still very enjoyable with some clear standouts. The album undersells the actual show more than usual, I think - the staging is a big part of the musical's appeal, and once you take that away, it's just another vampire show :/ but still. Good. Love it!

I also listened to two recordings I'd put on CD ages ago: Octet and The King and I (2015).

Octet was wild. It's a Dave Malloy musical - of course it's wild. Most of the time, I had no idea what the songs were even about, but I still found them compelling. Would love to see this staged.

The King and I introduced me to the wonderful Kelli O'Hara as Anna, a role she won a Tony for. I've been listening to and watching recordings of Laura Michelle Kelly in the role for almost ten years now, so I loved getting to know a different, more refined and distant Anna. Her voice is so beautifully floaty. I couldn't make sense of Ken Watanabe's King, though... maybe I'll have to give the West End pro-shot a try. Overall, not the best show to experience via cast recording, there's too much plot missing. But I'm so so glad that Kelli was recorded. What a joy to listen to her.

(It's up to you if Tommy opens the door. Do you think he will?) ❤️

Oh yikes I am really guilty of this! I pull traits and mannerisms from everyone I know. Thomas and Murray in Weak Heart share a lot of mannerisms with two of my brothers, and Tanis is heavily inspired by my partner (whoops). There’s a character in my next book that is just straight up my dad.

If you'll let me cheat and switch more than one pair I'll go with swapping [Wei ChangZe & CangSe Sanren] for [Jiang FengMian & Yu ZiYuan]. I want their kids to have happy and loving parents and given what we know of CangSe Sanren at least I feel like they'll be wonderful parents.

If it HAS to be just one pair swapped...I think I'll switch LXC and JYL, so they'll be Jiang XiChen and Lan YanLi (they sound kinda pretty, no?).

I think XiChen would benefit from a more unrestrained life, and the Yunmeng bros would have an understanding older brother who can fight alongside them in desperate times. I feel like XiChen would also not seek conflict with his (Jiang) parents like YanLi, but he probably also wouldn't ignore the abusive situation.

With YanLi, I feel like she could live happily and peacefully in the Cloud Recesses, studying with the countless books and learning to play music (I like to imagine her with an Erhu), and also cook if she wanted. I think even if she doesn't cultivate here as well, she'll have the chance to have motivations of her own since she won't have to worry about keeping her siblings happy. She would also be great as Lan Zhan's older sister, because she's very loving and nurturing and will give him the emotional support and the female role model he needs after losing his mother the way he did.

What is your fav type of character/ship dynamic👀?

Hmm I did have favourite ships in the past, but I've been reading pretty much everything for about six years now, with little regard to specific dynamics. Give me an interesting summary, and I'm on board. I've been asked about my favourite ships a couple of times, and now I wonder what I answered. Probably chose different ships all the time, based on what I'd read recently...

HMMM I would honestly really love the scene from the novel of Lan Zhan knocking himself unconscious by smacking himself in the face after Wei Ying kissed him on impulse while he was drunk. I absolutely died upon first reading that. If not that, I would've loved to see how Jin ZiXuan and Jiang YanLi's relationship developed. I think they are cute together, but the skip from Jin ZiXuan being a dumb bitch to loving husband was too jarring LMAO.

As for what I would remove...the whole Yin Iron thing. CQL-only fans don't come for me but I honestly hated the most of the Yin Iron storyline, which is why it took me so long yo get past the first part of the drama. I didn't hate all of it, but I overall would've preferred the novel setting.

That's a hard question. Let's see...

1) Wei Ying giving Lan Zhan the painting of him (animation). To me, this was the first real sign of infatuation between both of them. Wei Ying paying such close attention to paint such a lifelike image of Lan Zhan, and Lan Zhan's reaction to the portrait? It's easily one of my favourite WangXian moments, even if it turned out to be a prank in the end, and the animation soundtrack in that moment was beautiful.

2) The Battle of Lotus Pier & Jiang Cheng's breakdown (animation - basically the whole episode). The scene where Madam Yu fought with Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng by her side was amazing. It showed so much character, amazing visuals & animation for the fight scene. Then everything up to Jiang Cheng losing it and crying as he blamed Wei Ying for everything was just such beautiful storytelling. Also Jiang Cheng's animation voice actor is so damn amazing. Mad respect.

3) Wen Chao's death (animation). Listen I was just happy to see the fucker die and the animation was the most satisfying version of that.

4) Wen Qing's last words to Wei Ying (all). This scene was the most devastating scene in the entire story throughout all versions of the story for me. Wen Qing is my favourite character after Wei Ying, mostly thanks to CQL, and when she spoke her last words to Wei Ying, you could just feel how much she loved him as family.

5) Wen Ning telling Jiang Cheng about the golden core (CQL). While I still don't think Wei Ying was right to subject Jiang Cheng to the transfer without telling him anything, it was still really satisfying to see the truth finally come out and seeing Jiang Cheng's shocked and guilt face. I love Jiang Cheng and all, but I'm biased towards Wei Ying. :P

6) "I am A-Yuan" (CQL). What can I even say? This scene made me cry like a baby. Wei Ying and A-Yuan finally have each other again and I'm soft. Honestly this scene is the one in looking forward to the most in the MDZS animation when it comes out.