#lux-aurea

HEY ASH MY LOVE I HOPE YOU’RE READY FOR THIS STEAMING DUMP <3 <3 <3  As usual, under the cut thanks to length!

Oh my god, Ash, you are quick. THANK YOU FOR GETTING MY MUSE JUICE FLOWING! HERE’S AN INFO DUMP <3 

Red: What type of writer’s block do you experience the most?

- Psychological and distraction block are my main baddies. Mostly thanks to Rejection sensitivity dysphoria and my attention span being about the width of a pen. I’ll either sit down totally inspired and then run into a sudden invitation that pulls me away, or I’ll start thinking about something totally unrelated. Rejection sensitivity rears its head in the “No one wants to read your writing” dialogue. I’m constantly in fear of ridicule for what I write.

Yellow: What’s a common writing tip that you mostly ignore?

- “Make your protagonist likeable.”

Fuck that shit. This is some of the most positively discriminatory advice I’ve ever seen come from character design, and the wording of it is catered toward a lot of minority writers/characters, especially when being used as an excuse not to utilise the stories of minorities. White, male, neurotypical characters are allowed to be absolute GARBAGE people, but its their engagement and complexity and the unknown territory of their growth that makes an audience stick around. This isn’t nearly common enough for literally any other character, and it paves the way for continued lack of diversity.  This phrase is a very thinly veiled way of saying: “If your character is a minority, they better be an angel.”  A much better way of wording this would be “Make your character entertaining/complex/engaging”.  When I like a character, I like them for their flaws and their growth and the shitty decisions they make that force them to either 1) develop, or 2) get worse.  Why wouldn’t I write according to that? 

Grey: What’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

There’s a few of these that I follow pretty closely, so I’ll write a couple! - Change up your writing space. If you have a laptop, move it around the house.  Write at the library. Jot down thoughts and pieces of dialogue on paper while you’re on the move. Use your notes app while you’re taking the dog for a walk. New stimulus helps with boredom and mind-chatter. It can really help make you focus on the story.

- Following the want/need/fear system is a formula that I stick to like glue.  - It’s a great way imo to have a solid basis for a protagonist before building other traits. It’s like the rules they’re governed by. - A character has something they desire. Typically, this informs an avoidance of their fear. The need is what lies beyond these two, and is usually unknown/unwanted by the character, but it’s something they NEED in order to become better, or whole, or to win, or to survive. Sometimes, obtaining the need is what grants the character their want in the end. Sometimes, the want is superficial.  - Eg. Cora’s want is to be alone. Her fear is vulnerability. Her need is to open herself up to others and appreciate the people around her. She’s constantly clashing against what the plot requires of her, because she can’t be an effective leader without compromising her want and facing her fear. Similarly with John, she cannot allow herself to be interested in him, because he represents such a huge compromise, and because his own want to be loved directly clashes with her fear (not to mention he’s also probably one of the most dangerous people she could possibly open up to). Without Cora obtaining her need, she’s incapable of maintaining a relationship with him. 

OOOOOOOO THANK YOU ASH ILY ! !

1. do be floating around here somewhere! 2. has a comment someone left on a fic of yours ever made you cry?

- Yeah, every single time you and Jess breathe a word around my work. Seriously though, I do get pretty overwhelmed when really any comment comes in. Folks dropping in on tumblr as well to make comments is like...wow...emotion... Real life tears were definitely shed over @hootsmon on Ao3 commenting on how they enjoy Cora's story and development because she sucks. It feels like a big achievement to see a reader pointing out how unlikable she is, and still liking her progression.

8. if you got a computer virus that deleted all your fics but had just enough time to save one before they were wiped out, which fic would you pick and why?

- This one's gonna be like the answer below, but Pomegranate - only because it's the one I'm currently working on.

9. the “you got kudos“ e-mail is usually much appreciated, but is there a fic you wish you didn’t get these e-mails for? if so, which one and why?

HELLO ASH THANK YOU I LOVE YOU Here’s Jacob x Cora bc I be thinking about the crack ship again today.  Under the cut for NSFW.

ASH! <3 <3 

I would rob a bank for u Ash 6. If you’re really concentrating, how many words can you write in a day?

- IT DEPENDS ! Sometimes I'll be concentrating as hard as I can and only get 200 words out. Other times I'll manage to breeze through a couple thousand. When I get too in my own head about it, I write really fucking slow.

7. Which part of writing do you struggle with most?

- Serious scenes. Character development. As soon as I start to get in my feels about writing, I self-sabotage and deviate. It sucks, because this is one of the things that makes me write slowly and avoid character development. Something about taking my own writing seriously makes me want to cry lmao.

8. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, share a song that’s been inspiring you lately.

- Sometimes there's no beating Lo-fi hip hop beats. Other times, a podcast that I know won't be overly engaging works! If it beckons too much attention, though, I'll abandon writing and focus on the sound instead.

9. Do you prefer to write AUs, canon divergence, or canon-compliant fic?

thanks 8.9 for a vertical blog