#maramahan

how personal aesthetic is tied into their culture, that is, hands down, my favorite. (to the point that it’s giving me problems rip)

but my personal favorite: hair!!

hair length is indicative of social structure; the more power you have the longer your hair is

people with longer hair tend to be more possessive about it, and are expected to be

members of nobility who’s hair gets cut by accident << super embarrassing for the noble, grounds for execution for whoever’s responsible

if you have short hair, you’re probably gonna curl it! (actually long, but looks short--can be longer in private)

if you wanna be a rebel, grow the front of your hair long -- p much akin to wearing piercings irl

the king has hair that sweeps the floor!

cal’s hair goes a bit past his hips (he braids it, so it looks shorter than it is)

4. What is your favorite word?

oooooh, love this question! soliloquy. I just adore the way it sounds and lies together.

9. Bright room or dark room?

I was tagged by NO ONE I JUST FELT LIKE IT

1. coffee or tea   2. early bird or owl   3. chocolate or vanilla 4. spring or fall 5. silver or gold 6. pop or alternative 7. freckles or dimples 8. snakes or sharks 9. mountains or fields 10. thunderstorm or lightning 11. egyptian or greek mythology 12. ivory or scarlet 13. flute or lyre 14. eyes or lips 15. witch or fairy 16. opal or diamond 17. butterflies or honeybees 18. macarons or eclairs 19. typewritten or handwritten letters 20. secret garden AND secret library 21. rooftop or balcony 22. spicy or mild 23. opera AND ballet 24. london or paris 25. vincent van gogh or claude monet 26. denim or leather 27. potions or spells 28. ocean or desert 29. mermaid or siren 30. masquerade ball or cocktail party

9) what, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

     –idk if I go out looking exactly, but everything composts into potential story material: the books and articles I’ve read, interesting turns of phrase I hear people say, things I see and don’t immediately understand so in the interstice it ends up looking like magic (i.e. I once saw a girl floating between two trees and was like WITCHCRAFT but upon closer inspection she was on a tightrope and I’m just more myopic than I thought.) 

13) your strengths as an author

     –eh honestly I don’t know because everything seems so slipshod to me as I’m writing it and the end product is always slippery and never something I can control. but I will say that I’m good at (or just pay more attention to) word choice and the subtle shading that comes with certain connotations. also that I pay a lot of attention to representation in stories in general, but in a sort of latent way because it never works when you let politics/ethics rather than characters drive a story.

24) have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story?

Q - A quote that inspires me.

I left this in my inbox for a very long time because I was trying to think of an answer.

I remember learning the word “loquacious” from one of the Star Wars novelizations. I remember learning the word “diaphanous” and “albatross” and more from The Night Room.

I remember the chapter title “Billy Rifkin is a Dickhead” from 10 Things to Do Before I Die because my little brother let my mother see it and I got in trouble. I remember the line, “I haven’t had this much fun since I made love to my week-dead sister,” in Another Fine Myth for exactly the same reason (I don’t loan him books anymore).

I remember the line “The sound you hear in the distance is the heads of moral conservatives exploding in the distance,“ from Trick of the Light because it made me laugh endlessly. I remember, vividly, Bobby Pendragon commenting on the fact that he has a six-pack for the first time in Black Water because he’d lost so much weight due to starvation and being horrified.

I remember the line, "Though you thrust the knife at my eyes, I will not flinch,” from Luck in the Shadows, because I had never seen unswerving faith summed up that way before.

I remember “It hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t,” from Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, because honestly, what?

Feather: if you could fly, where would you go to?

Out to some of the islands in the bay nearby. Upriver. Downriver. Canada. Boston. The big theater in the city so I could soar around in all that empty space over the seats. Everywhere.

Shimmer: what makes you happy?

COMPETENCY.

Sarcasm without cruelty.