#technopanzer

3. What is your favorite/least favorite part about writing? 

My favorite part is when you make discoveries about your world and your characters as you write the story down, and when you write something and go, “Oh, there we go, there’s the solution to this problem that was going to come up later.” For example, I recently had an evil mentor toying with a magical item while giving a lecture to his pupils. The magical item was mundane--essentially, just putty that you could mold into whatever shape you wanted, then solidify, then switch back to putty to reshape. And as I was writing that down, I went, “Oh, THAT’S what my protagonist is going to knock him out with down the line. That’s way better than her using a lamp. Excellent.” 

My least favorite part about writing is getting started. Once I’ve cleared the hurtle of the blank page, writing becomes much easier and more exciting. But getting myself to start has become much harder since I developed my editor/critic’s brain.  

6. Favorite character you’ve written? 

In one of the text-based rps I’m writing with my best friend, I’m playing a shapeshifter named Sparrow, who is charming, funny, flirty, politically-savvy, and super vain about his appearance (think a courtesan-type character). He also has one of the most gut-wrenching backstories of any character I’ve ever written, and is struggling with triggers from that backstory. His romance with my best friend’s character is also my favorite romance that I’ve written with her, and it came as a surprise to both of us, since we were just testing out the characters at the time.   

14. What does it take for you to be ready to write a book? (i.e. do you research? outline? make a playlist or pinterest board? wing it?) 

I do a lot of brainstorming and outlining, though my outlines aren’t plot-related ones so much as very detailed character summaries. I’ve honestly been struggling with plot lately, but I’ve been doing better character work, so I’m winging it more now. While I usually have a general idea of how the story goes, the actual writing of it clarifies the details and makes changes to my plans. On the bright side, the results are less stilted than my old work, since they’re not chained to plot outlines, but stem from the characters more organically.  

15. How do you deal with self-doubt when writing?

I’ve started telling myself, “Fuck it, let it be messy, I’ll fix it later.” Letting go of perfectionism is hard for me, but doing so has been helping.   

19. How do you cope with writer’s block? 

Honestly, the best way to cope with writer’s block is to just try something and see if it sticks, or leave yourself a note and skip ahead in the story to something you want to write. However, as I mentioned in an earlier ask, I haven’t been able to do much writing lately. And that’s hard, because I feel guilty for not writing, and I know if I just do it, I’ll feel better. Which is a bad mindframe to be in, especially because this year has been awful. I’ve been telling other writers to be gentle on themselves, because it’s hard to be creative when you’re stressed, but I struggle to take my own advice. So right now, I’m trying to give myself permission not to write, and to instead focus on other things. Editing. Reading. Playing videogames. Baking. Doing house/yardwork. Something to still ticks things off of my to do list, but also things that I can look at and see, “Yes, you did get something done.” It’s not a perfect system, and it does fall into the productivity trap, but it’s what I’m trying. When the stress passes, maybe then I can dive back into writing.  

24. Do you remember the moment you decided to become a writer/author? 

I think it was when I was applying for undergraduate college. I wrote in my application essay that I wanted to write stories that would show my readers that things can get better for them. I was writing as a hobby before then, but I think that’s when I decided that yeah, I wanted making stories to be a part of my future, and I wanted to write stories that I could publish someday. 

33. What’s your revision/rewriting process like? 

Mostly I end up rewriting the chapter or story in question. Draft one is for realizing and getting down the idea of the thing. Draft two is refining it to that thing and losing all of the flab that the story doesn’t need. Often I have another file on the side where I paste in what I’ve cut out, in case I change my mind and want to add it back in later, or in case I can use it in another project. I also save the original messy draft and do the cutting in a copied file. That way, I can reassure myself that the original still exists for me, and I can reread it when I’m feeling self-indulgent, but I’m also only giving the best version to my readers.  

34. Unpopular writing thoughts/opinions?

-- Writing every day is a good idea, and does work well for the writing process, but it’s an unrealistic standard to hold yourself to, especially if you have a day job, kids, and other adult responsibilities. Don’t feel guilty if you can’t write every day. The guilt is just going to make you freeze up instead of returning to the work. Be gentle with your expectations for yourself.  

-- If you’re including triggering or sensitive subjects in your work, and are planning to share that work with others (and ESPECIALLY if you’re planning to profit from that work), you should be doing your research about those subjects, portraying them as accurately as possible, and asking yourself if your story really needs that content to work. It is also a good idea to employ sensitivity screeners for that content, especially if you’re writing from a place of privilege and/or don’t have personal experience with the issues that you’re depicting.

-- Once the work is out there, no one has the right to ban it. They can be critical of it, yes. But not ban it.  

-- Writers of privilege must include diversity within their work, even if they’re scared of getting their depictions of people from other genders, races, classes, religions, and so on wrong. And they will get it wrong. When that happens, just apologize and try to do better in the future. But staying in your lane is a bad idea, for three reasons: 1.) You should be striving to have empathy for others, and you can’t do that if you’re only writing about people who are similar to you. 2.) Writers of privilege have an easier time getting their work published, and so should be trying to push the market/publishing industry into a more diverse direction. And 3.) You should be showing readers of privilege that the world is a diverse one, rather than catering to their narrow worldview.

-- Getting defensive when someone is critical of your work is perfectly natural, but it’s also dumb. It’s so, so dumb. You have made a product, and no product made by human hands is perfect, and every writer has blind spots. So when someone is critical of your work, try to keep this in mind: this is not an attack on you. Let yourself feel the hurt in private, and eat lots of ice cream, and when you’re feeling better, look at the criticism and ask yourself: What led the reader to this conclusion? How can I fix it? What can I learn from this? This is assuming that the critic is working with you in good faith, by the way; sometimes they’re completely off of the mark, or are upset because you didn’t give them the story that they wanted. But if someone is going, “Hey, this is a little racist/sexist/homophobic/ableist/etc.,” sit up and listen. And for the love of god, don’t fight them over it. You’ll make yourself look like an ass. 

-- Don’t workshop your story too early. Try to get a full draft down before you submit something for consideration. For one thing, you’re still figuring out what your story actually is. For another, writing workshops, while useful, have a tendency to pull your work to the middle / make it more acceptable to a general audience. Sometimes this will soften and even kill your bravest writing. Instead, use writing workshops as an opportunity to find writers who understand the themes you’re aiming for and the subjects that you’re discussing. Their input will be what you need.  

-- With the current laws about copyright infringement, getting paid for your fanfic is a bad idea. If you want that to change, then fight to make the laws more lenient. As if it, you’re risking screwing over other fanfic writers by doing that. Does that suck? Yeah. But that’s also the reality we live in right now, and you’re not going to have a good time if a corporation like Disney slams you with lawsuits.

-- Genres like fantasy, science fiction, horror, romance/erotica, and murder mysteries are real literature. Saying they’re not has its roots in classism. 

-- There is no such thing as apolitical writing. 

-- Poets are underrated. Support them. Most of the time, they’re doing braver and more socially-important work than you are, and they’re doing it concisely, too.     

-- Your first draft is going to suck. This is a good thing. You learn a lot more from bad prose than from good prose, more often than not. 

I just read the review. If that isn’t inspiration I don’t know what is!

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it. 

Full disclosure, I think dialogue is one of, if not my biggest weakness as a writer. But I revised a tidbit from “AS” which I rather liked, because it turned out flirty, light-hearted, and showed some of the chemistry between Cassandra and Mewtwo. The last line of this also cracks me up.

---

“[You would have sex] With another human, I presume?”

Her laugh was rough. “Yeah, you presume.”She shook her head. “God, you’re dense.”

Well. Even he couldn’t miss a hintlike that. “Do you think about that often? You and me like that?”

She was definitely blushing now. “Wellclearly you have. Imagining me giving you blowjobs—”

“Yes, do keep saying it, thatwill make my arousal go away.”

This time her laughter was moregenuine. “I mean, I don’t hang out with a lot of guys, but I think that’s apretty normal thing to fantasize about.” Then she grinned. “Come to think ofit, I owe you something for White Day, don’t I?”

Fuck. “Now you are just beingcruel,” he groaned, pressing a paw to his burning face.

“Maybe I’ll get you a bunch ofmonster hentai videos, too. Really get you squirming.” She stepped closer tohim and tried to catch his eyes. “Come on, it’s funny.”

“I am fairly certain that yourgodfather would call me a pervert if he knew.”

“I won’t tell him if you won’t.”She pressed a hand to his chest, her fingertips toying with his fur, and leanedup to whisper. “Besides, he’s not here, is he?”

“There are cameras,” Mewtwopointed out, feeling light-headed.

“That’s what he gets for teachingme how to loop monitor feeds,” Cassandra quipped.

--- 

H: How would you describe your style? 

This is tough, because other people are much better judges of your work than you are. But I would say that my writing, when it’s at its best, has a confessional and slightly lyrical style to it. I have a lot of fun writing in second person or in first person direct address, because it can be very confrontational to the reader and to society, and can discuss trauma in a way that feels more natural than trying to do the same thing in first or third person. I also think my writing tends to be very…cerebral? Brooding? A lot of it is characters reflecting on their pasts and how it’s messed them up, with the plot being secondary to that (so in theory, I should be writing literary fiction, rather than genre fiction, but the real world is boring and painful, so bring on the magic).   

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)? 

Sometimes I read and genuinely enjoy Reylo fics, even though that ship is terrible.

O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters? 

The characters, though I don’t have a good grasp on who they are until a few months into a project. Recently, I’ve been looking at characters in stories that I enjoy and have been asking myself, “How about I put my own spin on this?” Critical Role has been particularly inspiring to me as of late. 

W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones? 

✌: You’re awesome ♡: I love your blog ☮: You inspire me ✖: I would give you the greatest hug ✨: You’ve taught me things ♪: You’re very talented

What’s the best time of day for reading fic? Why? 

I don’t know if there’s ever really a bad time to be reading fic, but I think right after lunch might be the best time, because you’re awake and energized, and the timing implies that you have the entire day off to enjoy the story.

What’s the best device to read on? Why?

Probably on your personal computer to avoid eye strain, and also because it tends to be more private than on a tablet or a phone, which you are potentially sharing with others.    

Is there a show or a book that you gave up on that you went back to later? Why did you come back to it?

You know, not that I can think of? I usually know pretty quickly whether or not I want to continue reading or watching a story. What more tends to happen is that I start something, but then I get distracted by something else, and it might take me months to get back to the story. 

What word or expression always makes you cringe when you read it? 

I mean, “All Lives Matter” or “Blue Lives Matter” are awful, given what they represent. “Make America Great Again” is also bad. In fiction writing, there’s just nothing comparable to phrases like those. 

What show did you really try to watch, but you just couldn’t?

Jack-o-lantern - If you could look like any celebrity, who would you choose? 

Maybe Emmy Rossum? She’s very pretty.

Cinnamon - If you had to live in a time period different than the present, which would you choose and where? 

This is tough, because I’m a woman, and there’s a good chunk of human history where that meant that I would have been a second-class citizen as a result. So my ideas for this are vague. I think it would have been nice to be a storyteller in prehistoric times, because I could have done what I loved and had my night owl nature be valued, since I could have stayed up and watched for wolves and tigers. There were some indigenous civilizations, before the European colonists arrived and ruined everything, that were really cool. But I think if I had to go back to any time, I’d just pick the 1990s. While that decade wasn’t perfect, it had a lot going for it. Pokemon macaroni. Old-timey message boards. The U.S. not being at war. The works. 

Cocoa - If you could have any type of hair, what colour and cut would you have?