Winners of The Bardic College's awards share their thoughts, creative processes and exclusive insights into the stories they have so artfully crafted.
Interviews from winners of;
- The Rune Awards 2018
1) What inspired you to write your story? Where did you get the idea for it?
I was originally inspired by the song Ready, Aim, Fire by Imagine Dragons. I was listening to it while mowing the lawn. We have big lawn so mowing gets monotonous and my middle school mind was left with plenty of time to come up with all kinds of drama and silliness correlating to the lyrics of the song. You can see more direct relation in my very first draft (I pray it never sees the light of day) but the story has evolved so much since then, it's hardly relatable to the song any more.
2) What is the biggest motivator that keeps you writing your story? What is the biggest roadblock that might make working on it difficult?
I love the story. I love my characters and I can't wait to write the plot twists and action later on (and to spring them on my readers ;D). I also hope to publish someday. The thought of holding a hard copy of my work in my hands gives me thrills.
My biggest roadblock- other then school and general craziness- are my other hobbies and distractions. I love to read and role play and play video games and chat and these things all stack up against my writing time. I've been struggling with this recently, and need to work on finding a balance.
3) To what extent does your story tell itself? (I.e. How much deliberate planning goes into plots and scenes before they are written?)
With The General's Fall it depends. I have to plan out the battles, which- though a royal pain- then gives me material to work with and a general structure to build my scenes on. Outside of battle, some scenes come easy and others are like pulling teeth, though I'm sure we've all experienced that at one point or another.
Plotting has been similar to battle planning. I map out the strategic side of things and then I get a framework on which I can build. Looping back to Imagine Dragons though, that song gave me most of my initial ideas for the plot. And that's all I got! Thank you Bardic College for a fabulous time!
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1) What inspired you to write your story? Where did you get the idea for it?
My first inspiration came in form of AU I found on Tumblr. It took a bit of time before I started to see the first chapter in my head, but after that, it was impossible not to write. That AU established Shadow and Eclipse, but the rest of the cast was my idea.I just couldn't stop writing and adding more of them, and the story soon overgrew into more than just a one-shot XD
2) What is the biggest motivator that keeps you writing your story? What is the biggest roadblock that might make working on it difficult?
The positive feedback keeps me going, and the negative/critique one pushes me forward writer-wise. I take all suggestions seriously even if I may not use them ^_^; And I like writing in general, so yeah, it's my hobby I intend to keep with me for the longest time possible :-)I have the most difficult time when I can't see the scene(s) before my eyes. When it happens, I either start writing about random stuff or skip this part and write the next one. This way I'm able to make numerous chapters before I stick all the parts.
3) To what extent does your story tell itself? (I.e. How much deliberate planning goes into plots and scenes before they are written?)
In the beginning, there was just muse hammering my brain with images. Only later I started to create the lore, characters' pasts, their relationships, and generally thinking about "how to make this work?" XDThat's how most of my ideas go – wild writing marathon and then thinking XD But once I start pondering, I usually make more versions of everything (pasts, events, connections) or just scribble random ideas. I never know when I'll be able to use those :-)Thank you so much for your time <3
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