Interviews - Undiscovered Gems

starcrossedsky

STARCROSSEDSKY

“Path to the Void/Points of Light”

<>What is the genre?

Fantasy, specifically fantasy modeled off of long RPGs such as the Final Fantasy and Tales of series.

<>What makes it stand out from other stories with the same genre?

I haven't seen any other stories within that specific subgenre - most of fantasy as a writing genre has a somewhat different division system, with small chapters and large books. My story is somewhat... episodic, I suppose is the best word, in that the story is told in larger chunks.

The story is also focused on women, queer people, and disabled people, which is unusual in the RPG world. Usually men outnumber women, and actual queer characters are practically unheard of.

<>Would you give a short summary of your book?

Straight from the old summary - "Told from the perspective of Aster, a girl without clear memories or magic to call her own, Points of Light follows a group of outcasts on a quest to… Well, they’re definitely doing something, but whether that something is returning a lost artifact to its home temple, proving their innocence in regards to that stolen artifact, or just see the world in its entirety… Depends on which of them you ask."

<>In your opinion, why should people read your book?

At this point, I'll be honest and say there isn't much sticking it out from the crowd, yet. But my hope is to create a story that draws people in by having a different option on most of the usual fare in the genre. My aim is to write for people like me, who don't get much representation in stories; anyone else is just a bonus.

<>How do you create your characters/their personalities?

For the most part, my characters happen organically; most of them just started out as a vague concept related to their elemental magic affinity, and everything else came from that. The second thing to develop is usually the role they have in the plot - "antagonist traitor" and "kidnapped prince," to name a couple for characters who have yet to appear. Other develop by their relationship to other characters - "childhood friend of character x," for example. Personality usually arises from that, and names and physical descriptions come last.

<>How did you come up with the title?

The series title, "Points of Light," was what came first - it's a reference to the end event of the plot, and the characters standing as individual points against the Void element of the antagonists. "Path to the Void," the title of the first book (as presented on Wattpad), is a little more literal, because the first book chronicles the journey that takes them to that point.

<>What is your favorite part of the writing process? Least?

Generally speaking, I don't have a defined enough process to have a favorite or least favorite part. I do greatly enjoy sudden bursts of inspiration that come with figuring out a character's arc, though, so I suppose that can be considered a favorite. My least favorite thing is having to backread my writing to double-check that my details don't contradict what I've already written; it's a huge pain, honestly.

<>Who, personally, is your favorite character? Least?

I don't really have a least favorite character at this point, unless we're counting the villain. My favorite character is XIII, who only has one written up appearance at this point that hasn't even been published; I can't really talk about why, though, because that's a major spoiler, but you should definitely expect to see more of them throughout the story!

<>Where do you usually find inspiration?

The story is inspired a lot, of course, by the RPG games I play; I don't consider those a direct source of inspiration in terms of lifting things directly from them, but it was a funny moment for me when I started playing through Fire Emblem: Awakening, and found a lot of my plot elements repeated there. That did kind of tell me that I was on the right track for my genre, though, so I can't complain too much.

As far as when I'm most inspired, it's during other forms of mental downtime - a lot of the characters originated while I was in the shower, for example.

<>Do you have any strange writing habits?

One of the reasons I switched to Wattpad, actually is because of the mobile app allowing me to write on my phone while I'm in bed trying to fall asleep. (Chronic insomnia, ahoy!) I also prefer the simplicity of its text editor, which I suppose can seem kind of strange, but having too many buttons on-screen in my word processor bugs me somehow. (Prior to Wattpad, I wrote exclusively in notepad. Oops!)

<>What are your goals for your story?

Honestly? Finish it. If I can do that, I'll be happy.

<>How much time do you spend on writing?

Hard to really estimate, because I write a paragraph or two at a time as I work on other things (including poking around Wattpad's forums). My daily goal is about 700 words a day, which when I set down at it is half an hour to an hour of writing, depending on my pace at the time, but I'm easily distracted, so that doesn't always happen.

<>What problems have you run into while writing?

No real problems, as of yet - everything's going pretty smoothly and as expected! I'm still easily distracted, but I kind of planned on that going in, so it's something I've already compensated for.

<>What would you like to say to your readers?

First, I'd like to thank them for giving me the time it takes to read my story, because goodness knows, I haven't had much time to do reading myself. I'd also like to extend to them the invitation to comment on the story any time they have a question! I'm really eager to answer them, really.

Aside from that, I'd tell them to not be discouraged by the slow build of the plot - I'm in this for the long haul, so just stick with me, and I'll carry you to the end if it kills me.