5. Books or authors that influenced your style the most.
I actually really try not to let too many books or authors influence how I write, but it happens whether or not I want it to, I find. I will say that real life relationships with a few authors have definitely changed the way I write.
Steve Brewer and Dan Mueller are a few authors I’ve known personally who have influenced me to write differently through mentor/student relationships. Steve helped me to make my writing funnier and Dan helped me tighten things and learn how to write from the eyes of a character instead of outside of them. Both of these men have really helped me change my style and focus on my strong suits.
…. and now you’re all aware of how badly i half-ass my fanfic. oops
14. What’s the most research you ever put into a book?
Hmmm. I’ve done smatterings of research here and there, like looking up illnesses and discussing them with relevant people when I can, researching gender (which, funny story, that’s how I realized I’m genderfluid) and watching videos on everything from octopus behavior to pole dancing. If I’m curious about a thing or want to get something right, like gender or mental illness, I try to talk to people who know a thing or two and those things. Or I’ll check out youtube. Youtube and be great for things like that.
Most of my fics are kind of based on something I have some knowledge about irl. Like, when I was in college I took a whole class on piracy so I used what I knew to form the basis of Under the Surface. Jimmy’s anxiety in Some Things Last is based on my own (and the whole getting outed and kicked out of school happened to my cousin). Safe and Sound was set in Albuquerque and had hot air balloons b/c I grew up in ‘burque and have seen so many take off and land over the years (never been in one, though). I’ve been to a drag show (Jimmy, Jemma, and Cas) but that was like an amateur night competition so it probably shows that basically everyone sings in that fic. My family is full of undertakers (Passive-Aggressive Undertaking and Peacemaker). The list goes on and on.
In a lot of ways, my life is research for my fics. I take what I know and have experienced and throw it into fiction.
30. Favorite line you’ve ever written.
This is the hardest question ever! FUck. I’m cheating. This is my favorite… scene.
He talks to Meg every day. He only does it when he’s alone, but it starts to help. He thinks it’s a little like prayer, even if she can’t hear him and nothing will happen because of it. Actually, it’s a lot like prayer.
After a while, it stops being a lament and becomes about his life. He tells her about his plans for the garden and about the new tomes he and Sam are working on translating. He tells her when Sam starts dating a hunter named Eileen, and when Dean meets a man named Aaron. He tells her about the new crib he and Dean are building for Sam’s first child and he tears up years later when he tells her how little Deanna Winchester asked if her “Uncle Cas” could take over reading bedtime stories to her and her brother Henry.
He talks about the waitresses that flirt with him in the various diners he’s been to across the country, and can practically see her scowl in his mind. He tells her about Marge, who runs the dinner in Jewell who’s pushing seventy and dies her hair pink. He tells her about the new computers and smart phones he refuses to use and he can imagine her calling him an old man.
He tells her about his job at the library and the friends he makes there. He talks about writing a book about his life and selling it as fiction and decides against it several times. He introduces her to the cat he adopts from the animal shelter when he brings the fur-ball to sit with him in the garden. He imagines her full-bodied laughter the first time the cat chases a bird into the bird bath and gets drenched.
He tells her when his hair starts going grey and about his first pair of glasses, as he’s nearsighted now. He complains to her about his stiff joints and about the carpal tunnel in his wrists. He complains to her when he realizes he’s lost almost all the Korean he knew. He tells her he’s afraid of dying.
One day, in the middle of March, he doesn’t return to his garden.
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