Get-to-Know-the-Writer Ask Game

A: Does writing energize or exhaust you? Both. If I’m nailing things and it feels awesome, for sure energy. More often than not, even if I’m pleased with the work, it does take something out of me. I don’t think that’s bad! Creation is tiring! And I’m so proud when it’s complete.

B: What’s your writing kryptonite? If you mean bad - then youtube, not because it’s a distraction but because I can’t process words and write (stunning, I know). If you mean good, 155 bpm is my magic writing tempo.

C: Do you use your real name or a pseud? Oh, Durand? Pseydo, but it’s my pseudo everywhere. I work in a job which has encouraged me to be even more private than normal. Besides, I think Kite Durand just sounds cooler.

D: Do you tend to write what you want, or what your readers want? 100% what I want. I’m, very selfishly, my own favourite author. I write poetry to get things out, or so it sounds cool, and stories and scenes to express something within me I can’t always figure out how to parse.

E: What other writers are you friends with? I have…..1 real life writing friend, my old and dear friend Parin (sometimes Elm, sometimes JK, sometimes Cemrin). On tumblr, I don’t know - I feel I’d be taking liberties naming some of the kind folk on writeblr.

F: Do you prefer to write stand-alones or series? Series all the way. I don’t feel I do well enough in characterisation when doing short pieces. I have a lot of short pieces, but they’re usually experiments for longer works.

G: If you could tell your younger self anything, what would it be? Write even more. Save everything. Back it up sooner.



H: What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? I don’t read as broadly as I’d like - I’m quite ashamed of this.

I: What’s your writing spirit animal? This is a great query. I have, on my shelf, a fox from Parin that is my writing buddy, and a tiny jade bear that I really like - bears have meant a lot to me in the past. I’d also liked otters lately.



J: How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? They’re all that way. We’re talking dozens here, all big longer term projects.



K: How many hours a day do you write? Days per week? In the ‘off season’ at least 15 min a day - Language Building, Short Stories, Prompt List, World Building, Resource Collecting. Mid season is closer to an hour - this is usually sketch work, as I try and offset writing with another medium like drawing, musix, painting….On season, which is at least one calendar month a year, or more, I write 3,000 words a day.



L: How do you select the names of your characters? When I worked in a coffee shop, I saved unusual customer names. Otherwise, I do what regular people do and use a name generator of some kind. The last character I named was Ordell Jude Dah’Rhin. Dah’Rhin comes from his father. Jude was a nod to the Biblical betrayal of Judas. And Ordell was a search for redeem, rebirth, or fresh start. All significant to him.



M: Are you primarily a writer? Or do you consider it a secondary career? It’s not my career. It is my passion and I can’t help but discuss it, but it plays a part in my pantheon of skills - education, dance, coffee,belief.



N: Do you hide secrets/easter eggs in your books? I mean, I foreshadow long in advance and giggle to myself. ‘Oh man, you know how we say he has gold eyes in Chapter 1? Well in Chapter 50, it’s revealed that his MURDEROUS FATHER FROM TWO BOOKS AGO HAD GOLD EYES’ (etc etc etc)



O: What types of scenes are hardest for you to write? I struggle with humour, and pacing between action, description, and dialogue



P: What’s your biggest writing flaw? Torturing my characters



Q: Do you have a specific process for writing? I should? There is music that works, and times that are better, but I think if I ritualised it too much, I’d seriously screw myself out of ever writing anything.



R: What’s your writing set-up like? I have a few. Gotta be flexible! My home set up is just a laptop, half a desk covering in snacks and wires. My travel set up is a bluetooth keyboard and tablet, usually over a coffee or tea. Sometimes it’s my Rocketbook and pen, with my phone to store my notes.



S: How long does it take you to finish your first draft? 30 days. Got this down to a science lol. Done it for like, 10 years?



T: Do you believe in writer’s block? I’ve never personally experienced it, or what I think it is? I have a ton of ideas. Sometimes I struggle with phrasing, or a certain word, but I push it aside and just carry out. Quantity over quality, at least on first draft.



U: Do you want to be/are you professionally published or self-published? I need to decide this summer which way to go…..finally take the plunge :S



V: How would you feel if your story turned into a movie? Of course I’d be jazzed, but I don’t see it happening.



W: Are you a planner or a pantser? Or somewhere in between? Planner, typically, though writing flows as it flows



X: What inspires you as a writer? Moodboards, pictures, any media I write, what my friends do, stranger in the street. Who can say?



Y: Are your characters based off of people you know? Yourself? Or no one at all? All the above. Some character started off HEAVILY as people I knew - Rob is a good example actually. He started off as someone we all knew in school - that guy that just got beaten and bashed again and again. Rob has become something else entirely.



You could also argue Vetch is this too - she is a bit me - but a dark bit of me that never comes out to play, just lives in my brain

Z: What made you decide to write your story? I had to get it out, see it in the light, hear how it ends. That’s what we all want, isn’t it?

@authorthomas​ @unknowncapybara​ @myhoniahakah​ @rose-snake @crowtender @lillayalightfoot @cookiecuttercritter @english-undergrad