I’m not officially on social media, but I do peek at non-civilization-destroying venues from time to time. I see a lot of writer games, of which WordWeavers seems the most fun. Per the official Google Doc:
WordWeavers is a writing game on Mastodon created by Branwen OShea and Alina Leonova. The hosts post daily questions for each month.
Start anytime, answer any questions you want, skip as many as you feel like. Use the hashtag, talk to other writers and have fun!
The only rules: be respectful to others and use CWs (content warnings) for posts that might be triggering.
Everyone is welcome to participate 🧡
I can’t participate there, so I’m going to participate here!
Introduce your antagonist with as much sympathy as possible.
Licia is the last in a long line selflessly devoted to protection of Agane’s kings. She personally nurtures the next generation of loyal defenders, recognizing and making the most of their natural gifts. She’s renowned for finishing what she starts. She never has an enemy for long.
What could you change about your world to make it better for most people?
The “comet” that swings around every 300 years sucks pretty bad—aberrant behavior, deadly plagues, extinction events, and so forth. Only the very worst handful of people wouldn’t appreciate putting an end to that.
MC POV: You realize that you are a book character. What do you do?
You should ask that pretty man in the red longcoat. He wants to be a legend. Too dazzled by the rewards of heroism to notice he’s collecting enemies who’ll ensure he doesn’t live long enough to enjoy them. But in the spirit of the question, I suppose the practical course would be to acquire the book, read to the end, and use my incredible foresight to get us through this mess better, faster, and less painfully. We’re outnumbered, outpowered, and stumbling into play when the enemy is already a hairsbreadth from victory. We need any advantage we can get. In fact, I must insist on seeing this book before we discuss you leaving this interview.
Does your antagonist have a chance to become a better person?
In the sense that she could stop being an asshole at literally any time if she didn’t prefer being an asshole, yes.
Heroine knows her too well to waste breath on a heartfelt plea to use her powers for good.
How detailed are you when you describe your characters’ clothes/looks?
I don’t think in images, so all descriptions in rough drafts are strictly practical (e.g., I need this prop with these features in order to perform this action). Throughout the revision process, I work on developing details I think are relevant and enriching.
As an example, from the beginning, Hero wore a badass longcoat that he’d stolen from a cursed kingdom that disappeared hundreds of years ago. The color evolved to “mourning red” because the coat is part of an official uniform from this place, and all the artisan guilds associated with fashion decreed that specific color was thereafter reserved to mark death. Yay, nice bit of worldbuilding, but more importantly, people treat him differently because he’s advertising someone important to him died recently. In contrast, I never describe his shirt and pants because they don’t matter.
The depth of bodily description is determined by who’s being described. There’s a relationship that involves sex, so the POV character has to give enough attention to the other person’s looks to establish “this person is physically attractive to me.” A walk-on character whose part is too small to warrant a name might get a designation like “red-haired man” if that characteristic distinguishes him in the crowd but no further detail.
I’ve populated the world with a variety of skin tones (including white explicitly mentioned, not the presumed unspoken default), ages, body shapes, and visible disabilities because there’s no reason not to. It’s not a monoculture. They don’t throw away the old, ill, and injured. Helicopter parents don’t exist, so kids are out in the community. Making people feel like shit in order to sell them something isn’t the basis of the economy, so people are free to exist in whatever bodies they have. Lack of diversity would be false.
When is a detailed description necessary and when is it better to skip?
Relevance! There’s the “establish sexual attraction” issue noted previously, where necessary. I also have some minor intrigue about the identity of the heroine’s father, so their similar distinctive feature warrants more attention than her hair, which is the color it is solely because of the cover art.
Detail is also useful for marking change, such as with the passage of time or damage. You have to establish the “before” so the “after” has significance.
I can live without description that’s purely decorative. I like there to be a reason the words are on the page.
Why did your villain become a villain?
Born and raised with the maximum level of privilege and entitlement in a role that’s not accountable to the public?
Specifically in regard to her heel turn toward the heroine, to whom she was previously a mentor, she had to sacrifice something of value in order to further her ambition and said, “Do you want to kill her yourself or should I?”
What do you pay attention to when describing your characters’ surroundings?
Relevance! This post about observational hierarchy covers a lot of my descriptive philosophy.
MC POV: What do you hate the most about the author?
The zeal with which she deploys necromancy. Entirely uncalled for.
Is writing dialogue easy for you? Why/why not?
My rough drafts are 90% “dialogue” because I use the characters to tell myself the story. Most of it doesn’t remain dialogue because a lot of the information shouldn’t be spoken. When I convert the information to narrative, it retains some of the characters’ conversational tone.
Side character POV: What do you find difficult to say to other people?
“I know the bottomless, smoking hole in my hand looks like the plague, but it’s not, I swear.” People are much more understanding if I wear gloves all the time and lie about a painful but non-contagious skin condition.
Does your antagonist have any likable or redeemable qualities?
Heroine thought she was great for two decades. She’s wise, sophisticated, powerful. She’s a great strategist. She gives credit where due. Her rewards are as generous as her displeasure is brutal. If you happened to want the same thing and didn’t mind being a subordinate, you’d be glad to be on the winning team.
Is your MC neat or messy?
She’s traveling light and doesn’t have a lot of worldly goods to be untidy with at the moment.
Previously, her policy was to leave nothing around that might be used against her. Any clutter she creates is strategic, designed to mislead.
How do people in your world view your antagonist?
They accurately perceive her to be dangerous, but wealth, power, and influence ensure her company is sought after.
Do you mention makeup, hair, and beard styles in your work?
Minimal makeup. We don’t spent a lot of time with people that fashionable.
Hairstyles in passing, like “cropped short” or “braid.” I can think of only one style that’s slightly more elaborate.
I don’t write a lot of facial hair because reasons, but there is one stately fellow with a long, decorated beard.
Do your characters worry about their health?
Heroine imagines a wound infested with parasites for the first half of the book. She’s justifiably wary of food poisoning. She picks up some birth control that will stop menses to ease all the running around she has to do. She suffers several cuts. She loses some fingernails and cracks her ribs falling through a bridge. Many, many people and things are trying to kill her, so she’s acutely aware of her mortality and pretty much constantly calculating methods to improve her longevity.
Side character POV: Have you ever been treated unfairly?
I was cursed when I was 11 years old and moved around in space and time like a toy. Whenever I had time to get comfortable, to care, I was wrenched away and lost everything, over and over again.
I would do it all again to get justice for my people.
How charismatic are your characters?
They’re well socialized, but I wouldn’t say it rises to the level of charisma.
Well. Heroine might technically qualify because, as Hero points out, her “business associates” all seem eager to put themselves at risk for her, but she’s the dominant POV and she doesn’t perceive it that way. I doubt readers will get “charismatic” from the text.
MC POV: What one thing would you change about your best friend?
If my “best friend” could cut back on risking his neck for the sake of heroics, that would be swell. I’ve got bad news for him if he thinks I’ll continue this fool’s errand alone.
Do you purposely use symbolism in your story?
Any symbolism I intentionally planned (Truby my man, I really tried with the vault thing) is but a distant memory. When I wedge it in while writing, it’s forced and phony. It’s much more natural during revision to pick up the notes I hit again and again without consciously trying and develop the resonance of those.
Is your antagonist or protagonist more fashionable?
Antagonist, by orders of magnitude. She has money and power. She hobnobs with royalty. One look at her and you know her undergarments cost more than your house.
Heroine spent the last half year as a swamp hobo. She doesn’t even know what’s fashionable at the moment. When she says “please help us, we were the victims of a crime” the response is “mm-hm, whoever put you in those rags should be jailed forever.”
Do any children under two or older people factor into your story?
There are a few elderly characters in significant roles.
The memorable kids are eight-ish to teens, but Heroine does hold a fussy baby at one point. There’s also a pending youngun via an extremely pregnant farmer.
Side character POV: Describe the MC’s sense of humor.
Perverse, but her laugh softens the sting of everything going horribly wrong.
Who in your story gives the most pep talks?
Hero is canonically the optimist, but his spirits are flagging because *gestures at All of This*, and he has a lot of misplaced guilt. Heroine might actually have the greatest number of encouraging speeches to keep him going.
How educated is your MC?
Instructed alongside princes. Then, when done learning what royalty must know, she went to her lessons in what those who influence royalty must know.
She’d be the first to tell you, though, that book learning isn’t much use if you rip your pants, need to open a lock without a key, or get in a knife fight. Life outside the classroom requires skills. Since no one person can acquire every skill, one must be properly appreciative of others.