#paperbirdqanda plus a little psa
Before I go into my questions, I’d just like to address something that I’ve noticed during my (admittedly short) time at prose. If you’re going to head straight to the comment section to write something demeaning this trend, let me ask you this: does putting down the WTW sub-community give you gratification in any way? Do you think you are somehow above us because you are more ‘exposed’ to this platform? Does being on Prose for longer mean you are a better writer or have more life experience than us?
As far as I know, the WTW-ers flocking to Prose have done absolutely nothing to offend you, and if reading our friendly replies or responses to each other makes you sneer or give you the urge to comment something belitting, maybe you are the one that has to reconsider themselves and how you are acting. If I were to give you a slight explanation: some things happened on WTW to make us come here. in a sense, we came here seeking ‘something better’. We’re very tight knit, and many of us have justifiable reasons for why we aren’t ‘getting out more’ on Prose—as if that’s good enough anyways.
If you are going to look down on me as an individual for addressing this or simply existing here, I do not mind—though I haven’t a clue why. However, this is a trend started by and carried on by my fellow WTW-ers, and I will not tolerate anyone disrespecting @paperbird or anyone else responding to these questions in any way just because they belong to our lively sub-community.
Obviously, if you haven’t been doing any of these things, I’m not referring to you. I’m excited to be here, and I plan on staying even when I have aged out of WTW. Y’all are truly great. Thank you for being so understanding.
Now, onto the questions.
1. what got you into writing?
-ever since the second grade, i’ve planning storylines on cheap blue-lined notebooks and sketching them out. ‘comics’ if you would. however, it was only in the fourth grade when there was a sort of school district-wide competition for writing. somehow, i won first place in my school and fifth place overall, and that really gave me both the inkling that
“wow, i can do this” and the motivation to keep going. that ‘winning’ essay is still hanging outside my parents’ office by the way.
2. outside of wtw/prose, who are your biggest writing influences?
-i think i only really started developing my writing style when i joined wtw, hence most of my writing influences being from there. however, when i first started writing short stories, i think Rick Riordan was a big role model.
-from a purely conceptual and storytelling standpoint, i was highly influenced by the anime, manga, and vocaloid that i consumed. they had complex storylines divided into ‘arcs’ and even the vocaloid songs had something incredibly rich to them. i also love listening to video essays about a multitude of topics. i admire how video essayists can explore themes of racism or loss of identity through the analyzation of their source material—or the other way around. it’s lead me to have a deeper respect for certain authors and screenwriters. additionally, listening to people bash books, movies, or people is just plain cathartic.
3. what’s the significance behind your profile picture(s)?
it goes with my username. i used to have this rather dreary picture of a bunch of chrsyanthemums, but i changed it with the coming of july. *if you don’t know if an image is good for reuse, you should probably filter your results under ‘tools’ and ‘usage rights’.
4. top fifteen favorite books - go. (if you don’t know what exactly are your favorite fifteen, just name twenty you like.)
i’m going to extend ‘books’ to manga and translated novels because i can and i honestly don’t read that much on paper anymore.
-Mao Dao Zu Shi aka Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation aka Founder of Diabolism aka mdzs by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. has excruciatingly human characters (even the heroes are not blameless), angst (so much), and favorite character of all fiction. oh, and it’s gay. has smut too. canon smut. “everyday means everyday”.
-Life As We Knew It series by Susan B. Pfeffer. dystopia but sickeningly realistic. could very well happen tomorrow. hugely underrated.
-The Astonishing Color of After by X.R. Pan. synesthesia, grief (*main character loses her mom to suicide), and reclaiming a lost past and culture.
-Crowfeather’s Trial by Erin Hunter. simp for Crowfeather because he’s so damn angsty. actually well written family and storyline (unlike new books).
-Toilet Bound Hanako-kun by Iro Aida. ghost, spirits, and oh so much angst. also, the artwork is so damn cute i can’t even.
-Tsubasa Chronicles by CLAMP. a fricking journey. bled my eyes to finish this complicated-ass manga. oh but it was all worth it.
-Haikyuu by Haruichi Furudate. got me playing volleyball. ’nuff said.
-The Giver by Lois Lowry. how could i have not put this on. everyone knows this book, but i’ve reread this like a million times and it’s worth it ;)
-A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. my childhood. don’t really like the ending, but the series is absolutely fantastic.
-Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan. i personally prefer the HOO but both series are good. need i explain? moving on.
-Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa. oh god this. THIS. the holy grail of manga. it’s an excellent gateway into manga. i’m down on me knees; please read. hard ‘magic’ systems and plot and suffering.
-A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult. tries to explore both sides of the abortion debate with a gripping conflict.
-Assassination Classroom by Yūsei Matsui. life lessons, assassinations, and humor. i cried at the end.
-Caddy’s World by Hilary McKay. this book holds a special place in my heart, and probably the first chapter book i’ve ever read. absolutely stunning.
(most of my experience with books is limited to my school library. don’t judge, okay? i’ll get to the ‘good’ books when i can get out of my house.)
5. what’s the significance behind your username?
-my wtw username is chrysanthemums&ink. for chrysanthemums, in a nutshell, childhood nostalgia—tea and iconic drinks and such—and funeral flowers. they do also symbolize joy though.
-ink because i was in a fountain pen frenzy around that time. still am, just not enough to make my username end with ink.
-mnemosynink because mnemosyne is a greek goddess of memory (learned that from jetpens video), and the way they pronounced it make the ‘ink’ at the end basically unegotiable (couldn’t completely erase my identity after all).
*hehe i’m kind of known for hard to spell usernames so here ya go.
6. any particularly stupid quote that you nevertheless love?
″“Hug me!” “I am hugging you!” “Hug me tight!” “I am hugging you tight!”″ from mdzs because this is a confession except it’s literally in the middle of the final battle with people
actually dying around them, and also the person that says the second and fourth lines is sort of a hardass, so it’s absolutely hilarious. and it’s gay.
7. how would you define your current writing style?
realistically, it’s a bit unrefined and inarticulate. i think i tend to reuse a lot of phrases, so there’s a lot of similar language in all of my works. a lot of imagery, a bit gritty? i don’t think i write ‘pretty’ things very often, or perhaps i haven’t tried yet. just a conglomeration of unorganized pieces of a whole. literal imagery.
do you think this is your set style, or are you still evolving?
i went under a massive style change a few weeks back. inferiority complex hit like a bag of bricks, and i just was not satisfied with anything i was writing. after writing a particular piece in a completely different style—which is on this site by the way, butterflies—i got comfortable with that. i’m still trying to improve certain parts of my writing, but i’m pretty satisfied with my style as a whole. until the next time i go into a ‘reinvention frenzy’ aka feel bad about everything i’ve been writing, maybe i can work with this.
8. favorite song(s)?
god, this is a hard question. i basically cycle through songs i regularly listen to like every month. songs listed might not be my favorite per se because i listen to too much and the lines get blurred. but let me try to Attempt the Impossible with this incomplete list:
-First Love by BTS is something i only allow myself to indulge in at special times. i’m afraid that if i listen to it too much, it’s meaning might decrease. i also cried while listening to this. i personally identify with This Is Home by Cavetown—uke original only—but i prefer Poison over it. another song that hit too close, Wait For It from Hamilton kinda summarizes my feelings towards a lot of things.
-to write to i usually like non-english songs—though To Each His Own by Talos is definitely the exception, love that song—and i like amend and bloom by j^p^n to set the mood. hana by eevee too (i wrote heat. to it). i also write to Hatstune Miku Medley by Kihimi (wonderful medley of hatsune miku’s famous songs. beautiful tuning.)
-for vocaloid i like Huma and Nism by HaTa which is a philosophical battle between two goat lolis (it’s good, i swear), Goodbye Semi-Sparkling Girl by Hihumi (their tuning of Hatsune Mika is fricking sinful i actually can’t-), Wondertaker by PowapowaP (please pay your respects), Leave by Akagami (gorgeous tuning of gumi), and March Rain by Ming Guang (chinese and all the right bits of sorrowful).
favorite song(s) to listen to ironically?
i must apologize but Green Light by Lorde (another writer actually introduced me), Echo by CrusherP, Goodbye and Last of Me both by VocaCircus. yes, those vocaloid songs are depressing but those were from my angsty preteen days and i can’t help but to laugh a little now. good for setting the mood though.
9. a common writing error or trend that annoys you?
weird formatting for absolutely no reason. making your letters do the gravity bounce ain’t helping your poetry, i promise.
10. should pineapple be on pizza?
an odd thing, really. the first time i saw something like that, i was fascinated. basically, no. would eat it, but it’s not going in my order anytime soon.