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@Seadragon and Amethyst, here’s the chat thread! It’s been so great to RP with both of you in Kyngdom, and I’ve always wanted to get to know both of you more because of that (and our other interactions throughout CB).
Well to start off, we could share our hobbies? Chances are we all are fellow readers and writers, but other than that, is there anything you enjoy doing?
I’ve been drawing a lot more recently, and my art has improved since! I also like playing piano and guitar. Any of you play instruments?
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Yay, it’s up! I’m looking forward to know you two better as well :))
I’m definitely a reader and writer… Also an avid music-listener; there are so many wonderful songs out there. Aside from that, I don’t really go in so much for ~hobbies~ – I get interested in tons of things, but idk if I practice them quite avidly enough for them to be termed that. I do enjoy doing calligraphy, and walking in the woods, and being with people; also exploring and building other worlds, even aside from actually writing about them.
@Moon Wolf, your art is gorgeous!! How did you get into it? And it’s so nice that you can play the piano and guitar – I can play the piano, but I’ve always been kind of interested in learning to play the guitar as well.
Are either of you reading anything particular at the moment? Or writing anything aside from Kyngdom?
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Hi! Sorry I disappeared for a week. I’m glad to see that we have a chat thread.
I am a reader and writer. Sewing and swimming are sort of my other hobbies. Sometimes I draw, but I don’t think that’s a hobby for me–I don’t do it very often. I also love going on walks, too. I play the violin and sing; I think I might enjoy acting in a musical, but I haven’t acted in one yet (though my class is doing one in the coming weeks and we’ll see how it goes).
I’m not reading anything in particular right now, just books out of the library that I choose randomly. I’m writing a lot of stories–I like to call them “books,” but few of them are actually long enough to be books–that I’m sort of stalled on, although I come back to them from time to time. I do have one “book” that I think deserves to be called a novel because it’s 70 pages right now and only halfway done and I work on it very often; it’s speculative fiction, and sort of political.
@Amethyst, what’s your way of exploring and building other worlds without writing? I’m curious:)
@Moon Wolf, do you have a favorite genre of music to play? And @Amethyst too, I suppose, could answer that. I like to play classical and bluegrass music, and right now I’m mostly singing show tunes, although I used to only sing pop songs. -
I just finished the book First Life by Gena Showalter, a random YA book I found in the library. It’s alright, like I’ve read better but it’s a cool premise.
@Amethyst, ahh thank you so much!! I’ve always liked doodling from time to time when I was younger, but I began getting more into it last year when I set a goal to draw more (as well as my Inktober challenge)
I personally enjoy playing pop songs, hymns, and Undertale (an indie game) music. Any of you fans of Hamilton?
How long have you played piano, Amethyst? And yeah, it would be cool if you learned to play guitar! It’s usually easier to learn other instruments if you know piano.
@Seadragon, that sounds cool! What’s the premise of the novel?
For writing, I’m trying to write a romance (for the first time) though I don’t know if I’ll stick with it (since oftentimes I find another idea pops up and work on that instead).
What’s your favorite song at the moment? -
@admins, I posted here yesterday, but the comment doesn’t seem to have gone through… Should I repost?
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Yes, please resend the comment. I don’t have anything waiting to be posted. I don’t know what happened.
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Huh, that’s odd… Anyway, here we go again:
@Seadragon, ooh swimming and playing the violin sound so nice!! I would also love to act in a musical – or a play, or something along those lines – so let’s see if that ever comes to pass… Good luck on your current musical
:D70 pages of a book sounds great, too! Go for it~Hmm, slightly tricky question… It mostly falls under the category of exploring fandoms; occasionally I’ll get interested in one and become utterly immersed in it for a while, though it seldom infiltrates my writing much. Every once in a while a historical person or event gets me super interested too O_o Or I’ll get inspired by an idea expressed in a song/the vibes of several songs, and imagine things around it, but, again, wtihout actually writing any of it into a story.
I must admit to not playing much on the piano, but when I do, it mostly consists of classical-ish tunes and the stray Christmas carol here and there. I’ve played for years, though – I think I must have started learning when I was about seven? I love singing pop songs too; it’s strangely satisfying to come out with “UN PLAYA DE SANTORINI” at opportune moments
:PI don’t like Hamilton that much… The premise is rather irrelevant, and I tend to dislike rap. A few of the songs are surprisingly all right, though – the ending of “The World Was Wide Enough” is very poignant, and “Guns and Ships” always reminds me a ton of Darkvine (I think it was Darkvine?) :] What are your favorite songs from it?
Ooh, a romance novel sounds wonderful!! And it’s so amazing that you’re getting your poetry book published, too!!! That’s an enormous achievement, and I’m so happy for you – you definitely deserve it :))))
Noooo don’t ask me for one favorite song! The day I can name a single favorite song is probably the day the universe implodes >:0 /MeListeningToWayTooMuchMusicAsAlways… Rn I really love “Quien Eres Tu” by Frank Reyes, as well as “Nancy Mulligan” by Ed Sheeran, “Dos Amantes” by Tini and Ulises Bueno, “Santorini Remix” by Enol (see lyrics above), and ofc my neverfailing “Te Regalo” and practically all other Carlos Baute songs. Have you been listening to anything particular lately?
Also, just a quick note – it’s interesting how all our charries talk together, and then we all hold very similar conversations ourselves >:P
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I seem to remember posting on here about a week ago but I don’t see it…
Anyway, the premise of the novel is that there are four sisters who live in a political dystopia (there’s an authoritarian government and an enormous class divide, and women have very few options) who eventually join a revolution, which is successful. Each sister has her own subplot: The first one gets really involved in politics and eventually becomes a Supreme Court Justice, the second one meets her eventual wife and, with her, realizes their shared dream of owning a dress shop, the third one goes from being a sort of shallow society girl to someone with more of a purpose (she’s the one I’m the least clear on), and the fourth one just becomes more confident in general and discovers poetry, which will eventually be how she makes her living. I think having four plots is what helps it be so long.
I do like Hamilton; my favorite song from it is “Satisfied”. Hamilton is more of a piece of art than most other musicals. There’s the huge amount of musicals that are basically “There are two characters who fall in love, soprano and tenor, and there are other things that are happening around them and at the end everything works out for everyone but the villain” (think Oklahoma! and all the other classics), and some that break that pattern (for instance, my other favorite musical, Les Miserables, which is sort of the story of someone’s life, sort of a love story, sort of the story of a revolution, and a tragedy where nearly everyone dies and half the people who don’t die are the comic villains–it’s really sad but the finale is so hopeful and makes me cry even more than all the rest). Hamilton is I guess a life story about a real, specific person, and so a lot of the songs are good but not very relatable–most of them are “story songs” that are about specific people and situations. (They are fun to sing, though.)
@Amethyst, I started learning violin when I was seven, too. Coincidences:)I’m also into imagining things in my head; I’ve found out that I tend to lose them if I don’t write them down, unfortunately.
My favorite song…Well. I can’t name a specific one either, despite not listening to a lot of music right now; there’s “Satisfied” and the aforementioned finale of Les Miserables, and also “seven” by Taylor Swift and “The Garden” by Sierra Ferrell.
@Moon Wolf, how do you find writing romance? Three out of four of the sisters have romances, which sometimes makes me sick but adds layers to the story, especially because Sister #2 and her eventual lover are very cute and Sister #3’s boyfriend helps her out of being a shallow society girl.
@Amethyst, I love your observation (it’s true). Which of your characters would you say is most like you? (Moon Wolf could answer this, too.) I can’t write from the point of view of a character who is so different from me that I can’t find some similarity to them–almost like acting. This is why I struggle with Sister #3. Elmira’s my most similar character on the CB; I have a lot of her nervousness and indecisiveness, and I’m usually too hard on myself, like she is. -
@Seadragon wow that sounds so cool! I would definitely read it if you ever publish it one day. I love reading dystopias – I find them really fascinating. And I love the four different perspectives.
I love Hamilton!:)“Satisfied” is a good song. Though I personally also love Guns and Ships (and rapping along to it) Yeah although the plot might not be relatable, for me, even if the story of a movie isn’t the best, as long as the music is catchy, it’s good. (like KPop Demon Hunters, for example)
I started playing piano around that time as well. I might have been around 6 or 7 (unintentional).
@Amethyst thank you so much! I’ll definitely be shouting out CB in acknowledgements~
I’ll be honest, I have multiple romance stories in progress right now, and I’m in an in-between state of which story to focus on. Right now, I’m writing the beginning stages of the romance, so I’m trying to write romantic chemistry, but I’m not entirely sure how. So far though, (in the latest one I’m working on) I had situations that kind of force the two characters together (like outward dangerous circumstances) and through conversations that get to know each other more, and unspoken things, I’m trying to build up the romantic tension. @Seadragon what about you? How do you find writing romance?
My favorite song is constantly changing… hmm maybe at the moment I might say My Castle Town, a very peaceful and somewhat nostalgic instrumental song from a video game. There’s so many though…like a C-pop song The Brightest Star in the Night Sky by Huang Zitou (though I personally like the GEM remix) or Taylor Swift songs, and more.
Hmm, I would like to say my characters all have a bit of me within them (whether it be seemingly opposite characteristics or a tiny aspect that builds a whole different personality based upon it). Most like though on CB, I would say Lyra, my first AE, and on Kyngdom, probably Kalisse or Seren. I have Kalisse’s brightness and energy when it comes to friends or when I feel the need to interact, but Seren’s quietness and introversion when alone or when I don’t feel like I have to interact. I have Kalisse’s impulsiveness. That’s why Lyra is probably most like me because she encompasses both, the quietness and the energy.
I feel like a problem with a lot of characters I write is that over time, they tend to develop personalities more similar to mine than not, unless I make them drastically different or go out of my way to make sure they are acting their personality. Any of you feel the same thing? -
just topping since it didn’t say I posted
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Writing romance…Sometimes I feel a bit sick when I realize that there’s so much of it in my current novel, and trying to contrive scenes where characters have romantic chemistry (Sisters 1 and 2 are at an early stage, but Sister 3 has already been with her boyfriend for a while, so they’re an established thing) is kind of difficult. Sister 1 and the man who’s currently her acquaintance/crush have barely talked yet, but I think that that will happen. I do enjoy writing relationships with characters that are perfect for each other, such as Sister 2 and Mina, who right now is her sort-of-friend. I’ve never written a story that’s purely a romance and longer than a couple of pages (these were mostly written when I’m fantasizing about someone). I like to write more complicated things where there are many different things going on, probably because a) life happens like that and b) I view things in a very complicated way–I’m always telling people, “It’s not that simple!!”
I don’t think that I’ve experienced my characters getting more similar to me, but I’ll watch and see if it happens. I’ve been thinking a lot about Sister 3, and I’m wondering if she maybe has opinions about how the society treats women, but maybe she needs to stay shallow? I’m going to go ahead with her being deeper and see how it goes.-
@Seadragon, I like the idea of your story! Especially the concept of four sisters; it sounds like the development of their different stories could be really interesting. I’m impressed by the differences between their personalities/stories, too – one of the things that’s sometimes difficult for me is coming up with distinct protagonists (and side characters as well :/)
Ooh, speaking of musicals, have either of you ever watched “Guys and Dolls”? I saw a super good live performance of it a few years back; the actors were amateurs, but they were amazingly good – I think they did better than most professional actors could have. They all really got into the spirit of it, and it was wonderful to watch (and utterly hilarious :D); the actor for Sky had a particularly good singing voice, and Nathan Detroit was done perfectly :]
I’m not sure which of the charries I’ve written about on the CB is most like me – I want to say Riltava, a charrie I had for my Guardians of Liritar solo write a couple of years back, but rereading the description of her personality I realize that she’s not that much like me… I suppose I’m mostly a mix of my AEs Vireo and Valerian, with dashes of most of the other AEs sprinkled in. Of all my characters in general, though, I think the closest one to me would be Katrina, a very lively, happy girl who loves people and experiences and stylish things but still values beauty and is fairly good at connecting with herself. I had tons of fun writing her :DD It’s usually difficult to write protagonists that are actually different from me (and, consequently, from all the other protagonists I’ve ever written :0) @Moon Wolf, I’m not sure that my characters get more like me over time, but generally a couple of charries in each story are like me from the outset. I think one of the biggest problems is that I have to describe everything in the story, and obviously I’m seeing it all as me, so some character or other invariably ends up having my outlook on things… it’s most complicated :/
For writing romance, I recommend getting your characters into situations that are intrinsically rather romantic, as well as ones where they’re supposed to work together or get to know each other. A lot depends on the personalities of the two of them, ofc – if one of them is outgoing and charming, that would stimulate conversation and connection between them (though the other person could always wonder if it really means anything or if it’s just due to the other’s way of being), but if they’re both shy or retiring, a bit more Strong Encouragement from the Writer might be needed. Reading (clean) romances might also help inspire you?; they can be useful to help you realize what you’re actually trying to express. (Not in the sense of copying from them, ofc; just to give a vague idea of possible techniques.) And, of course, drawing from irl experiences is vastly helpful… *dreamy sigh*
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