What are you currently reading (fic or otherwise)?

I'm currently reading The Ones We're Meant to Find by Joan He for my book club, and while I'm not reading any long works of fanfiction at the moment, I did recently validate a chapter of Cottage Neighbours by @lebensmude and really enjoyed it, so I've been meaning to go back and read from the beginning!

What are you currently writing?

I'm slowly getting through editing my YA fantasy novel about fairies, but writing is a bit slow going at the moment, unfortunately.

What are you currently watching?

An old season of Portrait Artist of the Year I love seeing the artists' process and finished work and their individual styles. I'm not a painter, but watching creators create is always inspiring!

Where do you hang out on the forums a lot right now?

The Hufflepuff Common Room, as we're in the middle of our awards season! The talent of our authors is phenomenal

What was the inspiration for for gold?

I was inspired for for gold mostly by the mystery that can often surround scandal in professional sports. Silver's ability allows her to see through everyone (most of the time), and I love writing about the behind-the-scenes of Quidditch through her lens. I have always wanted to write a Quidditch fic, and this is what came out!

What three songs would you put on a soundtrack for this fic?

This REALLY depends on which part you are reading, but here we go: Beach Baby by Bon Iver, Hide by Rainbow Kitten Surprise, and One Point Perspective by Arctic Monkeys 

Which character is the hardest and easiest to write for you?

Silver is the hardest for me to write, hands down. I spend most of my time deciding which of her overheard thoughts to address in the text, and which to skip over. Then I have to concern myself with her own thoughts and dialogue. She is definitely my hardest character to balance! My easiest character to write is Blythe Parkin! I LOVE writing her one-liners, and am continuing to enjoy making up new phrases of rage. She is a breath of fresh air in the midst of all this angst. 

You always write very compelling Main Characters, what makes a really good MC in your opinion and how do you approach this task?

Thank you!! I do love my MCs, especially when writing in first-person. I usually start with deciding on their appearance/a faceclaim and creating some graphics from there. I like visualizing who I am writing. Then I go right to writing, scrap together some loose dialogue, and find their voice  

What are you currently reading (fic or otherwise)?

it's POGs season in gryffindor so I've been reading a lot of gryffindor stories - i'm currently loving 'you're a minute of quiet (in a loud loud world)' by shadowycorner and 'literal chaos fire' by maraudertimes in particular. outside of fic, I'm on a big crime/thriller/secrets YA novels kick at the moment. I've only recently picked up the YA genre of things and enjoying it a lot. 

What are you currently writing?

so the project which I'm most focused on is blue skies which was my april nano project. it's lavender brown/oliver wood pairing which is set in the same universe as my tea leaves and jasmine series. I've just finished and shall be posting chapter 3 very soon. Otherwise, I have Warpaint on the back burner at the moment but I hope to pick it up soon as I have only 3 chapters to go until it's finished.

What are you currently watching?

the last year has been a big tv binge year for me considering the current climate and lockdown restrictions in the uk. I've watched all 7 seasons of scandal and just currently watching season 16 of grey's anatomy after binging 15 previous seasons. As a guilty pleasure, I re-watched all the men in black movies with my husband and we've also very recently watched an animated movie on netflix called 'mitchells vs the machines' which has really cool animation style and an lgbt+ main character. so would recommend that.

Where do you hang out on the forums a lot right now?

So I've really been enjoying the mini events that keep popping up at the moment, I've taken apart in gift tag and short review event before that I loved all the NaNo stuff going on. I like the 'book challenge' thread as well!

What are you currently reading (fic or otherwise)?

Currently I'm trying to read two fantasy series that I somehow got invested or am trying to get back into: The Hagenheim series by Melanie Dickerson which actually has fairytale retellings with Christian themes in it. I believe there’s nine books in the series so far. I have read The Healer's Apprentice and The Captive Maiden and am reading The Merchant’s Daughter, The Princess Spy, and Fairest Beauty or attempting to read all three of them. The Chronicles of Narnia respectively, seeing as I admittedly only read one book in the series and actually would love to continue more of them since the other books I bought about two years ago have been sitting on my shelves and would love to continue seeing as I been wanting to get more into C.S. Lewis as well as his works!  Apart from those two series, I’ve also been reading a few awesome YA novels including  this one YA novel called Dating Makes Perfect by Pintup Dunn and would definitely recommend it if you’re looking into more novels with a Southeast Asian/Thai American representation and as a Thai American, am genuinely happy seeing there’s representation  seeing as there’s not many books with Thai or Thai American characters and this is something that I’m personally enjoying apart from the romance, humor, and characters!  

Fanfiction wise,  have been slowly reading through a few fanfictions from other fandoms that aren't Harry Potter like The Hunger Games (there's this wonderful Gadge one that I found on AO3 and I'm in love it so much), Stranger Things, and Star Wars (mostly Reylo and anything that is the AU version of The ROTS because that movie greatly disappointed me and have been loving any and or different takes on that) and mostly on A03 or Fanfiction. Net. Also I have a huge Reading List here on the Archives that I have been meaning to get to as far as reviewing goes seeing as I have quite a lot and would love to try and review more chapters of the ones I started. The only problem is that life and work mainly has been getting in the way but I’m still determined to at least get a few reads in along with the reviews being done!

What are you currently writing?

Original fiction, I am trying to sort out which story I want to write and which ones I want to discard, put on hold, and or write only little by little if that makes sense? It’s been a very slow process but that doesn’t mean that it’s not helpful seeing as I needed to try and truly organize my written works but to answer this question, I’m trying to get back into working on The Light of Eight as that’s been my biggest and main priority out of all the written works I want to write as that is not only my biggest world building novel out of all the novel series I have written and planned so far but also.  Also I've been working on a story that's also part of the universe but also is separate and it's called Ice Fall and it has a Thai American protagonist named Wannida dealing with a new superpower that she gained and has to deal with more than just normal teenager stuff or battling monsters that chase her but also questions of her own identity and also deal with her being an adoptee as well.  But have been enjoying plotting as well as trying to work on a rough draft of it as well!

Apart from that, I’m trying to work on writing maybe some one shots (a few that if I can be more confident that would love to post on here), short stories (have been oddly inspired by previous challenges on here to work on some of them), and a few novels that are smaller than than the Light of Eight that I have discussed in my previous JulNano, Nano, or in my Writer's Journal such as The Unity of The Seventh (which is now called The Sept7 series) and Chimera's Light. There's one novel that I may mentioned previously on the and that is called Chaos Nine and is still in its planning stage but am hoping to write a rough draft for it alongside The Light of Eight and Come What May for JulNano hopefully!

Fanfiction wise, I’m still working on getting back to both Come What May as that’s been and is still one of my goals to work on seeing as I really do want to get the story out there and not delay it than it has been but here’s to hoping!  Oh, and since Disney is technically allowed on the Archives, I would love to try and write my Kingdom Hearts fanfiction called A Fictitious Truth and post it on here. There’s also been a plot bunny involving a Fantastic Beast fanfiction with some OCs too but we’ll see! If I can come up with a decent plot for it, I definitely would be on board with trying to get it written and post it on here!  I also have been working more at a snail pace in regards to  Emblem, Defiance, and two other Harry Potter fanfiction including one that features Lily Luna Potter and a Hufflepuff boy which I'm already kind of loving but don't want to go into too much detail just yet!

What are you currently watching?

I’m trying to work on finishing Queen’s Gambit and catching up on shows like but not limited to: Amphibia (highly recommended if you’re into animated shows), Owl House (another wonderful animated show), Anne With An E, Sex Education, Owl House, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Bridgerton to name some of the many shows I need and or want to finish or catch up with! Oh, and I also got started on Shadow and Bones and I have yet to read the books but so far, I really find it quite interesting and enjoyable! Not going to lie but I’m more invested in the Six of Crows characters’ arc (plot?) more than the main characters if we’re being honest although Ben Barnes as The Dark One always manages to hold my attention hahaha! Also I love Kaz and Inej alot so there’s that too!

Movie-wise, I actually watched this movie a while ago but Godzilla v.s. King Kong and that was quite fun although I did qualms with how they handled some of the human characters--whom I actually liked but the main attraction of course are Kong and Gojira--I mean Godzilla and I love them especially the latter seeing as I kind of became a slight fan after the King of The Monsters trailer came out!  Definitely would recommend that if you're into kaijus or big giant monsters and them battling so there's that! Also I was sick recently (not Covid-19) and had some down time and got to watch this really lovely documentary called The Fantasy Makers and it truly helped me not only feel slowly more inspired and motivated to write but also just marvel in awe with the way faith and the authors mentions in the documentary is connected with them and their stories.  Definitely helped picked my mood just watching it and learned about an author I wish I read about as well as more about J.R.R Tolkein and C.S. Lewis whose friendship is still one of my favorites in history to this day.

Where do you hang out on the forums a lot right now?

It's hard to say as I do tend to be on and off alot and when I'm on, I tend to lurk, in a sense that I'm observing if that makes sense?  I actually enjoy reading threads if and when I can but I guess I like being in either the Original Fiction and or The Writer's Journal seeing as I just like to read through discussions for the former and for the latter, I like to see what questions people ask the authors, what the authors are working on, and or the answers to the questions that people have wrote them and just learn more about them and their writing.  That, and it kind of prods on me to read their stories as well so I can be like asking them questions. Otherwise, admittedly am usually in the The Hufflepuff Basement for some odd reason, I feel that it's just fun and comforting to stop by there often times? Just love reading through the threads on there especially Hufflepuff Snuggle and Party thread and playing games there as that's always enjoyable and fun!