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ce15d1.jpg
White Evening Cascade
ce15d1
"What got you into quests in the first place?"
My friends talked about rubyquest in the community I used to be a part of. I really liked the concept so I wrote up a couple of quest ideas before I even read rubyquest at all. I delayed the first one, and made the second one a single session tabletop game. The quest I delayed is the original 'Bubble Bucket' story. The current one was intended as a short prequel to it.
"Which of your quests are you most proud of, personally?"
Bubble Bucket, without much deliberation. I spent way more time on it, and have learned a whole lot more than from any of the other quests.
“Have you ever felt like you’d ‘written yourself into a corner’ in one of your quests?”
The end of Pit. I am ashamed of it. There were a handful of moments in Bubble Bucket, but those moments were more akin to “writing the decision away from the readers,” than screwing myself over. I feel that is just as important to the format, though.
”Is there a character that reminds you of yourself?”
There is a character in the quests that does. It's not a main character, and I'd rather keep who it is to myself.
”Do you imagine voice actors for your characters? If so which ones and who?
I hear all of them with particular voices in my head, but I don't hear prominent voice actors at all. It's hard for me to want to apply celebrities and negate my imagination.
”how much time do you spend spend working on the quests that you run?”
I spend an incredible amount of time on my quests. Even when my first quest started and was drawn in a hurry (and looks like shit), I had been preparing the quest for months. I do dynamic outlines, work out how all the characters function, map out the areas, and painstakingly plot out not only the intended direction, but webs and contingency scenarios when quest does things I am not actually wanting to do. A more detailed understanding of my outlining is inside of the How to Quest thread on /questdis/
I'd say there's a couple of hours for the image, about twenty minutes of writing per update, and on average at least two hours of prep work and management for each update. That doesn't mean I spend four or more hours for each update, though. Just that I work on things in chunks every time I need to. The best example is when I realized the scope of Chapter 13 in Bubble Bucket was far more gigantic than I anticipated and I took two weeks to flesh out the entire island before the catastrophe.
”what does epsilon smell like” -hope
Like ink poured over a shark.
”How'd you come up with your username?”
I was originally going to be Dreamer. I decided that was too close to Weaver and picked Insomnia because I have sleeping problems. I use dreamer in my hash, and I've recently stopped using Insomnia at all and am now using my more public username of Octary.
Octary is a meta-entity of my comic setting, and an incorrect but more pleasant sounding form of Octonary, base 8. It's also apparently a pretty prominent arabic name, and I get contacted by middle eastern and island folk in languages I can't read.
”When you make characters for your quests, what do you draw inspiration from, or what suddenly stimulates you to make a character for your quest. The same question for how you make quests.”
Most of my quests have been based off of songs. Bubble Bucket is different as it was based off of a dream, I related it to a comic concept I already had and wrote it from there.
A lot of my characters are also based off of songs too. I am also known for, and really guilty of, having my friends and tabletop players set up characters for the setting and quests. Epsilon is probably the only co-created character. I created most of the concept and someone else tuned out some of the details.
When I create characters, or even flesh out other people's characters I try to make their behaviors dynamic and believable. The setting may be really out there, but I like to think the characters are people you could actually meet or relate to—even if they are in ways you dislike.
”How long have you been drawing?”
I started drawing in 2005. I drew when I was a child, sure, but I was more interested in writing. I put myself in places where I could have learned techniques and formal art foundations but at the time I believed they were boring and dumb. I regret my attitude at the time, but have been pushing myself since 2006 to really learn.
”Also, many authors said they like to read so—for those of you who do—what kind/genre of books do you like to read?”
I like to read a lot, but I have a lot of trouble doing so. I have a reading disability, and it makes it difficult for me to visually arrange words when there are a lot of them. It takes a lot of focus to go through a full page of text. I've been starting to read fiction books again. I can't say I focus on a genre, but sci-fi and fantasy are probably my favorites.
My Kindle has the text-to-speech function which allows me to listen while I read, which prevents the words from crippling my ability to go through the story. I am currently reading a giant amount of short stories in my textbook, Connections: Literature for Composition edited by Quentin Miller and Julie Boston. I'm also reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
I'm always open to hear about good books, if you'd like to recommend any.
”Authors with art, how long does each image usually take?”
Bubble Bucket:
Chapters 1-10: 10-20 minutes
Chapters 11-12: 20-60 minutes
Chapter 13: ? Hours.
One Shots: 10-30 minutes.
Lilac: 3 hours.
”Those who animate, how much longer?”
I've spent a couple hours on most of the animations, but the flash animation(s) I am working on are taking and are going to take way too long.
”How far planned ahead do you usually stay?”
Beginning to end. I set up and outline the entire thing. Problems come up and I have to re-write and edit constantly. I have to rework the ending(s) I have set up as well to work with the way the quest actually goes down. When I try to explain this, people sometimes try to yell, “RAILROAD,” at me. I really don't do that. I've been guilty once or twice in chapter 13 becomes of needing to fit time-line consistencies I wrote myself into a corner with (mentioned earlier). The best “railroad” accusations however have been: Me planning out a dungeon or an area being construed as me planning out deaths, Doing what people suggested to do, and characters solving a puzzle when the wrong answers were more popular.
”any recipes to share?”
Potato and Chicken Quesadilla, Sweet and Spiced Burgers, Poor Man's Pizza, Sweet and Spiced Roast Beef. I'll elaborate more on these foods if anyone is interested.
”Do you draw or write first?”
I draw my updates before I write. Writing first doesn't make any sense to me.
”What do you think is most important in life?”
Health and education.
”Ever had a recurring nightmare?”
I used to have the invisible creature/ghost from the old Johnny Quest tormenting me in my dreams a lot. That was a long time ago, other than that; no.
”What is your native language?”
English.
”Why don't you ever post in ITQ? (Inside the Quest)”
“Silence is a source of great strength.” -Lao Tzu
Nobody has asked me this recently, but I really don't like the idea for active quests. I would participate in it for my quests that have already ended. I might do it for Bubble Bucket when it's over and I have time. I've kept a policy to keep the storytelling to the storytelling by itself. It's a sign of failure if you have to explain things outside of the quest itself, to me. I respect and understand that other people are curious and some authors are more transparent and enjoy answering setting questions through characters.
I've always respected and looked up to other Authors that keep as much of their work a secret, and to themselves until it was important in the quest itself, and I try to keep to that standard. I only apologize for my attitude and smarmy attitude over ITQ and Fight Quest for example. Some times I let my personal policies bleed into believing everyone should follow it. Then I get a reality check and realize I am being a jerk.
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Sorry I haven't been around. I still love this community, School has just been more difficult than I thought it would be. I thought this second semester with less classes was going to be less time consuming. I was really really wrong. I'll be back when I can be. Thank you to the people who have recently read my quest(s) and talked to me about them. I always enjoy hearing people's impressions from my work.
I'm usually in #lilac on irc.rizon.net if you want to talk to me when I can't quest. I'll answer questions if there are any every week or two if I can. Zài jiàn!
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