AuroraBlackwood: a GRA Competition 1 winner

Three Things you love besides writing/reading?
1)  Creating and participating in music. 
2)  Studying the Bible
3)  Other people happy and enjoying life.

Three Things you hate?
1)  When a friend is hurting
2)  People who bash your sports team/something you like, but they have no knowledge of it.
3)  Sexiest people.

Why do you write?

Because there are so many dreams and stories that play with and dance with my mind.  Because I was born to express myself with different kinds of arts.  Because it is a craft, and I have to practice it get better at it.

Because it is part of my calling in life.  :)

Out of all your stories, which one is your favorite?

That is a hard one... I will have to say "Calling All David Ryans" for right now because that is the one I am focused on right now and "Entertainers" is on hold. 

CADR for me is just so much fun.  I love to see the little entanglements that Divy gets in.  It also is a way to express parts of anxiety that I struggled that are hard to explain.  I created an over the top character that seems semi-normal and yet out of place to the reader because that it how I felt with anxiety.  I did crazy things to avoid situations like my character does even though the things I did just made things worse in the end.

It is a way for me to express those confusing feelings in a fluffy, non-threatening way.

How do you create your characters?

I observe how I act and how others act around me.  Then, I come up with either a backstory or an action that could take place in a story.  Next, I think up a character in which would act that way, and I think about that way.  Finally, I add a community around them in order to bring out their flaws and their strengths. 

People do not happen in a vacuum, and community in important in shaping people and characters.

Out of your characters, which one are you the most like?

The easy answer is Divy, but I started CADR way back when, and now, with some distance of time between parts of my work, I realize that even Logen and Maggie have traits that I did not like about myself.

Logen is a hopeless romantic that seems to be blown off by others.  She thinks her ideas are great, and then gets hurt when people react negatively to her dreams.  Maggie is scathing cynic who has a sarcastic humor that keeps people at a distance on purpose.  I went through all these phases.  And my writing helped me come to grip with myself, and my limitations and helped me surpass them.

What do you do when you have writer’s block?

If it is a story that I am doing for fun, I put it down till I have inspiration for it again.  It is something I have to do.  I play music and just keep writing, hoping that something make sense and sounds good.

How do you plan out your stories?

Usually the planning is in my head.  I come up with a strong beginning and then a really good ending.  My stress comes when coming up with good middles.  After a start writing and things do not seem to be coming together, I grab and pencil and pad and write out scenes that will get me to that perfect ending.