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Re: Fic of the Month - August: Vaira: The Legacy of Cyrus by Athena
After taking the month off for the awards, we are back with the Best Story winner from the Summer 2015 awards, Vaira: The Legacy of Cyrus by @Athena:
Firstly, congratulations on winning Best Story. How does it feel to get this prize?
I'm a bit stunned. I figured that if I won the prize it would be much further down the line. Vaira's only getting started and the opening Act was kind of a mess setting everything up so I can play with the world later. I only realized looking back during the awards process that the story is a fair bit longer than I had thought it was. It still feels new and developing to me.
How does writing Vaira compare to the process of writing Backgrounds?
Backgrounds had it's own challenges. Plotting out timelines was a bigger issue since I had to have everything figured out from the start and weave it together in to one story. There was also a certain issue of writing through a mild filter of mental and physical illness. So I had to research a lot about how those affect people who have them and also mold that in to the narrative. And then, fundamentally, Backgrounds was an origin story. It ends right where another story might begin. There was even a scene at the end of the original draft setting up a more conventional journey fic. I later nixed it when I realized that Vaira was going to be my main project rather than a Backgrounds sequel.
Vaira has its own problems. The narrators can be a bit hard to work with at points and I have to pay much closer attention to pacing. The story has a badge quest plot and after 100k words that's only one badge in. But since there's so much else I have to work with if I go too quickly I'll end up really overstuffing it. If I slow down too much it will never end. Research is also really difficult since I have to keep rechecking old notes and books since it deals with a fair few topics in some detail. And I actually have to figure out how to pace myself so I write but don't burn out. I didn't have to do that for Backgrounds since I wrote the Gela arc in a one-month span.
Of the three main characters in the story, which one is the easiest to write? The hardest?
I actually really dislike writing for Evyrus, which will probably surprise some people since he's the most normal character. He is a canon character, sort of, but there's almost nothing to go by on him. There's a lot of difficulty in adopting a near-silent protagonist in to a story. How passive do I make him? How active? And since his style is actually normal I can find it a bit difficult to get inspired by it or just flow with it when I start to write.
However annoying it might be to read, I don't have that problem with Jane. Literally every moment is a potential avenue to explore how she might feel about something, her style practically writes herself, and I have a fondness for morally ambiguous characters who view the world through odd lenses. And she has some really interesting character dynamics. She has a much stricter sense of good and evil than any other character in the story, but her views of morality are so skewed that sometimes she can be doing pure evil and see nothing wrong with it. She also has the power to enforce her will upon others, which combined with her general moral certainty and lack of understanding can make her into a villain who's neither good nor evil in the end.
You give the Pokémon in this story a lot of personality. Do you think the story would work without those characters?
I hate to say this, but probably. At the end of the day the major plot dynamics of Act I would still work with pretty static Pokemon characters. I don't think it would be as good, though, since they let me handle things in dialogue that would otherwise be expressed in lots and lots of internal monologue. They can also be used to force characters to confront aspects of themselves that they otherwise wouldn't. For Evyrus that's some conflicts over how human he really is and what his friendships have really been about. For Aracai that's her past and the extent to which she's fallen when she can't truthfully tell her childhood friend much about her adulthood at all. And for Jane... well, she and Jewel are going to have some talking to do after Act I.
You’ve done a lot of research to write the story. Why did you choose Indian and Maori cultures to be at the centre of the story?
The story does take place in the same universe as Backgrounds, although it will very seldom matter due to fifty years and half an ocean separating the stories. During that story I set up Kanto as a post-colonial island struggling between European and traditional norms, but it mostly took a backseat in the plot. I also established Kanto as being in the South Pacific since it's basically the only place that could easily fit a few more small continents and I don't like "Kanto is Japan" in the story because it limits what I can do for world building. So since it's the South Pacific the native culture dealing with European influences was going to be Polynesian.
Aracai was originally Hispanic in early drafts of the story because when I set out to learn about global guest labor practices I was thinking from an American perspective. I also really wanted to explore how a devout Catholic would react to quests from Dialga, Arceus, Darkrai, etc. Then I picked Guyana as a country of origin because it was in South America and had a connection to Mew. Then I found out that Guyana really isn't culturally Latin American at all and, demographically, its population is about equally split between those of Asian, African, and native descent. So I ended up making her of Indian descent because the country is very significant in the global labor supply system. So both were kind of necessary consequences of some choices I made more than some grand vision from the start.
Some people have criticised Vaira for having too many themes. How do you respond to that viewpoint?
It... probably does. There are four major villainous groups, three of which represent Early Modern ideologies. The entire political and economic backdrop of Sinnoh is complex and will only become clear through the entire story, if then, and I'm not helping myself by adding in the supernatural elements. The protagonists are way over the top but in my defense that part was originally a stealth parody of fan fics that insist on having ever more ridiculous characters. It's also sort of my take on how a Chosen One quest would work if the gods could pick their Chosen Ones. Why go with ten years old novices when you can take an experienced killer, a guy who's already saved the world twice, and a virtual demigoddess to take up your quest?
I think it's partially balanced out by themes tending to stay with their respective narrators. Only Aracai deals with Hinduism, politics, and class warfare. Only Evyrus deals with languages, Cyrus, and the PMD world. Only Jane deals with outer space and general psychic issues. If I tried to bring in every theme in a single chapter that would be awful. But I try to only deal with a few at a time.
The last chapter ended with a big revelation that a main character will soon die. Where will we see the story going next?
A lot of chapters dealing with the other two reacting. While the fate of the third is uncertain to them and events have basically made working together impossible they need to split off and figure out how to proceed. For one narrator that involves a lot of moral questioning. For the other that's a lot of strategy and working through frustrations. Basically after the quest was abruptly derailed they need to find a way forward, whatever that means. All the while various factions gain an increasing interest in just what the incident at the end of Act I means for the political balance and work to strengthen their position.
In short, the story becomes a lot more introspective and the villains in the background start to take a more active role in the plot
After taking the month off for the awards, we are back with the Best Story winner from the Summer 2015 awards, Vaira: The Legacy of Cyrus by @Athena:
Firstly, congratulations on winning Best Story. How does it feel to get this prize?
I'm a bit stunned. I figured that if I won the prize it would be much further down the line. Vaira's only getting started and the opening Act was kind of a mess setting everything up so I can play with the world later. I only realized looking back during the awards process that the story is a fair bit longer than I had thought it was. It still feels new and developing to me.
How does writing Vaira compare to the process of writing Backgrounds?
Backgrounds had it's own challenges. Plotting out timelines was a bigger issue since I had to have everything figured out from the start and weave it together in to one story. There was also a certain issue of writing through a mild filter of mental and physical illness. So I had to research a lot about how those affect people who have them and also mold that in to the narrative. And then, fundamentally, Backgrounds was an origin story. It ends right where another story might begin. There was even a scene at the end of the original draft setting up a more conventional journey fic. I later nixed it when I realized that Vaira was going to be my main project rather than a Backgrounds sequel.
Vaira has its own problems. The narrators can be a bit hard to work with at points and I have to pay much closer attention to pacing. The story has a badge quest plot and after 100k words that's only one badge in. But since there's so much else I have to work with if I go too quickly I'll end up really overstuffing it. If I slow down too much it will never end. Research is also really difficult since I have to keep rechecking old notes and books since it deals with a fair few topics in some detail. And I actually have to figure out how to pace myself so I write but don't burn out. I didn't have to do that for Backgrounds since I wrote the Gela arc in a one-month span.
Of the three main characters in the story, which one is the easiest to write? The hardest?
I actually really dislike writing for Evyrus, which will probably surprise some people since he's the most normal character. He is a canon character, sort of, but there's almost nothing to go by on him. There's a lot of difficulty in adopting a near-silent protagonist in to a story. How passive do I make him? How active? And since his style is actually normal I can find it a bit difficult to get inspired by it or just flow with it when I start to write.
However annoying it might be to read, I don't have that problem with Jane. Literally every moment is a potential avenue to explore how she might feel about something, her style practically writes herself, and I have a fondness for morally ambiguous characters who view the world through odd lenses. And she has some really interesting character dynamics. She has a much stricter sense of good and evil than any other character in the story, but her views of morality are so skewed that sometimes she can be doing pure evil and see nothing wrong with it. She also has the power to enforce her will upon others, which combined with her general moral certainty and lack of understanding can make her into a villain who's neither good nor evil in the end.
You give the Pokémon in this story a lot of personality. Do you think the story would work without those characters?
I hate to say this, but probably. At the end of the day the major plot dynamics of Act I would still work with pretty static Pokemon characters. I don't think it would be as good, though, since they let me handle things in dialogue that would otherwise be expressed in lots and lots of internal monologue. They can also be used to force characters to confront aspects of themselves that they otherwise wouldn't. For Evyrus that's some conflicts over how human he really is and what his friendships have really been about. For Aracai that's her past and the extent to which she's fallen when she can't truthfully tell her childhood friend much about her adulthood at all. And for Jane... well, she and Jewel are going to have some talking to do after Act I.
You’ve done a lot of research to write the story. Why did you choose Indian and Maori cultures to be at the centre of the story?
The story does take place in the same universe as Backgrounds, although it will very seldom matter due to fifty years and half an ocean separating the stories. During that story I set up Kanto as a post-colonial island struggling between European and traditional norms, but it mostly took a backseat in the plot. I also established Kanto as being in the South Pacific since it's basically the only place that could easily fit a few more small continents and I don't like "Kanto is Japan" in the story because it limits what I can do for world building. So since it's the South Pacific the native culture dealing with European influences was going to be Polynesian.
Aracai was originally Hispanic in early drafts of the story because when I set out to learn about global guest labor practices I was thinking from an American perspective. I also really wanted to explore how a devout Catholic would react to quests from Dialga, Arceus, Darkrai, etc. Then I picked Guyana as a country of origin because it was in South America and had a connection to Mew. Then I found out that Guyana really isn't culturally Latin American at all and, demographically, its population is about equally split between those of Asian, African, and native descent. So I ended up making her of Indian descent because the country is very significant in the global labor supply system. So both were kind of necessary consequences of some choices I made more than some grand vision from the start.
Some people have criticised Vaira for having too many themes. How do you respond to that viewpoint?
It... probably does. There are four major villainous groups, three of which represent Early Modern ideologies. The entire political and economic backdrop of Sinnoh is complex and will only become clear through the entire story, if then, and I'm not helping myself by adding in the supernatural elements. The protagonists are way over the top but in my defense that part was originally a stealth parody of fan fics that insist on having ever more ridiculous characters. It's also sort of my take on how a Chosen One quest would work if the gods could pick their Chosen Ones. Why go with ten years old novices when you can take an experienced killer, a guy who's already saved the world twice, and a virtual demigoddess to take up your quest?
I think it's partially balanced out by themes tending to stay with their respective narrators. Only Aracai deals with Hinduism, politics, and class warfare. Only Evyrus deals with languages, Cyrus, and the PMD world. Only Jane deals with outer space and general psychic issues. If I tried to bring in every theme in a single chapter that would be awful. But I try to only deal with a few at a time.
The last chapter ended with a big revelation that a main character will soon die. Where will we see the story going next?
A lot of chapters dealing with the other two reacting. While the fate of the third is uncertain to them and events have basically made working together impossible they need to split off and figure out how to proceed. For one narrator that involves a lot of moral questioning. For the other that's a lot of strategy and working through frustrations. Basically after the quest was abruptly derailed they need to find a way forward, whatever that means. All the while various factions gain an increasing interest in just what the incident at the end of Act I means for the political balance and work to strengthen their position.
In short, the story becomes a lot more introspective and the villains in the background start to take a more active role in the plot