OC/Writing art asks, for whatever your most recent work is!

Starry Night, The Scream, Persistence of Memory, Wheatfield with Crows, Creation of Adam, and creative!

Hello !! Thank you so much for the ask !! I'm gonna cheat and answer these for Cotton Mendings, which is not my most recent WIP but has the best answers for these questions.

Starry Night: are there any scenes in this work that take place at nighttime? Is this significant, or just the passing of time?

Many, many of them!!!!!!!! And it is definitely thematically significant. Most major important scenes from the beginning to the midpoint happen during the evening/night, and then the major scenes from the midpoint until a little bit before the climax happen during the day. And then it goes back to night again. That sort of represents the emotional states that the main character(s) experience throughout the story and their relationships. Another thing is that light (mostly sunlight but artificial light as well) is emphasised in scenes where Oscar (protagonist) and Percy (love interest + my most beloved baby boy I would do anything for him) are together in the same space (which is why important midpoint-to-climax scenes happen during the day).

The Scream: are there any moments in this work that you think could scare a reader? Are there any moments where the characters themselves are profoundly scared?

I don't really think there are any that would scare a reader, but there are definitely scenes where the characters are absolutely terrified. Two of those scenes are murders and one of them is a character nearly dying. Heh.

Persistence of Memory: are there any moments in this work where a character's memory plays a strong role? Either an individual memory, or simply a character's ability to recall the past.

Yes !! There are. Many of those moments. A lot of Oscar's actions happen because of him thinking about events in his past (for example, getting into a relationship with his (rich) former friend (Salvatore) whom he initially rejected, piercing his own ear and wearing a pear earring that a girl he had a fling with gave him (slut behaviour on Oscar's part. 10/10 would do the same)). Oscar's memories of his brother (Charlie) (deceased) + another character's memories of Charlie are also very important and cause like 50% of the plot. Another thing is that Oscar and Percy meet once very briefly near the beginning of Cotton Mendings before becoming friends a lot later and Percy doesn't really remember much about that (because alcohol and emotional trauma 👍). ALSO there's a chapter entirely composed of Oscar's journal entries several years before the start of the story.

Wheatfield with Crows: are there any scenes in this work that involve birds? Do the birds play a definitive role, or are they simply part of the setting?

There are scenes with birds in them but they're just part of the setting!! They don't matter to me. That Is A Joke I love birds I would die for birds. But like they don't have much of a role in the story. Wings and feathers on the other hand... well let's just say I went off the rails with the Icarus symbolism.

Creation of Adam: choose one character that is not present at the beginning of this work. How did you introduce them into the story?

Percy !! Aka the loveliest little guy who is everything to me and makes me sob violently. This is on some levels a cheat because *technically* in the literal first scene Oscar's staring at a portrait of him, but I don't count that as his real introduction and the portrait scene plays part in his Real introduction, so!! The first scene he is physically present in and meets Oscar is a Great Gatsby ass party because *every* fictional work set in the 1920s needs one of those. AND. Oh dear god I am not normal about this scene. Him and Oscar talk a little bit and they're both quite out of place (Percy is not at all dressed appropriately for the occasion cause he's hashtag quirky and Oscar feels overwhelmed and is having a category 5 Autism Event (sensory overload)) but they like books and poetry and and Percy gives him a little pink flower and then later on they stare at each other really intensely and . Oscar in the narrative compares him to Saint Sebastian because that's a normal thing to do and the next morning he eats the flower. He's such a little freak. AND JUST. AAAA. Oscar has a very romanticised idea of Percy at that point and he feels incredibly sad because he thinks he will never actually get to know him and they'll never see each other again and he realises the portrait of Percy doesn't say anything about Percy at all, it's just a misperception, a ragingly alive young man presented as soft and pretty and angelic and devoid of life, but Oscar isn't really aware that, in seeing that misperception, he is constructing *another* misperception of Percy as a martyr and something inherently unknowable and nebulous. I want to eat glass. Anyways. Sooooo normal about them.

Creative!: free space! share something you've been dying to share about your writing! Could be an OC that never gets the limelight, a moment you were proud of, or anything else you'd like to share.

Uhm. Well, I'm planning on writing a novella called Carpe Vinum Motion Picture! (though I'm not sure about the title but I'm rolling with it for now). It's set a couple of years after the events of Cotton Mendings and it's literally just Oscar running away to France and being depraved and recklessly indulgent and a bitch to everyone around him. In Cotton Mendings he's definitely a little freak but he's relatively stable (?) and also, like, very kind and gentle, BUT we do see the slutty bitchy sad boy side of him in some scenes, especially early on (for example Percy's introduction scene). And I wanted to explore it further because I love making myself want to throw rocks at that man. I love him sooooo much <3