Guild Wars 2

Greetings! As some of you may know, I am the author of the still-ongoing fanfiction, “Traveling Circus.” What some of you may not know is that it was started three years ago, and I had no intention of continuing it for this long. Since you keep reading, and I keep writing, I thought it might be fun to do some questions. Feel free to ask your own, too!

My questions are,

Who is your favorite character and why?
What was the moment you realized they were your favorite?
Who is your least favorite character and why?
What characters would you like to see more of?
Are there any in particular who you would be interested in seeing a spinoff or short story based on?

As always, I hope you enjoy what I’ve written and that you will have fun with this little indulgence of my curiosity.

~S.F.

Three years! Has it really been that long? Well, either way, keep up the good work, Selana.
As for your questions, I don’t who my favorite character is. They’re all good. Now, I wouldn’t mind seeing some characters that are not human or Sylvari, though.
I do a have a question of my own. I have noticed two very annoying obstructions thatt tend to get in the way often: writer’s block and the saying, “You are your own worsst critic.” How many times have these obstructions affected your work?

Uden Reavstone.3426:

Three years! Has it really been that long? Well, either way, keep up the good work, Selana.
As for your questions, I don’t who my favorite character is. They’re all good. Now, I wouldn’t mind seeing some characters that are not human or Sylvari, though.
I do a have a question of my own. I have noticed two very annoying obstructions thatt tend to get in the way often: writer’s block and the saying, “You are your own worsst critic.” How many times have these obstructions affected your work?

Thank you for the encouragement, Uden!
I’m glad that you like the characters so far.

Hm… not human or sylvari… I think I can manage that. Now the only question is, guns or pets? I’ll be trying to introduce another race/character later in this arc, although I’m not sure where she’ll be going. Heck, I might add another guildmember’s character! Oooh, I think I know where he could fit in…. Thanks! You’re spurring my writing sprees!

Writer’s block is best overcome by writing, even if you don’t feel terribly creative. Keep a varied mix of music to help stimulate your creative juices. Oftentimes inspiration will strike as you’re typing, and even if it doesn’t, a re-read may cause you to begin thinking more about what could happen next.

As for your “own worst critic”, I find it helpful to visualize them as a little ugly goblin. Proceed to stick tiny goblin under a glass and smirk as it pounds its fists in frustration on the walls.
For more concrete processes, I will close my eyes when I type. This requires a fair bit of knowledge as to the layout of the keyboard, but if I can’t see my mistakes while I’m typing them, I’m more likely to get my rough draft done in one shot so I can edit it later. Although it might cause you nigh-physical pain, try to avoid correcting the draft until it’s completely done; after all, you’re not immediately going to publish it, so it’s best to get your ideas out while they’re still fresh.

I hope this helps!

~S.F.

Congrats on the milestone — that’s impressive! I just discovered your story and haven’t had time to read very far, but I’ve started a similar project and was wondering if you had any tips on writing something over such a long period of time. How much do you plan ahead? Do you tend to post on a fairly regular basis, or as you finish chapters?

Teaniel.9052:

Congrats on the milestone — that’s impressive! I just discovered your story and haven’t had time to read very far, but I’ve started a similar project and was wondering if you had any tips on writing something over such a long period of time. How much do you plan ahead? Do you tend to post on a fairly regular basis, or as you finish chapters?

Thank you very much, Teaniel!

Fair warning- it has recently become three tabs long, so when you do read it, I recommend not doing it all at once – you’ll be there a while. (I was not anticipating that, either!)

When I write, I often do it when my fingers are twitchy or when I have a bolt of inspiration. However, as those are fickle standpoints. If I haven’t written in a while, I’ll write when I have time. Sometimes, the simple act of writing can cause inspiration.

In terms of planning ahead, I have the entire arc planned out by its conception. Even in Arc 1, I already knew what I wanted done in not only it, but in Arc 2 and most of 3. Even though this means that I’ve had the entire thing planned for three years- and seeing it start to actually get there is thrilling- just having a simpler idea of what to do in chapters is a good start.

When you’re writing, make it manageable- go for parts of a whole. I’ve discovered that writing parts to chapters is much easier than writing the entire thing. I’m able to focus more on the characters and their development than any other distractions. A chapter is like a short story. Try to have at least one conflict- even if it is minor, such as the desire for a glass of water and the obstruction of obtaining said glass. If a chapter has no conflict, it will often bore its readers. However, don’t force it, lest it come across as oddly-written or squashed.

I post on a rather erratic basis. As stated previously, I usually write when I have time, and depending on how well I manage my schedule, that can either mean I have an entire weekend or not at all. Sometimes I’ll keep a chapter from being posted until I’m able to edit it or better refine the idea.

I hope this helped answer your questions!

~S.F.

Wow, 3 years, that is very impressive, keep up the good work. I started reading your story about a year ago. Most of the fan stuff I have read is pretty weak but yours struck me as someone who had a good idea what you were doing.

Selana Firestone.6389:

My questions are,
Who is your favorite character and why?
What was the moment you realized they were your favorite?
Who is your least favorite character and why?
What characters would you like to see more of?
Are there any in particular who you would be interested in seeing a spinoff or short story based on?

I think I like Myrie the best. She seems like a no nonsense kind of character. She is becoming more likable as the story develops. It was like you wanted the reader to see her gritty side so that you could then make her more quirky adorable. There wasn’t any point in particular that she became my favorite, it just slowly happened as I got to know her better.

I am sad to say i think the character I like the least is Sylfia. She just seems a bit over the top when it comes to being drunk all the time. Sorry, you asked :p

As for who I would like to see more of: would be the 2 highborn characters. The mesmer Gryphon is a likable fellow kind of like a mentor and you have developed him pretty well; but the one elementalist Yalora you have only mentioned a couple of times. This makes me think you are holding back on that one for a reason. Are there secret things happening behind the scenes with her that will soon be coming to light?

Hello, Dolphin! (Fun name, by the way.)

Thank you for replying! It’s fun hearing what others think of my precious characters. I’m glad you like Myrie. One of the funnier stories I’ve heard about her is that one reader initially disliked her so much that he wanted to whack her! But in time, as you pointed out, she did smooth herself out a little bit. Like I said, it’s fascinating to find out who likes which one best.

Hm. I appreciate your honesty. I’ll keep that in mind when I’m writing, and see if I can make better use of Sylfia’s more sober moments.

Funny that you should mention the two other highborns. Both Gryphon and Yalora are based on two guildmembers’ characters. I may add Gryphon back in sometime, but for now I shall stick to simply brewing their stories in my head and seeing if or when they’d best be put back in.

Concerning your last question, I have only one thing to say.
MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

~S.F.