The Story Corner » Discussions


Writers Interview: Lissette

Tags: #Lissette  #Karver  #Interview 
  • December 7, 2016

    Hey, guys. So, we have many spotlights on this site and I bet you noticed that. Member spotlights, Builder spotlights, Build spotlights, Workshop Success Stories, but I felt that writers of this Vault are somehow left out of those lights of glory. So here we are, I´m introducing you a new way how to bring attention to writers and their work. Interviews. And is there any other worthy adept than our illustrious Lissette? I think there are other people, but this one really deserves it and you´ll see why.

    Hey, Lissette. So, to start this with something easier, how about you tell people something about yourself? Nothing serious, just little something so people could understand whose behind all those words of Straag Rod. And you can totally lie about your age. :D

    Ha! Won’t lie about my age, what would Albee think? Me being dishonest and all. I am thirty-nine years young. When I am not writing away, I am a classically trained contralto. I sing for local opera companies, churches, synagogues, and I teach at a local community college and a private conservatory. I teach lessons, music theory, and music history. I like tofu and rainy days. Bullcrap, I like medium-rare steak, beer, and sunshine. Some sunshine, not too much, and if it’s too hot, I don’t like that either. I thank Miami everyday for its efficient air-conditioning. It’s December nineteenth and the humidity is so darn high, I feel like an Argonian.

    Alright, mrs. Argonian. It´s certainly better than walking out of your house and freezing to death, but that isn´t why we´re here, right? So, my next question: How did you get to writing? And I don´t mean the Straag Rod, though we´ll get to that question later. I mean, almost everyone has something they call their “poor attempts at writing.” So, did you write something before Straag Rod? What made you write and what was it about?

    That’s Miss Argonian, though in time, it will be Mrs. We opted not to indulge in traditional Argonian engagement practices, however, ‘cause the ring has diamonds, not flawless amethysts. Alright enough Argonian chatter, lol, we don’t want Sotek getting nervous. How did I get into writing? I read a lot growing up, mostly the classics. Favorite writers include Dostoyevsky, Conrad, Tolkien, and for weirdness, William Goldman. I did a bit of creative writing in grammar school, but by the time I was in college, all my writing was academic. Papers, papers, papers, nonfiction, analysis, that sort of thing. Interesting because it was my in line of work, but blah, not especially creative and always for a grade.  It was my first Requiem playthrough, an Altmer mage, where I decided to chronicle it in a journal format in Steam forums. One Thousand Ways to Die; Requiem, Frostfall, and iNeed, oh my! Was not serious in the beginning, for I deliberately messed up game locations and NPC names. I had a lot of fun, though.  First time I had done any sort of creative writing since I was a kid.

    So how and why did it change from Altmer mage´s journal to Albee and, more importantly, to Straag Rod? Because journal and what you´re writing now is a step forward. I mean, Straag Rod is huge step forward from that. So how Albee and Straag Rod came to life?

    Ever hear of the Mod “Familiar Faces”? Well, when I was playing Lilithia, the drunk Altmer mage, I was pretty disappointed that she didn’t have a suitable follower or spouse. I searched Nexus and didn’t find an Altmer I liked. Then I stumbled upon that mod thinking that I’d use it to create a follower that would work for her. I ended up chickening out on it, but by then I had created Aelberon of Dusk and started liking the playstyle. Aelberon is mentioned in Lilithia’s story a bit and his story, just sort of took off. Honestly, I don’t know how it became so big. I had a huge problem with restarteritus before I started playing Aelberon. Straag Rod was a working title in my word documents. Originally, Aelberon’s story was called Of the Knight of the Crystal Tower. That was funny because it was only when I started posting that I realized that Phil’s wonderful build also had that name. He was super nice about it, and I know I didn’t have to, but I decided to change the title to Straag Rod.

    Your Straag Rod was very well received in Tamriel Vault, but I bet there are people who don´t read much and I think this is your chance to tell them that there is something amazing out there to read. Could you tell them what´s the Straag Rod about, in short? What do you think are it´s main “selling points”? And please, try not to be humble.

    Straag Rod is a tale about a Mer and his dog. Just kidding, though Albee does love his dog. It’s a tale of the last Dragonborn, based on my most memorable playthrough of Skyrim. Playing a build that was against type, using an overhaul mod that made things extremely difficult and the struggle is reflected in the narrative. I delve into matters of choice and faith, and not all of the subject matter is pleasant. Main selling points? Well, certainly not the length. LOL, I am not very forgiving to my readers in that regard and they have my sincere apologies. Okay, okay, for real, selling points. The lore that I try to incorporate, even if I get it totally wrong. The detail I put into the world. There are cities, Alinor for example, that I build from scratch based on Elder Scrolls books. The detail I put into NPC’s. I think we all want to see characters fleshed out and I attempt to do so. I try to give reasons why quests are done, why NPC’s think and feel the way that they do. I do not know how successful I am. I am very humbled that Straag Rod has been so well-received. I still don’t quite get it, see the next question.

    You´ve decided to make Albee “the good guy” and he´s literally too good for his own good, but nevertheless, it works very well to portray his more “humane” side. Readers can actually feel for him or feel the same emotions as him. But it is so hard these days with anti-heroes and others whatnots to write about kind and caring character. How does that work for you? Do you ever feel like it´s too hard to write about character like this one? Did you ever want Albee to be more...darker? Is there even a chance he might be little bit more darker version of himself?

    I love a good anti-hero, I really do, and then I go and make a good guy. Well, it’s weird, Karver, it’s weird making the good guy. And an old good guy to boot! But a good weird. Different. Being good doesn’t mean that you are devoid of other emotions. Aelberon gets angry, he swears, a lot, lol. He feels sorrow, he has a flawed sense of pride. He struggles with his Tenets at times and he has his vices. Did I ever want Aelberon darker? No. I think making him darker changes who he is, that despite the swearing, smoking, and overindulgence in sugar, he’ll still do what’s right. He may not love it, but he’ll do it. Will he become darker? Darker, in what sense? As in more evil? I don’t think so. I do think he’ll be wiser and realize some things as his learning process continues.  There are four books planned, and we’ve just seen the release of Part 1 of Book 1. The tone of Part 2 is much darker overall and Aelberon goes through a crisis. On top of him still dealing with the ramifications of Part 1’s ending.

    Speaking of Book 1, you´ve just released Part 1 in PDF for download and those who know you, know that you went great lengths to make it perfect. Even going back and editing many chapters. Some of those changes were small, some big, yet I wonder: How did you feel about changing them? It could be tiresome to go back and change things and you´ve done that many times actually. Not everyone would be willing to do that.

    It is not perfect. I’m not a very good writer and blah, it is definitely not perfect. Found typos already when I was reading through it last night and that was chapter 1. *Facepalms* I think I have said before, that I write with three things; guts, heart, and brain. The gut and heart have at the writing first and sometimes they don’t even speak proper English. The first drafts, the ones that appear in Steam forums, are more brief and basically capture the emotions. When my brain has had time to process what I’ve written, I go back and fix it. It is tiresome, but until I’m happy with what I’m trying to communicate, I try to fix it. Some chapters are beyond help. They were written too early and fixing them too much now would really take away from them. I do like to go back, however, and address continuity. Straag Rod is a huge story, the events of Part 1 need to gel with the events of Part 4. If I told you the amount of pages, I honestly don’t know how you’d react. I’m guessing it’s past 2,000 and Part 4 isn’t complete yet. That’s a lot of events to keep straight in my head.

    Guts, heart and brain. Well, I would dare to say you have some serious guts, especially when it comes to researching the Lore and then writing about it. By that I mean the Fall of the Crystal Tower. Not everyone would dare to explore that, and yet you did and with a bravado. Then you visited Alinor under Thalmor´s influence, no easy task either. Were you afraid to write about that? What would you say to writers who don´t feel like delving into those unknown waters? What would you say to give them courage to do that?

    The Crystal Tower and the Vampire Symposium chapters were approached with a great deal of trepidation. What if I’m wrong? The lore on the Crystal Tower, barring Rising Threat, and some brief articles was very limited. Other than lore books, there are no physical representations of Alinor. I dread ESO going there. They have already been to Auridon and I have seen pictures of Firsthold. Needless to say, my version of Firsthold is not their version. I got it wrong, but I know now that that’s okay. With new game releases, you get an ever-changing lore, and I’ve made some adjustments, but I’ve not made others. I think letting writers know that there is a difference between what can be presented in a lore book versus what can actually be handled in a game engine are two different things. LOL, if I did exactly what I did in the game, Aelberon would have worn that captain’s armor in the first room at Helgen. LOL, she’s a woman! We all saw the boobs in that armor. No way that’s fitting Aelberon. And like Alinor has hundreds of towers of glass and crystal in its lore description. Can a game engine conceivably do this? Not sure. I know writers who do not emphasize lore so much and do a wonderful job with their stories.

    I bet it can be frustrating, and I think we all know that writing has it´s ups and downs. Sometimes you don´t feel like writing or that you can´t continue anymore. Did you ever felt like that? How did you get through that? Do you have some bullet-proof method how to push yourself?

    Yeah, of course I do. I have some pretty intense slumps, especially after I write something emotionally charged. There are days when I don’t feel like what I’m putting on the page is any good and there are days when I’m just exhausted and can’t write. All writers go through this. I tend to shift my focus when that happens. Like after pouring out 67,000 words for NaNoWriMo, I had to stop for while. The good thing is that I shifted back to editing and got this pdf off the ground, or I play Skyrim. Now, I’m better rested, so I’m slowly shifting back to writing. This may disappoint people, I push myself and at the same time, I don’t. My best writing comes when I’m not pushing myself. Early mornings with a nice mug of cafe con leche (Cuban-style espresso with milk). I’m not a professional writer and my life already has enough pressure. I write to be creative.

    Heh, how many mugs of coffee you drink a day, eh? But seriously now. You said that Straag Rod is going to have 4 Books, right? And each book has 4 parts? You´ve just finished the Part 1 of Book 1 and it has aproximatly 600 pages. The scale is...just wow. I know I´ve counted your chapters and each has cca 20 pages. With these numbers, it seems like you have it planned, so you think you could tell us what can we expect next in Book 1?

    Haha! Depends on the day. Usually it’s just the one mug of cafe con leche, but that stuff has like three shots of espresso in it. Tehe, and then I often visit my mother, who makes me cafe, and then… I cans stops anytimes I wants to. :) I swear! Wish I had a coffee mod. I can so see Äelberon drink coffee, a lot of coffee.

    Planned? I just finished planning Part 1 of Book 2. After a while, you are able to figure out how much information, plus filler narrative, goes into each chapter. Lore and concepts for Books 3 and 4 are already in my head. As for Book 1? It is nearly complete. Only about 10 chapters left in part 4, which is coincidently what I was working on when I saw another question. A heavy scene, actually took me some time to mount the courage to write it. It’s Äelberon at very nearly his darkest hour. Great Anguish was bad, his parents’ deaths were bad, and this, this is bad too. But, that’s Part 4, we are at Part 2. Part 2 is the shortest part, but in some ways the most brutal. Not all books have the same number of parts, nor are all parts of equal length. I go by overall plot structure and stop when it seems appropriate to. Alright, Part 2. Remember Äelberon’s dream in Part 1? That will come back. He will go to High Hrothgar. There will be dragons and I will go deeper into the tragic story of the Companions. Äelberon faces a heavy test.

    I will give a little bit though. Book 1 revolves around the Companions, Book 2 Dawnguard, Book 3 is both Mage’s questline and the Main quest, and Book 4? The events of Dragonborn. There is an overall arc, however, that ties all the Books together. Whew! That was long!

    Long, but worth it. And I´m slowly running out of questions. But I got this one. Writers often make their main character(s) a reflection(s) of themselves, or direct opposite of themselves. How much does Albee reflect you or differ from you? Do you sometimes force youself to not make him too much like you?

    There is that common saying that authors say to do a lot. “Write what you know.” No, Äelberon is not me. LOL, I am not a 6’10” Elf who runs around with a bow and arrow and I am not nearly as nice as he is. Just teasing. Do I sometimes draw on my personal experiences to better portray him as a character. Oh, yes. Mostly for emotions and some quirks here and there. The only thing he and I really have in common is that we both sing and we love books and learning. When I play builds, I tend to play them with their own set of values. His views on the Civil War, for example, are his views, not mine. So, lol, a rather blurry relfection, if we had to call it something. I initially thought that making him sing crossed the line when I introduced it in Part 3, but no, it’s so different from the type of singing that I do, that it doesn’t bother me anymore.  It may be my voice, however, that you hear in the recordings. Can’t find a baritone that sounds like how he sounds in my head. Yes, I said recordings.

    I remember that you mentioned song(s) for Straag Rod. You´re planning to make them? Record them?

    Yes. That is the plan. Two of the poems of part 1 will be set to music. There are other songs, mostly from parts 3 and 4.

    Alright. I think that we´re nearing to the end of this interview so I would ask one question for myself. In the Straag Rod you mentioned Altmer thief being the Champion of Cyrodiil. Could we hope to read a story about that character one day?

    That’s really not for me to say. See, that Altmer thief is another character created by gnewna, who has her own blog at Tamriel Vault. I was stuck one day when writing the chapter that mentions the Champion of Cyrodiil and, lol, we got to talking, she and I, and bam, the Champion of Cyrodiil became her Oblivion Altmer thief. I have integrated Gnewna’s Nerussa from her own blog into Straag Rod and I’ll just say, what you read in Part 1’s Vampire Symposium will not be the last you see of her. Don’t want to reveal too much.

    And my last question: With January´s Short Stories event nearing, you have the chance to create some hype for your story here. Would you tell us what we can look forward?

    Four Altmers and a tomato, Karver, four Altmers and a tomato. There will also be fur, and oh, yes, sand. Lots and lots of fur and sand. And believe it or not, you will see some familiar faces, though they will be elsewhere. ;)

    Well, I guess that´s it. Thanks, Lissette for revealing so much from behind the scenes of Straag Rod and about yourself too. I guess it´s time to focus on Part 2, right?

    No, thank you, Karver. I am super flattered and humbled that you asked me to do this. I am very happy to be a member of Tamriel Vault. Great stories, builds, and content, but even more, a great community.

     

    So that´s it, guys. Feel free to ask Lissette some burning questions. Trust me, she will be more than happy to answer you. Just stay focused on her work and not herself and her private life (I know it´s hard! But try!)