Hello, fellow disciples! We've been searching far and wide for individuals who have cultivated for a long time. This month, we bring you an interview with chromatix, the author of Red String.

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Tell us a bit about yourself!

Amber (@chromatix) is an author of SFF and contemporary fiction. In her free time, she lives within Chinese fantasy novels and dramas, and also drinks one too many cups of bubble tea. 

What is your writing process? Do you outline everything or write as things come to mind? Why?

I usually have a rough outline with major plot points figured out, and then fill in everything in between as I draft! The outline provides a map that gives the story an overall direction, but the details come later as the characters can sometimes take on a life of their own!

What are some things that influenced your story?

Chinese mythology! 

Tell us about the main character of one of your stories. What inspired their creation?

In Red String, one of the main characters, Jun, is inspired by the Chinese myth of Yue Lao, the God of Marriage. It is said that the God of Marriage ties a red string to the hands of two soulmates who are meant for each other, as a symbol of their joined destinies, and Jun is a contemporary manifestation of how the God of Marriage might do his job in modern times! 

What were some challenges you experienced while writing the story?

I think that finishing a story is always the hardest part. It takes a great deal of determination to be able to see a story through from start to finish, especially when writers block appears out of nowhere, so when that happens, I simply have to push through and put some words on the page, and then tell myself that I can come back and edit later!  

What message do you hope your story will tell your readers?

That it is okay to be yourself - and we should all be proud of the person that we are inside. 

If you woke up in a time or place that was very different from reality, what would you do?

Explore! I love reincarnation and transmigration stories, so I would honestly be quite excited if something like that happened to me. I'd be so thrilled to find out what this new time/place has in store.

If there was something you could learn (i.e., some spell, some martial arts, etc.) like the main character in your book, what would it be?

I would like to have Ting's (the Grim Reaper) skill at martial arts, because I've always wanted to be a badass wuxia exponent! 

Would you rather go through a lifetime of never finding love or be willing to go through several lifetimes of hardships just to save your love? Why?

Several lifetimes of hardships just to save my love. I am a sucker for tragic romances and the idea of finding that one and only love of a lifetime, so I cannot imagine a life without finding The One. 

What is your favorite creature from Asian mythology or folklore? Why?

The Chinese dragon! I love the myths of the dragon gods of the four seas, and how they control the weather (among other things). A recent favourite drama that I've watched is Back from the Brink, which features a dragon god as the main character and how he tries to retrieve the different parts of himself after being betrayed by someone he believed was the love of his life - highly recommend it to everyone! 

What is your favorite Asian myth? Why?

I would have to say the Chinese myth of the cowherd and the weaving maid, the star-crossed lovers who were forced to part and can only meet once a year upon a bridge of magpies. As I said before, I love tragic romances and this is sort of the Romeo and Juliet equivalent in Chinese mythology. 

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, chromatix! We wish you the best of luck in your writing endeavors.

Until the next chapter, fellow disciples!