Personal questions time! I'm shocked at how many there were, tbh T-T Lez goo

FAVOURITES

books/series

hard to answer, but i usually default to the grishaverse. it's a classic: really well done, incredibly detailed, really likeable characters, and a super interesting plot. obviously soc is better than s&b but both have really good, key qualities that have inspired my writing immensely. i'll also add the ninth house duology, since i worship leigh bardugo, and those books really showed me how beautiful terrible things can be. plus the idea of a secret magic society based at yale was awesome. and fucking darlington-- okay sorry i'm done. (also atlas six gets honourable mention because it's like ninth house but percy jackson and it's fantastic) 

classics-wise, i love little women. or anne of green gables. i've read both about ten times each, and i absolutely adore them. self-explanatory. i also intensely love the princess bride because it's hilarious and i laugh out loud all the time when i read it. wonderful and well-written. 

characters

again, why are you guys asking me the hardest questions. i can't pick a favourite. UGH. okay top five: anne of green gables, jo march, kaz brekker, percy jackson, and agatha of woods beyond. i would do an in-depth but i'm pretty sure you don't want to read all of that so i'll just do the basics of why. 

anne: encapsulates the little girl in me who loves reading and big words and playing pretend and running around with puffed sleeves and climbing trees and all that good stuff. i love her because her story is just about her being her, and how she grows as a person. if you read the entire series, of which every book is the same wonderful quality, anne really develops into maturity without losing a bit of her sweetness, which i really want to emulate. 

jo: my fiery writer feminist self, the one who climbs trees and tackles my brothers and wears funny weird things because it's comfortable. i love jo, she's got a temper, she's awkward, but she's also loyal and sweet and means so well. the scene when she cuts her hair for her father's medical bill makes me cry and laugh every time (amy's "your one beauty!"). what i love most about her is her desperation to be good. jo is uncompromising, she's the ideal feminist, she doesn't believe in marrying for money or for treating women like crap or sacrificing your morals, but she's so so good. and she's always quick to apologise, even with her hot temper, and she struggles with putting aside her pride. and then you go and read little men, and you see how patient and loving she's become, without losing a bit of her passion or pride. 

kaz brekker: self-explanatory. have you met him? but also i like that kaz struggles all the time. leigh never forgets his leg or his pain or the daily demons he fights. but most importantly, and most loveably, kaz is literally an emo teenager. he's like, seventeen, running around with a bad haircut and angsty one-liners. and i love that. 

percy jackson: a basic one, but also one that everyone sleeps on. percy is such a good kid, and he makes mistakes, he gets grumpy, he loses his temper. also he's such a guy. but he's so well-meaning, and he always wants to help everyone. and i love characters that can be goofy, but are undeniably good, too. percy is so sweet, so dedicated to his family, and has such a big heart for a kid that's been emotionally and physically hurt so much. 

agatha of woods beyond: FUCKING AGATHA, BRO. agatha is probably the character closest to me. she's grumpy, she's mean, she's sarcastic, she's kinda gross and dark and weird, but she's got such a big heart. i love, love, love agatha. and her yearning to be beautiful, to be loved, but also to never sacrifice her own morals. i love the struggle she and tedros go through, trying to figure out who takes the lead in the relationship, and i love that she gets to step down. i hate the feminist characters that refuse to step down to the point of harm. the strongest characters know how to back off, to let others take charge. i love agatha because she's such a real character, and she's really dear to my heart. i grew up with her, the first book came out when i was eight, and i got to see her grow up just like me. plus, agatha's hilarious, and she gets to be such a strong, unique, weird, loving person. i adore her. 

OCs

favourite ocs. another horrible, horrible question. how could you ask me this. (kidding, i love it, but i'm struggling.) first and foremost has to be azima ainsworth. you already know why. azima feels so real to me, but so not, and she's got this ethereal, strange quality that even i can't put my finger on. but you'll get more info on her later;) second is adonis song. he's so alive to me, and because of vi's incessant questioning, i've made up so many details of his life that even i can't remember. third is darlington, aka damien arlington, because oil did such a good job at portraying him, and he surprised even me with his moral struggles and his realism. these three are just so dear to my heart. honourable mentions to mele, belen, and chia, who also whisper to me occasionally and fill my brain with their stories. 

colour

green. i love green. i can't wear green, but i love it. it's so earthy and snakey and just *mwah* i love green. a good runner up is yellow, which i never thought in my life would say, but i mean a golden kinda honey yellow, or duckling yellow. it's just so cute and sweet. 

food

embarrassingly, it's chicken noodle soup. i don't know why, but i ADORE chicken noodle soup. it's become a thing with my IRL friends. one bought me a can for my birthday. any kind of chicken noodle soup i will eat and adore. i just love it. i love it with ginger ale and saltine crackers, which is the most plain boring sick person food ever, but i really do love it. 

for a fun answer, i'd say soondubu, which is korean spicy tofu soup. it's delicious, especially with seafood, and the soft tofu is just so yummy and has a great texture. either that or korean fried chicken. 

song

this is hard because i listen to music based on my mood, so the song changes based on feelings. i'll list a few though. 

- killing me softly, the fugees
- love on the brain, rihanna
- animal (10th anniversary edition), neon trees
- alibi, lawrence
- walk this way, aerosmith
- go! (the teen titans song don't judge it SLAPS)
- stand by me, ben e. king
- always be my baby, mariah carey

also baby by justin bieber. unironically a good song. and i can do the whole rap so >:) 

singer

the band, lawrence, is my favourite artist/singers probably ever. i like every single song of theirs, which is rare for me, and it's such a fun funky groove that i like walking to. and in nyc i'm walking basically everywhere. they always put me in a good mood. either lawrence or hozier, which is my chiller kinda annihilation vibes music. they're my two main moods, which is as chaotic as it sounds. but yep. 

OR FCKN EVA NOBLEZADA SHE'S A BROADWAY STAR AND YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO HADESTOWN RIGHT NOW THANKS BYE. 

space formation

this question genuinely delighted me to no end. and i have no idea how to even answer it. i don't think about space often, but as basic as it sounds, i have to say the moon. i think it's so cute, it has little phases, and it reflects the light of the sun. i love that. it's simple, but i have a lot of love for the moon and midnight and all. 

but also asteroid belts because they're so pretty and dangerous at the same time. unassumingly deadly <3  

tv show

i don't watch a lot of TV, i'll be honest. everything i watch is with siblings. BUT YOU KNOW THE ANSWER AND IT'S BLUEY I LOVE BLUEY I WOULD DIE FOR IT IT'S THE BEST SHOW ON EARTH AND I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING ABOUT THAT. everything about it, from the writing to the art, is phenomenal.

but if you want a more serious answer, (although that answer is actually serious but i understand that you already know that i love bluey) i really like psych. it's an older show from the early 2000s and it's about a man who pretends to be a psychic to work for the police. in reality he's just a really eccentric weird hyper-alert detail-orient idiot. it's hilarious, and weird, and interesting, and i've learned a lot of cool tips on how to murder people. 

movie

again, how do i even answer that. top five again let's go: little women (greta gerwig), princess bride, the prestige, hercules, snowpiercer. i won't give you reasons why i think you should just go watch them. 

rock/geode/stone

again, another amazing question, thank you raven <33 my answer, which is such a cheat, is mother of pearl. i know it's not technically a stone, but it's really pretty, and i don't know what else you'd classify it as. it's subtle, but classy, and mesmerising. that or jade, which i hesitate to say since it's always associated with asians, but i do love jade and the greenness and the smoothness. plus korean jade celadon pottery is gorgeous. 

pasta

rory, you beautiful creature, of course you asked me my favourite type of pasta. the answer is tennis racket pasta. i'm a child at heart and easy to please, and i like weird shapes. that or angel hair, cuz i like the texture. but really i'm more of a rice girl. 

yogurt

nina, i hate to break it to you, but i'm allergic to yogurt. i know, it's devastating. but when i used to eat yogurt, my favourite kind was the lemon flavour of the noosa brand. i mixed it with the blueberry flavour usually. it's so good it's like eating ice cream. 10/10 recommend. 

tropes

i love rivals to friends. i don't see it enough, ever, but it's one of the best tropes out there in my opinion. i like it when people become friends, it's better than lovers. specifically i'm looking at Atlas Six, with Libby and Nico. they're literally my babies i love them so much. 

honestly i like any trope when it's well done. found family, of course, is always such a good one. lucky me, it's common too. another trope i adore is the older x younger friend, like steve and dustin. it's so fun, both characters become so stupid, and it's just highly enjoyable in all areas. ooh, lastly, the they-share-a-braincell trope, when all the individual characters are smart, but when they're together they turn absolutely stupid. it's so funny. 

hairstyle

i usually don't do my hair. it's dyed red and to my shoulders, so i don't have to do much with it. it's naturally cool-looking just by being dyed. i curl it heartlessly sometimes, because that's easier than doing it myself. i'm lazy, i dunno. 

when my hair is greasy or whatever, i always do half-up styles. either two lil buns or twisty things at the side of my head. there was a phase when i did victory rolls and dressed in only long skirts, which was really fun, but yeah. 

WRITING 

inspiration

i think i said this before, but i take inspiration from literally everything. real life, books, shows, random thoughts, dreams, etc. i think most specifically is from other books, because you can see realistically how a certain concept is carried out (i.e. a plot twist) and then use that same "algorithm" to create your own. recently, though, my family has been going on a christopher nolan kick, so a lot of my stuff is inspired by him and his works. not as cool, of course, but i'm okay with that. i don't know what it is about reading that makes me want to write, but it's always been that way. i think telling stories is so fun, especially when they can be variants of other people's stories. i love it when artists "copy" other artists and take inspiration and make something that's bigger than all of us. 

fanfics that inspire me

i don't read a lot on here, mostly i'm reading applyfics or scrolling through peoples' spam books, but i can talk about applyfics that have inspired me. of course, defeatism, which is really pushing me to finish my books now. runs in the family, which gives me motivation to create well-thought-out characters. ballad of falling light, which inspires me to write beautifully and with great detail. and there are the ones like teenage mania, rigor mortis, bonemarrow child, and avaria that help inspire the aesthetics of both the text and the world. 

things i want to see more of in fanfiction

*whispers enemies to friends*. stop making people fall in love we want good friendships. i also really wanna see people writing more original things, i always think those are the most interesting. plus it's hard to fall into the original style of the original author when writing fandom. 

another thing that i'd love to see is backstory fics. like, make me a jordie fic about him dying. (though i'm sure there are some out there) make me a pekka rollins fic, actually. make me something that goes into the backstory of someone we're not supposed to like, and make me like them, so when they reach their demise in the canon content, i mourn them. i love backstory books, when they create whole new plots and pockets of worlds in a story that we thought was finished. i think that's so interesting, and much cooler than creating something in the future. 

plots and stories that i want to write

i've mentioned my greek god au book that i've desperately wanted to write, but honestly, i have enough on my plate as it is. basically it's a greek god modern au, where different authors pick a god and write one shots and slice of life chapters for them, and we all develop these characters within one book and one world. it's so hard to coordinate, though, and i'm way too busy, and other people are way too busy, so it's definitely being shelved. for now ;)

a lot of my brain space is occupied by lamentations, so i can't think of anything right now, but i'm always getting ideas for original stuff. i have a huge notes document that's mostly incoherent rambling about nothing. it's a nice little hellscape for one in the morning. 

fandoms that i want to write

i always think about writing a marvel book, but it's so hard to translate a movie fandom to a book format. it's why those books that authors write for star wars and marvel and star trek never do well. it's just weird. plus there are so many characters that i'd have to funnel down and pick and ugh i have a headache just thinking about fitting an oc into all that timeline multiverse stuff. (the same applies for DC, who's currently fucking up their fandom more than before with stupid flash and stupid getting rid of henry cavill and stupid stupid stupid) 

i also have been toying with the idea of a grishaverse fic, as always. i've never abandoned my girl saskia, or katyenta, but they're on hold for a while because i think grishaverse is a lil too popular right now. i have a hard time writing fandom stuff (especially when it's mainstream media) because i always get too influenced by other people's writing. i need to only have source material to write a good fandom book. also i have no good plots in mind RIP. 

i'm always wanting to write for fandoms, but i find it stifling and less therapeutic. it's more stressful for me to always have to search up facts, remember names, etc. i like creating my own worlds and being able to invent useful backstories on the spot, rather than relying on preexisting magic systems and stuff. 

i will say i've had this grishaverse fic in the back of my mind about cottagecore lesbians and inej ghafa the pirate and a bunch of other fun things, but that will probably never see the light of day. 

cliches

more specifically, as Coruscant_Cosmonaut wrote, "I could fix them" cliches. essentially cliches that are overused that i think i could do better. my answer is all of them. LMAO jk jk i'm kidding. i'm not that good of an author. honestly, i don't know the answer to this. i think i try really hard to not write cliches, because i'm so sick of them, and the enneagram four in me is a raging beast. 

one that i would love to try and tackle is the bad boy trope. i feel like that would be really fun, like maybe a malfoy fic or something. it's cheesy a little bit, but really cathartic i think, and i could see myself having fun with it. plus i never write romance so it would be interesting to experiment. 

what fiction/literature as a field is lacking

XxFaylinexX took me out with the deep questions, and honestly, i'm running on half a brain, but i'll try my best to answer this one. i think we as a society have stopped appreciating goodness. we have a lessened value of truly good characters, and i myself am guilty of this too. everybody wants to write about anti-heroes, write depressing world-ending stuff, and corrupt people corrupting people. but i really wish we would write more about goodness, and appreciate the beauty in humanity, instead of dismissing everything as bad and therefore worthy of destruction. it's why i like classics: they're all about redemption and reformation and becoming good after doing bad things. yes, it's a stuffy point of view, but it's ultimately saying that humans have a chance of being good again. nowadays we praise evil and i fear that it's causing a lot of harm among people who can't tell the difference between reality and fiction. and i'm sure that in some way, it effects us too, desensitising us. i mean, i literally wrote a gorefest of murder and didn't blink once. that's gotta be horrible for us, right? 

i also have a huge thing about accurate representation, and i'm sure you all feel this too. my biggest pet peeve is when a book is written and it's solely about a character being ___. like, the only point of the story is to talk about how a character is black, or gay, or asian, or whatever. i hate that. and i think people could be doing a much better job at tackling the diversity problem. because diversity isn't pointing out what separates us, it's including more people in worlds that include everyone. if that makes sense. i love romances that celebrate culture while being a romance. i love fantasy books that just happen to have a black main character, nothing to do with commentary on society. and yes, those other books are important, and they are the stepping stones, but also we can do it in a much realer way. the hate u give is such a good example of a book about a black experience that's well thought out. but i can also think of a thousand books that try to talk about the same topic and aren't well done. 

also plus sized characters. guys, c'mon. nina zenik can't be the only accurately depicted plus-sized character. it's a whole thing that i really shouldn't have to get into. fat people aren't ugly, fat isn't an instantly ugly descriptor. it's all the associations that society has conditioned us to make. so why aren't books representing that kind of beauty? like, why are we all so suddenly uncomfortable when talking about body size, as if that's something to judge others on? okay this stopped being about literature but you get the idea. 

another thing, which is a whole other rant, but good christian literature. or media in general. like, i'm ashamed to be christian for a lot of reasons, but the biggest one is the movies we make. get that shit out of here PLEASE. our one good win was the narnia books (and you can make the case for lord of the rings too). and then you get dumpster fire disasters that i refuse to even name because goddamnit that's trash.  

what storytelling means to me

another deep cut thank you for this. i think storytelling has always been a way for me to process feelings. my writing is always triggered by emotion, and in quarantine i wrote so much i needed a new google account T-T. it's good to write my emotions out, disguised as stories, and it really helped during isolation periods. 

another thing it does is enable me to live through stories. i've always wanted a big adventure for a life, and by writing, i can put myself into these characters' shoes and go on adventures and fall in love and poke dragons and whatever. it's usually why i create korean american female characters, because they feel like me. every story i write is a bit of a self-insert, and i can see me in every character i've made, which is really fun. storytelling is sharing experiences, is getting to tell people things about me without them even realising it. it's free therapy, basically, but in a fun and creative way. 

favourite writing compliment

out of the four compliments (which i don't wanna copy paste so you can go look for them or be content with my answer), i think this one is the one that would please me the most: "your writing really made me feel ___, like i was experiencing it with the characters." i've gotten this a few times before, not in those words, but it makes me absolutely ecstatic. like i mentioned before, writing to me is all about sharing experiences, and if you feel exactly what i'm trying to make you feel, then i'm happy. good writing be damned, i want you to cry when the character struggles and laugh when the character smiles. so now you know how to feed the beast of my vanity <3 

why i started publishing on wattpad

thank you oil for this really good question that i don't really know the answer to. i think part of it was desperation for connections: it was middle of covid, etc. etc. but also i felt a lack of connection around my writing. i used to write with my cousin, but once she went to college, she stopped writing fanfics with me, which was really sad. i felt like i lost a lot. and joining wattpad really revived that passion of writing-based community, and i've found some amazing kindred spirits on here. it's such a good place to let myself be a nerd and write random shit and i love that so much. as for publishing specifically, i really just wanted to share the writing with other people. i liked knowing how my writing made people feel. and based on those last two questions i guess i can see a common theme now XD. see, writing is free therapy. 

OKAY COMMENT LET ME KNOW WHY YOU WRITE ON WATTPAD BC I'M CURIOUS. 

works that i'd show to my irl friends

that's hard. i think honeybees, since it's some more thoughtful writing, versus just getting the plot out on paper. also if i showed them lamentations they'd be like "what the fuck lydia" and you know, that's fair. honeybees is cute and nice and romantic and i'd be down to show it to a friend. but also i'd hiss at them and scuttle away like  a baby eldritch horror for fear of them mocking me LMAO 

most difficult scene to write

that's another hard question. damn guys these are good. i think the hardest scene to write for me was, if you can recall, in the original tattooed heart. writing the infamous baby scene was hard not only because emotionally i was devastated, but because i had no idea how to encapsulate that kind of grief and pain. tattooed heart was a weird era for me, when i was having a lot of random dark thoughts and felt the need to put them on paper for everyone to read. and clearly, that didn't go well. it was so unnecessarily angsty and traumatising that i just wanted to start all over. most of that book was a challenge because of the cast, the setting, the time period, all the backgrounds, etc. i'm trying again, but lord knows how well i'll do. 

ideal writing set up

i like writing in the bathroom. idk why. i write some of my best stuff perched on the closed toilet lid and balancing my computer on my lap. i think it's the closed-off-ness. i usually just drink water, because i find it hard to write and eat at the same time, but i've learned to write pretty much anywhere. a fan favourite is the subway, because i love being lost in the crowd and going someplace as i write. plus so many people give me so much inspiration. 

also i have to write in pyjamas, if i'm at home. it's a rule. with a pillow on my lap, or in a blanket. again, not sure why, it just happens. if i were to pick a snack to eat while writing, it would be grapes. i love grapes. or a smoothie. OR CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP. 

okay sorry. 

MISC.

makeup recs & tips

i am a makeup queen. i love makeup. i gave vi once a huge breakdown of makeup-isms, but here are some key points in a brief paragraph. foundation is useless. i get the appeal but really, it makes you look cakey. embrace your skin, pimples are cute, and everyone has them. plus i bet the foundation is making it worse. bronzer, primer, contour whatever is useless too. unless you're reconstructing your entire face, you don't need it. (obviously if you *are* reconstructing your face you need all of these things, and i say go for it, but if you want natural every day make up then don't use anything on your skin except like blush and highlighter)

eyeliner is everything. learn the right shape for your eye. experiment. also graphic eyeliner, even super simple ones, gets you lots of compliments. get a cool colour and knock yourself out. if you're shy or want a tamer look, use brown eyeshadow. it gives the same shape as eyeliner does, but in a softer way. 

mascara is fun. you all already know the deal about mascara. don't use heat to curl your lashes!! find a good mascara that works with your hair type. (i have thick, straight, downwards-pointing lashes, but the l'oreal telescopic mascara works really well) 

highlighter is also fun. blush is sometimes useless but sometimes handy, depends on the look you're going for. also depends on your skin. obviously this is all stuff that works for me, so it might not work for you. in that case, don't be afraid to experiment! life is full of mistakes and people won't remember the one day you looked kinda off because your false lashes were glued on weird. 

okay enough makeup i'm not trying to channel james charles i'm done.

next time on ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS OF LIFE, lydia will be tackling all your questions regarding characters! ocs! and more! stay tuned to find out what weird shit she'll ramble about next! that's all folks, and see you in an undetermined amount of days!