Questions for Crue

[Crue Sarish]

A little late in getting to this, but here I am! It's been an absolute blast participating and I look forward to the next one that comes up.

This was my first Survivor contest (thanks for the invite, Vizon!), so you won't have to guess if I was someone from a previous contest. So... Anyone have any questions regarding Crue or the author behind her?

[Airan]

1.) Where did your initial inspiration for Crue come from?

2.) What was the most challenging part about writing Crue?

3.) What is something about Crue that you wish you could have explored further?

[Vera Silvertooth]

1. If you could go back to the beginning of the contest, is there anything you would do differently?

2. What's your favorite drink?

[Matra Hammer]

1- What was your least and most favorite parts of participating in this contest?

2- Will Crue go full native on the island, or will she try, I dunno, building a school? What will she do?

3- Does Crue have any interests outside of professionalism? High fives and tavern brawls with Vylan?

4- What is your proudest moment of the entire contest?

[Robert Rosequill]

Did you have a set plan for Crue, or were you surprised to write her staying on the island with the mongooses?

What did you originally think Crue's ending would involve?

It took me three weeks before I found out Crue was an anagram for "Cure", and that was only because of a typo. How would you reply to that?

[Crue Sarish]

Airan's questions! (And I'm chatting with some of the other contestants on Skype, so if my answers are a little disjointed, that's why.)

1.) Where did your initial inspiration for Crue come from?

I was automatically attracted to the role of healer as that's the role I primarily play in MMOs. I've also naturally been drawn to "good guy" characters, so I just couldn't bring myself to write a pirate. I didn't really think through Crue's character very much to be honest. I wondered how an accomplished healer about to go on a treasure hunt might act and started writing.

2.) What was the most challenging part about writing Crue?

Overall, I'd say that the most difficult part for me was two-fold: 1. Not knowing where her story was going, and thereby reacting to what everyone else was doing, and 2. Therefore, staying stuck in the role of a support character. This was my first contest, so I don't know... "protocol" regarding how much sway I had over my character, so to speak. It wasn't until I had Crue go off with the mongooses that finally stated, "Hey! I'm going to do this, so there."

I suppose in summary, the most challenging part was actually taking control of the character.

3.) What is something about Crue that you wish you could have explored further?

I would have loved for the chance for Crue to get closer to the other contestants, or at least have her spend more time exploring how her character would interact with others. NPCs were more readily available for her to spend time with, but shoving Crue into the action more would have likely solved that problem (more or less). I'll definitely have to go back and figure out where I could have done that and learn more for the next contest.

I actually veered away from my original write-up of my character's background. I was going to have her more self-centered than she already was, relying on her reputation as a primary source of identity and looking down upon vermin, as helping them would do little/nothing to further her career. Crue, I suppose, wanted to be a little more kind. She also doesn't laugh as much as I was hoping she would. Not enough jokes in the story, I guess.

[Crue Sarish]

Vera's questions:

1. If you could go back to the beginning of the contest, is there anything you would do differently?

Perhaps give her a more defined goal to work toward instead of just "keep people alive." It's a treasure hunt, for crying out loud!

2. What's your favorite drink?

Coooooooofffffffffeeeeeeeeeee.................. Crue didn't find some by accident....

Nor were some of her character names on accident (See Round 4).

Dekeft

Moka

Ku'ryg

*giggles*

[Crue Sarish]

Matra Hammer's Questions:

1- What was your least and most favorite parts of participating in this contest?

Least favorite: Whenever anyone asked, "So, what's Crue doing this round?" --> *crickets* The lingering self-doubt regarding how a post would go got old after a while, but fortunately I was part of a great crew who helped pull me from the muck and mire of my internal turmoil. Can't thank you all enough!

Most favorite: Getting useful and important feedback on my posts, both in structure and content, especially learning how to cut down on my criminally excessive use of passive voice. That, and joking around with the rest of the cast behind the scenes.


2- Will Crue go full native on the island, or will she try, I dunno, building a school? What will she do?

I plan to cover that in my upcoming epilogue. I'll try to get to it soon after the story finishes completely, but NaNoWriMo will be starting in 1 hour and 44 minutes (thought I plan to be in bed soon and will NOT be starting at midnight), so I will get to that when I can.

In case I don't have time to include it in the epilogue, Crue will eventually be opening a chain of high-end retail coffee shops, starting on the island and then working her way back to Mossflower where she will be hailed as both innovator and beverage magician. Look for a local "Crue's Brews" coming soon.


3- Does Crue have any interests outside of professionalism? High fives and tavern brawls with Vylan?

She has both a professional and personal interest in botany and gets excited coming across species of plants she's never seen before. Her desire to learn more does give her reasons to travel, and while she's not always comfortable in social settings, she enjoys seeing new places and people. She likes to draw, and while plants are her specialty, she enjoys sketching the landscapes of the places she's come across. Her drawings will never be part of a gallery, but it helps her remember where she's been.

Crue does love to laugh. She didn't have a whole lot of reason to in this story with everything constantly going sideways, but she enjoys exchanging jokes as much as the next beast. I can't remember all the details, but I do remember considering figuring out how to work in a scene where Crue has had a *ahem* sip or two and lets slip a few of the bawdy tales she's picked up from the common sailor.


4- What is your proudest moment of the entire contest?

Besides the fact that I made it to the top 5 and I still haven't finished a Redwall book?... Um, I mean.... (I have Salamandastron staring at me on my bookshelf. I'll get to it.)

Honestly, I don't know when it was, but after a few rounds and the helpful suggestions of my fellow contestants, I could see some of the mistakes I was making in my writing and was actually learning how to avoid them. I've written for fun for years, but never really had anyone read my work, let alone critique it. I've enjoyed producing more quality work as opposed to just more words. I've a long way to go before I finish a novel of my own, but this whole experience has helped me down the right path.

[Crue Sarish]

Robert's Questions:

1. Did you have a set plan for Crue, or were you surprised to write her staying on the island with the mongooses?

I really didn't have a plan for her at first, but shortly after I decided to have Crue interact more with the mongooses, I knew that she'd be staying with them if she survived to the end. It didn't seem right to send her home to return to her old life and to old habits, and I figured she'd have more of an opportunity to grow in a place where she could start over.

2. What did you originally think Crue's ending would involve?

I hadn't thought that far ahead, which in hind-sight I wish I had. With this being a treasure hunt (at least at first), I imagined that Crue wouldn't be as interested in the actual treasure as she would be in being a part of the crew that captured it. She would be more interested in the notoriety, but would somehow learn that her happiness shouldn't be determined by how other people view her.

3. It took me three weeks before I found out Crue was an anagram for "Cure", and that was only because of a typo. How would you reply to that?

Honestly, it was not intentional. When coming up with character names, I sometimes just go through letters of the alphabet and say things that sound like names until I hear something I like. I think her name started out as Creu, but that just looked odd and I was afraid people would mispronounce it, so I changed it to Crue. Then I got the Crue/Crew joke and I had to stick with it. :)

[Matra Hammer]

Well, I'm sure glad Vizon convinced you to give this contest a shot. And please do continue writing. Everyone on this board should. There's no such thing as perfection in this biz, so have at with your novel writing month. Or maybe make your own schedule (I myself like 1000-word-a-day minimum) and marvel at the product.

Yes, have confidence Crue. You and your fellow writers all brought a distinct and wonderful flavor to this competition. As I've said before, it's my sincere hope that all of you return for the next round.

...not just because I'm applying next time...nope...who told you that...?

[Tooley Bostay]

Ooh, I've got a few questions!

- When the cast was split up in Round 2, Crue ended up with Tooley, then Chak and co. If you had to switch everything around, do you think you would have preferred to have Crue stranded with others? If so, who?

- Most surprising moment for you when writing Crue? Did she take you down a direction you weren't originally expecting?

- Any other applications in the contest?

- You did an incredible job making the mongooses understandable and fun to read, especially in their dialect. Did you intend from the beginning to try and make the island savages relatable?

- You think Crue will have to watch her back for Shuga/Fire God sympathizers?

[Vizon]

(thanks for the invite, Vizon!)

You're very welcome! Glad you enjoyed it! Let's try to get Xorvath into the next one, whaddaya say?

[Crue Sarish]

Tooley questions!

- When the cast was split up in Round 2, Crue ended up with Tooley, then Chak and co. If you had to switch everything around, do you think you would have preferred to have Crue stranded with others? If so, who?

I think Crue was able to get along more with the "Savage Group" as opposed to the "Snake Group," but it would have been interesting to see her try to not be annoyed with Fildering's eternal optimism (though seeing the young hare lose his naivety would have provided for a poignant moment of empathy from Crue). Crue would have absolutely hated Vasily and his wishy-washy "I don't know if I can't not maybe sort of tell some form of a lie" manner. She probably would have punched him. Having Crue and Ciera interact more would have been interesting, as Crue would not respect the pirate captain and would have to tread a fine line between appearing cooperative and sabotaging her plans.

All in all, I prefer the group that Crue ended up with. I just wish Crue and Plink had had more time to interact together. While Crue doesn't have much prejudice when it comes to whose life she should save, but for her to spend quality time with someone who was completely outside of her typical social sphere would have been enlightening for her.

- Most surprising moment for you when writing Crue? Did she take you down a direction you weren't originally expecting?

Honestly, I think it was when Crue decided to separate herself from the rest of the group and become the catalyst for the mongoose uprising. In Round 4 when everyone was making plans for how things were going to go down in Dead Rock, I was at a complete loss. "Alright, we already have some slaves, Crue would never willingly work for Blade, we haven't really decided where the story's going yet, if people die it's going to screw up plans, I just don't know!" All of a sudden we were leaving behind some perfectly good savages and I decided, "You know, that's mine."

I vacillated between keeping Crue a thoughtful, calculating character or allowing her to go bat sh** crazy. Not as many opportunities came up for her to get blood on her paws (and Dekeft respected her too much to let her go off the deep end), so I kept her as a quieter character. I wasn't really too surprised with where she ended up as a result, but having taken more chances to get entrenched in the story might have made her a stronger contestant.


- Any other applications in the contest?

I wrote three applications. My first one was for the Navigator category, but... yah, it wasn't well thought-out so it didn't make the initial cut. Then I wrote Crue (though my boyfriend, Feorag, and I really shouldn't compete for the same category... Those of you who didn't catch it, check the flashback in my first post of Round 4). I then decided to do something light-hearted and a little wacky and showed my obvious lack of Redwall knowledge by submitting one young Efith Delwigger as the Cabin Boy.

- You did an incredible job making the mongooses understandable and fun to read, especially in their dialect. Did you intend from the beginning to try and make the island savages relatable?

As soon as I knew that Crue was going to be hanging out with the mongooses, yes. I wanted the audience to see, more or less, what drove them to become the beasts that they are. I wanted to show how their culture had been changed by an cunning, charismatic leader, and how it took someone coming in from the outside to really see everything that had changed in the last ten seasons. If Crue was going to gain their trust and use them to help rescue the only friends and allies she had on the island, she would have to get to know them. It was convenient that by helping them she was also helping herself, but after two weeks learning who these beasts were, she came to care for them.

I wanted Crue to experience things that are inherent to every culture in some strange form or another. People love, work, laugh, eat and drink, practice various rituals, and so on. I tried to imagine what they would do when they weren't riled up and running around with spears. I will admit, though, that when it came to the dialect, I did change words I'd originally intended because they would have just looked/sounded funky.

I also like to temper strongly emotional and difficult situations with just a bit of levity. It brought me great pleasure to find a reason to call Captain Blade a "lazy gott."

- You think Crue will have to watch her back for Shuga/Fire God sympathizers?

Not during the immediate future. Most of the mongooses have now been inside Dead Rock and saw some of what was going on inside there, so disillusionment is running pretty high. The only people who might have really stood to lose out on their former benefits were the other priests. Most of them were genuinely devout to the Fire God, but the priesthood was not without its perks. There may be one or two red robes still hanging out under someone's bed.

Dekeft is also back in charge. Messing with Crue would mean messing with the First Hunter... and messing with the First Hunter would mean messing with the First Hunter's wife.

(thanks for the invite, Vizon!)

You're very welcome! Glad you enjoyed it! Let's try to get Xorvath into the next one, whaddaya say?

I certainly hope so. I already have a couple basic ideas for future characters, and I believe he might have one or two up his sleeve.

So yes, I will be back for more contests. :)