Hello! I am Plum, I am going to be interviewing you via text. [ominous robot voice] Please State Your Name and Story for the Record. Elizabeth Tock, writer of "Stage Blocking". What drew you to this series or project initially? Jim and I have been friends for years. I was part of the original “10,000 Dawns” project, and when they reached out asking if I wanted to write for this it was a no-brainer. What makes your story different or special? I know that’s a broad question, but work with me here. I guess the level of angst in my story is a lot lower than other works in the Academy 27 verse? Like, in certain ways, mine could fall into any story about high schoolers. The drama (no pun intended) Amelia deals with in “Stage Blocking” is mostly relegated to the A27 high school; unlike the main arc of Sang Mi’s adventures in the series. Do you plan things out meticulously or write by the seat of your pants and let the characters guide you? Did your writing process surprise you? I kind of do both? Sometimes I plan down to what I imagine the character’s are wearing during the course of the story. Sometimes I write different scenes as they come to me and then figure out what order they go in afterwards. I guess what surprised me in this writing “Stage Blocking” was how easy it came to me, as I didn’t have to edit much after the first draft was done. Is there a writer or a creative artist that inspires you? A series? A part of life? Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted author), Tolkien and everyone in the “10,000 Dawns” project honestly. Oddity keeps me going. What’s something strange and unusual about your work? I think I get ideas for stories from the weirdest places sometimes? One of my current personal projects I got from watching a band I like’s movie they made based on one of their albums. Speaking of oddities, I have an exceedingly random question for you here. What’s your favorite colour? No, seriously. This used to be very important when we were young, I have to know. I like a lot of colors, but if the color of my responses is too subtle, my favorite color is Purple. With Turquoise being a close second. Writers are often described as having to kill their darlings. Is there anything you had to cut that you wish you didn’t? Anything that didn’t fit quite the way you wanted to? Not in “Stage Blocking”, but I’ve definitely had to do so in other projects. Do you get writer’s block? ALL.THE. TIME. One story I’ve been working on since 2020 and it’s still nowhere close to being done. What’s your dream job? Is it to write a particular thing or is it to do something else entirely? I mean, I wouldn’t hate being able to write something that got as popular as “The Lord of The Rings” series. But one of my other passions is live theater and I wouldn’t mind working backstage professionally. Do your characters have secrets? Do we know those secrets? As of now, Amelia in “Stage Blocking” doesn’t have any secrets. In other projects of mine, I’m not at liberty to say ;) Have you, or any of your characters, seen the 2007 animated feature film The Bee Movie? I’ve seen the memes, but have not brought myself to watch the whole movie. So my characters haven’t either. When did you write your first story? Was it when you were young, or was it last year? What do you consider to be your first story? Are you proud of it? Pffft, um, I think the first thing I would call my first story was written in 7th grade? I don’t even remember the plot, but I imagine my mom has it in the box of school stuff of mine she’s kept over the years. I remember being proud of it at the time, it was for a school assignment and got a good grade and was liked by the elementary kids I read it to. How much do you redraft your work? It’s often said that writing is rewriting. How many iterations did you go through to bring us what we see now? Like I said, for “Stage Blocking” I didn’t really do much editing, at least content-wise. Grammatically that is a Jim question haha! I’ve always struggled a little in that department. A27 / the Warsong and Cwej both have storied and detailed backgrounds. How familiar are you with their prior work? Is there another piece with these characters that you particularly enjoy? I’m probably most familiar with A27/ the Warsong. I like the journey Sang Mi has been on so far. I’m just getting into Cwej. Is your story exactly as you imagined it? Is it different? For “Stage Blocking” pretty much. A very solid plan came to me pretty quick when Jim approached me to write for A27. Can the main character of your story defeat seventeen rabid wolves? The wolves are hungry. I highly doubt it, as far as I know Amelia has not experienced many wolves in space. She knows enough about tech that if the rabid wolves were a computer virus she could at least keep them at bay though. Which character do you have the hardest time understanding? The least? I have a hard time with the villains in that I have to wrap my brain around their thought processes. The high schoolers are pretty easy, since I’ve been a high schooler before haha! Is there a message you’d like to tell the world? Live well, and do no harm, but take no shit.
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