Have you downloaded January's Signature Background yet? If you haven't already done so, the month is only half over so there's still plenty of time! To go along with this month's background, we're happy to bring you today's interview with Stellar, courtesy of Cia. Enjoy!

Single people often have more time to write. Are you single?
I think the correct phrase would be 'terminally single.' Being an Aspie makes it difficult to meet and connect with people on a social level, let alone further than that. So, yes, very single. Do you have an ulterior motive here, question-asker?

P.S. Let me add that having more spare time doesn't necessarily translate to getting more written.

Do you eat your fruits and vegetables?
I'm healthier than I used to be! I eat my fruits and most vegetables, though if you put kumara (New Zealand's native sweet potato) or parsnip in front of me ... yuck! No way.

Are you a person who makes their bed in the morning, or do you not see much point?
Sometimes, sometimes not! I'm inconsistent.

What brought you to the Gay Authors?
Comicality did. Before he joined GA, I was regular on his forums (up until roughly 2002) and within that community. Due to personal circumstances I fell out of touch with most people I knew there. Fast forward a few years later to GA's earlier days, and I discovered he was now hosted here, so I became an infrequent lurker. Then fast forward a lot more to 2010 when I decided I would stop lurking and make an account so I could comment. Then again to 2012 when I made the bigger step of posting the start of a new fiction I wanted to write—and that was when I became an author.

Do you have any writing rituals?
No rituals as such. I do need calm to get any writing done. It's mostly just having the correct environment so I can concentrate on what I'm doing. Sound in particular is a big distraction, so quiet is important.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Balancing the desire for complicated flowery prose against letting the story tell itself in simple cleaner language. Often, less is more and I have to constantly fight that desire! Characterisation and scene-setting description has become much easier the more I do it, so making it all connect and not sound like I'm trying to be clever and riff Shakespeare is the main concern.

What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?
Probably the toughest criticism given was not even on GA, and was to do with supposed plot implausibility near the end of Hidden Sunlight and my male protagonist being androgynous to the point where the commenter reduced his gender from 'him' to 'it.' That one was insulting, and I won't lie -- I was pretty annoyed reading it. The other criticisms have been mostly minor things to do with pacing and flow of the narrative.

The best compliment, on the other hand, is difficult to choose. I have been given some beautiful praise by readers here; everything from being compared to some of science fiction's greatest authors through to phrasing such as: "This is the best thing I have read, online or offline, and I have been an avid reader for X years." That sort of tribute is humbling and often is what keeps me going when I'm feeling at my least motivated.

How did you come up with the title for Hidden Sunlight?
Well I want to be careful what I say here because the title is also the most important element of the plot, so telling precisely what it means in an explanation would be a spoiler. It is a metaphor that is partially literal; the 'hidden sunlight' is hidden because it is not visible to normal eyesight. However, it is not actually sunlight at all, and this is simply an artistic way that one of the characters (Mira) chooses to imagine it, since it appears like illumination to those special few who are capable of seeing it. In fact, he is the only character that uses the titular phrase, the others choosing different descriptions both verbally and mentally. Ultimately, it was a natural fit, and more poetic than using accurate scientific terminology, which would not only give away the plot by being obvious, but also be a mouthful and decidedly 'unsexy' as a title.

Did the characters or the plot come to you first?
Parts of both the two primary protagonists were around in my head before the writing began. Shay and Mira were the quickest to tell me how they wanted to be written. I'm just the messenger boy Konstantin was also in proto-form before writing began, as was the genesis for the then-unnamed character that eventually morphed into Hartley. They developed early on alongside the plot, so it was more or less in tandem.

Your story has a lot of science involved in the plot, from the beginning til end. Do you have a background in that, or did you just do a lot of research?
I have no true background in science, although my brother and I both studied computer science at university. While he went on to become a software programmer, I did not. I'm a very logical details-oriented sort of person, in part because my Aspergers has that influence on the way I think, and also because l have a keen interest in why the natural world does what it does. This means I tend to read a lot about such subjects just for leisure.

So, while my own general knowledge can get a fair way, research is always required and I make very sure to do my homework. Certain parts of the plot have needed a lot of extra reading and sometimes for very small details that I simply wanted to be accurate. I have lost track of the number of times I've been awake at 3am reading about ethnic cuisine in Malaysia, Earth's projected demographic change 100 years in the future, particle physics, stellar spectroscopy, Russian firearms ... or whatever it may be. It got to the point where the ads on GA were suggesting hotels in Yakutsk for my next vacation simply because I'd spent so long looking at Siberia on Google maps.

What was your favorite part of Hidden Sunlight?
Call me a soppy romantic, but the first-kiss scene was emotionally satisfying to write. In fact, most of the scenes where the main pair gets to enjoy a few moments of happiness together were satisfying, because there is a lot of unhappiness in other parts of the plot.

Also, the story's climax (the last couple of chapters) whilst an utter headache for me to bring together, was full of awesome moments for the main cast and I was very happy with it once it was done.

What are your future projects?
Currently I am working on Veil of Shadow, the sequel to Hidden Sunlight. I suppose I may as well say this here, as it isn't exactly a secret, but there will be a third book following this, to make a trilogy. Beyond that, I'm not sure. I have a few story ideas; one major one is more pure fantasy, another a more typical youth-drama type romance with less crazy world destroying antics. I'll decide closer to that time what I'm going to do.