August has come and gone, and I'm rejoicing. School starts in just over a week, but the week left is packed full of fun and games with swimming, library, swimming, an outdoor pool/playground/putt putt/lake resort, and camping prep for our big camping weekend. A last hurrah of all our favorite fun of the summer. But what happens when games aren't fun? At least... maybe not for InTheMindOfSunshine's characters in her story, In the Depths of Despair. What did you think of the story? Make sure you share your thoughts about the story, Sunshine's interview, or any questions about her writing in general. She'll answer whatever questions you leave today, as well as come back for a 'live' chat on the blog from 8:30 to 9:30 PM, Central Time.

Single people work more. Are you single?
Single – I have an awful track record with relationships so it’s for the best at the moment.

Who do you like best, Jerry or Tom?
Tom – I’m a cat person through and through.

What are you wearing (and no fibbing!)?
PJs, which really just consist of a really big t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Oh, and the appropriate undergarments; however, I figured that was a given. But I’m answering this in the wee hours of night. Actually, it’s only like eleven.

Do your characters try to make like bunnies and create ever more convoluted plots for you? Or do you have to coax them out of your characters?
It depends. The Paradox Series, which I have recently marked as completed, is an example of the characters taking over. The first story of it was originally just about a bullied kid (Spencer) becoming friends – and later the love interest – of a typical guy (Nix). Then, before the first chapter even ends, [spoiler alert for anyone who has not read The Paradox of Friendship] two of Nix’s friends, Riley and Dexter, are revealed to be the ones who bully Spencer. From there, the storyline hit the ground running and even spawned a sequel.

On the other hand, In the Depths of Despair was difficult to write at times, because the writing style was, what I like to call, raw. It was not fancy or dressed up. It was a story about suicide and about all that goes along with such a battle. That is messy and unpredictable and ugly, even, at times so I tried to write in a style which would reflect that. The characters occasionally didn’t want to go along with certain things that had to happen so it was a touch-and-go story from the beginning.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Conjugating the verb ‘lay’ is my biggest enemy. I hate it. I always have to look that up and still doubt my choice. I’m a native English speaker and will soon have a degree in English, but I still struggle with the conjugation of some irregular verbs.

Do you have any writing rituals?
I write to music a lot, because television distracts me too much. (Dang you, Leroy Jethro Gibbs.) I can’t be too tired when I sit down to write so sometimes it’s harder to write at night. My primary goal is to always just get words down, because I can always edit later. I just write everything which needs to happen without caring how unorganized it initially is. Then I go back and clean it up.

How did you come up with the title for In the Depths of Despair?
By luck. Honestly, I’m awful at titles. My working titles are more often than not just the name of the main character. I’m so indecisive that sometimes I just leave whatever first came to my mind in the two seconds it took to save the document for the first time. (Ground Rules, for example, was named so because it was the ground rules for a new story.) In the Depths of Despair was a synonym for suicidal, because that was the theme of it. I actually didn’t think of it. I asked a friend of mine what she might call the story. (The working title was Gabe, and I almost posted it as such here.)

Did the characters or the plot come to you first?
Um… It’s been so long that I don’t clearly remember! I think the characters did. I wrote the story because of the opening scene between Gabe and Lincoln. It just wouldn’t leave me alone until it was written down. The plot came in later when I actually sat down to plan it out and finally got a grasp of who Lincoln was and what Henry’s past had been and why Gabe didn’t seem to want to be a happy character.

What was your favorite part of the story?
I really enjoyed the scenes between Finn and Henry. Although I never intended the pairing to Gabe/Finn, I had fun making Henry think that was the case. It was a nice refresher, for me at least, to step away from the darker issue of the story.

Can you share a little of your current work with us?
Everything I have posted currently has a ‘completed’ tag; however, there is a follow up to The Paradox of Promises. I know I’ve said that the entire series is completed – and Nix/Spencer’s story really is! – but I wrote a mini-sequel of sorts as a gift for a friend and have been toying with the idea of posting it for some time. It takes place, roughly half of a year after the conclusion of the series. I won’t say what pairing it features, though.

I’ve also recently finished a short story in which the protagonist finds himself held as prisoner. I’m on the fence about posting this one as well. It one gets a little nitty gritty – worse, I believe, than I ever dared to get in the Paradox Series.
So basically I need to just get my act together and post one or both of them.

What are your future projects?
I’ve got a couple of stories on which I’m working, and they’re both in various stages of the beginning.

The first one is a revamp of an old story that I’ve rewritten like dozens of times. In its current form, it’s almost unrecognizable when compared to the original. It’s set in college, and this is the (rough) description for it:

The third one might be surprising to anyone who has read my works. It’s a sequel to Borrowing Family. This one is going to give me the most trouble, because I’m having to pick up an old style and because I’m trying a new approach with which I’ve got to be super careful or it’ll be too confusing. It could crash and burn. I don’t have a description for it, but it’s partially set a few years in the future – that is, beyond the epilogue of the first story.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us this week, Sunshine! Okay, folks, ask away!