Interview With ShyGuySamurai

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by SummerZodiacAwards

by SummerZodiacAwards

Interview with ShyGuySamurai

Author of Mark of Nemesis, first place Action/Adventure

What inspired you to write The Mark of Nemesis, and how did you shape your world and create your characters?

As the cover and title say, it was my ONC entry for 2020, but I like to think I had a weird time choosing the prompt, heh. Immediately when I saw there were gonna be prompts my mind was like "noooo..." and then when I looked over the fantasy/science fiction prompts (since I'm primarily a fantasy writer) and didn't like any of them I was like "noooooooooooo..." After that, I actually wasn't gonna do the ONC in the first place. It wasn't until about two weeks after it started when I decided to take a second look at the prompts, looking at ALL of them this time.

And there it was. Prompt 45 in horror/paranormal. "You are possessed by a demon. The only way to cast it out is to kill seven people - each representing one of the seven virtues." I mean, you could simply read the description of my story and realize I didn't follow the prompt to a T, but when I first read it, it was like BAM! Ideas galore! It's funny how hypergraphik described the story as a bubbling cauldron, cause I honestly felt like a witch cackling over a new brew while prancing around the cupboards and tossing in whatever I found interesting. "A little magic, a bit of made-up mythology, maybe a pinch of internet searches resulting in finding a fallen angel's name (Azazel), and a weeee bit of revenge—Ope. I spilled the whole bag...oh well!" Even the cover wasn't fully planned. It was just me messing around with cool photos and going "OooOOOooo it looks like it's tattooed on his back! ...The Mark of Nemesis!"

In all honesty though, I'm not one for taking what I got and running with it. I'm more of the "it's better to at least have a vague outline than no outline at all" sort of person. But from writing The Mark of Nemesis, I think it's safe to say I learned that sometimes you just gotta sit down, use your ideas and creativity, and start writing like mad. You might find you'll write something amazing that way, heh.

What was the hardest part of the story to write and why? How did you overcome it?

It's a tie between the old woman and the boar.

With the old woman, she was originally intended to be a witch that lived in the woods, and then it turned to an old seer who lived in the woods. When you get to that part, you'll realize real quick I went with neither of those options, and honestly I just went "Oh-kay this is what we're rolling with!"

Now with the boar, it was more a matter of where it will come in and what will happen when Aza does kill it. Originally I was gonna have Aza locate it himself, but the way I ended up writing it felt more urgent, heh. That, and what happened after the boar's death felt more fitting than simply just killing it because it was bad. (Sorry, being vague in case I reveal spoilers XD)

Do you have any advice you'd like to share for writers in the action/adventure genre?

Keep it snappy and have a core driving force. With action, you gotta keep the reader's attention and not to throw them off with oddly specific descriptions. When you add adventure to the mix, you really gotta think "Why are my characters doing this in the first place? What is the purpose of their journey?" With Aza, his core motivation is revenge, and it becomes clearer as the story progresses. His goal is to punish and kill The Seven Virtues for what they did to him and his mother.

Of course, there are many other motivations besides revenge, but I'll spare you the list and let you look them up yourselves, heh.