sarah and Nessie//
To dragons her name is Enollams, to her sister she is Nestkin and to her lowkin friends she's known as Nessie. I asked Sarah, her creator, a few questions to find out more about the girl at the heart of Strange Birds.
How would you describe Nessie in three words? Hopeful, Stubborn, and Driven
How has Nessie changed since the beginning of the story? Ness began as an outsider looking on at the lowkin from above. She felt like she was stuck between worlds, but she's beginning now to realize that in truth she has two worlds open to her, two worlds she has family in that she hopes to one day bring together. Originally, she was almost timid around the lowkin, but after some time with them, her more wild dragonkin side has begun to show, and she's become more confident, or perhaps more stubborn, in her actions in regards to her friends.
What is your favourite moment in the story so far? It's hard to pick one favorite moment because there's so many different emotions that I go through when writing with Charlie and Bryan, but the moment that made me laugh the most was when Oscar essentially proposed to Nessie. I could feel her blushing and daring Ellwood and Ollie to make a single comment about it. I'm not sure what it is about her that gets her into such situations, or if it's just because we as authors love putting our characters in hilariously awkward positions, but it's a complete blast.
What do you hope will happen in the next few chapters? I would really love to see Ollie and Ness find some common ground again, it's frustrating and sad to me to see two such wonderful people in their own way fight like they have been, though they're both too stubborn to ever back down. I'd also love to see what the extended consequences of Nessie's actions during the carriage crash turn out to be. Sselraef minorly terrifies Nessie, as he probably should, but his statement that he will remember Ness has me so worried and so curious all at the same time.
"Every life can always use more magic I think. Don't let others tell you otherwise"
How do you and Nessie compare? I hate to admit it, but Ness and I share her naive-ness at times, as well as her stubbornness, though she's much louder about sticking to her opinions than I am. She and I both share a love for being open and not hiding secrets as well, though I think that gets us both into trouble more often than we hope for.
What do you think of this way of collaborative writing? I find the way that we've written Strange Birds to be a wonderful unique take on collaboration. I've collabed on stories before, but by doing it through Twitter and limiting ourselves to relatively short replies, it makes us really come up with a quality response. That and the fact that it began as an RP project, we don't necessarily know where the others will go or what they'll say, which I think makes the responses that much more real.
I cannot wait to find out more about the mysterious orphan girl caught between worlds, can you? See what's new in our adventure by checking out the NEWS and ORIGINAL CHAPTERS pages.
"I believe in the power of stories... Whether you believe the stories themselves or not, that's up to you."