Writing With: oh bear

El is a writer that mainly specializes in works of original fiction. Though she currently only has three stories uploaded, she’s agreed to talk to us about a couple of her favourites: If You Love Me Let Me Know and Deer Boy.

If You Love Me Let Me Know

“[This idea] was actually because I entered Ella's Great Big Character Contest, and the character I chose was "the fairy". I knew I wanted to write a coming-of-age type story, and an interracial relationship where that wasn't the main focus.”

If You Love Me Let Me Know is a one-shot that El says is written in an ‘experimental’ style, featuring LGBT+ characters in an interracial relationship.

When asked about her favourite character, El said, “If I had to choose, it would be Jerome. He's the main character's love interest and he's East Asian, and he is so important to me. It took me a while to realise that I haven't represented my own ethnicity very well in the stories I've been writing. Asian men are often seen as nerdy, or feminine, or unattractive; they are emasculated and not main characters, or leading actors in the entertainment industry; they are the butt of emasculatory jokes. I wanted to write an Asian male character who is desirable.”

Though the story is a one-shot, El says, “I love Billie and Jerome so much that I might write a spin-off on them.” We can only hope we get more of her lovely writing!

Deer Boy

“I wrote [this story] because I wanted to write unconventional chapters, and I liked those books where the text isn't just a block formatted text, but topsy turvy and all over the place.”

Deer Boy is a story that features a relationship, as many stories do, but is written in a way that is unconventional and unlike a typical love story. Each chapter is formatted differently and features an inside look at the characters and their relationship.

When asked about her favourite part about writing the story, El said, “I really struggle with this because there's a certain vibe/voice I want it to have, that's slow and dreamy, and I think that's kind of my favourite and least favourite part of it.”

The direction of this story remains a bit unknown at the moment. “[It] has been on hiatus for a veeeery long time because I'm struggling to find the right mood to write it in. Also, I have no plot. I suck at plotting.”

In reference to her writing habits, El says, “I am a huge, huge planner. I think a lot of the way I write is figuring out the characters. I need to know them inside and out, because I like character-driven stories, and I feel like knowing them helps dictate how the story will turn out. Also, I make a page for each character on Scrivener because I like to waste time like that.”

For the last 8 years, El’s favourite thing about Mibba has been "the people! I refer to my friends on Mibba as Oh, my friend _____ to people in real life. They're all so wonderful. They give me life advice and story advice and put up with when I freak out about how to write a story, and my bouts of SORRY, I FORGOT TO REPLY because going on Mibba on mobile and Mibba on web right after is not the one. All the alerts disappear. And of course the layouts".

Though she says she is "the kind [of Mibbian] that falls off the face of Mibba every few months only to come crawling back". She’s hoping to stay around for a while.

Special thanks to exploding boy. and Audrey T for editing!

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