January 6, 2009

This is the second in a series of interviews by Chris Tejeda, author of The Lifting of the Veil, with various Web Fiction Guide authors.  This week, he interviews Clare K. R. Miller. 

by Chris Tajeda:

Clare K. R. Miller is the author of Chatoyant College, a serialized fantasy story. She joined WFG September 26, 2008. She currently resides in Philadelphia, PA.

 

Chris Tejeda: Welcome, Clare.  Tell us a little about yourself.

Clare K. R. Miller: Okay, well, I’m a recent college graduate.  Living in my parents’ house and not paying rent while I work part-time jobs and trying to save to move in with my boyfriend.  I’m pagan, vegan, a knitter, and I have really long hair.  Clare is not my given name, but it’s what my college and online friends call me; the rest of the name is my given name.

I went to college in Maryland.  Incidentally, Chatoyant College is somewhat based on my college, Goucher College; mostly in terms of size, demographics, and having a forest around it.

I’d like to think that writing is my future.  It’s been my dream as long as I can remember to make a living with my writing.  I’ll certainly never stop writing.

Chris Tejeda: Were you influenced by Harry Potter?  How much?

Clare K. R. Miller: I guess I can’t say that I’ve totally escaped the influence of Harry Potter.  I’m a big fan of the stories and have read all the books and seen all the movies multiple times.  It’s definitely not the biggest influence on Chatoyant College or on any of my other work, though.  I do think I was thinking of the Harry Potter model of magical school and wanting to go in a different direction when I decided to make magic a major, rather than the focus of the whole school, but there are other stories that have the same kind of “this school is for magic and only magic,” and I’d never seen one that taught magic and nothing else.  Still haven’t, for that matter.

Chris Tejeda: How did you make Chatoyant College different than Hogwarts?

Clare K. R. Miller: Oh, there are a lot of differences!  To start with, Chatoyant College is a college in the real world (that is, within the world of the story).  There’s no Muggle/wizard divide like in the Harry Potter books.  Probably most people don’t know about magic, but they’re not entirely different cultures.

Then, of course, Chatoyant College is a college.  It’s in the US and works like any other US college, with the addition of the magic major.  The students are all 17-23, instead of starting at 11.

Different subjects are taught, even within magic—instead of Potions and Transmogrification you have things like Psionics (which includes telekenisis, telepathy, that sort of thing) and Astral Projection.  Both schools have forbidden forests, but for different reasons (though I probably wouldn’t have used the word “forbidden” if it weren’t for Harry Potter).

You can graduate from Chatoyant College without ever having taken a single magic class, and many students do, though of course a lot of them go there for the magic.

Chris Tejeda: It very much sounds as if you look at the people and places in your story as very real.  Do you have everything visualized, or does it come to you as you write?

Clare K. R. Miller: It’s a mixture of both.  I have some general ideas and some specific ideas about where the story is going, but usually connecting the dots is improvised as I write.  I know what the college looks like, but there are still some things missing from my mental picture.  Like the library.  I know they have one but I don’t know where on the campus it is.  I also have vague ideas of what the three main characters’ hometowns look like, as well as, of course, the characters themselves.  But sometimes I do realize that I’ve forgotten to figure out some detail or another.

I guess I’ve spent quite a bit of time in that world so I’m very invested in it.  Obviously, I’m aware that the world of Chatoyant College is different from the world we’re living in.  But when I get into the mindset of that world, it’s as though it’s a real place and I’m almost just watching what happens and recording it.  Except I get to change things if I want to.

Yes, I’m a very visual person.  When I imagine something, I see it almost as though it’s there in front of me.  When I’m writing, I “see” what’s happening, either from the perspective of the POV character or from a few feet away.  Which makes it weird that I often forget to put in physical descriptions—or maybe I forget because I have such a strong mental image that I don’t even think about describing it.

Don’t all writers work that way?

Chris Tejeda: GREAT!  Here comes an easy one: Which of your characters is most like you and why?  Dawn?  Or is it a male character?  And why?

Clare K. R. Miller: The three girls—Corrie, Dawn, and Edie—all have some pretty significant parts of me in them.  For example, Corrie is pagan, Dawn is vegetarian, and Edie is a knitter.  (There is some of me in all the characters, consciously or unconsciously, but the three main characters get the most.)

I think if one is most like me, particularly me as a freshman in college, it would be Edie—she’s the least sure of herself of the three girls.  Though I wish I were most like Ever—I even gave her a tattoo I want.

Chris Tejeda: Has writing “Chatoyant College” changed your personality?

Clare K. R. Miller: I don’t think so.  I’ve only been writing it about six months but no one’s commented on any changes.  I don’t know how I’d notice if I had changed.

Chris Tejeda: Why the web fiction format?

Clare K. R. Miller: I started out wanting to write a webcomic.  I’ve been into reading them for about ten years and have wanted to write one for at least five.  I practice drawing on and off, but never consistently enough to get really good.  I decided my last semester at college that I could be bad when I started and the practice inherent in updating a comic would force me to get better.  Others have done it.

I had a few scripts written when I discovered Tales of MU and said “Hey, I can do this instead!”  I took the first few scripts (which were just dialogue) and added lots of description and some other dialogue.  I actually still have a couple of scripts that haven’t been turned into prose, from a later event that hasn’t quite happened yet in the story.

Traditional publishing is really hard and not necessarily useful for everyone.  While I would still love to be traditionally published and am working on severely rewriting a novel toward that end, online publishing is a great way to get my name out there, build an audience, and have a ton of fun.  I really love the instant feedback that I get and all the friends I’ve made.

Chris Tejeda: How did you end up at WFG?

Clare K. R. Miller: Um . . . don’t remember exactly.  I probably followed a link from MeiLin Miranda’s site. . . .  Or maybe Novelr.

Chris Tejeda: What advice could you give newcomers about writing an online novel?

Clare K. R. Miller: I guess I’d say to go to the WFG forums and get their advice.  I wish I’d known about that before I started!  I definitely recommend having an update buffer—that’s something I learned from webcomics, and it’s allowed me to update every time I have an update due, even if I’ve only written a single sentence that day because I’m too exhausted or busy to do anything more.

It seems like a good idea to have a solid outline, too, but I don’t have one so I can’t really give that advice in earnest.

Chris Tejeda: How do you help other new web fiction authors?

Clare K. R. Miller: Do I?  I guess I participate in the WFG forums.  I’ve given constructive criticism on site design a couple times.  I follow them on Twitter!

Chris Tejeda: Is your writing motivated by a need to write, your loyal fans, or potential hard publishing?

Clare K. R. Miller: All of the above; but mostly the first one.  I’d write even if nobody else ever saw it, because there are so many stories in my head trying to get out.

Chris Tejeda: Which book(s) are on your night-table for tonight?

Clare K. R. Miller: There are no books on my night table, I have a loft bed and it’s too high to reach easily.  But in the stack next to me on my desk are The Victorian and Edwardian Fairy Tales, The Secret, and How the Scots Invented the Modern World.  I’m not rereading any novels at the moment, which is unusual.

Chris Tejeda: Who is your favorite WFG author?  Ass kissing seems to work, so go for it . . . .

Clare K. R. Miller: To be honest, I haven’t read that many yet.  I seem to pick really long ones to read and I won’t let myself go on to the next until I’ve finished reading one.  But right now it’s definitely MeiLin Miranda.

Chris Tejeda: What one question would you ask yourself as a fan of Chatoyant College?  Would the answer surprise people?  Why?

Clare K. R. Miller: Since my readers have already figured out the biggest mystery at this point in the story, I’d ask myself “Who screamed on Thursday night?”  And yes, the answer would be a surprise.

Here’s an additional bit of Chatoyant College trivia: one of the dorms is quite legitimately haunted.  The ghost has her own story, which is pretty interesting.

Chris Tejeda: Thank you, Clare K. R. Miller

Clare K. R. Miller: Thank you.