literature

Interview with mara-skywalker

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Literature Text

Hi Everyone! :wave:

So, its me Chezzy-Am and this is the first installment of the interview series I'll be sharing with you. Today marks the first interview I'll be taking, and I present to you:

*drum roll*

:spotlight-left: Mara--Skywalker :spotlight-right:


Mara is a deviantARTist who has joined this community recently (about five months back according to her profile). Originally introduced to her by Lethus1 based on her poem:

mara--skywalker.deviantart.com…

Mara is a wonderful writer who has significantly become a writer and a photographer to be given due consideration. I know - I've read her works, and have seen her photograph deviations both of which show remarkable professionalism, honesty, clarity of vision and a significant degree of depth and maturity not often seen on dA.

Bear in mind a few things while reading these interviews:

  • When I write "From the interviewer", they are my own footnotes added seperately and are there mostly as an added element to understand the dA person interviewed. They, in essence, represent elements of the dArtist to add where details might be lagging

  • Trivia are small tid-bits of information which can or cannot be beneficial to the overall interview. Consider them as pit-stops in case you'd like to take breaks while reading this.


So lets start this whole show and get started :woohoo: .

  1. So tell us about yourself - your age, your locale, whatever you like really.
    Mara: Hello to everybody reading this, and thank you very much Chez for this opportunity! I've never tried a deviantART interview and I am ecstatic that you chose me for this novel experience.
    I'll begin with a little about myself. My real name is Mara, although sometimes I go under the pen name of Helena, and I reside in Romania's capital city, Bucharest.

    Academically, I've graduated two colleges (specializing in PR & Communication and History - my favourite subject to date) and I am currently studying  historically-themed video games for my master's degree. As you may have guessed, I am an avid gamer (with a particular affinity for fantasy RPGs - TES III: Morrowind and Arcanum count amongst my favourites.). Other than that, in my spare time I try to read as much as possible (I prefer fantasy or sci-fi works mainly), I've recently began to dabble in photography and I am also currently working on my very own video game. (If anyone is interested, more information can be found here www.facebook.com/MechanicalInk).


    From the interviewer: Mechanical Ink is in essence a promotional facebook page for Mara (who usually works under the pen name Helena while writing about the script in the series) and her team while working on the game "Golem : Odyssey" (codenamed "#Ghastly" according to the post on January 29 2013). While its an indie side-scroller, this work for me, has many qualities reminiscent of the Castlevania. I use the reference loosely, by the way - this work is independent of the Castlevania mythos and has worthwhile investment in character (while the original series of Castlevania as well as its many ports were loosely connected even if they are classics. Cases in point include Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and Castlevania: Lord of Shadows). If you're on facebook, do follow the page - full of trivia, details on the team's in-game developments, general rules-of-thumb for fellow doodlers and serious developers, and even inspirations of how the team works and pursues what they believe.

    Trivia: TES III: Morrowind is The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - for those who are not familiar with the series, the most famous of the The Elder Scrolls series is Skyrim which succeeds Oblivion. The Elder Scrolls is, after Ultima, Legacy of Kain, Zelda, Diablo, Dragon Age, Warcraft, Castlevania, Prince of Persia, Shadow of the Colossus and Ico, Golden Axe, Dungeons and Dragons (which includes Demon Stone the game), King's Field, Thief, Hexen, MediEvil, Spyro the Dragon, Onimusha, Soul Caliber, Dynasty Warriors, and Drakengard to name a few, are household names among die hard fantasy genre fans - games and book series alike.

    What about Arcanum? :shrug: I've never played it so I can't comment - from what I've researched though, Arcanum has a significant cult following. Then again, my reference is dA - everything here has a cult following (opinion, please don't take seriously).

  2. What brought in you a love for poetry and prose? Who do you cite as your first true literary inspiration?
    Mara: When I was just a kid, I used to read a lot of science fiction - Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Jules Verne, Robert Heinlein, H.G. Wells; but what really changed my perspective and literary taste entirely was the accidental discovery of a fantasy book. The title was Outcasts, a novel written by Clayton Emery, the first volume of "the Runesword Series", a cycle imagined by Bill Fawcett. It drew me in and fascinated me completely! Magic, elves, sorcerers, dragons, kings, adventurous quests - it was all like a trasure vault to me! Sure, later on, I got into more mainstream fantasy (like R.A. Salvatore - who is by far my favourite author - or J.R.R. Tolkien), but books like these were really hard to come by in the '90s in Romania. Shortly after reading Outcasts I started to write my own works, which eventually turned into poems and novels as the years passed. So I guess this was my first true literary inspiration, this is what I have to thank for my passion for fantasy.

    From the interviewer: Clayton Emery is available as a goodreads author. Here's a link to his works:

    www.goodreads.com/author/show/…

    Also, don't forget to check out Bill Fawcett here:

    www.harpercollins.com/author/m…

    Trivia: Romania, essentially a Soviet Union satellite state after WWII until the Romanian revolution in 1989, was basically undergoing a political metamorphosis in the '90s. Nevertheless, as of 2010, Romania ranks high on the basis of its HDI score (Human Development Index) and is a member of the EU and NATO.

    Trivia: Isaac Asimov, although famous for his contributions to robotics by establishing the laws of robotics in his magnus opus "Foundations" series, was originally trained in Biochemistry, receiving a PhD in 1948.
  3. What were your biggest fears when you joined dA? Have you had any bad experiences while being a dArtist? (We've all been there, I have my fair share too)
    Mara: To be really honest, my worst fear was the possibility of somebody copying my work and distributing it under their own name - somebody whom you wouldn't know, couldn't contact and would not be able to unmask as a fraud. For years, friends have suggested that I start a blog or a website in order to display my literature, but what always stopped me was this particular fear. The Internet is a wonderful tool for widespread information and communication, but it doesn't really offer much of a safety net in terms of freely published literary works (or any art, for that matter). However, I decided to give deviantART a try, given that it is a well-known, global community and it also covers some copyright bases. So far, I haven't had any bad experiences - and I'd like to keep things that way! Surprisingly though, I have recieved a lot of positive criticism and support, and I can tell you that it is a truly humbling and joyful experience.

    From the interviewer: Prior to joining dA, some of Mara's works can be found on Geek Network, a Romanian website similar to Wattpad and dA and tumblr. Here is Mara's profile:

    geeknet.ro/author/mara/

    Here, Mara provides her expertise in fantasy writing clearly indicated by the title itself: "The Wretched Hands of Justice", which is also available on dA.
  4. Would you prefer comments over :+fav: ?
    Mara: I don't really know if I prefer one over the other. I don't go out of my way to gain either of them, and I appreciate and thank anybody who feels that my work deserves one of the above. I guess that comments are a bit more personal, as people actually share their insights, appreciation or dislikes and the author can get a better picture of how his work is interpeted and could be improved. But stacking favourites is great for the ego, too!
  5. You have also experimented in photography as well. In your opinion, do you feel that "a picture is worth a thousand words" is a better analogy than "writers paint pictures that painters can't", or do you feel that writing is an art and is an independent entity?
    Mara: As I said earlier, I've only recently dipped into photography, and literature has always been my main focus. However, I don't find one form of art to be superior or inferior to another (be it literature, photography or performing arts). I strongly believe that an artist, no matter his domain or orientation, should respect all forms of art. I feel that they all send specific messages, with varied emotional load, but just the channel through which the message is expressed differs and it thusly appeals to different people.

    From the interviewer: "Writers paint pictures that painters can't" is a six word story attributed to NotenSMSK :

    notensmsk.deviantart.com/art/T…

    The concept is a food for thought really.
  6. Final question: in your experience here on dA, which genre of literature and photography do you feel has the most exposure or is in essence, the most mature? Feel free to paste your thumbs/links here :)
    Mara: The way I've seen things go so far, in literature - funny enough! - the genre which has the most coverage and largest fanbase is fanfiction (be it vampire, werewolves, movie or video game-related, etc). I'm partly amused and partly saddened by this particular situation. I feel that, while fanfiction is easier to relate to, original artists are a bit under-exposed because of this.
    In photography it's much simpler. You see an image you like (no matter the subject it depicts), you click on it, you favourite it - it only takes a couple of minutes, as opposed to reading literature. People rarely search photography by categories or look for something specific - at least not as much as in the literary department, anyway. However, I've noticed that the most successful photographs on deviantART are either breathtaking landscapes (canyons, waterfalls, etc) or night skyscapes.I will attach a few of my works below, if anyone should be interested in viewing them. Thank you once again Chev, this interview was tons of fun, and thanks to everyone who's read it!

    mara--skywalker.deviantart.com…

    mara--skywalker.deviantart.com…

    mara--skywalker.deviantart.com…



And with this folks, ends this interview. I can certainly see where Mara gets her influence. So, don't forget to give Mara some love and support by commenting on her works, or giving a :+fav:, or even a :+devwatch: - you won't be disappointed.
An interview of :iconmara--skywalker: with special mentions of:

:iconlethus1: - for introducing me to her.

and

:iconnotensmsk: for his work "The Author" (link provided in the work).

Happy reading :)
Comments11
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DarkestEbony101's avatar
This is awesome! *trots over to take a look at the interviewee's work*