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An Interview with Luna Chai!

5/25/2015

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Mac: Hello, Luna! How are you doing today?
Luna Chai: Doing well! Really glad that finals are over.
Mac: Ahh, yes. Finals. The enemy of all students. At least you can look forward to this summer, right?
Luna Chai: For sure, I'm glad to be able to have more time to work on stuff I'm passionate about ^^
Mac: That's good to hear! Anyway, let's begin! Luna, you are the head writer of Lucid9 and have written the majority of the common route, correct?
Luna Chai: Yeah, technically I've written the majority, but the ideas are from everyone on the writing team. I always ask people for a lot of help in outlining and planning :)
Mac: I like your honesty! How does it feel to have so many people be able to read your writing?
Luna Chai: Well, I guess that it's not really a novel feeling, since, to be honest, I'm actually a fanfic writer. I guess you could say that I'm used to putting my work out there to be read. In general though, it is a nerve wracking process. People tend to be most critical of writing, since visual novels are centered around story over gameplay. So criticism is definitely something that I always have to be bracing myself for. That being said, one of the best feelings in life is knowing that something I wrote helped someone or changed their life for the better. That's what my hope would be.
Mac: That truly is a great feeling. So, why did you join Lucid9? What interested you about it?
Luna Chai: I was looking on Lemmasoft to join a visual novel project after I got interested in the VN field. Lucid9 just happened to catch my interest because 1) they were looking for a writer, 2) it was in the mystery genre, which was probably my favorite genre ever, and 3) Dizzy's art. No one could resist that amount of moe. I didn't actually know much about the project, except that I would be helping to write Common with a bunch of other writers.
Mac: Dizzy's art is too moe, it's like Christmas Day every time she shows us a new one! Who is your favorite Lucid9 character anyway?
Luna Chai: Favorite as a reader or as a writer?
Mac: As a reader!
Luna Chai: In that case... I'd say Shigure. In truth, it's another character, but I'd rather not say because of spoiling tendencies x)
Mac: I still have nightmares about David spoiling Katawa Shoujo for me ;_; Anyway, Shigure is amazing! I love her extensive vocabulary. Luna, what aspired you to become a writer? Also, when did you start writing fan fics and original stories?
Luna Chai: Ha, she's certainly a piece of work! As for writing, apparently I've literally been telling stories since I could talk and writing them down since my hand could hold a pen. I guess that I've always loved the nature of storytelling, particularly as something that can impact the world in a positive way. When it comes to actually posting stuff, though, I didn't post anything until I found out about fanfiction.net when I was... I think eleven years old. I've deleted most of the stuff posted from that time, though, because... I don't think I could even force myself to read it now. It was truly awful.
Mac: Haha, I understand that feeling quite well. I still can't look at my own writing! It's amazing to think that you've been telling stories even as a small child, although it'd be a bit odd if you were telling fan fiction stories as a six year old. Are there any writers that you do look up to though?
Luna Chai: Yes, apparently when I was a kid, all I did was tell stories about birthday parties and listed what food everybody ate. I guess I liked food. In terms of writers... I don't actually read many original stories anymore, but mainly story-focused games and fanfiction. For example, I love games like Danganronpa, Phoenix Wright, and Layton Brothers. Individual authors, though... Well, there's a lot of great writers on ff.net whose works I love to read, if that counts.
Mac: That totally counts. Now, I have a very serious question to ask you: What is your favorite visual novel?
Luna Chai: I shall prepare for the pitchforks and torches, because I've barely played any. Actually, the only VNs that I've played have been OELVNs or indie productions like Fault. Aside from the mystery genre, of course. However, of all the ones I've played thus far, I'd say that I've enjoyed Danganronpa the most, although it doesn't count as a "pure" VN. The mix of story and mystery really appeals to me and it's just very well written.
Mac: Monokuma! Seriously though, I'm surprised you didn't choose Hatoful Boyfriend. Moving on though! Who was your favorite character to write as?
Luna Chai: Definitely Akira. Her quirky sense of randomness always challenges me to think of the world in a very unusual, yet exciting, way. Her interactions are just really fun.
Mac: Genki girls sure are fun! Speaking of interactions, what's your most memorable experience with the Lucid9 Skype group?
Luna Chai: ...I'll stick with "memorable" in a positive way x) The most fun times for me are when we RP as the Lucid9 characters. It's really cool to just make up things on the spot and see other people's interpretations. Some people even manage to perfectly nail them down without any kind of practice, which is kinda scary, but in a great way.
Mac: Like with Yuuko and Yahiko? It definitely is scary with him... Back to writer talk, what was your favorite scene to write in Common Route? (Let's keep it within the demo)
Luna Chai: Hmm... Well, most of my favorite scenes take place after the demo, so within the demo... Maybe Airi's scenes, because she just takes everything at face-value, which makes for some fun exchanges? Can't say for sure, though.
Mac: I love her exchanges with Yahiko, they're just great. When writing, what is your biggest struggle?
Luna Chai: Hmm... I would say that the hardest part is figuring out how to continue writing even when I'm not inspired. When I'm inspired, it's very easy to write, and I feel like everything is falling into the right place and the wording is great. But when I'm not inspired, every single keystroke is a pain to get through. Of course, the problem is mainly that I'm uninspired maybe 75%-85% of the time, so at a certain point, it's just perseverance...
Mac: Perseverance is definitely a virtue. Now, if you could give only one piece of advice to other aspiring writers, what would it be?
Luna Chai: Don't reread your first draft, unless you need to change major plot/character elements. You will probably see it and it will probably look like utter trash to your eyes, and you'll want to edit it and perfect it before you move on. Then you'll probably lose motivation at that point. Instead, it's definitely best to just get everything down, then go back and edit the heck out of your draft. That's really the only way that I've ever finished anything. It sounds harsh, but that change in mentality really does help, at least for me :)
Mac: That's great advice! I might use that mindset myself! I now have to ask a sad question, is that okay with you?
Luna Chai: Sure thing :)
Mac: After Lucid9 is fully released, what do you plan on doing? :(
Luna Chai: Ah... Well, I would love to join or create an indie studio that makes story-based games, I suppose. Maybe mixed gameplay, like strat-RPGs or mystery games. It's kind of a pipe dream, although with Steam, I guess it could be possible in the future. I'll definitely treasure my time working with FSS, though, no matter what.
Mac: That's a fantastic answer! Making games for a living is the life~ Unfortunately, I have run all out of questions to ask! That being said, thank you so much for doing this with me, Luna!
Luna Chai: Thank you for the interview! ^^

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An Interview with Luna Chai!

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