First, please introduce yourself to our readers.
hello, readers! 🙂 i’m jyliet. i started exploring media through writing 15 years ago with neopets roleplaying forums! i would roleplay as different tv show and anime characters until i eventually gained the skills to write full stories on my own. my fiancé introduced me to horror and tf2 early on in our relationship, and look at me now.
Thank you! That’s a good segue into my next question. How long have you been in the TF2 fandom, and were you first introduced to it through the game or comics (or other)?
one of puck’s roommates showed him shippy stuff on tumblr and he fell into the fandom that way in late 2012. the tf comics hadn’t started yet, but the update comics were around. i didn’t join the fandom until several months later, finally succumbing after watching all the meet the mercs videos and paying attention. i’m not good at video games, so it was even later when i started actually playing. but i did try really hard and now i’m a good medic main.
Since you’ve been involved with TF2 for a while, have you noticed any changes in the fandom from when you first joined until now?
for sure… for context, nearly all of my experience with the fandom is from tumbr. a lot has changed. i was real adjacent to some big intracommunity fight-y stuff on tumblr in mid 2014 that drove out a lot of the tf2 content creators. a lot of those creators had been in the fandom since tf2chan and, because they left so abruptly and all at once, it feels like the remaining fandom lost touch with the pre-comics days. i think that’s why the newer waves of the fandom hold so tightly onto the comics as undeniable canon and why there are fewer scout abuse fics.
As this is a gore zine, are you typically a fan of gore/eroguro, or is this your first time trying it out?
i don’t usually seek out gore/eroguro content. i prefer more psychological and/or supernatural horror, but it’s fun to write about wiggly, wet guts.
Do you like to include darker themes in general in your writing?
yes yes yes! drama thrives on conflict and there’s so many dark things for characters to conflict over. the light stories are fun, but the dark stories get to be deeper and more full of intense emotions, i think.
How would you describe your writing style? Who or what inspires/influences you?
lazy, maybe. capitalization makes my hands itch after a while and my sentences tend to meander. i’ve written over 175,000 words in the past five months alone, so a lot of how i write is just practiced and consistent.
perhaps the biggest influence on my writing style is all the latin classes i took in high school. over four years, i took seven latin classes. one of those class was AP latin back when the test was just on the aeneid. at the beginning of the year, my teacher asked my class whether we wanted to pass the test or learn about latin literature. we opted for the latter. instead of learning real latin vocabulary to be able to translate blocks of texts, my teacher taught us about things like polysyndeton, ekphrasis, and the customary organization of a roman prayer. the idiosyncrasies of latin poetry are incredible. knowing these kinds of literary devices shapes how i phrase things in order to achieve a certain effect.
What’s your creative process like?
for the process itself, my most reliable strategy is BICHOK: butt in chair, hands on keyboard. if i can’t move my fingers off the keys, i can’t go to my browser to watch youtube or play on my switch. it’s just me and scrivener until i’m done. speaking of: i use scrivener. it’s admittedly super expensive, but i love it. if you’re interested but scrivener’s too expensive, there are discounts every year for national novel writing month participants that might help. i also use siri and the notes app. siri saves me for when my thought isn’t going to make it until i can get to my computer. still, sometimes i’ll ask her to make a note, she’ll ask “what do you want it to say?”, and the thought will be gone.
Would you like to talk about your piece(s) for the zine? (You could describe how your idea came to you, why you chose the char(s) you did, if you’re happy with the outcome, etc!)
i knew that i wanted to do something with soldier. i think i originally thought to do a story with engineer and soldier. engineer’s such a great character for horror stuff. he’s creepy and violent and a delight. but, i changed my mind and wanted to do demo and soldier because i thought a buddy story might be nice. i like their dynamic. i like when soldier’s a big dumb dog and demo’s overdramatic and despairing. and i also think it’s very romantic to have someone’s hands in your guts.
Overall, have you had a positive experience being a part of this zine?
YES! writing isn’t as sought after in a lot of community projects. the most recent tf2 community project-adjacent thing i’d done was a tf2 secret santa a couple of years ago. i never got my present. x3 on the other hand, i was excited for this zine before the applications even opened up. i had, and have, complete trust in scumsuck’s professionalism and passion for a project like this. and all the contributors have been so nice! everyone offered encouragement and critique to make sure we all got the best from each other to make this zine really good.
Lastly, are you working on anything right now or in the near future? Anything you’d like to promote or advertise?
not really! i’ll be returning to the shadows, but you can read my two other published tf2 fics on my ao3 and you can see my fiancé’s really good art at manntreads on twitter! 😀
twitter: @jylliet ao3: @jylliet
Deflectric