We Want More of Kristina: Wrimo & Music Video Mastermind!
Kristina is a six-time NaNoWriMo winner, and all-around awesome person. Not only has she accomplished putting down 50,000 words every November since 2006, she’s somehow found the time to write, sing, and perform in the music video for “The NaNoWriMo Song”.
Thankfully, since it isn’t November, Kristina found the time to sit down for a whirlwind personality quiz and interview. You can also check out her YouTube channel, and blog!
The Personality Quiz, NaNo-style:
Pantser, or Planner? I am definitely a planner. It really depends on the nature of the story I am working on that year, but generally, I’ll at least map out characters and a general story arc. Sometimes I even break down chapter arcs before I dive into them, but it’s always a work in progress and my notes are ever-changing.
First Encounter with the NaNoWriMosphere — This girl I knew from my fanfiction days mentioned it in her buddy profile on AIM (wow, remember when we all used AIM?) in 2005. I went to the website to check it out, but November was more than halfway over.
In 2006, I saw mention of it again somewhere or other online, and even though I’d missed the start date again by about four days, I decided to dive in anyway.
NaNo Fuel of Choice — My friend Liz and I always spend a lot of our NaNoWriMo month working with each other. In our first year writing together, we powered through with the the divine aid of banana cream pie, and now it’s become somewhat of a tradition. Believe it or not I’m not really a coffee person; so I suppose sugar is my crutch.
NaNoWriMo Motivation — I wish I could tell you some inspirational tale about how NaNoWriMo challenges me in new ways and helps me grow not only as a writer but as a person, but really I’m the authorial equivalent of a drug addict, needing my yearly fix of writing a novel way faster than should be humanly possible.
One year I even tried not doing NaNoWriMo, because it was my junior year in college and I was totally swamped with ‘real life things’. But I got so jealous when I saw other people online talking about their stories that on November 2 I started a novel anyway. That was the year I wrote my favorite story.
Spirit Animal — This is a tougher question than I first thought. I was about to unblinkingly say “a unicorn”, but upon second thought, I think that’s more my Patronus than my spirit animal. My spirit animal is probably Pinkie Pie. It’s a My Little Pony reference. No, it really is a good show… sigh.
Favorite Literary Character — Draco Malfoy. Blame it on a schoolgirl crush, but old habits die hard.
Live, rule, raze: Narnia, Hogwarts, Panem — Live at Hogwarts, Rule Narnia, Raze Panem. Come on.
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Kristina and OLL In the Mooorning:
You are a triple threat! Vlogging, singing, writing: what is your favorite thing about doing all of the above? What is the most challenging thing?
I think what’s really important is finding ways to use your skills in tandem—writing and vlogging often go hand in hand, but when you can find ways to combine all of your skills (be it music videos you make at home, or video blogs when you’re out on tour) that’s when you’re really pushing yourself to your full potential. Though lately I’ve been doing a lot more acting than singing!
Let’s talk about the NaNoWriMo song, which you updated last November. How did it come about? Why was this the time for a reboot of the franchise? Most importantly, what happened to the bro posse from the first video?
Well, the idea for the song originally came to me during a previous NaNoWriMo. I was struggling along with my word count (as you do) and I wished I had some sort of anthem to motivate me and keep me going. I realized nothing like that existed online, so I knew I had to write it myself!
As for the reboot—the original music video was filmed a long time ago, when all I had was a crappy little flip cam. I happened to live with a serious filmmaker last fall, who wanted to make some sort of music video. Since the opportunity was available, I thought it would be fun to create a more polished version of the video!
As for the bro posse (haha), one of those guys is the other half of ALL CAPS, the band I was in that wrote the song. He wasn’t in Seattle when we filmed the reboot, so I substituted him with another one of my roommates.
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The Character Profile:
Who’s your favorite character from your NaNo-novels?
Meredith, the retail magic shop owner who wasn’t satisfied with illusions and tricks, and started researching real, darker magic. She then proceeded to shrink everyone in her town down to the size of a toy to keep them in a weirdo dollhouse neighborhood she built in her attic.
Your character is now mortal enemies with your favorite literary character. Who would reign supreme?
Well, Draco knows real magic and Meredith is kind of a wannabe, though I get the impression that Draco didn’t pay much attention in class. So they’d probably be pretty equally matched.
After a while, Meredith would get lucky and manage to shrink Draco down to the size of a puffskein: her only real ability. She would delight in keeping Draco in her attic for awhile, until Lucius found out. At this point he would burst inside, free Draco from his miniature prison, and get Meredith a life sentence in Azkaban (without freeing any of the other prisoners, of course).
Draco would never speak of it again, filing it away next to “that time he was a ferret” in his memories.
Your character is now tasked with rebuilding the land you razed. Are they up to the job?
Meredith? Yes, but it would be a tiny, miniature version of Panem. She would be their Queen. It would honestly be a step down from the previous Panem, which is hard to imagine is possible. Maybe she’d even hold a miniature Reaping. This would be exactly like the real Reaping, but smaller.
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