@SerebetGM - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

Q: What is it like living in Venezuela?

A1.

Life in Venezuela was... Different from many countries in the world. It was an experience not many people would even think existed. The entire last decade could probably be described as a nightmare for anyone from the lower middle class. Let alone my generation, most of whom were forced to grow up before their time to avoid starvation and depression.

Nowadays I don't know what many situations are like because I've been disconnected from many situations for the last two years. But I can say for sure that the way people look at things is different. They show their concern, but they are also a bit more hopeful.

Q: Your experiences with the Internet and how did you find Newgrounds?

A2.

My encounters with the Internet in the last decade have been very rare. In my country it was a luxury to have the Internet, and in the end it was the stable Internet. My few contacts were thanks to constant visits to the cibers, those little places where you could rent computers by the hour. At the time, it was one of the few ways I could forget what I was facing. 

My approach to Newgrounds was through GD, the game that everyone tried to beat, but no one could get past the first level. I wondered where the hell all the custom music came from, and in 2016 I saw what it was all about.

My English was mediocre, and so was my logical understanding. However, something made me like the site enough to decide to upload my first track four years later. I don't regret listening to that asshole kid who didn't like nagging.

Q: How do you think about the Internet?

A3.

It is like a cosmic cube, an ungraspable world and a sticky web whose thickness and extent may well approach infinity.

It can be used for almost anything, you can know things about this reality as well as things you would never consider probable with your intellectual level... And it can trap you until the day you die, or until a miracle happens.

Unfortunately, the current generation may not see it that way, and there is a certain likelihood that they will not, because of the constant manipulation of attention that exists today.

Q: How did you get interested in creating art?

A4.

I don't remember, there are many things from my youth under lock and key that even I can't open. I barely remember that when I was thirteen, I drew a random landscape, my mother congratulated me and I felt that I was already capable of drawing a whole world on paper.

After that, I drew things I got from the internet, not knowing of course that there were drawing tutorials or people who did that.

Two years before the COVID-19, I decided to change my modus operandi, because I wanted to do something so big that it was out of my hands. Without realising it, I became obsessed with learning about art. To this day, I haven't been cured of this addiction, and I hope I never will be.

Q: How did you get interested in creating music?

A5.

It's all the fault of Newgrounds, or rather the talent here. I liked videogame music a lot, but what I heard in GD was something that shaped me forever. It made me download my first music mixing program (thinking I could do something with it) onto a phone that was barely alive. It made me ask myself a thousand questions about music production, and it made me ask a thousand questions of a lot of people. I couldn't learn much because of the time, but if I'd had the chance, I'd have about ten years of experience in music by now.

Q: What is your process for writing?

A6.

It depends on the tone of the story. If I want it to be a bit convoluted, I start at the end, if I want it to be simple, I start at the beginning.

From there I build the world bit by bit. I use the rudimentary method of writing all the worldbuilding in notebooks (at least new ones, before I had to recycle them with an eraser and four hours of wear and tear), and when I see that I'm convinced of the idea, I write the basic ideas of the story, and eventually the story itself.

I used to care very little about organisation, but thanks to the constant opinions of a good writer friend, I realised that if I continued with this modus operandi, the stories I had the most affection and faith in would not even reach the ears of a naive child.

When I have creative blocks, I turn off the lights and write by candlelight. The light soothes me and reminds me of those moments when I wrote for no other reason than to do it.

Q: Which pieces of advice has helped you the most?

A8.

Never let your faith in your dreams crumble, even when everything seems against you, there is always a way to find your way.

No one will chase your dreams, you are the only one who can.

Create your characters in such a way that you can't sum up their personality in one line. It's something I apply to stories, music and drawing (at least when I want to xd).

Finally, I would like to say... thank you. These questions are somewhat reassuring. They remind us of where we have come from and give us more impetus to look for a better future.

For those who have come this far: I wish you a happy life, and may your hopes of achieving your purest dream never fade :3

And that's all pal