User blog:Helel ben Shahaar/Writer's Lounge Part 11: An Interview with SoDaft Potato

To my knowledge, no admin before me has attempted such profane and dangerous action: to interview a girl. But I attempted, and I paid the price, for the interview took 4 days to complete (hence me being late).

But twas worth it, for now, I fetch thee words of none other than SoDaft Potato, also known as Overlord, a lass responsible for pearls such as New Friends and I Laughed at a Funeral.

So without further ado-

Helel ben Shahaar: First and foremost, why not tell us something about yourself?

SoDaft Potato: First off, I hate snow but live in a place where the snow never seems to stop for five minutes during the winter. Ironic, isn't it? Thank goodness it's spring. That's another thing. I love spring; it's my second-favorite season, behind fall. The leaves on the trees become the most vibrant colors, and the world just seems to have a sort of peace about it, you know?

As you can see I tend to get carried away, another thing you should know about myself. I'm the kind that likes to ramble if you can get me talking, though that can be a hard thing to do as I also like to keep to myself like a clam. Most days I spend my time surfing the net (who else says that), practicing the piano, watching any movie I can, drawing wherever there is paper and doing the best I can to grow as an individual and gain worldly knowledge, even when I'm not in school. I like jokes, even if they're edgy, and dislike censorship (luckily I won't get into that). People tell me I'm very opinionated, which is very true. I figure it's up to them to decide whether they like what I think or not.

Oh, and I love Buffalo sauce. It's very Buffalo-y.

Hel: How did you discover creepypasta, and by extension, Creepypasta Wiki herself?

Tater: A while ago in 2012, when I was a wee tot, I discovered the wiki and its contents on my own. I read one and vowed never to read another. Little Potato was majorly spooked. I forgot about Creepypasta for a little while until my friend showed interest in it and basically said "hey, check this out." I was nervous, of course, but I took her up on it.

After a couple of readings I was hooked. I found that I liked the thrill of being scared, and wondered how people could write "those pasta things". At night, in the dark, I'd go and listen to narrations of them on our home's computer after reading the stories. It set an inspirational mood that I'd use to write my own stories in the future.

Then in 2018, after having lurked on-again-off-again up until that point, I made up my mind to publish one. Now here I am, six stories later, getting asked about my experiences.

It's pretty neat to think about.

Hel: Only six stories? Why so few?

Tater: I hit a brick wall and ran out of time. Last summer was pretty rough to me in terms of my personal life: something happened that caused me to lose the inspiration to write almost completely. I found I'd recovered after a couple of months, but by then I'd started another year of school, and because of that I haven't had the time or energy. I've hated not being able to truly get anything down.

Summer approaches, though. I think boatloads of inspiration are going to to come with it.

Hel: Lords hear you. And what would you say is your greatest source of inspiration?

Tater: I think my nightmares are where I've gotten most of my story ideas. I haven't had too many as of late, which has also been hindering my story-writing, but when I have a really brutal one that manages to stay with me long after it's ended I try to keep it in my head, and if I feel I could easily write it down I do so.

Real life is pretty scary too, but I most like its... creeping creepiness: it's the kind you experience without really thinking about it until later, when you look back on it and say, "wow, that was actually really messed up." It's a horror that creeps up on you. Take "A Story Told by an Elementary School Student" for example. The fact that a kid was talking about grass eating horses as they slept didn't weird me out until I was at my locker, and by the time I'd closed the door I knew I had to remember it, to share the story with someone else.

I take inspiration from that as well.

Hel: Would you say you believe in supernatural? Had any experiences with the unknown?

Tater: I'm at a crossroads in terms of my belief in things which are paranormal: it really depends on the situation or what's happened. Currently, I tend to look for a reasonable, logical explanation before I start screaming "GHOST!", but sometimes I just don't know what else to think.

Most creepy things that have happened to me are easily explained, but there's a couple incidences that I haven't been able to.

One is a dream I had that, to summarize in the briefest terms, involves me walking through the house I currently live in and finding a man sitting in a recliner and watching TV. He turns his head, but the dream ends right before I can see his face. The first time I had this dream was before I'd even seen the inside of the house, so how was the dream even possible?

Another happened a while ago: I was in elementary school, and there was this old house that hadn't been lived in for years across from the playground (the only things separating the two were a road and a chain-link fence). It was mostly obscured by vines, but you could always see one half-boarded window. I was swinging on a swing set one day, which was the closest piece of playground equipment to it, and when I looked in the window I swear I saw someone looking at me. It could have just been my imagination playing tricks, but I remember it vividly.

Hel: Both of these sound like a decent pasta material. Any plans to adapt them into written works?

Tater: The swing set had a small appearance in my first story, New Friends, but I suppose I could turn that memory into a fully-fledged work someday. I've wondered for a while if I should go about making the dream a creepypasta. Perhaps I will now that you've said something about it!

Hel: Kool! Glad that I could convince you into it (somewhat). And would you say you have a capital fear? Something that frightens you beyond any words?

Tater: Death scares me, but that's such an obvious one. None of us who are alive really know what comes after death. We'd have to actually die first, and that's hard to come back from.

Quite honestly, current politics scare me the most. That's why I keep up with them. They're so unpredictable, and every year they seem to ramp up in intensity. Every day I see a lot of loss in what people can say without being punished, so if I could really name a "capital fear" I currently have it would be the inability to say much more than I already can't. But I won't bore you with any more talk about that. I don't really like bringing political commentary where I don't feel it belongs.

Hel: Which of your stories would you say is your favourite and why?

Tater: If you'd asked me that after I had published my last story, (as of now) it would've been that very pasta, so Neon. With Neon I took a style I'd never written in before and actually managed to impress myself. Since then, however, I've reduced it to my second favorite. My favorite pasta has to be Fear of Rats now. It might not be my best in terms of the quality of its writing, but whenever I show it to someone their jaw drops and they ask "did you actually write this?" It's my darkest work, and when I read it over again I ask myself the same thing.

Hel: And maybe your least favourite?

Tater: The Dark, and I believe it will forever be my least favorite. I wanted to try something I didn't often do in terms of writing, poetry, so I sat down and started writing a poem with little knowledge of how to properly write it and refused to look up how to structure it. In my opinion I failed miserably: I've fixed it multiple times since its publication, but it's still a mess. I'm done trying to save it. I've been told the story itself was good, but I don't like it nearly as much as the others.

Hel: Triple question: what is your quest, what is your favourite colour, and what is the airspeed velocity of an unlaboured swallow?

Tater: To seek the Holy Grail, blue, and what kind: African or European? Heh heh. Serious talk, I'd like to make a comic some day, or maybe do something with art that could actually make me a living. Something to do with writing would be good and possibly more realistic, though, so I always consider that. Any shade of red is my favorite color. I've already answered the last question.

Hel: Oh thy sly doge. Appears you and I have mostly common interests.

Last but not least: do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Tater: When it comes to that question I'm definitely not the best person to ask, but I will say this: take criticism, be it minor or major, gentle or harsh, and improve yourself with it. Accept it, and don't make a big fuss over it. That can get you in real trouble with people, and you aren't going to get better. I might come over and sass you out about it, too, just because I'm like that.

Hel: Thank you for your time.