I know this isn't about MyChem, but...
As chebonne's biggest fan and creative consultant on her novels, I figured I should post the best interview she's ever given.
Well, okay, it's not an interview (hi, she's not published - she wants to finish the trilogy before editing thoroughly and then look into it even if I have to pull a Mikey and creep to the bedsides of publishers and whisper her name in their ears) so much as a conversation we had about how awesome she is.
Anyway, I figured it was something worth sharing but the length is a bit much for tumblr.
...and yes, I'm also posting this because it's about how awesome I am. Hey, I'm allowed, right?
chebonne: ...seriously, have I really known you for almost 2 and a half years now?
chebonne: WHERE DID THOSE YEARS GO?
Bee: I have no fucking idea
Bee: the amazing thing is that we haven't killed each other yet
chebonne: I know, right?
Bee: Or gotten sick of each other
chebonne: Well, actually, I read somewhere that friendships move in cycles of about half a dozen years. So we have another 4 years or so before we start getting sick of each other, I figure
Bee: My friendships tend to go in shorter cycles than that.
chebonne: Oh?
Bee: 1-3 years
Bee: Jess is at 5, but we go 6 months without talking, then 3-6 months of talking a lot, or something like that
chebonne: Yeah. Jennie and I are like that too right now
chebonne: And well. You know what happened with Sara
Bee: Yeah.
chebonne: Interestingly, Sara and I were friends for something like six years.
chebonne: And Jennie and I have started speaking less and less and it's been six years for us too.
Bee: strange. I tend to be- transient. I move a lot, I change jobs a fair bit, I change fandoms about every 2 years... Which is probably why my friendships run on a shorter cycle.
chebonne: Well, I usually just have one friend at a time. This is something new and different for me, that I actually have three people that I love and adore and can talk to about anything
Bee: I think it's a good thing, a good development for you.
Bee: Different friends usually have different perspectives and different strengths to bring to your conversations and interactions
chebonne: True dat. And also, it's not so. One-sided as it was with Sara.
chebonne: I'm not so completely dependent on this one person to amuse me and keep me company.
Bee: And hopefully you'll put up with less bullshit. Because you don't have to. You won't be alone if you don't.
chebonne: I think I do put up with less bullshit. I mean. There is still bullshit, but it's not like I give y'all crap as well, so, you know. It evens out. And I can talk more effectively about it.
chebonne: Also, I'm not as afraid anymore to lose people, you know? Having an argument isn't the end of the world, and I am actually allowed to get pissed off even at my best friends.
chebonne: Hence, why I can actually get snippy with you. Because I'm not terrified you'll leave if I give you shit about something
Bee: True. One of us snipes, the other snipes back, and soon enough we return to equilibrium.
chebonne: It's sort of safe. I can get snippy and bitchy and you're like, "bitch, get over yourself"
Bee: What's funny about you saying that is I say that to/about you all the fucking time!
chebonne: Well, I do tell you when you're being neurotic. But I like that about us, you know? It's not just. Trying my damndest to please all the fucking time, because I don't actually HAVE to with you, you know?
Bee: I do.
Bee: And well. We don't have the time to mince words always. Plus we both prefer not to wade through all that bullshit.
chebonne: True.
Bee: I like you. The times when you frustrate me trace directly back to the fact you're my friend and all.
chebonne: Likewise.
chebonne: I think a lot of the frustration stems from the fact that I a) WANT you to do better and b) know that you actually can.
Bee: Well said. Because you can't see your own potential most of the time and I don't like that because it practically shines out of you. So I feel that way about you too.
chebonne: And generally speaking, I feel like I have no potential at all, so it's nice somebody thinks I do.
Bee: I have already explained - several times - that you have a whole universe IN YOUR HEAD
chebonne: Oh, yeah. That. I keep forgetting that that might be a big deal.
Bee: *laughs* Linn. Sometimes you're fucking retarded.
chebonne: And hey, I've lived with this for literally more than half my life at this point. I forget that everybody doesn't do it.
chebonne: Besides, I know so many writers that I have a hard time believing I'm the only one
Bee: you're not the only one
Bee: But it is exceedingly uncommon
Bee: Quite rare
chebonne: Why is it? Rare, I mean.
Bee: I don't know why. I just know it is. I know enough writers to know that.
Bee: Having a few characters that follow you for life, that happens. A whole fucking universe with planets and genders and languages and geneologies?
Bee: Seriously, the only other writer I can name off the top of my head who's that thorough is Tolkien
chebonne: I change it all all the time, though. I mean. I've had a few families hanging on for a while, and a couple of worlds, planets and cities, but most of the other shit changes all the time
Bee: So? I'd imagine it'll still be doing that when you die.
Bee: it's the natural order
chebonne: True.
chebonne: Still, though. It doesn't feel like much of a big deal. It's just a place wherein I like to spend a lot of time
Bee: I wish I could show you how magic it is when you talk about it
chebonne: Magic?
Bee: Yes, magic.
Bee: Because it's this place only you can go to and I am filled with awe when you speak of it because of that, because no matter how many or what words you use, I can't go there. It's magic because it's a place that only exists in you.
chebonne: But that's a little sad too. That I can't, you know. Share it fully. That I can only ever show little glimpses. I always wish that I could just. Dump everything into your head so you would KNOW, so that you could feel it and see it too.
Bee: Isn't all magic sad?
chebonne: Not all of it, I don't think. But this particular kind, yeah. Because, I mean.
chebonne: I've tried to explain it completely to a number of people over the years, but dammit, I just don't have the words for a lot of it, and most people's eyes start glazing over before I get very far
Bee: Even if you had the words- it's a constantly evolving thing. You'd have to keep talking forever.
chebonne: That too. It was easier when I was ten. Sadly, then so few people cared to listen. Also, you know. I keep telling people and telling people, but every time I have to start over because they forget important details. It's very annoying.
Bee: I can only imagine it would be so.
chebonne: Which is another reason I want to dump stuff into people's heads, because then it would be THERE and I could concentrate on discussing the fun bits.
Bee: yeah. Get straight to the meat and not have to throttle them.
chebonne: Or completely daze people with way too much, but sadly kind of necessary information
Bee: I suppose that might happen
chebonne: Might? Has happened about a billion times and counting
chebonne: Most people are like, "I love your story, but shit, dude, I don't have the time for this"
chebonne: Or something is just so hard to explain, because hell, not only am I Swedish and have a whole other set of associations than you, this is also a whole new wooooorld that's different in so many new and exciting ways
Bee: Yeah.
Bee: Between cultural differences in us and cultural differences there...
linnisabell: Yeah
linnisabell: It's a bigass gap and sometimes I don't have the words for it
linnisabell: It's so strange to me that I should be in any way unique, though.
Bee: why?
chebonne: because I'm not?
chebonne: but yeah. What were we talking about?
chebonne: my not being unique?
Bee: you actually being unique
chebonne: I know it's not strictly true that I'm not unique. I guess the thing is that I don't think of myself as being special in whatever makes me me. It's a part of this, "wait, people actually like me and what I do?" thing that I have as well. And that I should have something that other people don't is. Odd.
Bee: right. Because you're a nutjob like that.
chebonne: Hey, I'm Swedish. Out here, everybody is equal and nobody is the best and most beautiful. because saying so would be unseemly.
Bee: Equal isn't the same as identical though
chebonne: No, but don't go thinking you're anything special. It's Sweden, Jante Law rules.
chebonne: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jante_Law
Bee: yech
chebonne: But it's true
Bee: maybe so
chebonne: It's not actually as evil as the wiki article makes it sound, but it's just this prevailing sense of, "I'm just like everybody else, neither better nor worse."
Bee: Probably healthier than America's thing
Bee: But still not right
chebonne: Possibly, but yeah, I know.
Well, okay, it's not an interview (hi, she's not published - she wants to finish the trilogy before editing thoroughly and then look into it even if I have to pull a Mikey and creep to the bedsides of publishers and whisper her name in their ears) so much as a conversation we had about how awesome she is.
Anyway, I figured it was something worth sharing but the length is a bit much for tumblr.
...and yes, I'm also posting this because it's about how awesome I am. Hey, I'm allowed, right?
chebonne: ...seriously, have I really known you for almost 2 and a half years now?
chebonne: WHERE DID THOSE YEARS GO?
Bee: I have no fucking idea
Bee: the amazing thing is that we haven't killed each other yet
chebonne: I know, right?
Bee: Or gotten sick of each other
chebonne: Well, actually, I read somewhere that friendships move in cycles of about half a dozen years. So we have another 4 years or so before we start getting sick of each other, I figure
Bee: My friendships tend to go in shorter cycles than that.
chebonne: Oh?
Bee: 1-3 years
Bee: Jess is at 5, but we go 6 months without talking, then 3-6 months of talking a lot, or something like that
chebonne: Yeah. Jennie and I are like that too right now
chebonne: And well. You know what happened with Sara
Bee: Yeah.
chebonne: Interestingly, Sara and I were friends for something like six years.
chebonne: And Jennie and I have started speaking less and less and it's been six years for us too.
Bee: strange. I tend to be- transient. I move a lot, I change jobs a fair bit, I change fandoms about every 2 years... Which is probably why my friendships run on a shorter cycle.
chebonne: Well, I usually just have one friend at a time. This is something new and different for me, that I actually have three people that I love and adore and can talk to about anything
Bee: I think it's a good thing, a good development for you.
Bee: Different friends usually have different perspectives and different strengths to bring to your conversations and interactions
chebonne: True dat. And also, it's not so. One-sided as it was with Sara.
chebonne: I'm not so completely dependent on this one person to amuse me and keep me company.
Bee: And hopefully you'll put up with less bullshit. Because you don't have to. You won't be alone if you don't.
chebonne: I think I do put up with less bullshit. I mean. There is still bullshit, but it's not like I give y'all crap as well, so, you know. It evens out. And I can talk more effectively about it.
chebonne: Also, I'm not as afraid anymore to lose people, you know? Having an argument isn't the end of the world, and I am actually allowed to get pissed off even at my best friends.
chebonne: Hence, why I can actually get snippy with you. Because I'm not terrified you'll leave if I give you shit about something
Bee: True. One of us snipes, the other snipes back, and soon enough we return to equilibrium.
chebonne: It's sort of safe. I can get snippy and bitchy and you're like, "bitch, get over yourself"
Bee: What's funny about you saying that is I say that to/about you all the fucking time!
chebonne: Well, I do tell you when you're being neurotic. But I like that about us, you know? It's not just. Trying my damndest to please all the fucking time, because I don't actually HAVE to with you, you know?
Bee: I do.
Bee: And well. We don't have the time to mince words always. Plus we both prefer not to wade through all that bullshit.
chebonne: True.
Bee: I like you. The times when you frustrate me trace directly back to the fact you're my friend and all.
chebonne: Likewise.
chebonne: I think a lot of the frustration stems from the fact that I a) WANT you to do better and b) know that you actually can.
Bee: Well said. Because you can't see your own potential most of the time and I don't like that because it practically shines out of you. So I feel that way about you too.
chebonne: And generally speaking, I feel like I have no potential at all, so it's nice somebody thinks I do.
Bee: I have already explained - several times - that you have a whole universe IN YOUR HEAD
chebonne: Oh, yeah. That. I keep forgetting that that might be a big deal.
Bee: *laughs* Linn. Sometimes you're fucking retarded.
chebonne: And hey, I've lived with this for literally more than half my life at this point. I forget that everybody doesn't do it.
chebonne: Besides, I know so many writers that I have a hard time believing I'm the only one
Bee: you're not the only one
Bee: But it is exceedingly uncommon
Bee: Quite rare
chebonne: Why is it? Rare, I mean.
Bee: I don't know why. I just know it is. I know enough writers to know that.
Bee: Having a few characters that follow you for life, that happens. A whole fucking universe with planets and genders and languages and geneologies?
Bee: Seriously, the only other writer I can name off the top of my head who's that thorough is Tolkien
chebonne: I change it all all the time, though. I mean. I've had a few families hanging on for a while, and a couple of worlds, planets and cities, but most of the other shit changes all the time
Bee: So? I'd imagine it'll still be doing that when you die.
Bee: it's the natural order
chebonne: True.
chebonne: Still, though. It doesn't feel like much of a big deal. It's just a place wherein I like to spend a lot of time
Bee: I wish I could show you how magic it is when you talk about it
chebonne: Magic?
Bee: Yes, magic.
Bee: Because it's this place only you can go to and I am filled with awe when you speak of it because of that, because no matter how many or what words you use, I can't go there. It's magic because it's a place that only exists in you.
chebonne: But that's a little sad too. That I can't, you know. Share it fully. That I can only ever show little glimpses. I always wish that I could just. Dump everything into your head so you would KNOW, so that you could feel it and see it too.
Bee: Isn't all magic sad?
chebonne: Not all of it, I don't think. But this particular kind, yeah. Because, I mean.
chebonne: I've tried to explain it completely to a number of people over the years, but dammit, I just don't have the words for a lot of it, and most people's eyes start glazing over before I get very far
Bee: Even if you had the words- it's a constantly evolving thing. You'd have to keep talking forever.
chebonne: That too. It was easier when I was ten. Sadly, then so few people cared to listen. Also, you know. I keep telling people and telling people, but every time I have to start over because they forget important details. It's very annoying.
Bee: I can only imagine it would be so.
chebonne: Which is another reason I want to dump stuff into people's heads, because then it would be THERE and I could concentrate on discussing the fun bits.
Bee: yeah. Get straight to the meat and not have to throttle them.
chebonne: Or completely daze people with way too much, but sadly kind of necessary information
Bee: I suppose that might happen
chebonne: Might? Has happened about a billion times and counting
chebonne: Most people are like, "I love your story, but shit, dude, I don't have the time for this"
chebonne: Or something is just so hard to explain, because hell, not only am I Swedish and have a whole other set of associations than you, this is also a whole new wooooorld that's different in so many new and exciting ways
Bee: Yeah.
Bee: Between cultural differences in us and cultural differences there...
linnisabell: Yeah
linnisabell: It's a bigass gap and sometimes I don't have the words for it
linnisabell: It's so strange to me that I should be in any way unique, though.
Bee: why?
chebonne: because I'm not?
chebonne: but yeah. What were we talking about?
chebonne: my not being unique?
Bee: you actually being unique
chebonne: I know it's not strictly true that I'm not unique. I guess the thing is that I don't think of myself as being special in whatever makes me me. It's a part of this, "wait, people actually like me and what I do?" thing that I have as well. And that I should have something that other people don't is. Odd.
Bee: right. Because you're a nutjob like that.
chebonne: Hey, I'm Swedish. Out here, everybody is equal and nobody is the best and most beautiful. because saying so would be unseemly.
Bee: Equal isn't the same as identical though
chebonne: No, but don't go thinking you're anything special. It's Sweden, Jante Law rules.
chebonne: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jante_Law
Bee: yech
chebonne: But it's true
Bee: maybe so
chebonne: It's not actually as evil as the wiki article makes it sound, but it's just this prevailing sense of, "I'm just like everybody else, neither better nor worse."
Bee: Probably healthier than America's thing
Bee: But still not right
chebonne: Possibly, but yeah, I know.