Lucy Zhang
ORP: What inspired you to begin writing or creating? Has that source of inspiration changed throughout your life?
Lucy Zhang: The desire to connect with people without meeting them; anime and manga; a quest for the least restrictive form of expression.
ORP: Do you write or create with an audience in mind? If so, how do you consider the relationship between that audience and your work throughout your creative process?
LZ: Not really. I guess I write for myself, and later revise more with the mindset that someone else is going to read a piece. I am a selfish writer :P I am always a little startled and curious when someone who doesn't usually read my work (like my husband) reads it.
ORP: What does success as a writer or artist mean to you?
LZ: When someone tells me that they connect with my writing, or that it affected them in any strong way (...despite my previous comment about being a selfish writer).
ORP: Does writing or creating energize or exhaust you? What aspects of your artistic process would you consider the most challenging or rewarding?
LZ: Both. The most challenging part is just forcing myself to sit down and start writing or revising. The work week drains me, so I often just want to be a potato on weekends. But I resist!
