guest: Neon

[quinnpriv1]

GUEST: Neon

PROFILE RATING: E/18+

BIO: My name is Neon (29, they/them) and I work on many fandom-related creative disciplines like fanart, fic, video edits, fangames, and more. I tend to wander from media to media, currently obsessed with Homestuck and Hypnosis Mic—but I always love learning and taking on new projects. A lover of cosplay, a creative above all else, and an enjoyer of fanmade works. Glad to be here!

PREVIEW: Don't be afraid to do something nobody else is doing yet. The spark is there just waiting for you to light it.

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GENERAL QUESTIONS

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[Quillifer: What is the first fandom you remember being involved in? What drew you to this fandom / community?]

The first fandom I truly got involved with was Homestuck all the way back in 2011—I was drawn into reading it after stumbling upon a bunch of memes (and fanart). After entrenching myself in the story that was available so far, I craved MORE. So...I started talking to a few friends who also knew about the webcomic and then met friends of friends, so on and so forth.
 

[Quillifer: Who are some of your favorite Homestuck characters? Have you kept up with any of the spinoffs/comics/etc.? (Huge fan of John, Dave, & Karkat myself.)]

Sollux has always and forever been my favorite. He was the first character I ever cosplayed. I haven't been keeping up with HS:BC, but I've been slowly working my way through Pesterquest/Friendsim/Hiveswap.
 

[Quillifer: How long have you been involved in fandom?]

It's been over 15 years now!
 

[Quillifer: Do you do research? If so: how much and how in-depth is it?]

Usually, the most research I put into writing fanfiction is "just enough to realistically cover the details I need.” Until I find myself scrolling the depths of Wikipedia at 2 AM...again...
 

[Quillifer: If you were to go to trivia night, which category do you think you could sweep?]

Fanfiction Tropes. I'll take Omegaverse for 400, Alex.
 

[Quillifer: Same here. What’s your favorite Omegaverse trope/schtick/something that you find yourself pulling out every time you approach it? Alternatively: what do you like to see in other people's Omegaverse media?]

It's not super common, but I love seeing "atypical" pairings. (Alpha/alpha, beta/omega, etc.)
 

[Quillifer: What are your hobbies / what do you do outside of fandom involvement?]

Outside of fandom activity, I've been really into game development and web development lately. There's just something about building interactive stuff piece by piece that's so satisfying.
 

[Quillifer: Which parts do you work on? Coding, engineering, script, UI, etc.?]

Usually, it's a little bit of everything. Music, artwork, programming, dialogue...Most of the stuff I make is super simple (my current project is a clone of the game Little Alchemy), but I enjoy getting to be involved in different aspects of creation.
 

*Note from Neon: Little Alchemy is a browser game where the player starts with four elements (water, fire, earth, air) and mixes two of them together to create new elements, which you then mix together to make even MORE elements. EX: water + fire = rock.
 

[Quillifer: What kinds of technology do you use to write and for everyday life? (iPad, laptop, phone, etc.)]

For art, I sit at my desktop with a copy of Clip Studio Paint PRO and a Wacom Intuos Medium tablet. For writing, I use the website Ellipsus for drafting, either on my desktop or on my phone browser.
 

[Quillifer: What is your advice for fellow creatives / people interested in getting involved in writing fanfiction?]

Don't be afraid to do something nobody else is doing yet. A fic for an OTP that doesn't have any works on AO3? A fansong for a book series you really like? A cosplay for an obscure podcast? The spark is there just waiting for you to light it.
 

[Quillifer: How do you want people to remember you? What do you want them to remember you for?]

Ideally, I'd like people to remember me for the range of projects I've done and my dedication to them. As for being remembered, personally, I hope people think of me as someone who wasn't afraid to be cringe and free about the things they loved. :)
 

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ARTIST-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

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[Quillifer: How do you know when a piece is finished?]

When I feel like I have nothing else I can add or improve upon.

 

[Quillifer: How do you promote your own work? How long did it take to build the audience you currently have?]

I'm actually not very good at promoting my own work beyond posting it on social media with tags and then kind of...hoping people see it. I've been putting out enough art in fandom spaces and socializing in the past decade and a half to get a few new fresh eyes every time [I post.]
 

[Quillifer: What are the best and worst parts of being an artist?]

The best part is getting to see the fruit of your labor. Every dot on the canvas, every letter on the page—seeing it all put together is one of the most rewarding feelings I can think of.

The worst part, in contrast, is having to abandon a project you fell in love with but couldn't manifest for one reason or another. (Creating an entire Danganronpa fan universe is…frustrating.)
 

[Quillifer: That sounds intense. If you don't mind, can you tell me more about what happened to make you feel that way? The time constraints & depth to it? I’ve never done anything like that before, so I’m curious about this experience with worldbuilding.]

It was actually my inability to settle on a medium for expressing the story. I tried writing it into a fic, I tried doing a sprite-based video series...but nothing really seemed to "feel" right.
 

[Quillifer: Have you ever done collaborative projects with other artists/writers/etc.? How did it go? What did you like / dislike about it?]

I'm usually on my own working on stuff, mostly because I feel a certain sense of responsibility for the way things turn out (or don’t.) I'd love to eventually be an artist in zines, though.
 

[Quillifer: What keeps you away from zines currently? Lack of interest? Your style being a mismatch for the zines you're interested in? The way they're run?]

A little bit of style mismatch—I’ve gotten rejected several times over in the past. A little bit that I don't seem to hear about projects until they're already in progress. :’)
 

[Quillifer: How would you describe your art style? Who / what are some of your biggest stylistic influences?]

My art style is hard to pin down, sometimes. I definitely stray toward the more cartoonish/simplified side of things rather than photorealism/rendering, but I've been told the way I draw hair/eyes is distinct. My biggest influence was Danganronpa for a while, as it slowly pushed me to be more dynamic with my posing/backgrounds/etc. (Pixel art and 3/4 faces only get you so far.)

 

[Quillifer: What is your dream project / art piece?]

My dream project was/is to sell my art at conventions. I've done it twice with prints and buttons, but I'd love to do it a third time.

 

[Quillifer: What is your goal with your art / what do you hope to achieve when people look at your work?]

My goal is always to make something that can make others excited. I especially love things people can interact with (comics, games, etc.) because the feeling of getting to see art come alive is magical, in my opinion.
 

[Quillifer: What’s one thing people might not know about you and/or your art journey so far?]

At one point during my mid-teens, I almost completely gave up on art. I've been drawing as long as I could pick up a pencil, but mental health issues made it feel like my art was all turning out the same, and it felt like I was stagnant.

I don't even remember how I was able to snap out of it, to be honest, but I'm glad I did, because there's nothing quite as devastating as the feeling of wanting to give up on something that feels like a core part of your existence.
 

[Quillifer: What do you listen to / watch when you draw?]

I have a playlist of songs that I like to listen to, but sometimes when I get really in the zone, I'll have the same song on loop for upwards of 2-3 hours at a time. The weirdest one of those was definitely the 9-minute-long Game Grumps Our House parody.
 

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WRITER-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

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[Quillifer: What are some of your most commonly used words/phrases/etc.?]

Not really a phrase, per se, but I often like the comedic effect of presenting an idea and then immediately presenting the opposite.

For example, here’s a quote from one of my personal favorite Hypnosis Mic pieces:

 

Smiling at the idea, Dice whistled as he walked, and let all thoughts of dresses and pleats leave his mind.

 

That peace of mind lasted approximately three minutes after he stepped inside.

 

[Quillifer: What do you want readers to take away from your work? What is your favorite type of comment/feedback? (I.E. what makes you honored for people to point out when they read your work?)]

I want to make my readers have a moment of strong emotional impact. Whenever I receive a comment about a particular phrase or paragraph that made someone really feel something, whether it be joy, sorrow, tenderness, or other things, it's absolutely a delight.
 

[Quillifer: Are you the type to outline your work or do you just go for it? What does your drafting/editing process look like?]

I can almost completely guarantee that I have no idea of where I'm going with any given writing project. That's why I often stick to oneshots.
 

[Quillifer: Do you find that you have an ending in mind when you start? Or are you partway through when the ending comes to you?]

I usually have the start and the end in mind, it's everything in the middle that tends to get in the way, ha, ha. Getting directly from point A to point B in any linear project seems to go against my brain programming.
 

[Quillifer: What are the easiest and hardest parts of writing?]

The easiest part is picturing specific scenes and manifesting them. The hardest part is figuring out how to write everything else that surrounds them.
 

[Quillifer: What are some of your major media influences? (Books, movies, music, etc.)]

It changes from interest to interest every few years, but (as is probably evident), Homestuck has been SO influential to both my view of writing expression and my warped sense of humor.
 

[Quillifer: What is your dream story to write? Who are some of your favorite authors (fanfiction or published)?]

My dream story... I don't know if I have one, but I think I peaked with one of my fics for Danganronpa 2 — “Rocketpunch Rabbit-Hole.” It's a ~15,000 word oneshot (my longest single work, I think) with concrete story direction and a writing flow that I still feel proud of eight years later.

My favorite author right now is crehador, a VERY prolific author for one of my favorite current ships. They did a series of fics once a day every day for a year! I was fed SO well, ha, ha. I also love Kryzanna, author of perhaps my favorite ongoing fic ever (Royals, a Medieval-ish Royalty AU for Kuroko's Basketball.)
 

[Quillifer: What makes your writing stand out from the crowd?]

I think it might be my willingness to approach ideas that seem completely batshit with an air of sincerity. ‘Crack treated seriously’ is, if done well, one of my absolute favorite genres of fic to both read AND write, and I feel like my enthusiasm shows in quality.
 

[Quillifer: Do you like your old work? Why or why not?]

Surprisingly enough, I love my old work. Even if I see things I could rewrite or phrase better, things I could include or take away, if an idea or concept is good enough even by itself, it can carry a LOT in terms of writing quality.

(Jokingly) And I almost always have the best ideas, ‘cause I'm a genius.
 

[Interview hosted on May 4, 2026 via Discord. Edited & Posted by Quillifer.]