User blog comment:Ygrain/Long Days, Long Nights 3/@comment-5287758-20120929102504/@comment-2228120-20120929124837

Honestly, I don't know how I do it - I get a prompt, in this case that short summary of the Sole Survivor background, and I try to figure out what happened, till I get something which looks like a logical course of events. Once I have that, I merely try to imagine a particular character in that setting and his/her perceptions and reactions, based on what I would have felt and adjusted to that person's psychology, and try to convey that. From reading and analysing lots of other stories I know the means I need to use to create the effect I need, and that's it - as far as the technical aspect goes. As for the other thing you asked - when I write something terrible happening to a character, I feel emotionally drained; when I write those Cerberus sickos, I feel in need of a profound bath; when I write a death... just the other day I had to quit writing a new story temporarily, because I felt as if a real person was dying.

And yeah, I hate Cerberus with all my heart. Nothing can ever justify what they did.