My artistic identity within writing is much more complex. One of my two degrees is in English, so, I've had a fair share of university-level training in both critical writing and reading. My artistic identity as a writer has two distinct parts.

My artistic interests in fiction-writing primarily falls within character-driven plotlines. A lot of my personal creative writing focuses on either 1) exploring the livelihood of a singular character, as a "character study," or 2) complex, nuanced dynamics between two characters. Much of my fiction starts off with a particular relationship type I want to explore, and the world expands from there.

Typically, I have a greater investment in experimental form rather than plotlines themselves. My primary stylistic influence can be attributed to Ocean Vuong, particularly his novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. I also owe a lot of my systems building influence to dystopian/sci-fi young adult novel authors of the 2010s, such as Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games), Marissa Meyer (the Lunar Chronicles), etc.

As for form interests, I primarily enjoy writing what I call "dreams spliced into reality": exploring a character's personality, ambitions, and fears with delightful, surreal prose, while still staying embedded into a plot or character history. I often splice sections not in traditional "chapters" but moreso fragments of scenes, inspired by an approach taught to me in one of my core English courses. I aim to write in a way that produces "experiences" rather than plotlines alone, so I also value a lot of sensory, descriptive writing. I also enjoy playing with form in my creative writing; I have used formats such as academic papers, letters (epistolary), brochures, advertisements, newspaper articles, and bureaucratic writing as a part of my storytelling strategy. Additionally, I enjoy juxtapositional plays between content and prose; for example, writing a wedding, a normally joyful event, with flat and mechanical prose; or writing acts of violence, typically grimy and gritty, with exceptionally flowery language to highlight character perception.

For societal/thematic interests: Unsurprisingly, like many young writers, I enjoy exploring characters that are not wholly good or evil, anchored in a moral gray based on circumstances and personality; not much to say there apart from the fact that I am quite basic. In addition, I enjoy exploring bureaucracy or otherwise "cold technicalities" as a form of slow-burning horror, trying to convey systems of injustice and audience complicity while simulating the experience of reading materials akin to "classified documents" or otherwise subtle propaganda. I also hold an interest in Christianity and biblical themes across fiction. However, this is more of a critical/academic interest; my graduation thesis focused on dissecting Christian ideals embedded in utopian fiction across different authors. While not as much anymore, I also enjoy systems building and worldbuilding as a reflection of modern-day society.

This is the primary identity I use in my corporate life / career trajectory. Throughout university, I have written a lot of scientific narratives, both for formal institutions (governments, faculty, researchers, etc.) as well as the public (stories about researchers, interesting scientific topics, etc.) My focus for this artistic identity primarily lies in the life sciences and medicine as related to my second degree. As my real name exists on the by-lines of these published articles, I won't link them here as to separate my "online artist" identity and "science writer" identity. , the identity I have as an artist would not exist today, and for that, I’ve learned to be grateful.