Mary Pascual
Mary Pascual is a writer and artist who believes finding magic is only a matter of perspective. She loves stories about characters with heart and fantastical settings that are more than meets the eye. She grew up in California and enjoys reading, art, traveling, exploring outside, and building elaborate stage sets for Halloween. Writing has taken her on a number of unexpected adventures, including working in high tech, meeting psychics, interviewing rock bands, and even once attending a press conference for Bigfoot. She got hooked on reading adult science fiction and fantasy in the fifth grade—so in retrospect, much of her reading material was completely inappropriate (which probably explains a few things). She lives with her husband, son, and assorted demanding cats in San Jose, CA.
Instagram: @marytheweirdgirl
Twitter: @theweirdgirl
Facebook: @mary.pascual
Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?
I’ve been an alternative rock fan since the first time I heard it back in the 80s. I was probably around 15 or so. I remember there was a station I listened to that played mainstream Top 40 songs (back when they called it Top 40), and they suddenly switched formats to play alternative rock. It was like a whole new world opened up and I was hooked. I remember there were kids at school who made fun of me for listening to those bands. It was not a cool choice at the time! Alternative rock really covers a lot of different sub-genres and I still listen to new alt rock music today. I also love classic rock and blues, as well as punk and alt/indie folk rock.
There’s a sort of angst and DIY ethos in the alt genres, a grittiness and energy, as well as a willingness to embrace experimentation or try something new that I’m really drawn to. I think that absolutely informs my writing. When I’m writing, sometimes I listen to music and other times I don’t; it depends on the story. Music was a huge influence for The Byways. I had a playlist I created, with a specific song for each chapter, that I either listened to or just heard in my head while I was writing. Basically, it was a soundtrack. But I also related meaning from the lyrics with the scenes as I was writing them, so there became a whole other layer of my creation process with the music and the story. And of course, I translated my love of music into the main character, CeeCee, who writes out lyrics as a calming mechanism for herself and a means of focus.
What’s your favorite comic strip or graphic novel?
The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. I couldn’t afford to buy comic books so I didn’t get interested in them when I was young. But in high school, I had a friend who was a collector and he would loan me his comics - without me even asking him! He would just show up at my house with a stack every so often. One time, he showed up with Volume 1 of The Sandman and he said, “You should read this.” He was completely right and I’ve been a huge Neil Gaiman fan ever since. I figured out ways to pay for comics after that.
Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?
Definitely sweet! My husband is an amazing cook, but I’m a big baker. (My cooking is not so good.) I love cookies, brownies, scones… basically any type of baked good. At restaurants I often pick my entrée according to what they serve as desserts, just to make sure I have room. I feel like dessert and baked goods should be their own food group - and necessary every day - as well as in times of comfort! As I said, I’m a baker, so I make a lot of my own comfort foods, but I also don’t discriminate… if there’s someplace that has great pastries, cakes, or pies, I’m there!
Even though food is awesome, I don’t think my writing is as informed by food as it is by other influences. So far, only a little bit of cooking has made it into my writing, and most of that has been inspired by my husband’s recipes. But who knows? Maybe in the future, cookies and tea will be an inspiration.
Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? Do you sew? Paint? Draw? Knit? Dance?
I’m a magpie for learning new art and crafting skills. I love making things with my hands, especially if they are 3D or sculptural. I used to draw as a child, but when I took a metal smithing/jewelry class in high school, that’s when my interest in building really grew. Over the years, I expanded into trying out all sorts of crafts, building sculptures, knitting, making props. One of my favorite pastimes is searching crafts on Pinterest and reverse engineering how to make them! I have this sunroom in the front of my house with big windows and every year I build a new scene in it for Halloween, like a giant diorama. And because my brain doesn’t skew to the usual Halloween themes (I lean toward whimsy more than gore), I usually have to make a lot of the elements for my window displays (like vampire bunnies or alien space crystals). Then, in recent years, I’ve gone back to more classic art, such as drawing and painting classes. Since I always thought I couldn’t draw, it was a stretch outside my comfort zone, but I’m enjoying it a lot and it turns out I can do more than I thought.
Is there another profession you would like to try?
I think I would like to be a Disney Imagineer. I had never visited Disneyland as a kid. When I went as an adult, the first time I saw the nighttime parade, I was just blown away! The lighted props, the level of large-scale floats, the costumes… it just grabbed my imagination. I had no idea there was such a thing as an Imagineer. When I thought about stage props, I thought of a cardboard tree on a school stage that you hope one of the kindergartners won’t knock over. To see such intricate performance sets and pieces, so well executed, made me realize what high-level stage prop fabrication was really like and what you could achieve with the right materials and training. It made my crafty fingers twitch in delight! So if I had to choose a profession to try, (even if it wasn’t with Disney, specifically), I’d love to learn prop fabrication and work for a custom prop company.
