Member Spotlight: Selvyn al'Aran
Author: Theolyn Maryash, December 2016
When something is good, the word about it spreads easily – we on TarValon.Net should know that best, right? As it happens, two years ago the word about The Wheel of Time reached a certain fellow we now know as Selvyn al'Aran. But how did that happen? “Luna Sedai recommended the books, which led to the site. I ended up starting both around the same time, I think.”
Now a Recruit, Selvyn is patiently making his way through the series – currently, he is reading The Fires of Heaven and greatly enjoying it. We agreed that some of the most fascinating parts of the books were those that show us glimpses of the distant past – the characters that catch Selvyn’s attention most are those that “have strong links to the past, before the Breaking, like the Forsaken and the Aiel - that's always been one of the most fascinating parts of the series for me, which is why The Fires of Heaven has been especially great to read.” Aside from those characters, he quite likes Lan (and at this point of the conversation, I may or may not have gotten a bit distracted, but can anyone blame me?)
When he takes a break from The Wheel of Time, there is a range of other books he likes to read, but rather than deciding which ones to call his favorites, he tends to think of the book he’s read recently the most. However, he adds: “That said, Harry Potter is an obvious choice - I've just seen Fantastic Beasts today, too, and enjoyed it a lot. The first few books in Frank Herbert's Dune series stand out, as does the little I've read of Terry Pratchett. After I finish Wheel of Time, I'll probably focus on him. I recently finished Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, which was one of the most unique reading experiences I've had for a while and a very memorable and evocative book.”
Reading is just one of Selvyn’s hobbies – he also writes, and this year is the first time he’s ever attempted NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, happening every November, where the goal is to write 50k words in 30 days). His conclusion is that participating certainly adds a different perspective on waiting for (other) authors to finish their books: “I don't think I can ever complain about an author taking a long time to finish a book again without feeling like a hypocrite, and I admire those astonishingly prolific authors like Brandon Sanderson all the more now.”
Whoever has taken a look at the Project 365 photography thread has seen some of Selvyn’s photos – photography is another of his hobbies. He considers it to be easier than writing, as it is something that offers immediate results – at least on the hobbyist level. He also likes to edit his photos in Photoshop. “I've enjoyed programs like that since secondary school. I remember experimenting in my school's copy of Serif PhotoPlus by scribbling colours across the canvas and essentially abusing them with every possible way of distorting an image the software provided. The results weren't half bad, either, from what I can remember.”
None of the images survived to this day, unfortunately, so we can’t compare them to his current works, but I’d say that what we see now is all we need, really: Selvyn is one of those wonderful people setting time aside to make signatures for other members of TarValon.Net – if you are looking at a page of a thread, chances are that you would see at least one of his signatures. Graphics Development Team quickly snatched him, and his work expanded from signatures to various graphic aspects of TarValon.Net – he designed the logos for Euro Party 2016 in Stavanger, Norway, as well as Fall Ball 2016 in Calgary, Alberta. See those fancy banners for our articles? Yup, Selvyn’s one of the people who make them happen (“It will certainly be interesting to edit my own avatar this month.”) – and so much more happens behind the scenes!
His involvement has contributed to his being one of the recipients of the Keeper’s Award for Staff Member of the Year, and deservedly so, even if he does say he did not expect it at all. To him, working with images rarely feels like actual work, so being on the Graphics Development Team is quite fun. While joining the team did not change what he was doing all that much, he claims that it has helped a lot in other ways, such as making him consider doing other projects he might have passed otherwise – event logos, for example: “They involve a very different process than editing a single image, so I've learned a lot from it.”
Well, I am sure I am not alone when I say we hope to see more of his work and what he’s learned. In the meantime – thank you for letting us get to know you a bit more, Selvyn!
