Where In The World is...crysta656?

Okay, well...first of all, our featured author on Where In The World this week is not lost... or missing... or presumed to have lost interest, or anything like that. She's dedicated to this fandom, and more importantly, she's dedicated to Fanfiction. I'm doing something just a little bit different this week with WITW because, frankly, a little recognition is due.

crysta656 wrote this little story called The Passage of Time. It was one of the first lengthy Jasper/Bella stories to ever grace our world, but what was even more significant was the originality of how the plot was carried out. Instead of the more common 'five years after Edward left Bella in the woods...', you have 'He was gone, leaving her changed and alone. All that remained was a broken dream and a shattered heart.' So, to say this story is original is an understatement. Edward leaves Bella because she is stronger, she has forever lost the human qualities that attracted him to her, and she turns into a pig when she eats.

Anyways, this story rocked my world back in the day. I remember waiting very impatiently for the last chapter when I started CM, and I remember how excited I was when she updated the story with a note to say she was planning a sequel. I also remember saying, 'say what?' when I read that it was going to be a...Edward/Vera story.

In The Passage of Time, we learn towards the end that Rosalie would become the mother of Vera, a granddaughter of Rosalie's best friend, Vera, from the days when she was still human. Okay, so crysta656 most likely surprised a few of her readers with this, but it was an ending to the story that could be appreciated, knowing Rose would become a mother to a girl who had lost her parents in a car accident, and Jasper and Bella would live happily ever after. *Sigh. I thought it was a great ending.*

The sequel, Second Chances, tells Vera's story, and how she unravels the mystery that surrounds the enigmatic Edward Cullen - her uncle, classmate, and a her very own personal and very annoying mind reader. She's drawn to him and infatuated with him, but Edward, of course, admonishes her impure thoughts and treats her like a child - which she is. But she is growing into her own and finding her own way. Though the story is not in his POV, you can see that he is clearly struggling with his own thoughts about Vera. He cares for her and, deep down, he wants her. If you read The Passage Of Time, you know that Edward's *crazy* comes out when the person he loves the most finds love and the ability to move on, leaving him perpetually frozen because he just can't find it within himself to move on and find his own happiness. It also doesn't help that Vera's parents and family are dead set against the idea of Vera and Edward being together, most likely fearing that they will all have to relive the past.

Second Chances is the reason I'm doing this WITW. Frankly, I love where it's going, and I appreciate how Crystal tells her stories. Her writing is mature, concise, beautiful, and somewhat...controversial? With each chapter of her stories, she takes her readers where they least expect to be taken, and when we all think there's an issue that needs to be explored, she moves on, and in doing so, her characters grow, relationships blossom, and that's that. She clearly writes her stories the way she wants to, and not the way her readers want her to.

She has pointed out in her A/Ns, however, that she's struggled with this story and where it is leading. Also, one thing that does need to be considered is that this is another character story, and, frankly, they are more difficult to sell to a...picky fandom. Some have tried, and some have failed, in fact. But these stories accentuate the fandom because of their originality, while still retaining the qualities of the original series.

Crystal last updated this story on May 7, 2009. Since then, she's been actively writing fan-fiction for the Harry Potter series and two other Bella/Jasper stories, Saved and Revealing Eternity. Saved was just updated this past week. While I haven't read Revealing Eternity yet, I'm a big Saved fan, and I was happy to see her update it. I, however, am really hoping that she'll someday decide to continue Second Chances because I love Edward's *crazy*, I adore and respect Vera, and I appreciate Crystal's ability to tell an amazing and mature story. Crystal, if Second Chances has 'gone the way of the dodo bird', as Tina so eloquently likes to put it, I appreciate the fact that you put it out there to begin with.

crysta656 will also be featured as one of our Monday Meet and Greet authors in the weeks to come. Stay tuned!