Hello, Lambchops!
in a land far, far away from most of you (aka England), I had a life. It was quiet, it was simple, and it was mine. One day a friend forwarded me a link in a war of fuckery, and I went on a click rampage. Wide Awake was found, and I dived head first down the rabbit hole of fic. Everyone has to start somewhere, and I hold this woman accountable.
I could list all the things she's involved in or done, but I think blogger would crash in an explosion of fonts, code, lolcats, koalas, and charts & graphs - which would be a beautiful thing, but then ALASL wouldn't be able to bring you the below! And that would be a damn shame (because her Twitter updates make me smile, and then who would I harass out of the blue with a random font joke or an exclamation of coding WTFuckery? He he!).
So, here we go! Every day facts, interspersed with a little bit of silly, about one of the fandom's better known authors to remind you that there's a person behind the user name of all those authors you ship, and they are just as normal as the rest of us ;)
Catonspeed x
(also known to answer to "Lucy" on occasion in the real world)
Tell us about yourself. Married? Single? Kids, age, ..whatever you'd like to share.
I am engaged to a wonderful, sexy, geeky, sweet man, who somehow puts up with all this weirdness I indulge in. No kids, but 5 pretty kitties!
Tell us about Twilight. How did you first get into the Saga, when was the first time you read it, and which book is your favourite?
I was just bored and saw it somewhere online, figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. (Oh, to be young.) New Moon is my favorite book. I love Bella's angst, the heartbreak, and the full circle to the end, though I have my peeves. Eclipse is a REALLY close second.
What got you to start reading Twilight Fanfiction? Do you remember the first fic you read?
I sought out FF when I read BD. I didn't like it, so I was curious if maybe some awesome fan had made an alternative. I think the first fic I read was on Twilighted.net, and was written by Jenswordsong. Though it was a great fic, the jump from canon prudity to... well... smut... totally shocked me. I had to try again a few times before I found something mild enough. Then, I just worked myself up to the smutty stuff!
Which are your favorite stories?
(Note: My "Edward" rec list below was taken from my fave fics list, lol.)
Who are your favorite characters, from who you like the most to er...who you would like to kill right off the bat?
Edward >> Jasper >> Bella >> Carlisle are my favorites.
Emmett >> Rosalie >> Esme >> Alice are my least faves, for various reasons.
Which fics are you reading right now, and which ones have your complete attention whenever they pop with an update?
Expectations and Other Missing Pieces by chrometurtle, How to Save a Life by unholy.obsession, Burn and Shine by pulsepoint, and Salacious Behavior and Earnest Speaking by ThisColony. I will drop everything to read those. I'm actually experiencing a HUGE lull right now, and sadly, haven't gotten to read any WIPs in a while. I have a lot of recs, though, and plan to spend at least one night this week finding a real gem.
What made you finally decide to start writing your own?
Really, it was a huge moment of indulgence. I just got up one morning, went and sat at my computer, opened MS Word, and began typing. Five hours later, I posted Chapter 1 of Wide Awake. It was literally that quick. There was no outline process or anything, though I had admittedly spent close to three months cultivating the plot inside my head. It was a very impulsive moment for me that, aside from daydreaming about the story, had little to no thought put into it.
What's the atmosphere like when you're writing? Music.. quiet..kids screaming and ripping each other apart, or husband bitching in the background? Do you drink and/or smoke?
I usually try to only write when everyone is asleep. I'm a very empathetic person, and very sensitive to the moods of those around me. So if my fiancé is a bad mood, then I'll feel it, and it will totally fuck me up. I prefer to wait until he's either occupied, or unconscious. Sometimes I'll have a kitty in my lap. I smoke like a chimney! (But I don't drink.)
What else do you like to read besides Twilight?
Actually, I'm not a big lit fan. I do enjoy some classics, like Dickens and Rand and Bronte and Steinbeck, but I don't read many new books.
What else do you like to do?
I'm a professional graphic/web designer, so I spend a lot of my time making websites, coding, or just playing around with graphics. I still find this to be rather satisfying whenever I'm burned out on writing or reading.
Tell us a secret.
I stopped writing G+G after only 2 chapters because I want to make it into a real book. I never answer questions about it, because I feel shitty and guilty. It's kind of a big stressor for me. I anticipate lots of flames and wank if I ever finish it in published form. But I just knew when I started chapter 3 that it was better suited for original fiction.
I am a newbie Edward reader *cough*, so if you could rec me just three Edward fics to start...what would they be *cough*?
- For AU: Gravity by Racketghost, Miss My Lion by dyedinwool, Carpe Noctum and Fiat Lux by queenofgrey, My Yes, My No by Lolashoes, If Love Could Light a Candle by PastichePen, or Creature of Habit by EZrocksAngel
- For OOC All Human: Burn and Shine by pulsepoint, Bare by stellalunasky, The Tutor by ItzMegan73, How to Save a Life by unholy.obsession, Salacious Behavior and Earnest Speaking by ThisColony, and anything by Jandco and withthevampsofcourse.
- For Canon Slash: Bittersweet Hurt by Minerva1, or Of Love and Silence by RobsLostSoul
- For OOC All Human Slash: Simple by SubtlePen, Afternoon of a Faun by Elvelethril
Errr, I have more, but I'll stop now, before this turns into a massive list...
Fave sex position?
So long as I'm in the position to get mine, I'm allll good.
Do you have a secret crush on any other Twi-character, other than who you typically ship?
Well, I do adore Jasper though I don't ship him with B, but this is no secret. I really actually do crush on Carlisle, especially in canon slash with Edward. Dreamy sigh...
Have the movies lived up to your expectations? Do the actors do it for you, or do you imagine anyone else for certain characters portrayed?
I actually only just watched Twilight two months ago! It was bad. Like... really awful. The acting was terrible, the effects were shit. It was all bad bad bad. I love Rob, and I KNOW he can act, and he's a very pretty man, but good lawd. He was just bad in that movie. Not as bad as BlinK-Stew, but still. Bad. I haven't seen New Moon and honestly have no plans to.
What is your biggest pet peeve in fan fiction?
In writing? See, I'd say it's the ridiculous length of some chapters/stories, but that's not really true. It's more a lack of what's given in some cases of ridiculous length. When there's clear progress and enough happening to keep us entertained, this can be alright. But it seems to always go hand-in-hand with a trend of telling instead of showing.
All of these stories with massive chunks of internal dialog that basically sum up a character's feelings, instead of having real dialog between the characters, annoys me endlessly. I read the story, foremost, to see the characters interact, and to be told a story in this way. Though I like getting in their heads at times, I don't want their brains to tell me the story. I want to see it through actions and dialog and gestures and progress.
On that same note, I can't stand egregious over-justification when the above peeve is present. Sometimes, an author will use internal dialog to make us "understand" why Bella did this, or why Edward did that, and more often than not, our impressions of it don't change. We're independent minds in that way. I get annoyed when the author won't let me dislike a character or their actions, when they should be speaking for themselves. Hence, the art of "showing."
LOL, see? That rant was long, and you're bored. TL;DR - Show, don't Tell. Anyone can express anything given enough words, but there's true skill in expressing it, with the same success, using brevity.
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