The Movement of the Earth -- Author's Note

[audreyii_fic]

Title: The Movement of the Earth
Author: audreyii_fic
Fandom: Twilight (Team Jacob)
Rating: T
Characters: Bella, Jacob, Charlie, and others (J/B)
Genre: Romance/Angst/Wolfpack!Humor
Warnings: Language, violence, and references to adult behavior

Comments

[audreyii_fic]

Jesus. I just wrote a whole long reply to this and then the computer ate it. I hate this laptop sometimes, I really do, even if it's the only thing I can write on. Gah.

Anyway, the gist of what I said: I'm really, really glad you're happy with this. The author's note made me really nervous because about two-thirds of the way through the fic, I realized people were starting to genuinely care about the plot... and so was I. So I had the sneaking suspicion that no one would be happy about it being an experiment OR that there wouldn't be a sequel (which I've added a long explanatory tag in the main post about). So I'm having a minor anxiety breakdown over the whole thing now. (Being thoroughly stressed and exhausted isn't helping. My husband is not thrilled that I've been crying on and off for the last day. Melodramatic overreaction much?)

Aaannnyyyway, yeah, I'm not surprised you still hate imprinting. I tried to be generous without glossing over the seriously awful aspects of it. I'm about as close to liking imprinting right now as I think I'll ever be, if for no other reason than I've had to contemplate the various different possibilities involved and not all of them are awful. Viewed kindly, imprinting can be binding but not brainwashing. Still bad, but not fucktastically horrifying.

Meyer's mindset while writing this story is endlessly, endlessly fascinating to me. I'm unhealthily obsessed with it, because figuring out what makes people (or characters) tick is what I love doing practically more than anything else in the world, and she totally eludes me. It's like going down the rabbit hole. I can't stop trying to understand.

On that note: Audrey, what would you say is your take on the effects the imprint had on Bella? ;)

I did promise, didn't I? ;) In the interest of full disclosure (especially given that there won't be a sequel wherein it can all be further explored), here's how I played it:

Cold: Imprint. (And an accident. When I started writing the first cold snap of the season had set in, and I was freezing all the time. After a couple chapters I realized that I'd written several times about Bella shivering, then figured that was kind of a cool effect, went back and edited the earlier bits, and ran with it.)

"Bad Feeling": Imprint. (Or they're psychics. Unlikely.)

Defensiveness/Temper: Natural but augmented. (There's plenty of canon basis for that being an underlying trait in Bella's personality that really does come to the surface sometimes, but yes, the degree to which it is displayed is a 'defense of mate' instinct.)

Anxiety: Natural but augmented. (As with the temper, there's a 'defense of mate' aspect. But it's also significantly self-inflicted, as described below.)

Possessiveness: Natural but augmented. (Only a teeeeeensy bit augmented, though.)

Touching: Natural. (That is, in spite of Jacob's fears, there was no biological or chemical reaction [beyond warmth] to having contact with one's imprint. The reactions they had were due to having denied themselves something they very naturally needed for a very long time... also increasing their anxiety to a horrifying extent beyond what it should have been. Human beings [most mammals, actually] are tactile creatures who need touch to feel comforted or safe. Try not touching someone you love for a few days and see what it does to your mindset. It ain't pretty.)

Love: Natural. (Not even augmented. Just brought out by circumstances.)

As for everyone else... Sam has a lot on his plate. Emily is not entirely balanced. Kim is fifteen. Jared is kind of goofy.

Hope that was what you were looking for :)