Featured Member Q&A November 2013: Darkrivertempest
I had several moments of incoherent spazzing when phlox emailed me and told me I'd been nominated to be the featured author for the month of November! Truthfully, I'm still giddy and it hasn't properly sunk in, but standing around with my jaw dragging the floor is unattractive, so I'll stop that now and say a tremendous thank you to everyone that voted
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I was a Star Wars fan, too - but don't think I ever wrote any stores down. I just imagined I was Princess Leia. I even remember being depressed when I grew taller than 5 foot (or 5.1, however tall Carrie Fisher is) because then I was taller than Princess Leia. Glad now for the extra height. And BUFFY is my most favorite show of all time, and Spike (and possibly Druscilla) have the very best lines in it. I understand Buffy/Angel - but Buffy/Spike is more fun.
I am fascinated by your writing process because I am linear. Loose but definitely linear. You must have a great mind for making connections and pulling things together for the final product. Is there editing after your first draft or do things come together rather completely?
I also find your music/soundtrack for each story interesting. I need background music - but usually just stick Pandora on Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings or maybe classical piano.
Again - LOVE "The Endless In Between". Congratulations on this again!
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I didn't write anything down for the Star Wars fandom, but man, I was always thinking of ways to alter their adventures. And OMG, I met Carrie Fisher in 2011 at Dragon*Con and had my picture taken with her! And yeah, she's so very short! What's funny is that because she was so short, they gave her a stool to sit on for pictures. When it came my turn, I stepped up beside her and she just grabbed me and hugged me. When I got my picture back the next day, I busted out laughing (so did the people around me). It was a pic of me standing beside her and she had laid her head on my boobs... literally. I mean, she was almost in my cleavage! LMAO! It was hilarious. She's a riot too - have you seen her one-woman show? God, the stuff she went through in her childhood. *shakes head*
SQUEE for Buffy! *dances* I never looked twice at Angel, but god, when Spike drove onto the scene? I WAS LOST! Must be a thing for bad boys who are platinum blond. ;) I got to meet James Marsters at the 2009 Dragon*Con (when I met Tom Felton) and James is exactly like his character Spike - all full of energy, frantic, witty and full of stories. Very small, beady eyes though. hehehe And he's not at all tall - maybe 5'9? I think the Docs gave him a bit of height on the show.
I have the greatest respect for people who follow a linear process - there's a place for order (or controlled chaos) and then there's me, who regularly got her knuckles wrapped by English teachers in school when she would radically change things from one draft to the next. LOL I don't think they knew what to do with me - I knew all the basic rules of spelling, grammar and punctuation, but for the life of them (and me) my imagination refused to conform. I tried making outlines in the beginning, but I became increasingly frustrated because my mind felt like it was being confined to a shallow box full of rules I had no interest in. My outlines were obliterated within an hour of me planning the stories out. I finally gave it up as a waste of time. Why couldn't Draco be or do this? Why couldn't Hermione say or become this? I just knew if I was going to do my stories this way, I had to have a reason, a basis for their changes. I probably indulge far too often in cliches and tropes, but I try to twist them as much as I can within the realm of believability. My betas are a godsend, truly. All three are free to add whatever they like: corrections, different dialogue, switching things around, comments and suggestions. But they know the ultimate decision lies with me as to whether I accept them or not. Ssddgr has no qualms about chastising me for slips in POV, linear progression (hahaha - yes, I struggle with that!), things that don't mesh with perceived characteristics, and useless dialogue. She's a published author who never wrote in the HP fandom, so she's quite brutal, and I adore that she doesn't hold back. Unseen1969 offers me insights to certain pairings, SPaG clean-up and the most hilarious comments and suggestions you ever did see. Delphi is a lot like Ssddgr, but she's very much a part of HP fandom and is pretty accepting of any pairing I try my hand at, which is awesome. Once I get back their edits, I incorporate the ones that work, question the ones that may not fit, and answer anything they might find troublesome. For long stories, I send each chapter to each beta. For shorter ones, I tend to use Delphi or Unseen, depending on the pairing. I wait for all the chapters to get back to me and then I make my edits - including story cohesion because I want to see it through at least two different POV's. It gives me a chance to alter anything that may not line up with the original plot so that it flows well. For example, Endless In Between is heavily edited because, according to Delphi, I had the eras either too close together or too far apart, plus it was over the 8K word limit, so I cut out certain portions and rearranged the story to so it would flow better. LOL, I guess that's the long answer. ;)
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As for music, it depends on the tone of the piece. With A Certain Step it HAD to have a sound track, so I listened to that while writing it. The other stories just had general music I have in my collection that matched the mood of the piece. Sad story? Depression, angst-ridden music (soundtrack to City of Angels & Pride And Prejudice). Comedy? Maybe Owl City or Simon & Garfunkle. LOL
I'm glad you liked The Endless In Between! Researching the eras was like absolute crack. ;) Thank you so much! *hugs*
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