Picture with me two lovely ladies in a pub somewhere. They meet after work just two old friends out for a ladies night to relax, talk and have a bit of wine. That is the way I picture this interview going. TWO of my FAVORITE authors Elusivetwilight and Lambcullen. They are friends in RL - Let's listen to their conversation shall we...?
Elusive Twilight will be in Blue
Lambcullen will be in Purple
What inspires your ideas?
Many things.... songs, a scene in a book or on TV...Landscapes came to me via the "blue paint" chapter, and I built the whole fic around it. Dearly Departed was very personal, based on some experiences of my own. What about you?
I'm inspired by everyday occurrences and my overactive imagination. And my very perverted and warped sense of humor. I also have this total adoration for challenging myself to describe things as I see them.
What kind of environment do you like to write in?
Anywhere that I can put words on paper or screen. Seriously. I write on the bus to work, at work, at home, once, I had this total inspiration while I was out in the pub with work pals and it wouldn't leave me alone. So I ended up writing in my notebook in the loo. It was a total purge of words.
I can write anywhere as long as they're "talking" to me. Plenty of times I've been talking to a customer in work while writing a lemon into my note book!
Do you need music or certain lighting or foods to inspire you?
Not really... Wine can help when a lemon isn't co operating though :)
You are the font.... Do you match the songs to the chaps, or vice versa?
A lot of the time I have to cut down what I'm actually listening to when I type up music lists. I listen to a plethora of stuff when I'm writing and I try to keep a note of songs that I listen to. I try to keep it to five. I used to listen to music when I used to paint as well.
I suck at songs... when I first started writing the room had to be silent so I could concentrate - maybe I was trying too hard /snort.... now I listen to my favs and annoy people on twitter by blipping like crazy!!
I think having music helps to isolate what's going on around me and inside my head. I can immerse myself more directly in the story and focus on the mindset of my characters when I find the songs that set mood, tone and theme for me
But you rock at songs!! you're like a cool jukebox. LOL... have you ever thought of a fic/chapter based solely around a song?
Um yeah. like a lot. I had this whole idea for a one shot over Christmas based on Dan Fogleberg's same old Lang Syne. it was gonna be all angsty and shit...I still might do it. and I am like a jukebox...you should see me at parties...*fuck...she's singing...again... #dontgetmedrunk
LOL!!! I'm jealous of your brain.... like seriously
I'm all blushy now...I'm jealous of your brain...and perhaps your bewbs. j/s
What sort of history do you have with writing? have you written from a young age?
No!!! hahahaah I read....LOTS! horrendous amounts. Hubs goes wild at the amount of books in my house. I studied English Literature in college, because I just love the written word, never had I even considered writing a damn thing. But after discovering the crack that is FF.... I was walking home from taking my kids to school and the idea for Wreckage just came to me. I wrote the 1st chapter - it took WEEKS to write (which is so funny to me now) and I was literally crying when I sent it to my friend (naelany) to read.
You totally churn it out, though. How you keep so many characters/plot lines/etc in your head, plus beta and pre-read for others...
HA! - truth? I have no idea!! and the worrying thing is there are more in there. I have 4 notebooks full of random fic idea... I have issues, for real.....
How do you find time to write?
I work 16 hours a week and have 2 kids. My house is run with military precision. No lie!.... My kids are pretty good overall and to be honest, I think it's good for them to see me writing and reading when I'm not being made to by a school. Where do you fit writing in?
Yeah, I work full time...and then stay up to all hours of the morning writing like a demon. Writing is incredibly therapeutic for me.
Your fics are VERY different, do you think that helps keep them separate in your head?
Totally. If they weren't different, I would get the characters mixed up. IA Bella & RS Bella have to be different, and to be totally honest, RS Bella was so heavy to write, the relief of writing IA Bella with some backbone was incredibly refreshing. I also enjoy writing against the whole fic cliché. It makes exploring the characters that Stephenie Meyer created more interesting. At least for me.
I agree - I love writing them different than the "usual fandom" ones... Like Tilt. From the summary you'd think it was 52 chapters about a couple having random sex.... clearly not so from my two awkward geeky pair.
Who's POV do you like writing??
It depends from fic to fic, mood I'm in, music I'm listening to, whoever is shouting loudest in my head. Do you have a POV that you prefer?
Its odd, because when I started I hated writing EPOV... it just seemed to take forever, however.... I must be a closet bloke, because I'd write EPOV any day... especially when its a lemon.... I'm just a dirty dorty bird I guess.
You know it's funny, I prefer lemon writing from EPOV as well...I've tried to examine that from an objectionable stand point and wonder if that's because how we would like to imagine guys think when we gettin it on...or if it's because the Bella's I've written just weren't loud enough. Although, model-ella and wand-ella were screamers * *
I think it's because I'm not really a "fluffy" girl.... sometimes its amazes me the rainbows and bunny rabbits I spout!!! I like dark, I like gritty!!
I'm not much for fluff myself. Do you have a favorite book outside of twi?
I have a few....I love Vampires, hence getting into Twilight. I adore anything in that genre.... Like J. R. Ward's black Dagger Brotherhood books, or Sherrilyn Kenyons Dark Hunters. Cliché' fav is Bram Stokers Dracula!... out of that genre is Emo fav JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye... U?.
Believe it or not, my favorite book is Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. For a 19th century writer, the angst in Les Mis is om nom nom nom good. I read it first when I was thirteen, and have re-read it so many times, you would think I had it memorized. I still cry at the end.
Aww you're a sap really, aren't you? I notice on IA that you use the stage and have quotes from books and plays..... is that where your heart is?
Um...yeah. I have some stage experience...a lot of it from high school and college both on and off stage. I was student director my senior year, we did Gypsy. (seriously, only I could have directed a stage reproduction in high school about burlesque strippers...) I love the stage, and the intimacy you have with live performance. It's raw, and real, and the rush of being onstage or seeing the end of a production is like nothing else. Also, all the cliquey backstabbing among theater people is a fantastic place to draw plot and characters from,.
The Rain Season .... how do you feel now its complete?
I feel kinda like I just watched my best friend had to move across country and I'll never see them again. I need some space to gather myself with RS. I want to go back and edit and tweak it a little...it had so many betas that there are a few inconsistencies in the first dozen chapters. When I hit complete, it was an odd feeling though...you put it into perspective in your review, bb. A book, a whole bloody book that's like 190K long. seriously.
How do you feel with so many on the go when you get close to completion? Is it relief? Are you happy with all of your stories? Are there things you would have done differently?
With Wreckage I cried.... with Dearly Departed it was a relief. Any of the others.... including Tides, have been an odd mixture of both. Maybe because I always have others, so its not like I have to start all over again. As you know I have 3 chapters of a new one already done and ready to go once Tides is over. I agree with the "tweaking" I think everyone wants to do that though
Do you always write from an outline? Basic info?
I am quite ashamed to say I don't have an outline. Ever. I have certain pictures in my mind that I work towards. For example, with RS, I worked towards the cliff drowning. Ever since I heard that Lifehouse song, I knew I was gonna toss Bella off of a cliff. RS evolved A LOT! Originally, Tanya was gonna be straight and an ex of Edwards who basically talks a lot of shit and Bella would go all Ophelia and toss herself off some cliff in Scotland. which um...obviously didn't happen, lol. With IA, I have a specific them I'm working on, I'm obsessed with the dominant tug and pull between the stronger Bella and the demon Edward. I want it to be this total bullfight, both of them playing the bull and toreador at one point or another throughout. Do you prefer outlines or to just go with it? I get the feeling you're a lot more organised than me!
hahahaha yes..... I outline the main points/ides/random quotes etc.... not chapter by chapter, but enough to constantly refer to. Wreckage altered a lot... Originally Rose was the one that drove her car into them... not James, I think a lot of fics change as they get written..... I'm enjoying this actually!! LOL.... so any major fav fics....ones you would tell a non FF addict to read?
The Blessing and The Curse is one. I really enjoy that. Carpe Noctem, Fiat Lux is amazing. I love the angst, seriously. I haven't done a lot of reading lately, which is a shame, because there is a lot of great new stuff out there. I plan on remedying that as soon as I can though. I get asked about recs, and I hate giving them...not because I'm a bitch and I don't wanna pimp stories, but because I don't wanna miss something out. I saw a blog post be someone this morning where she based her to-read list based on reviews. I was kinda miffed about that...there are loads of fics out there without hundreds of reviews that are very well written.
Do you have any favs you would pimp to the non FF addict?
Its no surprise how much I like a decent dark fic... I like it angsty - or Vamp evil Edward... no fluff for me really. When I started reading I was into tons of stories, but in truth I read about 7 fics now.... I think it helps not reading too much. It doesn't influence your writing, know what I mean? I also, as before, get tired of the same stories.... <- Damn, I sound like A bitch!! hahahahaha....
The RS is set in Scotland, obviously writing what you know. Do you base any other on personal experiences?
Fuck...don't I wish the pirate one was based on personal experience * swoon * other than that and IA Bella as backstage manager...nope. Although, the Jacob in the model behavior one shot is based on an old friend of mine I haven't spoken to in years. and maybe, just maybe...if I'm a lucky girl, I can get my nipples pierced and giggle my way through airport security...what about, you doll? Would you say personal experience plays a pivotal role in your writing?
ha....my life is nowhere near as fluffy as I write, but then I guess that's why I write fluff!! Dearly Departed was one I based a lot on my experiences.....and in truth I don't think I'll do it again. People where mean in reviews and it hurt. Everyone's experiences are different, but not all reviewers accept that. They assume you're wrong and haven't done your research. I think its only natural that you end up thinking of a person you know when you write a character. FE Seth is totally totally a guy I used to work with!
I think that when you have a fic so close to you as DD was, and even with the mean reviews, it gives you an opportunity to grow and learn about yourself. What would you say writing fan fiction has taught you?
That I have no control - LOL!!! Its taught me more bad than good I'm afraid....sorry :( You?
I have a lot of stuff backlogged, even before fanfic. Stuff that I've never shared with anyone. Poetry as well. I've always been a writer, even when I was little I would write for pleasure. My mom and dad wouldn't let me watch TV from the age of 8 to 18 and during those years I wrote or read. I would say fan fiction and the invaluable feedback has taught me a lot about myself as a writer. I think since it's online, people are more honest to you, even if it's a nasty review, and will give you exactly what is running through their heads. But then, my fics aren't huge, so I've been relatively lucky when it comes to nasty feedback versus constructive feedback.
Outside of FF? Obsession?
I don't really have anything that makes me squeee to be honest. other hobbies are baking. and I love to read, obviously. once I finish re-reading twi saga (again) I'm gonna give the books I got for my b-day a go, finally. what about you?
Sigh..... with 2 kids my hobbies are limited... but I knit... A LOT.... and as everyone knows KAt Von D is my other obsession.... Music & Books are my first loves, and my eldest child is exactly like me in that sense!
Do you have any other talents? Do you sing? Draw? Party tricks? ;P
I make clothes.......really.... I do stuff with my hands.... Bwhahahahaaha
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, oh matron!
When you write lemons, how do you choose the direction?
To me, a lemon should flow... if your stuck then it really shouldn't be in that part :)
I agree. I try not to make it all about the smut, there should be a reason it's there. Try being the key word here.
Do you have a favorite lemon out of all that you have written?
My favorite lemon...has to be when Rain Season Edward told Bella he loved her and showed her the swan tattoo. I was pretty pleased with that one. What about you?
Blue Paint in Landscapes. I won a Golden Lemon for it. I'm very proud. As I said I based the whole fic around that idea.
Favorite book in the saga and why?
Eclipse.... though I think Midnight Sun would top that if she ever finishes it!!! You?
Midnight Sun as well. Without a doubt...and then Eclipse. Midnight Sun, because as if I didn't need anymore reasons to love Edward, Meyer goes on and starts that. I le sigh while reading it. And Maybe lick the screen! Then Eclipse. Team Leg Hitch all the way, bb.
Do you ever do research for information in your story, if so, where do you turn?
YES!!! I researched the hell out of Retrograde Amnesia for Wreckage and I think I scared myself when I looked in sociopaths for Opheliac. Though you can only research so much. I find some people are very critical, as they were with Dearly Departed. Just because experiences aren't the same, doesn't mean they're wrong or not researched..... just different.
I try to do research. I looked up a lot of stuff for The Red Wake, to be honest,. I had to research what kind of undergarments were in existence between 1680s-1720s!!!
Elusivetwilight's Profile Page on FanFiction.net: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2001875/elusivetwilight
Lambcullen's Profile Page on FanFiction.net: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1793852/lambcullen
And with that both our ladies get up and saunter back over to the bar to get themselves another glass of wine. I see both of them are laughing and eying that handsome bartender...
What did you think about the interview? Did you enjoy it? Would you like to see more? What authors would you like to interview each other? Maybe you might see it here. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think! Thank you for reading Southern Fan Fiction Review!
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