Meme: Grill the Writer

Jan 14, 2014 23:50

Borrowed from half my f-list ( Read more... )

meme, writing

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Comments 23

paperscribe January 15 2014, 04:56:02 UTC
1) I have so many favorites among your fics. :) But I guess what I'd most like to ask about is the "On the Wings of the Dawn" series. How did you get the idea to give James secret wings? And what was the world building process like for that story?

2) James/Robbie. :)

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lindenharp January 16 2014, 03:55:12 UTC
I'd read a couple of wingfics in other fandoms. I liked the concept, but those stories had been handled as fantasy or science fiction, and while I enjoy those genres, I wanted something more realistic. So I decided to make wings a very, very rare genetic mutation. One in a million, meaning that there were perhaps 60-something winged people in the UK ( ... )

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paperscribe January 16 2014, 04:02:31 UTC
I really liked that about the series, that it treated wings as a relatively straightforward thing that exists in a world much like ours. I thought the worldbuilding was wonderful, and it sounds as though it was a lot of fun for you as well! I love the level of detail you went into. :) (And I would totally watch those Scarlet Hawk movies.)

Thank you so much for your answers; I enjoyed reading them. :)

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lindenharp January 17 2014, 02:55:34 UTC
Thank you for asking. Perhaps I'll write a ficlet at some point in which James and Robbie have a home film fest with Scarlet Hawk movies. James, of course, has never seen them, other than a brief clip on YouTube.

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wendymr January 15 2014, 04:58:52 UTC
A somewhat different question: What, for you, is different about writing Lewis fic than, say, Doctor Who fic? What's different about writing James/Robbie (or James and Robbie) than Jack/Doctor?

And I'll choose a random number, then: 34.

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lindenharp January 16 2014, 04:52:07 UTC
Writing Lewis is a lot harder than writing Doctor Who. Lewis is a realistic show set in a country that I know only as an occasional tourist and as a viewer of other British TV shows. Aside from the language issues, there are questions about Oxford, about policing in the UK, and about character differences based on class and regional backgrounds. I do a lot of research online, and I have a brilliant Britpicker, but I still struggle over various cultural details.

Doctor Who, though a British show, allows for a lot of handwaving about the characters and the setting. The Doctor is an alien; Jack is human, but from a colony world in the 51st century. I can invent all sorts of details and still be consistent with canon. I can write about their adventures on a alien planet of my own creation, and make the customs, laws, and daily life fit my whims and needs.

#34, Alfresco was written in December 2012. I was offering Hanukkah drabbles. The prompt for this one was 'picnic'. I decided that James would be taking Robbie on a romantic ( ... )

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uniquepov January 15 2014, 05:13:40 UTC
1. Talk to me about To Be His.

4. Series # 2 =)

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lindenharp January 17 2014, 03:49:34 UTC
To Be His is my take on BDSM (but mostly D/s) in the world of Lewis. It was one of those situations where my mind was drifting and suddenly the Muse said, "Write!". So I did.

In canon, James said that he is not "a joiner of things", but that refers to groups. I see him as a person who wants to belong to someone else, to submit himself as a kind of gift to someone he loves, and to be possessed and cherished. At the time that To Be His takes place, James is already in a loving, sexual relationship with Robbie, but he hasn't dared to tell him about his other desires. Fortunately, Robbie is a skilled detective and wants very much to make James happy.

As for the How to Train Your Sergeant series... you really should ask Wendymr, who started the whoe thing. She said something in chat that made me think of Innocent as a dominatrix, then I told her she should write something similar for James and Robbie. And it all snowballed from there...

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wendymr January 17 2014, 04:13:45 UTC
then I told her she should write something similar for James and Robbie. And it all snowballed from there...

...which actually means it's all your fault.

And I still can't believe I had anything to do with that series, given my aversion to BDSM *g*

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lindenharp January 17 2014, 04:20:40 UTC
Well, it is the crackiest crackfic ever, and James rather subverts the BDSM premise by topping from beneath.

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complexlight January 15 2014, 09:47:43 UTC
I've always loved Falling to Safety. Tell me what you like about it.

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lindenharp January 17 2014, 02:47:08 UTC
I like that it's very physical as well as emotional. I like the play on words with "falling". And... I think that's it; we're talking about a drabble here. *grins*

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complexlight January 17 2014, 20:42:59 UTC
Yes, I love the physicality of "Lewis' sturdy bulk presses against his back" etc.
I also love the last line: "Too late, Robbie. I fell a long time ago." It communicates so much about James' predicament - that he is fully aware of his feelings for Robbie and Robbie's apparent obliviousness, there being very little chance of anything ever happening between them and so on. Oh, unrequited love!

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bailangwang January 15 2014, 20:58:21 UTC
1. If I Speed Away, of course! I can't even begin to say how much I love it! And all the descriptions of James's wings, with their colours, and different shapes and textures! And all the emotional tension, and the - well, honestly - sexual tension between Robbie and James, even though nothing happens, but Robbie's thoughts when James was getting dry by the fireplace:) Oh and I just wanted to add - the light, all different kinds of light: daylight, moonlight, the changing colours of the evening, the glow of the fire, and even the lack of light at night... What was the inspiration for that work of art? were you aware you were creating something special?
2. I choose number 15 :)

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lindenharp January 17 2014, 04:18:09 UTC
The scene by the fireplace was suggested by my beta/Britpicker, wendymr. She was constntly teasing me to turn this friendship fic into slash. I didn't want to do that (still don't), because though I'm happy to write them as lovers, in this AU, I thought that the wings and J's angsty self-image made it much too complicated to add a sexual relationship.

James, being restless, had gone for a walk in the rain, and Robbie was building a fire in the fireplace. Wendy nagged me to write a James-naked-by-the fireplace scene. I wasn't sure if I could do that in a gen story, but it worked pretty well. James's wings are aesthetically beautiful, and it makes sense for Robbie to admire them, whether you view that scene with slash goggles or not.

As I was writing the story, I was aware that I was writing something different, and that it was certainly the first wingfic in Lewis fandom. That's something about small fandoms: you get the chance to do something new ( ... )

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bailangwang January 17 2014, 19:45:54 UTC
Thanks for replying and it really was a lucky strike, I had no idea that no. 15 was my favourite graphic for my favourite story :)

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wendymr January 19 2014, 04:42:01 UTC
The slash hints were just teasing - as I mentioned recently, to me it feels as if his James is very likely asexual, and that they could well end up in a close, possibly intimate to a degree [implying cuddling, hugging, perhaps kissing of some sort] asexual relationship. But that's just what seems to me to follow from where they are now; your own plans for them may be entirely different.

And, yes, I love Robbie aesthetically admiring James's beauty in the firelight.

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