My Interview With LinsayK aka scribeninja

So as you know I always get one fuxhawt author for my interviews today I got scribeninja aka LindsayK. So lets learn a little about LindsayK.

Linds been with ff since 2007 but she started writing for ff.net in 2009.

Now almost a year and a half later now Linds has given us 14 amazing stories for Southern Vampire Mysteries.

Linds has always added some drama, lemons, a lot of romance and a pinch of angst in her story, which is the perfect recipe for a great story.

Thanks Linds for agreeing to let me tie you up and be interviewed, I can only promise this is going to be long and long and very long interview and you will probably want to strangle me by the end.

Lets start first of all how did you get introduced to the world of fanfiction?

I believe the first fanfiction I ever read was Harry Potter, and it wasn’t on ff.net. I was younger then, so I didn’t really delve into it too much. I’m also pretty sure that what I came across was M-rated, so I was afraid of it. Years later I got into reading some Pirates of the Caribbean fanfic, and then I read some Supernatural fanfic for a while. But no Wincest. That’s gross.

Lols. Yes it is.

How did you find SVM fandom?

I found the SVM fandom through the IMDb True Blood message boards. Back when that place had sane people, all of us book fans… you know, before people harped about separating the show and the books. Anyway, someone started up a fanfiction thread and linked to a story. I started reading, and the rest is history.

Do you remember which fanfic for SVM you read first?

It was the story that was linked on that thread, and that story was Let Love In, by TerriBotta. It was the greatest of all the “talk fics” and gave us what Dead and Gone should have… an actual talk. I always recommend this story to anyone who’s just starting out in the fandom.

Was there any particular story in SVM fanfic that got you into writing SVM fandom?

Yes, it was Northman’s Off Rivington, by Zigster. It was the first All Human story in the fandom, and it pretty much paved the way for AH in SVM to become a normal thing.

Which are your favorite books? Other thanSVM.

I love the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost. I’m a big Harry Potter nerd, and I still love that series. The Forsyte Saga, by John Galsworthy. Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange, which I’ve read probably ten times.The Black Dagger Brotherhood books by JR Ward. And my all time favorite book from childhood, Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine, and please, please read the book rather than watch the movie on this one. The book is totally different, and way, way better.

Reminiscence was your first fic in ff.net what made you write this?

I wrote Reminiscence before I really started talking to the women on the forum in The Sookieverse. I had no idea what I was doing, no idea what a beta was, and it was just bad. I really don’t know why I still have that thing posted to be honest. The idea for it just popped into my head one day and I wrote the whole thing out in a couple of hours. I wanted Sookie to really come to the conclusion that she loved Eric and that he’d always been there for her, so I forced her into a situation where she wouldn’t see him for a while and made her think. It’s the only think I’ve ever written that’s vamp/canon.

It was really good. I know you are a more of a AH/AU shipper but I loved this one shot.

What Dreams May Come is your first multi chaptered story, what spurred you to write this?

What Dreams May Come started because of a ficlet game we played on the Northman Thread in The Sookieverse on ff.net. Basically, you went to an online word generator, got a word, and then tried to write a ficlet, which is like a drabble, either using that word, or inspired by that word. I got the word ‘dream’ and after thinking for a few minutes, and then staring out my bedroom window at the field on our property, an idea came to me. I had recently watched Pride and Prejudice (’05 film version) and the scene where Elizabeth and Darcy meet at the end in the field as the sun comes up was one of my favorites. So I imagined Sookie and Eric meeting in my own field in a dream and started writing.

After I had a few bits of it done and shared with the ladies on the thread, they told me I ought to turn it into a full-blown story. I got hooked up with the queen of angst, FarDareisMai2, to beta my fluffy, happy fic, and that’s that.

Preludes and Presumptions it’s a joint collaboration of you Zigster and alsoGuest starring DCWriter16 and Yogagal. How did you gals come up with it?

Oh man *sigh*… This story was born for a couple reasons. The first was that a mutual friend of mine and Zigs from our IMDb days, Annie, wanted us to write a collaboration and be awesome. She’s very, very persistent, so we started talking to another girl from those days, Alison. Over the course of a few hours we all plotted out what became Preludes and Presumptions, an AH SVM take on Pride and Prejudice, complete with rich kids, yachts, and France in the summer.

Obviously, this thing is never going to get finished, but I assure you, it had quite the romantic plot, and would have been awesome if Zigs and I weren’t such awful procrastinators.

*cough* I am still waiting for an update *cough* 

Moving on

Studybuddies is one of my fav Eric’s and you just completed this story last month, what inspired you to write this in the first place?

Studybuddies is my little one-hit wonder. It was also born of the ficlet game when I got the word ‘library.’ I actually only wrote one little bit of it at first, and when I tried to write the second part, which includes the first time they kiss (up against the bookshelves, hehe) I got stalled. The thing sat in a word document in a folder for months. I hit a block with Dreams, and opened it up again. Zigs helped me get through the kiss, and then it all just came pouring out of me. I think I wrote like five parts of it in a day.

I posted on the forum as I was writing it that I was pretty sure this Eric was telling me he was a virgin, and the ladies there pounced all over that. They said I had to do it, and turn it into a full story, so I did. It was pretty popular, pretty fast, and I kind of dragged it out at the end, but I’m very proud of it. It was my own ‘first’ thing. I made the first Virgin!Eric, lol.

 I do love me some Virgin!Eric. *snort*

Graveyard of Good Intentions was a one-shot for Eric & His Great Pumpkin contest, and based on this you wrote two more wonderful stories. Tell us about this one.

The original idea for this was that I wanted to see Eric and Sookie together on Halloween through the years. I saw them as little kids, Eric as Thor and Sookie as Tinkerbell, which was obviously a play on a Viking and a Fairy. I wrote most of the plot out on a post it note as it came into my head, and then I expanded on it organically as I wrote. It got bigger, and bigger, and I ended up having to cut something like 900 words from the final product so it was eligible for the contest.

It was the first thing I did that I didn’t have my regular beta on since she was judging for the contest, and ironically it was also the first time I wrote real angst. I kind of wanted to explore the whole angle of soulmates finding each other when they’re little, but not really knowing it until later, and then having the teenage angst in their lives screw things up.

Following that Graveyard of Good Intentions: Redux which was mainly based on Eric’s pov so how did you plan this out?

I decided to write the redux at first because I wanted to include some of the things I had to cut out of the one-shot. The original plan was just to write the one-shot over from Eric’s POV, but as I wrote I realized that he had a lot more to say than I thought, so it turned into an expansion instead.

Now, expansions are extremely hard to write. At least for me it was. I couldn’t figure out where to start, and it took me almost two months to actually get going on it, and even then it was because of the butt kicking Sunkisz did. I talked to her a lot about the plot, and she managed to convince me that Eric wouldn’t have slept with Pam like Sookie thought he had through the whole original. Even as I began this expansion, I had still fully planned on Eric having had sex with Pam. Sunkisz talked me through it and made me look at the story from a different angle, and I think the fact that he doesn’t in this actually makes it more angsty on his side of things.

From that point, I just expanded on events in the one-shot, and then added onto the end so we got more resolution for the couple. This is by far one of the stories I am most proud of. I feel like it’s got a strong beginning, middle, and end, none of which dragged on. It’s also one of my favorite Eric’s :)

NowCandle in the Window is the third/second series to Graveyard of Good Intentions, would you like to share some insights about this?

Candle in the Window was something I wanted to write because I desperately wanted to see a strong couple who didn’t fall apart or stop trusting each other. Sometimes when I start a story, it’s just one scene that pops into my head, and my mind revolves around that for a while until I see a whole story plot emerge. The scene for this story was Eric in a hospital bed, and a very attractive woman crying about them being together, and how much she loved him. Then I saw Sookie come in and tell the woman off, calling her crazy and forcing her to leave. She did this, not because she wanted the ‘other woman’ away, but because she trusted Eric completely, and there was not even a sliver of doubt in her mind that he would cheat on her. That really attracted me to the story because at that time I had been reading a lot of stories where there was miscommunication, and the couples were all doubting each other and making things worse by not talking and assuming they knew what the other was doing/feeling. I wanted to see what would happen if I did that to these two, who have been together so long, and love and trust each other so much that they wouldn’t allow something like miscommunication to even fray them at their seams.

Never Say Never has a slightly different kind of Eric, how did you picture him when you started writing this?

Well, Never Say Never began because of a video I watched on youtube. It was set up in a way that made it seem like Bill was abusing Sookie, and that Eric was always there for her, always sat by and watched her go back to him until he couldn’t take it anymore and snapped on Bill. Even after that, Sookie stays with Bill until he proposes and she panics, realizing how wrong that is and goes to Eric for good at the end. This all hit a nerve with me because in High School I had to watch my best friend be in an abusive relationship for four years, and she didn’t have an Eric to go to.

I used the experience of watching my friend go through what she did, and applied it realistically to this story. The amount of women that have contacted me through this story to tell of their own experiences astounds me, and I can only hope that reading about Sookie being able to find something better, and not settling for abuse helped them.

And I got off track, lol. Back to Eric, I wanted him to be the best person I could make him so that he was a stark contrast to Bill. Maybe that’s unrealistic, but I very much saw my friend as Sookie, and I wanted to give her a good Eric. So I made him a stand-up guy. He was smart, kind, chaste, loving, sexy, funny, caring, protective… everything I wish all the women in the world who have been through abuse had.

It was one of the best Eric I have read and I am sure you have helped a lot of woman through this story.

The Ribbon it was an entry for The Naughty or Nice One-Shot Contest, what inspired you to write this?

A couple of things inspired The Ribbon. One was an old movie based on a Kenny Rogers song called, “Coward of the County.” In this movie, there’s a Christmas carnival during which all the townspeople find out about Pearl Harbor being attacked. I wanted to put Eric and Sookie in that scene. The second thing was the mini-series Band of Brothers, which followed Easy Company, a paratrooper regiment, through their European campaign during WWII.

I’m really interested in that time period, and the more innocent nature of everything. I wanted to see what Eric and Sookie would do if Eric had to go off to war, and then what would happen if, when he came back, he got amnesia before he could see her again. It was the first and only time I’ve ever done the amnesia twist in a story, and I really love the way it turned out. This is another one of my stories that I’m extremely proud of.

My Last First Date is an Alcide/Sookie fic, why did you start writing about these two?

I started writing My Last First Date because I fell in love with the Alcide I wrote in the Graveyard Redux. I think we were all on twitter one night, and Krismom and I were talking about Alcide, and I told her I would write a one-shot for her that was Alcide/Sookie. It took me about three days to get it out, and it became what is now the first chapter of this story. Readers seemed to like it and wanted more, so I plotted out the rest with Gallathea, and she helped me include a lot of book parallels that make the story more meaty. I’m really excited to get this whole thing out there.

Sign Here followed by Sign There star a Sookie who can’t seem to stop shopping online just to get UPS Eric to Deliver in her doorstep, tell us about that.

Hahaha! This started because, I think it was Lubadub, had come up with this formula. That if you just give Eric and Sookie random careers and make them screw, it equals a successful story. Then we all started talking about the different professions you could put Eric in, and UPS delivery man popped up. I claimed it and started writing what was supposed to be a PWP? story. As I wrote, it started developing a plot that I couldn’t stop, and eventually the one-shot was 30 pages long. I broke it down into 6 chapters and Sign Here was born. A while later I wanted to see it all from Eric’s POV, so I wrote Sign There so everyone could see what was going through his mind, which was quite different than the things Sookie was thinking.

Your latest fic For The One I love is a bit Eric/Sookie and Alcide/Sookie with a lot of angst, *sniff* tell me about that while I get my tissue!

This story actually came about because of a guy I work with. He’s been in a relationship with the same girl for five years, and she lives with him at his parent’s house. Recently, he’s been flirting with another girl we work with and he opened up to me a bit about the situation. He said he would never cheat, but he was having a hard time figuring out whether he was just staying with his girlfriend because they’ve been together so long, or if he really wanted it to last. In the end, he decided that what he had with his girlfriend was good, and meant more than a string of flings would.

That got me thinking about what would have happened if the guy decided to end it with the girlfriend. Then some bits of this story started popping into my head, and it formed into something that I knew I had to write.

It was the first time I tried out 3rd person POV, so I looked at it as a writing exercise of sorts. Not only in POV, but in angst. I knew it could become very melodramatic very easily, so it was a challenge to make it plausible, and real, and I think I did well with that.

You did awesome and I loved it.

Do you like writing canon or AU more?

AH/AU definitely. Canon comes with its own rules and structure in place, and I find that kind of scary. With AH, I can make the characters as OOC as I want and still write a good story.

How do you approach a new plot? Do you plan everything out to begin with, or do you just go with what the characters tell you?

I’ve done this almost every which way you can. I’ve written a whole story organically, letting it come to me as I go, and with Dreams, that turned out beautifully. Everything came together at the end. I wrote organically with Studybuddies too, and it had a different effect. I had Never Say Never plotted out before I started writing, but towards the end I realized it had developed differently than it was plotted, so I changed the ending. I have a couple of new ones now that I’m going to plot out completely before I start writing, and I’m also going to write all of them before posting. The one I’m plotting now features an Amish Eric and Sookie. Should be interesting.

Have been seeing a lot of tweets from you about Amish Eric and Sookie lately, so Amish!! I am a bit curious about this, care to give the reader some teaser or just an idea about of this story?

Unfortunately, I don’t have any of the actual story written, so I can’t tease, but I’d be happy to tell you about it!

This idea has actually been festering in my brain for a long time. Since last August or September, I think. Basically, it sprung from my annoyance of the ignorance most people possess of the Amish religion and culture. My father was raised Mennonite, and his parents were brought up Amish, so I’ve always been around the culture and had a good understanding of it. I want to write this story so I can educate and inform people on the religions.

Basically, the plot will deal with a Sookie and Eric that were both raised in an old-order Amish community, the kind that still practices shunning. The story will include what really happens during a Rumspringa. Eric has already started his Rumspringa, and chosen to leave the church. Sookie starts hers almost a year later and goes to stay with her brother for a couple of weeks in the beginning of it. (actualRumspringa lasts years) She encounters Eric rather quickly (they were both sweet on each other, and still are) and Eric, Jason, and his new family help Sookie see the English world in a new light, and see some of the hypocrisy of certain people in the Amish religion, as well as in mainstream religions.

Ultimately, I don’t want to vilify any religion, and just show what I believe, which is that each person should find his or her own spiritual happiness, and be at peace with it.

I am really looking forward to reading this.

Now, did you get any harsh reviews or criticism? If yes how did you handle it? Did it effect your writing?

I have received harsh reviews, but mostly it’s flaming, not actual critique on the writing. The flaming bugs me, because I don’t get why someone would want to be hateful, but thankfully that only happened a couple of times when I first started.

I got a concrit review for my angst in Studybuddies that told me it was overdone. She didn’t really give reasons though, but after reading it again I kind of agree with her so it didn’t bug me much.

I understand that everyone has their own opinion, and that I can’t please everyone. I also get that the ones who aren’t pleased don’t have to just take their thoughts elsewhere. If a reader wants to tell me they didn’t like something, I invite them to do so, but to do it in a constructive way. Give me reasons for why something bugged you, and we can talk about it. None of us will get any better if we don’t know what we’re doing wrong.

Do you have anything special while writing a chapter, like listen to special music, need total silence, eat…

I prefer total silence. Music distracts me most of the time, but I occasionally listen to it while writing. I can have the TV on, but I like it on mute.

Do you have posting schedule? If so, what is it?

Oh boy, posting schedules! Yeah, I fail at this. I’m a big procrastinator and the only way I can keep a posting schedule is if the story is complete before I post. I was able to do that with Sign Here/There, and posted a chapter a day. I say more power to the people that are able to keep a schedule, but I just can’t do it.

You are also a judge in The Age Of Eric Contest. Are you looking for anything particular from the writers?

On top of all the criteria we have, I’m looking for a good story. To me, that means a story that will stick with you after long after you’ve read it. If I find myself at work thinking of a story, that’s a good indicator to me that it was told well. Good storytelling makes it stick in your head.

What is your background in writing?

I was in Journalism all through high school, and through that I wrote newspaper articles and spotlights on senior students. Fanfic is the first time I’ve written actual stories.

Which RL author inspires you?

JeanieneFrost, because she took vamps and made them her own in a way and knows how to write a kick ass, strong female lead, and a strong romance that lasts through her series.

I guess I know what I am reading next. 

Did any FF authors inspire you towards writing your own fics?

TerriBotta definitely did because I want to be able to describe a setting and put readers right in there as well as she does. My beta love FarDareisMai2, because she writes really good angst and makes no apologies for it. Zigster, because she opened the door to AH fanfic in the SVM world, and can create some amazing original characters like the Hellcat brothers.Makesmyheadspin because her stories suck you in right off the bat, and she writes like a maniac!

Which ff writers do you religiously read?

I will read anything by DCWriter16, AtAVenture, FarDareisMai2, Zigster, Makesmyheadspin, SlackerDee, kittensandcombatboots, Missus_T, and afalcone10.

Who do you visualize (Eric, Sookie, Pam, Bill, Amelia, Jason) when you are writing?

For Eric and Sookie, I see who I saw when I read the books. They are totally in my head. Pam, I see as Kristin Bauer Van Straten, and Bill is Stephen Moyer, only about ten years younger. Amelia and Tray are both in my head. Jason is Ryan Kwanten, I think they got that spot on for the show.

Okay, I'm wondering, do you sometimes write on paper or do you always use your keyboard?

I sometimes plot on paper. I have a little moleskin notebook that I write all kinds of things in, and if I’m not near my computer I’ll write things that come into my head in it. Everything else is done on the computer though.

If you had a date with Eric from any of the fictions (Vamp and Human both) in svmffnet, which ones would it be and why? *and yes you can pick more than one*

Oh hell, this is really hard. I’ll pick one human and one vamp.

Vamp Eric – Probably the Eric from Dead To My World. He’s very canon, yet more awesome, if that makes any sense. I just love him.

Human Eric – Shit, this is hard. I’m such an AH story lover. Um… Fuck. You know, I was thinking about this fic the other day, so I’m gonna go with Private Investigator Eric from Gallathea’s Noir fic, I Concentrate On You. It’s not finished, but damn she’s a great writer, and what little there is made a big impression on me.

God I miss Investigator Eric. *sigh*

If you met ASkars what would you do?

Well, I don’t think I’d ask for his autograph just because I don’t really see the point of that, and I hate having my picture taken so I wouldn’t ask for one of those either. I’d say that if the situation was right, I would say hello and tell him how much I loved his performance in Generation Kill. I figure he hears enough fangirl “OMG ERIC FROM TRUE BLOOD!” crap, and his GK performance is truly my favorite.

ROFL.

What would you do if you met Joe?

Probably the same, but thank him for bringing the Alcide I saw in the books to life on the screen.

Now I know there aren’t many Alcide fics in the fandom but if you had a date with Alcide from fictions, which ones would it be and why?

Hands down, the Alcide from The Heat is in The Tools by misconstrued. He is just so friggin UNF.

A very close second is the Alcide from SlackerDee’s FBI fic Secrets That Kill, and then I would date my own Alcide from my new one-shot For The One I Love, because he’s perfect.

What is the one thing that you wish that Sookie would do in this season of TB?

Grow. A. Brain. I’m so sick of her being just downright dumb about everything. She doesn’t make the connection between Bill explaining what Eric’s blood would do to her and how much she had of Bill’s. She probably won’t call him out on that file he has of info on her. The girl cut open her own wrist for a drained vampire… Can you get any dumber? I really don’t even feel sorry for her that she got drained. The girl is an idiot.

I also wish she and all the crazy Bill fans would learn the difference between true love and first love.

Here here.Moving on…

Which character are you most looking forward to seeing more on screen in TB? And why?

Alcide. Just because they haven’t completely screwed up his character yet, and he’s simply wonderful to look at.

*Fangirlie squee* yes he is *giggles*

So far you have written about a writer Eric, NFL Player E, geeky Eric and my fav UPS Eric.

NOW If you were to give Eric another profession what would it be?

Well, this may be cheating, but I just wrote about a mechanic Eric in a one-shot I just posted, and am plotting out one where he’s a formerly Amish construction worker. Then there’s another where he’s just a club owner posing as a vampire that will be awesome if I ever get around to writing it.

Just hold on a minute as in Eric’s a human BUT he is posing as a Vampire!!

Oh yes. I don’t want to give too much away about this one since I’m still far away from writing it, but it will be really great and different from anything I’ve written or read.

Where do you prefer as the perfect place for Eric and Sookie to consummate? *grins*

I’m pretty sure all mine have consummated in a bed, which is perfect for it, but my favorite would have been in Preludes and Presumptions. In a stuck Eiffel Tower elevator during a thunderstorm. Wait… why are we not writing this story anymore? Zigs? Bueller?

WOAH!!! In Effel Tower elevator!! Yes why aren’t you guys writing this?

LOL! Good question! Honestly, I think we wrote out a great plot, but right after we posted that first chapter, we both got caught up in our own stories and lost the inspiration.That first chapter is really great, but I wish we’d finished the whole thing before posting now though.

Do you have any SVM rec’s for the readers that you think they should check out?

It’s Your Song by Slacker Dee – I’m lucky enough to be betaing this story, and let me tell you, it’s one hell of an emotional ride.

Hot For Teacher, Always For You, The Vampire’s Assistant and everything else by Makesmyheadspin–This girl has a knack for sucking you in with great characters, and amazing plots.

For more recs, I’d check out the recommendations thread at The Sookieverse on FF.net, and also look at sapfirerose’s awesome blog. It’s full of great recs.

Anything else you would like to add?

This fandom is awesome, and really a big blessing. I love that there’s no drama in it, and that everyone is really supportive of each other.

I also just want to stress that reviews are not everything. This is a hard lesson that I still haven’t fully learned, but a very wise girl told me the other day “me and my 6 reviews are damn proud of that story.” (Paraphrasing, sorry chiisai-kitty) You have to love what you post, and write it for yourself, not for what you hope will get the most reviews. And remember that reviews don’t equal success. As I said, I’m still learning this lesson, but I hope one day I don’t get bummed every time I don’t get the reaction I wish I did, and be thankful that I was able to be happy with what I posted.