WALTER CANNON’S THEORY, EXPANDED BY TEMPTATIONSGIRL29
interview by Autumn AKA Whynot AKA fatallyObsessed
I’m back again, with another challenging, interesting, smart fic! In my duties as a Twilighted validation beta, I see all kinds of stories, the good, the bad, and the ugly, but only a few would I actually sit down with on my own and take the time to read for pleasure. This is most definitely one of the great ones!
Here is what temptationsgirl has to say about her story:
Edward's working the night shift, trying to gain experience before his first year of medical school. He might learn more than he expected.
This is a good beginning, but doesn’t even start to explain the wonders of this story! It starts with Edward working the late-shift in a morgue. He’s a student, with a good life and a potential new girlfriend (two guesses who THAT is, and the first doesn’t count :D). One night, a strange body is brought in: no rigor, and incredibly lifelike…
What I really like best about this fic is that Edward’s struggle to adapt to his new ‘life’ is realistic (well, as realistic as vampfic gets). He doesn’t immediately love it, nor does he remain philosophical. He’s angry, and confused, and misses his ‘real life’ terribly. However, he’s also pragmatic enough to realize that is over, and his struggle to accept his new ‘life’ and ‘family’ is well drawn.
I also like that he’s a realistic Vampward. He is neither a cruel blood and sex-fiend (which seems to be the current trend in Vampwards), nor is he an angel who is never tempted. He is definitely a VAMPIRE, though, and not one I would be particularly interested in meeting up with in the forests around his home (Later, though… I’d definitely have some plans for him… ;D).
Right now, WCT has eight posted chapters on Twilighted and ten on FanFiction. If you like a story that makes you laugh, think, and imagine, please try this incredible story. You won’t be sorry! I asked TG to tell us about her story, and this is what she had to say:
Where did you get the idea for this story? What was your inspiration?
I have a part-time job where I get to spend some time in the state morgue late at night. I was in the walk-in refrigerator one night, alone and surrounded by body bags, and thought “this could be a great start for a horror story.” I wrote the first chapter of Walter Cannon for the Indie TwiFic Awards First Time Writer's Challenge, then decided to continue it when I got a few positive reviews that encouraged me to keep going. After the first chapter, I really just wanted to play around with the aspects of being a new vampire. I felt pretty short-changed by Breaking Dawn, which pretty much skipped over the whole “first year” with Bella as a vamp.
E/N: YES!
Is there anything you would want readers to know specifically?
Hi there! *Waves to my tens of fans* Besides a big thank you for reading, I guess I'd like to apologize for Edward, who I sometimes feel gets a little too maudlin in my story. It's kind of a one step forward, two steps back thing for him, dealing with his new life. Besides that, I'm not really sure. Maybe apologize also for the lack of lemons? Sorry about that, go read Let Your Light Shine In or The Day the Earth Stood Still for all of your vampire-sexin' needs.
E/N: Have to comment. I like sexin’ as much as the next girl, and probably more than some snicker*, but it has to make sense, and is NEVER my motivation for reading.
Why should readers read your story?I'd like to think I've got a bit of a unique take on Edward. I haven't run across many stories that have Edward as a modern guy who gets changed and joins the Cullens as an adult. And having recently come off a AU/AH high-school fanfic bender, I think my Edward is a little more mature than some of the 17-year-old manifestations out there. Plus, added bonus: random medical definitions! If that doesn't catch people's attention, I don't know what will! Maybe I would have better luck starting each chapter with an explicit Edward/Jasper/Bella three-way...
E/N: Ewww… just ewww…
So you do anything special while writing a chapter, like listen to special music, need total silence, eat a bag of M&Ms, whatever …
I can write pretty much anywhere, anytime. I'm a grad student, so it's a fantastic form of procrastination. I've even snagged bits of time at work and written in GoogleDocs. But usually I write at night, in bed and on my laptop, with Pandora playing. No special music per se, but I do switch between a couple Pandora stations – Tori Amos, Regina Spektor, Sufjan Stevens, and Radiohead tend to be the main stations I listen to while writing.
Do you have a soundtrack to your stories?
See above, I don't really have any particular songs that match up to the chapters. If I had to recommend something? Maybe Sigur Ros, or Godspeed You Black Emperor, something atmospheric. Although for the really dark scenes, I always like to listen to Sarah Slean's cover of 'Climbing Up The Walls.'
E/N: SHANNIES! Sigur Ros!
I'm pretty traditional and like to stick to the actors in the movies. Who wouldn't want to picture RPattz in their mind while writing? And I think I'm one of three people on the planet that actually likes KStew. Although for Esme I picture Olivia De Havilland in Gone With The Wind.
Is the story all planned out or do you do it as a fly by the seat of your pants thing?
I have a couple of paragraphs of a plot outlined, but I keep changing it up. I know some major plot points, and I've had the final chapter in my mind since I decided to expand it from a one-shot. Each chapter is pretty loose, though; for some I have one or two things in mind that I need to cover, with others I just start writing whatever pops into my head.
Do you have a posting Schedule? If so what is it?
I'm trying to keep to one chapter a week.
Do you believe in HEA?
In real life? No, I'm about as practical and pragmatic as they come. I don't believe “that everything happens for a reason” or in soul-mates or “love at first sight” or any of that. The books I read tend to reflect that; my favorite authors when I was a teenager were Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.
E/N: I THINK I’M IN LOVE. Am I sure you aren’t me? Hmmm…
For fanfiction, I take it as the fantasy-fulfilling mind candy that it is: I want Edward and Bella together at the end, I want lemons, I want fluffy fun and tasty angst, although I don't really consider any fanfic angst real angst, 'cause there's always that guaranteed HEA waiting for us at the end. However, my favorite fic of all time, 'Sleepers, Awake', certainly isn't your typical HEA. That story haunted me for weeks. Weeks, I tell you.
Any more fic plans in the future?
I do have another story that I've outlined and started, although I don't think I'll post anything before Walter Cannon is complete. It's a 180 degrees from my current story, all-human and (hopefully) funny. It'll be short, I'm thinking maybe four lengthy chapters.
What brought you to fanfic? To Twilight?
I had read some X-Files fanfiction ten years ago, so I was familiar with the idea of fanfic, and I think I actually remember trolling listservs for fanfics in the late 90's (wow that makes me feel old, and geeky!). I read Twilight last fall when I was in a rare “trashy vampire novel” phase – I read the whole Charlene Harris southern vampire series and all four Twilight books in two weeks. There was some serious grad school procrastination going on there, let me tell you. A week or so later I was bored one weekend when my husband was out of town, and I thought “I wonder if there's any Twilight fanfiction.” It's all been downhill from there.
E/N: TELL ME ABOUT IT, BABYDOLL… *sigh
What is your background in writing?
This is my first attempt at fiction – I've never really taken any writing classes, never kept a journal, nothing. However I guess you could say that I've got a fairly strong non-fiction writing background. I have technically been “published,” if you count conference papers for esoteric scientific conferences, and grant proposals to the NIH and NSF. I'm in the middle of writing my dissertation, and I'm about 100 pages in. Fanfic is a wonderful escape from all that.
Have you had any Twilight related/ RPattz dreams?
Sad to say, yes. My whole first chapter for my other planned AH fanfic was a dream. I haven't really dreamt of RPattz, but the other night I had a, um, “vivid” dream of Jasper and me in a swimming pool. We'll just leave it at that.
Which character do you see yourself as? And who would you like to see yourself with?
I don't really see too much of myself in any of the characters. Canon Bella annoys the hell out of me, which I think a lot of people would agree with. I'd like to see myself as Carlisle – all of that awesome medical knowledge!
Which RL author inspires you? Did any FF authors inspire you?
Real life authors: Richard Ford, T.C. Boyle and Annie Dillard are some of my favorites modern authors. In terms of “classics,” I like Thomas Hardy, Edith Wharton and George Elliott; I'm re-reading Middlemarch right now. If I have Bella reading at any point in any story, she'll be reading “Silas Marner.”
As for FF authors, Feisty Y. Beden owns me. I still can't believe that she's actually beta'ing my story. “Fix You” will always be my favorite fic, because it was then I realized that there really are some good writers, writing high-quality fiction, under the guise of TwiFic.
Any recs for us?
'Afterlife' by thatisastory, 'La canzone della Bella Cigna' by philadelphic, 'Sleepers, Awake: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme' and 'Fix You' by Feisty Y. Beden, 'Ithaca is Gorges' by giselle-lx and 'The Blessing and the Curse' by The Black Arrow, all of which I think transcend the fanfiction genre.
My current favorite, will-drop-everything-when-it-updates, story is With Teeth by TalulaBlue. It's only on Twilighted, and it is some of the best writing out there in TwiFic-land. It's ruined all other rehab/addiction stories for me. And, I have to be smug and say I was reading it before it blew up all over Twitter.
Anything else you would like to add?
A huge thank-you for interviewing me! As a writer with a little-read fic, and almost no presence in the fandom, this is beyond flattering.
E/N: Sue lubs me and indulges my taste for smart fics and smart writers. This is one right here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SUE HERE
I do agree with Autumn I lubs her berry berry much. Some of my best Recs have come from her !!
Enjoy the story!!
No comments:
Post a Comment