Okay, I'm Finally Getting Around to Answering That Meme

[amberfocus]

Sorry, having two animals die in the last...well, I thought it was a week, but I guess it's closer to two weeks now. Anywho, it is hard, plus being sick and the fever and all...well, intentions didn't follow through. But now I am answering it. So...

fannishliss asked for question 4, What are some themes you love writing about?

I'd say the first one is difficult pregnancy. Which is probably a big fat duh to anyone reading this. I love writing about Rose getting pregnant. I used to do it a lot. In fact I had to put some rules in place to stop myself from doing it in the Better With You series. As much as I enjoy it, baby!fic all the time does get tedious. But it's an important theme in my life and I think I used it to work out issues I'd held in for years. Some of you know that I had several miscarriages and the two pregnancies I did carry to term were very difficult, involving hyperemesis gravidarum in both cases, which is why Rose has it in You're What? And in my daughter's case I also had the relaxin hormone kick in way too early so that my pelvis started spreading several months too early. I was on bed rest for the better part of those pregnancies. So that is why I gave Rose such a difficult time of it in that story.

It's also part of why I put Rose through such an emotional wringer in Moments in Darkness. And, well, I suppose Rose being kidnapped in To Call Our Own and all that ensued there while she was pregnant with Dare, and then Rose getting hit with an arrow in You Reap What You Sow and then Cassi regenerating in the womb later on when Rose saves Donna...well...yes, Rose cannot have an easy pregnancy. Even when she finds out she's pregnant in Glow it took 8 years. And Rooftops...well, that wasn't exactly peachy acceptance, either. So definitely a theme.

I don't know if I have any other overriding themes. I mean I enjoy the misunderstand each other to the point of Rose thinking the Doctor wants to take her home and the Doctor thinks Rose wants to leave him, angst, angst, angst, followed by them finding out that isn't true, and fluff, fluff, fluff ensues.

I like the whole Rose and the Doctor accidentally end up sharing a bed and both are sitting there debating with themselves to be good and not "ruin" the relationship by making unwanted advances that are very much wanted. Dealt with that one a few times.

Of course the whole alternate universe 9th Doctor thing.

I don't know. I suppose there are more out there, but I'm drawing a blank on any other themes right now.

Then she asked for question 11, What are your weaknesses in writing?

Commas, homophones, run-on sentences (cause that is how I think), tense shifts, and hurrying the plot (which usually my betas make me not do that so you never see it much).

And then she asked for question 8, Is there a character you like writing for the most? The least? Why?

That's a hard one. I enjoy writing Rose the most. I relate to her, even though I am nothing like her. I can get inside her head. She's easy to write. She flows. For a long time I didn't like writing Martha. I didn't feel like I really had a good handle on her character. I resented the whole kiss thing, though I never disliked her for it. I disliked the lovesick puppy storyline because I thought she'd be stronger than that. I felt like the times I wrote Martha I didn't have the characterization right. I feel like I definitely got it at the end of You're What? and I know I have it in The Watchmaker's Daughter. So I suppose that she really no longer is the character I like writing for the least now that I've found my way with her. Now if you ask me a character I won't write for, it's River. Lovesick puppy times a million. Enough said.

Comments

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

Thanks for answering! I learned a lot about you from this answer. :)

It's interesting to learn more about your oeuvre and the ways themes comes out of your life. It makes me wonder how my life is reflected in my stories.

Rose is a unique character for me as well. She is passionate about everything she does. I think that's part of why she's so enjoyable to write. She's not afraid to feel strongly -- about the Doctor but about everything. She's a great character.

[jer832.livejournal.com]

You capture young (canon) Rose brilliantly, even as you flesh her out to fit your stories - and I am thinking about 'Always Ask Twice' and 'Take it Back' , in both of which Rose feels honest and true to character (no mean feat I'd say). I love the more mature Rose of 'Wolf Moon' - she's obviously Rose but you can do so much more with her than the 19 year old.