Meme Thing...Because I need more reasons to procrastinate

[amberfocus]

Ask me a question about any of my characters in any of my stories and I will respond from that character's point of view (as if I am that character).  No character is off limits but questions impacting future plot may be danced around so as not to give away too much.

Additionally, if there's anything you've ever wanted to ask me about my writing process or whatever, feel free to ask here and I'll do my best to answer (although sometimes I may not even know the answer).

Comments

[milieva]

When do you find yourself getting most of your ideas? Is there something you tend to often be doing when inspiration strikes?


I'm going to borrow this meme, if you don't mind.

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

When I'm not on medication I dream A LOT, these amazingly vivid, technicolor dreams that so often are a full chunk of the story themselves. It's like these plots fall into my head fully formed.

Sometimes I'll be in the middle of a conversation with my husband and the turn of a phrase or a certain word will send my mind racing in ten different directions and all of a sudden a fic is sitting there in my brain waiting to be written. I guess I get a look in my eye when I do it because he's always like, "Go, write it down."

The third place I get ideas from are the comments people leave on my stories. A Sky Without Zeppelins came into being because I had a throwaway line in my fic Sacrifice about if Rose chose to be with Ten instead of Ten2, Ten2 wanted to use the chameleon arch to become fully human and forget he'd ever been a Time Lord or loved her. shengirl said she wanted to see the fic where that happened and thus Zeppelins was born. You can blame her for Jonathon and Rose and the most popular story I ever wrote. *laughs* A Lesser Woman was written in response to a comment azriona who wanted to see Rose's point of view and how she had gotten to such a place after reading A Better Man. So definitely from people leaving questions in the comments.

[milieva]

Yeah, I think we all have had that comment that turned into a fic. My Only One Way Out was in response to a joke a friend made about wanting to see me write Nine smut (because for some reason I said I would never write Nine/Rose adult stories).

Then this Lessons on Nesting Series of mine is something bratflorida kept subtly pushing.

I plot while I drive. My morning and evening commutes to work tend to have character conversations in them (spoke outloud), especially when I am back into the throes of a powerful plotline.

Rebecca from Zepplins

[laxiinas.livejournal.com]

I've been wondering for a while now, did you ever say what ended up happening to Rebecca? Was she ever found? Did Jonathon and Rose end up rescuing her in the Tardis years after? Grin.

Re: Rebecca from Zepplins

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

I never really said though the plan was always to at least mention her in the sequel. Rebecca is listed as missing and presumed dead. However her body was never recovered from the building.

Re: Rebecca from Zepplins

[laxiinas.livejournal.com]

Yup, then she was rescued by Jonathon and Rose. Well, that's what I'd like to think anyway. My eldest is named Rebecca, so... I hope for a happy ending for the Zepplins Rebecca.

[bloose09.livejournal.com]

How did you come up with the idea of Toshiko Sato traveling with alt!Nine (John Smith) in "Leap of Faith"?

Follow up, was there a specific reason you chose Tosh, rather than someone else?

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

I came up with the idea to use Tosh when Torchwood, in season two, made it canon that Toshiko was there in Aliens of London on Doctor Who (not just the actress), pretending to be a doctor because Owen had a hangover. She was examining the fake pig alien for Torchwood. So in our universe she and Nine actually interacted. To me it was a simple step that a Roseless Nine might hook up with the super smart Tosh and finish the adventure in WWIII with her. So alt!Nine and alt!Tosh became traveling partners after that because he found value in her. She left because she was the one to send the bomb into Downing Street and Harriet Jones was injured in and in a coma for a few weeks and couldn't verify she'd ordered the bombing until she woke up. She was already the prime minister at that point in this universe.

I chose Tosh for the reasons above, but also because I feel she is vastly underutilized in fic. There is more room in her characterization to move about than in any other member of Torchwood. I couldn't stand the idea of using an alt!Donna then as I was smarting too much from her fate in JE. I thought she would put up with Nine's BS without letting him push her around. I have a hard time writing Gwen for some reason, so she was out. I wanted the companion to be female so that left out Ianto and Owen and I knew I wanted to bring Martha in later so Tosh was the logical choice.

[bloose09.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the insight. Tosh was an inspired choice as Nine's companion and you write it very well.

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure, no problem. Any other questions, feel free to ask. I'm pretty much bored out of my mind and have writer's block so nothing else to do at the moment.

[bloose09.livejournal.com]

Okay, I think I will.

In "Wolf Moon" how did you come up with the idea of Alt!Nine being stuck with Romana's TARDIS? I really enjoyed what you did with her TARDIS' character and attitude.

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

I knew from the start that I was splitting the Doctor via disjunction, but I didn't want to do the same thing to the TARDIS. And I wanted a TARDIS he didn't love and didn't get along with, something he would be at odds with, so a TARDIS that wasn't his just seemed to fit that. Romana and the Doctor had such opposite personalities that I figured her TARDIS would snark at him the same way she (or her first incarnation anyway) did. Because in my version they were on the front lines of the war together and he had to do something monumental on his own, I figured it might require two ships. So he'd have to use hers as well as his own to accomplish that task, and he'd find a way to trick Romana into not coming with him, hoping he'd save her, only to condemn her to death. (This was before the whole Rassilon deal happened in canon so I was imagining some kind of mega implosion between the two ships, possibly involving trying to make both ships occupy the same moment in space time or something). The result was the splitting of the Doctor into two and one going with each ship. The ship that got alt!Nine was of course grieving for Romana and mightly ticked off at him for doing what he did in the name of keeping her safe.

[trickstergirl.livejournal.com]

OHHHH, and on wolf moon etc (ps, just the most AMAZING series =D), do you have anything coming up in the future for us?? It was my introduction to Dr Who fanfiction, and i love love love it!

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

The plan was to write Pink Moon (the wedding) after I finished Leap of Faith and You're What? (which is almost finished). It just a question of how long it will be because of my slow recovery time.

[jer832.livejournal.com]

You said you knew you were splitting him via disjunction in Wolf Moon. How did you come up with the idea? Did it arrive, as you said, during a conversation with your husband? Did you backtrack from Alt9 for a cause? It was a brilliant, complex, and convoluted fix-it. I'm assuming that Nine didn't remember what he and Romana had done, just gave his regeneration to Rose because he loved her. Is that correct? By the way, thank you for all your fix-its. That one (Nine dying when Rose didn't), however, was particularly painful.

Another question: How could alt9 be so sure about which emotions were non-genetically induced? When I read the story (which is often) I think that his being alone for so long has stripped away a lot of the defenses. He reacts more strongly,analyzes more honestly, and doesn't bullshit himself the way Nine and Ten did. But it seems like snark, um, I mean love at first sight with those two. I've told you before how much I adore your opening chapters. If I had the money and power to get CE and BP to flm it....

I hope you are feeling better now.

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Yes, it just hit me while we were talking over things and then it solidified even more into being because I had a dream about it. I'm not quite sure what you are asking with the backtracking to alt!Nine for a cause.

No, Nine did not remember what he had done, only that he was willing to give up his life so that this girl could live.

In a lot of ways it was love at first sight. It was a situation riding on their hormonal reactions to each other. It became more, but at the beginning they had very little choice in the matter, though they tried to fight it.

Yes, alt!Nine was very much stripped of his defenses. And he was horribly lonely. He was completely open to something like this happening because of that loneliness and because he was completely compelled by Rose.