Dark Authors Week Presents: 4lettrwrd

We hope you have enjoyed our segment this week featuring these dark authors. We have had a blast getting to know these girls and learning about what makes them come over to the dark side. (And we learned it wasn't just the awesome cookies we have over here, either) It was insightful to learn why others want to dive into the realm of dark with our favorite cowboy, Jasper. 

We conclude this week with a very special author, one whom I was blessed enough to call a friend. We weren't best friends by any means, but we clicked over our love for the dark side of writing. For a long time she was the only friend I had in the dark realm of fan fiction, and I have her to thank for giving me the courage to delve in it myself. Without her, we would not have this blog today.

A few months back when I started this blog, I asked Ke, 4lettrwrd, if she would be willing to let me pick her brain a bit for an article I wanted to write. She was so awesome about it and agreed, so I sent her a couple of  questions and she answered them in like thirty seconds it seemed, and sent them back.

I was so thrilled at her answers. They just seemed so... her, and I felt honored she would take the time out to let me interview her for this little known blog. (Not that we are much bigger today) It helped me in understanding why so many of us really enjoy the darker fics in the fan fiction world, and I could not thank her enough.

As most of you know, Ke is no longer with us. We lost an awesome writer not long ago, and I for one was completely shocked and heartbroken. I miss her crazy twitter rants and seeing updates in my inbox from her dearly (no matter what the story), and my thoughts are with her family and friends.

I struggled with whether or not to post this today, but she was one of my most favorite authors of all time, dark or not. There is no doubt in my mind that if she were still with us, I would have asked her to participate this week in the hopes she would say yes, but since it is not an option, I decided to end this week with her interview with me back in January. She was such an awesome person, what little of her I did know, and she will be greatly missed. I hope you enjoy...

Izzy:

So, what inspires you to write a darker character, opposed to the fluffy bunny characters?

4lettrwrd:

That's actually a really tough question. There's a lot of things that inspire me to write the dark stuff, opposed to happiness and rainbows.

First of all, I don't think life is ever happiness and rainbows, and I like to be somewhat honest in what I write. I've had a lot of shitty experiences in my life, and I've learnt that, just because something is not bright, shiny, happy, doesn't mean it can't be good. In my opinion, things can be beautiful, even when they're not pretty. Part of writing dark shit is trying to get people to understand that.

Also. Happiness, fluffy clouds, and all that. It's fucking boring. People want to see pain, and angst. It's the voyeuristic nature of people. Seeing someone else's pain makes you realize that maybe their lives aren't as shitty as they thought they were.

It's cathartic for me. Don't know how else to explain that.

Usually, I don't think about the fact that I'm writing dark stuff. I just write what I know, and what I've been inspired to write (I listen to a lot of dark music, and my brain is just twisted like that). It's only when people point it out to me that I'm like, "OK, that's a little morbid". I didn't think Visceral was a dark story until people started talking about it like that.

Izzy:

In Visceral, we not only have a dark Jasper but a very dark Bella. What is it about having two dark characters interact that make you want to write them?

4lettrwrd:

That story makes me cringe, honest to god.

Originally, Visceral was nothing like it is today. The original idea for the story was really mellow.

I never thought of them as dark. I take a lot of inspiration for both of them from my own life, and from my own experiences. As I said before, dark is just what seems to come out of me.

I enjoy writing them because I'm sick of reading saccharine romances. Fuck that shit. Life doesn't happen like that. I wanted something real. Jasper and Bella took on a life of their own though, and right now, I'm just enjoying seeing where they go. Of course, I have an outline for the story, but mostly, their interactions are spur of the moment kind of thing.

I rambled a bit there.

I like writing dark characters together because they just seem stronger to me. These sweet, fluffy characters seem like they lack both spine and substance. There is too much complexity in people for them to be as sweet as a lot of authors write them, and as I said, I like to keep some honesty in what I write.

The interactions between two dark characters are always so much richer, and more complex. also, more interesting to both read and write.

We will miss you Ke. Thank you for all you did for us while we had you. 

4lettrwrd can be found:

Her stories are still posted on FF.net and her story Visceral was reposted by a friend/family member. You can stop by and leave a comment for her family on her profile page for her stories. You can also find the rest of the article HERE.