Author Interview

This week I was lucky enough to do a fic recommendation for Stolen Souls by Nayarit. She was kind enough to do an interview for me!

Tell us a little about yourself.

Um, let's see. I'm 26. I was originally from Mexico, then my family immigrated to the US when I was 13. After high school, I joined the military. I've been deployed everywhere, ground as an HM for the Marines (when I signed up I didn't know that the Marines didn't have their own medics) and at sea my earlier years as an SN with the Navy. I'm out now, looking to use my GI Bill here soon and go back to school. I daydream more than anyone ever should, and I'm like deathly afraid of leaving potatoes in dark spaces, because it's sprouting freaks me out! I have a little Yorkie named Tuna. She's my flopping fish, and the perfect writing companion.

Why did you start writing FF?

Well, I've been putting my daydreams to paper all my life and loved it. I'd written lots of original fiction before I saw Twilight. I saw the movie before reading the books. AS it turned out the first movie released in the states in theaters on my birthday! Anyway, then I read the books and I was totally enamored with Carlisle. So I wrote a dark piece about him before I even knew what fanfiction was, just a short four chapter story. Well, when I finally read Breaking Dawn I wasn't a fan, and that's putting it lightly. I went to Goodreads to read reviews about it, to see if I wasn't the only one that was left disappointed, and on one review they were talking about how it read like bad fanfiction. Not knowing what fanfiction was I googled it. And here we are!


How did you come about writing this story?

Oh, Stolen Souls. My baby. This story I've been working on a long time, it's very dear to me. The muse came from the movie Eastern Promises. I had felt SO bad for the girls in this movie, the prostitutes, and then my mind just wandered. I saw a scene. A scene that hasn't happened in the story yet, so I can't really give it away, ate away at me and I just couldn't stop seeing this "movie" in my head. I wanted to tell the story. But then I wanted to backtrack, since I can say that the entire scene is the climax and action-filled, and I wanted to know how these characters, the girls and then the guys who didn't even belong in this world got there. That's how all the POVs came about, because there were all these people in that scene that didn't belong there, and I needed a way to show how all of these characters came crashing together. And the story just started building.

OH, P.S. If you've never seen Eastern Promises, you should check it out. It's an incredible movie!


You have painted a very unique and different picture with our Twilight characers? What made you decide to portray them in the way you did?

Have I? Hehe. Sometimes you just never know, I hope so though.. :) In all honestly, when this all started, I saw the scene above, and then the rest of the events it took to get there. So I had a plot all mapped out, but no real sense of who the characters were. I knew that the two main girls were always Bella and Alice and that they would be sisters, so then their love interests were obviously going to be Edward and Jasper. But from there it was all a toss up. And so what I decided to do with all the characters was to try and keep them, at their core, as canon as possible. Just sort of put them in my world and my rules. So I really strive to give them the same traits the canon version of their characters have, and that helped influence the choices I made with each of the characters. Of course there are characters like Demetri and Tanya, that aren't as fleshed out in canon, and so they're more my imagination than anything. But I'd like to think that if all the canon characters were human, playing by my rules, and in my world, Stolen Souls would be the result.


What are some of your favorite FF stories?

Oh, gosh. Let's see. Well, the fanfic that started it all for me is The Teenage Angst Brigade by Jandco. I think it's quite brilliant. It's AH and set in high school. My all-time favorite fanfic is Tracking Redemption by shoefreak37. It's AU and slash (Edward/Demetri) and I can't explain how good this story is, the plot, the romance, the redemption! And A Century of Waiting by LJ Summers. It's only a one-shot but it moves me beyond tears until there is like this gaping hole in my soul. It's AU-Edward never came back after New Moon, but not everything is how he thought he left it. It's the Jacob in that one that destroys me.


Who are your favorite authors?

Jandco is amazing. She feeds my AH side. LJ Summers's work is vastly under appreciated. She lets my inner wolf girl free. Giselle-lx is beyond words. There isn't anyone would can capture canon Carlisle like she can.

Do you have any advice to those who are just starting out in the FF world?

Just dew eet! :) I know it's scary and nerve-racking, but don't let any "what ifs" you may have stop you from doing something you may discover you love. If you have a story or prompt in your head and you want to let it out, go ahead. There will ALWAYS be someone out there in the market for the type of story you want to tell, and they'll be so happy that you've decided to share.
Oh and review reply. You'll never know who you'll meet that way. A future beta! A best fandom friend! A banner maker! A pre-reader! Someone who wants to pimp out your work! Your readers are your most precious commodity, and any relationship you develop with them is always worth the time.


Do you have any plans to write any more dark stories? If so, please share some details!

I do! I'm actually working on my next big WIP. It's called Curse of the Ninth. And I'm hoping to have it out and posting soon! It's canon-AU. But very AU in the sense that the world has become post-apocalyptic. In this world vampires are out of hiding and the rulers, owning humans. This means most are dark and in touch with their inner monster. A group of humans has formed a resistance to fight back against the vampires, because they've discovered that they also have the ultimate weapon.

Do you have a website, moderate any forums or contests? If so, tell us about them?

I'm currently co-hosting the The Twilight of Craigslist Contest, along with Wonderwallthefirst and InYourHonor1211. We're already accepting submissions! So come write for us. I also head up the fandom birthday calendar at Twific News, and don't want to leave anyone out. So head on over there and leave me your birthday!

How can readers reach you?

My readers can reach me via PM on FFN or PM on A Different Forest (I'm there like every day. I'm the loudmouth!). Or you can find me on twitter @nayaritism. I think I'm pretty accessible.


Please visit Nayarit's other stories:

First fanfic I ever wrote: Willingly, I Take Whatever You Have to Give

The events of 1921 happened differently. And it's changed everything and affected Carlisle, Edward, and Esme in a way that none of them expected . . . least of all Carlisle. Very dark, very OOC, AU-VAMP, with a little lemonade. Told through Esme's eyes.

Twilight - Rated: M - English - Suspense/Hurt/Comfort - Chapters: 4 - Words: 7,940 - Reviews: 20 - Updated: 10-25-10 - Published: 10-20-10 - Carlisle & Esme - Complete

I knew Edward cared deeply for me. He loved me as his mother. I imagined that if my son had survived he would be something like Edward. I knew that it destroyed him to watch me suffer. But the truth was that Edward understood nothing of my suffering. He may have been an older vampire than me, but the fact of the matter was, he was still but a young man of seventeen. He was a child.

Edward could never understand my reasoning and the ways of the world; experiences that only life could teach you and Edward had yet to live. He may have known Carlisle longer than I, but he had no known Carlisle like I had.

Gently tugging his chin, I gave a week and loving smile as I let go. My tender eyes pleaded with him silently. Placing my left hand back under the soft white towel, I turned to head toward the bath.

"I may not understand your reasons, Esme, but you are wrong. I know Carlisle, and that . . . THAT is not Carlisle."

Without turning back, I stopped briefly and grabbed the towel tighter as I took an unnecessary and heavy breath. Good night Edward. Please don't worry on my behalf. I hate that our pain hurts you as well.

I continued walking through the bathroom to the back as I heard Edward slam the door, cursing so quietly that a human would have missed it. But I hadn't.


My entry in the Canon Tour pre-Twilight round: The Wicked Wind Whispers and Moans

Carlisle would never know the vampire that changed him . . . that vampire made certain of it. It was that vampire's secret to carry forever, even when fate would bring them together again. Canon-AU/Pre-Twilight/One-shot/Mystery/My TheCanonTour Entry.

Twilight - Rated: T - English - Mystery - Chapters: 1 - Words: 2,875 - Reviews: 9 - Published: 9-16-11 - Carlisle - Complete

The attack had come from behind, far too fast to have ever been prevented. The young man was walking back towards the entry to the alcove, intent on escaping the horrors before him, when those eyes leapt behind him, their arms latching on to the young man's and pinning him to the frozen chest of his reaper . . . his Shakespeare; the only true Shakespeare, who didn't write fictional characters, but created them.
Those eyes were Shakespeare. Those eyes were the true mother. Those eyes were the true father.

Those eyes were God himself.


My current four-chapter WIP, it's very dark: Wind Beaten Tree

Patient is underweight, pallid, and stares through hollow brown eyes. Patient is non-responsive. Patient is in her third trimester. Patient says that "it's impossible." "What do you remember?" Canon-AU/10year after Eclipse/Alternate-Breaking Dawn/Mystery

Twilight - Rated: M - English - Angst/Tragedy - Chapters: 1 - Words: 1,490 - Reviews: 6 - Published: 9-6-11

She stared out the window to the right of the room. It was snowing. She wondered when it stopped being summer. Forks had some very cold winters, but she figured because she was always cold, that that was why she couldn’t tell the difference.
Outside, the trees were naked. Alone. Bare. Open to the freezing elements, thin, contorted limbs thrashing about, breaking, and bending over to the vicious winds and letting it abuse them. She wondered if that window was actually a mirror.


My first attempt at slash. Love the way this turned out: Forever Changed

In May 1960, Edward Cullen is scarcely living through his immortal existence. But that's all about to change when he catches the enthralling thoughts of a young man, Jack Twist, camping. CANON-BBM & TWI/AU-VAMP/SLASH/M-LEMONS

Crossover - Brokeback Mountain & Twilight - Rated: M - English - Drama - Chapters: 1 - Words: 16,529 - Reviews: 7 - Published: 11-19-10 - Edward - Complete

But that brought the most troubling of thoughts to the forefront of Edward's mind. Some of Jack's dreams were confusing, and not just to Edward. Jack was at a point in his life when he felt the most confused. And Edward knew, from the timbre and theme of some of Jack's dreams, that this was the biggest reason Jack felt trapped.
Jack didn't feel normal. Jack felt guilty . . . he felt wrong.

Many of these troubling dreams were similar. He was at school, in town, a rodeo, or at the local bar and he found some beautiful woman to entertain him for the night—in some instances only a brief hour. But while his body drove into the willing warmth of the women of his dreams, Jack imagined a faceless young man from the ranch. What started off as a woman morphed into masculine grunts and a thick, musky scent. It bombarded Jack's senses, and he was drowning in a river where he wanted to be submerged but feared what would happen.

Soon it was the young man who was driving into Jack's willing warmth. And Jack was more than willing. It always seemed that Jack, in his dreams, couldn't reach climax unless he envisioned the broad torso and sculpted shoulders of this faceless man . . . of a man. It excited Jack and he craved the hard chest against his back, strong hands digging into his hips. These were the thoughts that plagued Jack most.
Edward, unlike Jack however, had a much different belief on the entire situation. Which would have been shocking knowing his past as a respectable youth of the nineteen hundreds, but it was Edward's years as an immortal that changed his perception on the morality of humans.

And the most disgusting and hilarious thing I've ever written: Lord of HIS Ring

While hunting in the Misty Mountains, Edward Cullen finds something he never expected: an epic romance against all the odds. A TOTAL CRACK!FIC collaboration with Pinballwizard92.

Warning: Love's never been this mucosal. VAMP-AU/AU-LotR/HUMOR
Crossover - Lord of the Rings & Twilight - Rated: M - English - Parody/Humor - Chapters: 1 - Words: 6,159 - Reviews: 15 - Published: 6-6-10 - Gollum & Edward - Complete

Like a horny, lovesick idiot, I spoke the first words that came to my mind. "Hello . . . my name is Edward Cullen. Sorry I didn't get to introduce myself before . . . ." I drifted off but my mind finished the sentence for me, because I couldn't. You were just too perfect; I forgot to speak and the saliva—venom—building like my desire for you would have probably choked me. And now I'm babbling.
It was then, lost in my own thoughts, that I realized I couldn't read his mind. Nothing had ever been so refreshing. The silence alone of this amazing creature's mind was enough to captivate me completely.

I appraised the vision in front of me. There was something incredibly dazzling about the small creature and when my stare caught his very wide, bluey—almost iridescent—eyes I was left with a lump in my throat.

That was when the scent hit me again. Stale . . . rotten . . . fish . . . earth . . . perspiration . . . mouthwatering. My eyes raked over his contorted form, his protruding bones, his practically hairless body . . . his loincloth. I couldn't stop the reaction that stirred in me harder; the way my eyes blackened from a different hunger; the way venom pulled in my mouth—at oceanic amounts; the clenching of muscles that hadn't tightened in years.