Author Interview:
I was honored to recommend Conquer by rhythm junkie this Tuesday. She was kind enough to do a quick interview for me.
Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a Scottish purple-haired, moderately tattooed, rockbaby who likes oranges, The Boss, yellow, rooibos tea, snails, excellent chat, intelligent arguments, rain and Michael Marshall Smith. I love my twilight community girls (and boys) and I adore reading fanfic (especially slash at the minute). Jasper is, hands down, my favourite character in the entire Twilight franchise, closely followed by Seth, and I wish people would tweet more (or any!) Jasper/Jackson Rathbone pics on my twitter feed rather than the ridiculous amount of Edward/Rob Pattinson ones that currently clog it up.
What made you decide to begin writing Fan Fiction?
I’d just finished reading the Twilight books (I came to the franchise about two years later than everyone else) and started looking at fanfic because I was totally let down by the ending of Breaking Dawn (sorry, I know that’s controversial). The quality and imagination of the work I found really inspired me and meeting so many great people through the twilight community encouraged me to write my own.
I’d just finished reading the Twilight books (I came to the franchise about two years later than everyone else) and started looking at fanfic because I was totally let down by the ending of Breaking Dawn (sorry, I know that’s controversial). The quality and imagination of the work I found really inspired me and meeting so many great people through the twilight community encouraged me to write my own.
Your story involves a very dark Edward - what made you want to write him this way?
Honestly, Edward is my least favorite character in the Twilight series (again with the controversy, I know). The more I read him, the more controlling and demanding he came across. I noticed that there was an abundance of Darkward fics but none of them seemed very realistic – Bella just kept falling for him regardless of how horrendous he was to her. I wanted to write a more authentic idea of what it would be like living in the shadow of someone with that kind of dark oppressive obsession and I wanted to show how Bella, as a person, would be smothered under that kind of attention.
I also found the psychological aspect of Edward being so attractive an intriguing aspect of writing a Darkward fic. Humans, as a rule, are drawn to attractive/pretty people and physical beauty can often encourage people to make allowances for behavior/actions that they wouldn’t normally. The idea of having Bella warring with herself over an unwanted attraction to Edward the package whilst viciously hating Edward the man had my writing synapses firing.
Honestly, Edward is my least favorite character in the Twilight series (again with the controversy, I know). The more I read him, the more controlling and demanding he came across. I noticed that there was an abundance of Darkward fics but none of them seemed very realistic – Bella just kept falling for him regardless of how horrendous he was to her. I wanted to write a more authentic idea of what it would be like living in the shadow of someone with that kind of dark oppressive obsession and I wanted to show how Bella, as a person, would be smothered under that kind of attention.
I also found the psychological aspect of Edward being so attractive an intriguing aspect of writing a Darkward fic. Humans, as a rule, are drawn to attractive/pretty people and physical beauty can often encourage people to make allowances for behavior/actions that they wouldn’t normally. The idea of having Bella warring with herself over an unwanted attraction to Edward the package whilst viciously hating Edward the man had my writing synapses firing.
What about the canon Edward did you build on to create this character?
Canon Edward seems, to me, to have serious control issues that are sort of glossed over in the Twilight franchise. I wanted to push that idea to the brink, really make him a dominant and manipulative character, make him a slave to his desire to control every faucet of Bella. I tried to explore the idea of Edward being a perpetual 17 year old that’s suggested in the books too – I wanted his reasonings to be flawed in the way that only comes with the intense belief that you are right that is so specific to teenagers.
Canon Edward seems, to me, to have serious control issues that are sort of glossed over in the Twilight franchise. I wanted to push that idea to the brink, really make him a dominant and manipulative character, make him a slave to his desire to control every faucet of Bella. I tried to explore the idea of Edward being a perpetual 17 year old that’s suggested in the books too – I wanted his reasonings to be flawed in the way that only comes with the intense belief that you are right that is so specific to teenagers.
What are some of your favorite FF stories?
I kinda love slash and I kinda love angst and I kinda love Jasper/Bella so my favourites are pretty diverse. McFearless by TeamBella23 is an amazing example of funny, heartbreaking, sexy slashy goodness. Detention, Dicks and Dirty Tricks by MistyHaze420 is a brilliant, fuckhot Edward/Jasper one-shot that I read over and over. Chromaticity by ShoeFreak37 is one of the most painfully heartwrenching one-shots I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. I can’t recommend it enough. Get Me To You by Chicklette is hands-down my favourite favourite favourite Jasper/Bella fanfic. It’s just so beautiful and painful and incredible.
I kinda love slash and I kinda love angst and I kinda love Jasper/Bella so my favourites are pretty diverse. McFearless by TeamBella23 is an amazing example of funny, heartbreaking, sexy slashy goodness. Detention, Dicks and Dirty Tricks by MistyHaze420 is a brilliant, fuckhot Edward/Jasper one-shot that I read over and over. Chromaticity by ShoeFreak37 is one of the most painfully heartwrenching one-shots I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. I can’t recommend it enough. Get Me To You by Chicklette is hands-down my favourite favourite favourite Jasper/Bella fanfic. It’s just so beautiful and painful and incredible.
Who is your favorite author(s)?
I absolutely love GiveMeSomeVamp – she’s so ridiculously talented it’d be irritating if I didn’t get so excited by her updates. TeamBella23 is also fantastic, especially her slash work (something I’ve only recently gotten into). My beta, PortiaKhalo, who actually became my beta because I admired her work and we ended up getting into a long-winded conversation about the merits of Edward/Bella over Bella/Anyone else, has also written some amazing work. Her story, Marrow, is one of the reasons I started writing fanfic (true story).
I absolutely love GiveMeSomeVamp – she’s so ridiculously talented it’d be irritating if I didn’t get so excited by her updates. TeamBella23 is also fantastic, especially her slash work (something I’ve only recently gotten into). My beta, PortiaKhalo, who actually became my beta because I admired her work and we ended up getting into a long-winded conversation about the merits of Edward/Bella over Bella/Anyone else, has also written some amazing work. Her story, Marrow, is one of the reasons I started writing fanfic (true story).
Do you have any advice to those who are just starting out in the FF world?
For the love of all that is Twilighty, get yourself a good beta! They will be your biggest fans, harshest critics and most hardcore taskmasters but, I promise, a beta will only ever make you a better writer.
For the love of all that is Twilighty, get yourself a good beta! They will be your biggest fans, harshest critics and most hardcore taskmasters but, I promise, a beta will only ever make you a better writer.
Do you have any plans to write any more dark stories? If so, please share some details!
Honestly, most of my fics have a bit of a dark flavour. I tend to write angsty, bitey and mean better than flowers, rainbows and slushy words and I think that tends to seep into most of my work. I’m quite taken by the Jasper character – I like the enigmatic nature of him - and I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a Darksper fic for a while now.
With Conquer, I’m also toying with the idea of writing two/three more chapters, alternate POV’s, to tie it up. Every time I read the first chapter, I can’t help but get the feeling that I’m not quite finished with those two. I can’t promise a happy ending though!
With Conquer, I’m also toying with the idea of writing two/three more chapters, alternate POV’s, to tie it up. Every time I read the first chapter, I can’t help but get the feeling that I’m not quite finished with those two. I can’t promise a happy ending though!
Here is a sampling of rhythm junkie's stories:
Favourite bit of Possess
"Hearing voices again Alice," Lauren sneered her name and I bristled, glancing over. Her face was twisted unattractively and I realised she'd been watching me watch the pixie. "You forget to take your pill today?"
I made to say something but Alice threw her head back and laughed, shocking the hell outta me. She locked eyes with Lauren and the mirth in her face was unmistakable.
"Honey, unlike your clutch," she nodded at the little black bag Lauren was never seen without, "Which I'm sure is a veritable pharmacy, I am a drug-free zone."
"Maybe you'd be less of a crazy fucking bitch if you took some medication," Lauren simpered sweetly but I noticed she gripped her bag tighter, "I could probably hook you up."
Again I bristled and again Alice shocked the hell outta me, leaning over and waggling her eyebrows at Lauren who was totally taken aback.
"I'm a lover not a fighter," she smiled, "I embraced my crazy a long time ago and I gotta say, we make better friends than we ever did enemies". When she saw Lauren had no comeback, she dismissed us with a wave of her delicate wrist and carried on her conversation with Jess and Tyler like the whole exchange had never happened.
I was fucking hooked.
Favourite bit of Oranges and Lilac
Instantly Bella was transported to that late summer night just before her eighteenth birthday, Jasper wrapped around her in the hot heavy darkness of the tent Bella had slept in every night of that scorching summer. He had come to her each dusk, his eyes growing darker with every passing moon until the night he had climbed into her tent, into her sleeping bag and into her clothes.
She felt present-Jasper's thumb graze her sweet spot as she heard past-Jasper's soft words of adulation. She had been so stunned that someone like Jasper, someone so effortlessly accepted, so painfully gorgeous, was interested in someone like her dumpy self. Jasper had chastised her gently on her view of her body as he kissed his way across her generous breasts, kissed down her soft stomach, nibbled her roundly fleshed-out sides and came to settle between her legs, biting the rich clotted cream of her inside thigh. Serious, sexy Jasper had been the one to teach her comfort in her own skin, his worship of her body too powerful to be withstood.
"Bella beautiful…" the past and present sighed against her ear and she felt the delicious friction of exploration and experience press into her. She moaned wantonly as present-Jasper worked his hand on her body and past-Jasper worked his tongue on her memory. She remembered the heat and the friction and it felt exactly the same, teasing her eager body along the impatient line of desire. She felt the shuddering in her stomach matching the memory of long-ago shuddering and she clung to him now as she had then, the wild aching explosion taking her from the inside, making her keen as ferally now as she had that first time. Jasper tipped her head back in the same way he had done that night, hungry eyes soaking in the hot twist of her features as she fell apart for him, willingly and unreservedly.
Instantly Bella was transported to that late summer night just before her eighteenth birthday, Jasper wrapped around her in the hot heavy darkness of the tent Bella had slept in every night of that scorching summer. He had come to her each dusk, his eyes growing darker with every passing moon until the night he had climbed into her tent, into her sleeping bag and into her clothes.
She felt present-Jasper's thumb graze her sweet spot as she heard past-Jasper's soft words of adulation. She had been so stunned that someone like Jasper, someone so effortlessly accepted, so painfully gorgeous, was interested in someone like her dumpy self. Jasper had chastised her gently on her view of her body as he kissed his way across her generous breasts, kissed down her soft stomach, nibbled her roundly fleshed-out sides and came to settle between her legs, biting the rich clotted cream of her inside thigh. Serious, sexy Jasper had been the one to teach her comfort in her own skin, his worship of her body too powerful to be withstood.
"Bella beautiful…" the past and present sighed against her ear and she felt the delicious friction of exploration and experience press into her. She moaned wantonly as present-Jasper worked his hand on her body and past-Jasper worked his tongue on her memory. She remembered the heat and the friction and it felt exactly the same, teasing her eager body along the impatient line of desire. She felt the shuddering in her stomach matching the memory of long-ago shuddering and she clung to him now as she had then, the wild aching explosion taking her from the inside, making her keen as ferally now as she had that first time. Jasper tipped her head back in the same way he had done that night, hungry eyes soaking in the hot twist of her features as she fell apart for him, willingly and unreservedly.
Favourite bit of The Valley of Your Heart
My stomach drops into my knees and, shit, because I suddenly recognise that smell, the one hidden under the dirt and the grime and the tears.
Blood.
I drag him into the bathroom, flipping the light on and flipping it straight back off when he hisses behind my neck. I sit him gently on the toilet and start running a bath. As soon as it's done, I turn back to him. He's just sitting there, watching me, trusting me.
I pull him up and unzip the ugly, puffy jacket he's wearing, pulling it from his shoulders and depositing it on the floor near the door. The t-shirt he's wearing is stained with dried blood but that's not what makes my eyes go wide and my entire body clench.
The marks on his face? Bite marks. Motherfucking bite marks. I can see them, some scabbed and healing, some already healed into vivid white scars. They trail down his neck and disappear under the caked t-shirt he wears. Slowly I motion him to raise his arms and he does, obedient as a child.
With the t-shirt off I can see the bite marks mar his entire upper body. I quickly take off the rest of his clothes, thinking rip the band-aid Edward, just rip. When he's naked in front of me, I can see that they cover his entire body, like someone's been using him as their own personal chew toy. New ones crisscross angry pink wounds which, in turn, crisscross old, faded silver scars. This abuse has obviously been going on since he was taken from me and the wrath I feel is making my bones grind.
Go join her on her stories!!!!
My stomach drops into my knees and, shit, because I suddenly recognise that smell, the one hidden under the dirt and the grime and the tears.
Blood.
I drag him into the bathroom, flipping the light on and flipping it straight back off when he hisses behind my neck. I sit him gently on the toilet and start running a bath. As soon as it's done, I turn back to him. He's just sitting there, watching me, trusting me.
I pull him up and unzip the ugly, puffy jacket he's wearing, pulling it from his shoulders and depositing it on the floor near the door. The t-shirt he's wearing is stained with dried blood but that's not what makes my eyes go wide and my entire body clench.
The marks on his face? Bite marks. Motherfucking bite marks. I can see them, some scabbed and healing, some already healed into vivid white scars. They trail down his neck and disappear under the caked t-shirt he wears. Slowly I motion him to raise his arms and he does, obedient as a child.
With the t-shirt off I can see the bite marks mar his entire upper body. I quickly take off the rest of his clothes, thinking rip the band-aid Edward, just rip. When he's naked in front of me, I can see that they cover his entire body, like someone's been using him as their own personal chew toy. New ones crisscross angry pink wounds which, in turn, crisscross old, faded silver scars. This abuse has obviously been going on since he was taken from me and the wrath I feel is making my bones grind.
Go join her on her stories!!!!
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