Interview--lmraven

First off, I’d like to thank the very talented lmraven (Lisa) for taking time (2 hours!) to sit with me to talk about her fanfiction, Twilight of the Redemption.

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Mandy: Tell us a little about yourself and how you got into fanfiction.

Lisa: Hmmm, let's see. Well, I've literally been writing since I could put a sentence together but had taken a long 14 year break from any creative writing, unless you count writing advertising copy, creative and it just may be. I kind of just stumbled across fanfiction and was immediately reminded of the "fanfiction" I used to write in Jr. High, though it wasn't called that then. So I dusted off my creative mind and gave it a try, mostly as a way to hone and carve a skill I was afraid I had forgotten. It then became a (gasp!) addiction.

Mandy: What was the first fandom you publicly posted for?

Lisa: General Hospital. I since deleted the story. It was truly horrible.

Mandy: What inspired you to write? What inspired you to write the way you did (plot)—something in real life?

Lisa: You mean for the Twilight/Vampire Diaries stories or in general?

Mandy: Yes, for the Twilight/Vampire Diaries fandom. :)

Lisa: I had already been in the middle of writing a Twilight fanfic but I got it into my head that I wanted to do a crossover. I read through some and to be honest, my original idea was to have a Damon/Bella pairing but I couldn't really think of a way for it to work at the time without vilifying Edward or Bella. Then I thought what if...what if Bella was the sister and I began to think of ways how that could be achieved without making her a vampire. So it was just a series of what if questions, one after the other that eventually panned out into the original, Twilight of my Redemption.

Mandy: First crossover you’ve ever read? :D

Lisa: I don’t even remember. It was a couple of years ago.

Mandy: How do you deal with writer’s block?

Lisa: I try not to believe in writer's block. It really is writer's indecision. Not being able to decide on a word, on a plot...on something. I find to work through something like that, I have to subdue my inner self-critic until I get to the rewrite stage and just write...even if it's junky word vomit and remember it can be cleaned up and made "pretty" later.

Mandy: Do you write scenes that come into your mind that can be used later in another chapter or do
you firmly believe in writing only one chapter, one scene at a time?

Lisa: I have a tendency to jump all over the place...sometimes but most of the time I do write in 
consecutive order. Most of the time I write in layers. Lay out the dialogue with some narrative and go over it again and again adding more and more layers until I am somewhat satisfied with the result...I 
am never fully satisfied.

Mandy: I believe there's always room for improvement--thus why I never really love all of my 

chapters. :)

Lisa: I am the same way. I'll go back in a couple months later and visibly cringe at times.

Mandy: Is there a different reason you picked on Klaus’ self-structure nature other than his villain
role in the show?

Lisa: I don't think it was a conscious effort. It sort of just "happened" that way.

Mandy: That answer sort of correlates with my next question... I particularly enjoyed how Bella and
the Cullens settled into the lives of the Salvatores. Did you plan that for when Damon goes to visit
them to take a break from Elena at the end, or was that not thought out until the end?

Lisa: A lot of what happened at the end was completely by the seat of my pants. I wanted Elena and 
Damon to get together but it didn't feel natural and I decided (or rather Damon decided) that leaving 
at that moment would be for the best. It also set me up for the sequel. Same as Klaus turning human. I NEVER intended that. I was going to kill him off. He obviously had other ideas.

Mandy: Those moments when they're pulling at your ideas to modify them in their own natural way, yes?

Lisa: Yes! If I really get inside the characters' heads, they develop their own "voice" and I am just the marionette who types it all out for them.

Mandy: Best writing comes from that. :)  While I was reading through all the medical terminology about Bella’s hallucinations, it made me curious. I know you mentioned that you don’t have a medical degree (mass communication, right?), so how much research and on what exact subject was it conducted on? From my knowledge of the mind, it was focused on the hippocampus, which is where the dreams are stored, thus Bella’s previous life coming back to her that way. But what exactly was Carlisle seeing? That part confused me.

Lisa: I did a lot of research for that. But I always do. Carlisle was seeing a rather enlarged hippocampus that seemed to have a "split" like a shield in it, showing where the past life memories were stored. The spell that Bonnie did (which was an actual Wiccan spell) was supposed to dissolve the shield and let the past life memories through. And the neurons that were firing off were going "shooting" from one side of the shield to the other conscious part of the hippocampus thus giving her epileptic type seizures.

Mandy: I'm still reeling in from the shield info, lol. There was a moment when they all believed that if Bella got her past life memories, she wouldn't be able to hold both. How did you come up with a solution to that/made it possible?

Lisa: It was the spell...after all everything can be solved by magic, can't it? Also, she was the integral part of the Swan Prophecy. The shield had to be dissolved by the spell in order to make it work and of course the enlarged hippocampus made it possible as well to hold onto all the memories.

Mandy: I love all the foreshadowing before the ending. That's what kept me at the edge of my seat as I read through all the chapters.

Lisa: Thank you. I love foreshadowing. It's a very useful tool.

Mandy: I agree; the moment at the end where I went, "I KNEW IT!" and then sat back realizing the
story was so very well written to provide hints to connect.

Mandy: Was it difficult writing Damon?

Lisa: Writing Damon was the easiest for me to do. I have a tendency to be very snarky so he was the most fun to write. That probably comes across too.

Mandy: Which opens up the way for my next question. :P Damon was in character with his sarcastic comments and being nosy, but there were bits and pieces different from the book/show. Is there anything in particular you added to his personality intentionally in addition to letting him mature from his persona at the beginning of the story to the end?

Lisa: I would have to say his back-story. I did change it, making the riff between him and Stefan about how their sister died and Katherine's part in it, rather than about their love for Katherine. I wanted to give a softer side to Damon that stemmed from the relationship he had with his sister.

Mandy: The water fight the two had in the Boarding houses kitchen was very touching to see, too. In your opinion, how does Edward and Bella’s relationship differ from the beginning and the end?

Lisa: In the beginning Edward more or less dictated without listening and couldn't really help himself. He was terrified of losing Bella. It was his sense of self preservation and love that caused him to act like that. Bella was just too afraid to "rock the boat" out of fear he might leave again to really stick up for what she wanted. I think while those tendencies were not "cured" by the end of the story, they were certainly addressed. Bella became stronger, mentally and Edward came to realize that wrapping her up in cotton-wool would only serve to push her away eventually. So they compromised as any strong couple does.

Mandy: Is that the reason he agreed for the physical relationship, too? The love scene; did you have it planned out in your head or did the moment in writing just happened and you wrote it out?

Lisa: I had that planned. I wanted to show more than just a verbal dialogue of the alteration in their relationship. Where better to do that than in the bedroom? Especially when one looks at not only Edward's fear of hurting Bella but his own "Edwardian" views on intimacy and sex.

Mandy: It definitely got the maturing of their relationship to a different point in more than just subtle hints. :)

Lisa: That’s what I was going for.

Mandy: I was surprised to find the beginning from Stefan’s point of view—him writing in his diary. Very emotional and straight forward beginning rather than easing the readers into the situation of the brothers having a sister. Is there a certain reason why you started with him? Perhaps to get the pain of a brother losing a sister and the guilt that followed?

Lisa: That way seemed to be the most natural to me. They were also the very first words that came into mind as I started to think less of the what if and more on the actual story. That scene played out like a movie in my head before I wrote it. I also like throwing readers into the middle of things right off the bat.

Lisa: It was also Stefan that felt he had the most to be redeemed for. I meant had done the most that needed redemption. ;)

Mandy: The first half of the story starts out by telling emotions, while the chapters that come after that SHOW emotions. What caused the difference in writing?

Lisa: Natural evolution of writing style, I guess. It wasn't something I was conscious of.

Mandy: Even though Bella remains a bit of a martyr—willing to die in turn for a loved one—she becomes this different, fierce girl that knows what she wants. How did you manage to keep her in character all the while composing her to become the Isabella Salvatore that lived in your mind?

Lisa: Good question. I had hoped I was keeping her in character but I wanted her to break out of it too. She became not just the Bella Swan of Twilight but also had a whole other history of living in a different time with completely different experiences. Her two back stories had to merge together to create the new Bella seamlessly. I also suppose one must have to be a little fierce if Damon's your older brother and you had a jerk of a past life father.

Mandy: Was it an issue to mash her two personalities together? They were similar, yes, but to have Bella Swan fit into her brothers' lives and develop from there... did it happen naturally or did you
have to work on certain scenes to get that across to the readers?

Lisa: It took some work and I think that's where a lot of the flashbacks were helpful. They assisted in giving the readers an insight into what the relationships were like before. Also putting in scenes like the water fight scene you mentioned earlier. Although, I have to say one of my favorite chapters about the brother/sister relationship was the one where it showed Damon's letters to Bella while he was a soldier.

Mandy: Sad ones. :( Poor Beau (I think that’s how his name is spelled…). That chapter had very powerful writing in it.

Mandy: Last serious question before I ask just a few which were sent in by some readers. :)
 
Lisa: Sure. :)

Mandy: The ending of the ritual was surprising. How come Damon went straight for Elena while Stefan went to Bella? The entire story pushed Damon and Bella’s relationship being stronger than hers and Stefan’s…even after it grew. Yet in the end… Was it because Stefan knew Damon was going to Elena, or did he feel that Elena would choose Damon in the end.

Lisa: Stefan needed to go to Bella and Damon recognized that. Stefan needed his redemption and that scene was his. Full circle.

Mandy: Actually, one last serious question; a simple one. How did you come up with the idea for Sabbat Ostara?

Lisa: Sabbat Ostara is actually a Wiccan Sabbat, which happens in the Spring, signifying New Life.

Mandy: Some questions from the readers... Moral behind the story? What message did you want the readers to walk away with?

Lisa: That's a tough one. I would have to say that with love, there can be redemption.

Mandy: Fanfiction pet peeves?

Lisa: That's a long list but I'll give the Reader's Digest version; an overabundance of misspelled words, bad grammar and "skeletal" writing, lack of research, Mary Sue OC's, to name a few. This was actually quite a big post on one of the Fanfiction forums I'm in.

Mandy: Last question. Any crossover Twi/TVD you're reading and loving, and want to recommend for the rest of us?

Lisa: There is one and it's by another nominee called "Fix You". I forgot who was writing it but she/he writes the combination of the two worlds very well.

Mandy: Ahh yes, AllyDLV. I'm interviewing her tomorrow about her two stories. Thank you so much for your time, Lisa! I really, really appreciate it. :)

Lisa: No problem! I enjoyed it. Have a very Happy New Year!

Mandy: Same to you. :)