Author Of The Month: XDCaramel

  Our author for this month is one of my favorites. I've read all three of her stories, and her one-shot, for Twilight and thoroughly enjoyed them all. From her all-human, touching one-shot Chasing Pavements, to her vampiric, supernatural type story, A Vision Stained With Red, XDCaramel has definitely had a variety of different "flavors" of writing to work with. Having seen her work, I was rather interested in getting to know this particular author, and she happily agreed to answer some interview questions:

Me: So, what exactly inspired you to start writing? 

XDC: When I was a little kid I used to think reading and writing were ugh, bleh,

puh. But then I started reading Harry Potter and fell in love with literature.

So with this new love, I wrote a story about a magical plant when I was eight

years old and showed it to my teacher. She was impressed and told my parents

that I should have it published. I never did try to publish it, I was such a

shy kid, but her insistence and compliments did not go to waste. I've been

writing ever since.

Me: Every time I get a Story Alert for one of your stories, my eyes

immediately flash to your adorable pen name. How did you come up with it?

XDC: I wanted a name that very few other people would have. I've always had an

attraction to cute, sweet things; designing things for ice cream shops and

cupcakes in my graphic design classes, keeping a big stuffed Hershey kiss in

my room, and buying more candy than necessary for Halloween so I could have

plenty of leftovers for me to eat after all the kiddies have come around. So

when I needed to think of a pen name, I wanted it to be sweet. I love caramel

and I think the little "XD" face is such a funny little guy, so add the two

together and voila!

Me: I've read several of your stories, and I've noticed that you come up with

some very original story lines. A Vision Stained With Red, is one example. Are

you one of the fortunate ones that ideas just seem to come to, or did you

really sit down and think these up?

XDC: Shadow of the Day and Chasing Pavements come from songs, while Life ain't been

no Crystal Stair is a line from a poem, so they aren't exactly of my creation.

However, A Vision Stained With Red is something I made up. No, it didn't come

to me easily. I spent quite a while trying to come up with it. I decided to

use "vision" since it's about Bella seeing things, and red can indicate many

gruesome things; violence, anger, death. At first, it was called "Red Vision"

but I didn't like it and changed it to what it is now. As for my upcoming

stories, The Lottery is the name of a book and Sub Rosa is a word I came

across, thought it was cool, and proceeded to come up with a story using it.

Me: What made you choose to write fan fictions for Twilight?

XDC: Several reasons. First and foremost though, is because the characters are so

flexible. To me, Twilight is not so much of a vampire story as it is a love

story. Because of this, there are so many fanfiction stories that have almost

nothing to do with the original storyline of Twilight and zero connection to

vampires, yet are still widely read and loved because they keep that love

element in there (and are truly awesome fics). With this flexibility, I find

myself having so many ideas and so much fun writing the different scenarios.

Of course, I could do this with other books, but the Twilight characters are

fun to mess with.

Me: Be honest, how many times have you read the Twilight saga? Even if just to

brush up on your characters...

XDC: This may shock you, but I've only read the entire series once,

cover-to-cover. I have read certain parts of the books more than once, for my

entertainment and for my stories, but I've never read the entire thing from

book one to book four again after the first time. I know people who read it 20

times and are surprised that I've only done it once. Heh. 

Me: Team Edward or Jacob?

XDC: Team Let's Just Go With What The Author Writes. Seriously, I'm neither. My

stories are Bella/Edward because that's canon. If Stephenie Meyer had Bella

choose Jacob, my stories would probably be Bella/Jacob. If I wrote Harry

Potter stories, they'd be Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione (I never did get the

whole Harry/Hermione thing. I knew it was going to be Ron and Hermione from

book one). 

Me: Which book is your favorite and why?

XDC: Probably Twilight. I had mixed reactions to the other three books, especially

Breaking Dawn. Twilight is the only one I finished and fully liked, unlike the

other ones where I was like, "Well, I enjoyed it, but..." If I had to order

them, I'd say Twilight, Eclipse, New Moon, then Breaking Dawn.

Me: What are your opinions on the Twilight movie?

XDC: It was entertaining. It's a good movie to watch on a rainy day and, well, it

was just good entertainment. If I had to judge it on an Academy Award artistic

level, I'd say it wasn't good, but overall it was entertaining. New Moon looks

a lot better.

Me: What are your favorite books?

XDC: Oh boy, I'd have to say... Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire,

Speak, Looking for Alaska, I am the Messenger, The Book Thief, An Abundance of

Katherines, The Thief Lord, The Dust of 100 Dogs, A Northern Light, The

Outsiders, Stardust, Le Petit Prince (a French book) and many more. I also

used to read a lot of Roald Dahl when I was younger.

Me: Any recommendations for people looking for a good read?

XDC: Depends on what people prefer, but if you haven't read any of the books on my

above list, I recommend you do. If anyone needs the authors to those books,

let me know.

Me: Is it just fan fics, or does your writing expand into original novels and

perhaps poetry? 

XDC: I mostly write fanfiction, but I do have some original work. Mostly short

stories, though. I started writing fanfiction in the first place because I

wanted to know how other people, not my friends who would be biased, reacted

to my writing, so I could improve for when I do plan to publish something. So

I do have other stuff, but I plan to add more. I don't have any poetry though.

I'm pretty bad at poems.

Me: What is the last fan fic you read, who is it by, and what did you think

of it?

XDC: Hmm... I haven't had any time to read new fan fics, so right now I've only

been reading what's already on my alert list. The most recent story on there

that's been updated is Dearly Departed by Iambcullen (or is it lambcullen?).

The fact that it's on my alert list obviously means I enjoyed it, but overall

I think it's an awesome story. Heartbreaking, but very good.

Me: Finally, any words of advice for other fan fic writers?

XDC: Don't wing it. If you come up with an idea, don't just start writing and

posting right away. Plan it out. Make sure you know the beginning, end, and

everything that happens in between. It may seem like a pain, but it's worth it

in the long run. And EDIT your work. Get a beta if you have to. Stories full

of spelling and grammar mistakes just don't look good. Editing is golden. And

most importantly, have fun and try to be as creative as you can.

  Great advice, eh? I don't think I can add to much more to this post (her interview says it all), but if anyone has any further inquiry about this fabulous author or any of her stories, here's the link to her fan fiction profile: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1733283/

  Thanks again, XDCaramel for your time. :) 

My Recommendation For The Week: Blind by Jayeliwood

  Out of the several stories I've read recently, Blind was, by far, one of the best. The author of this particular story, Jayeliwood, received over 6,000 reviews for her amazing work on this fabulous tale of overcoming disability and finding romance. She's the author of fifty-three stories, many of which are one-shots (short stories containing one chapter). Two of these stories are for Doctor Who, the rest are Twilight.
  Blind is a Twilight fan fiction story, and an all-human one at that. Edward Cullen has been blind since birth. He's never known the color of the sky, the shape of a cloud, let alone the color of his own mother's eyes. Over the years, he's learned to deal with his disability by shunning everyone around him. Bitter about his lack of sight, he doesn't even believe himself to be a whole man. But then he meets Bella Swan. Kind and compassionate, Bella is able to look past his impairment and see Edward for the amazing, whole man that he is. Though he's at first reluctant to let her in (at first because he doubts her sincerity and later believes himself unworthy) the two eventually find themselves falling deeper and deeper in love. Then Bella, always accepting that Edward will never be able to see her, learns that he wasn't entirely truthful when he told her there was nothing he could do about his condition. There's a surgery that could potentially restore some, if not all, of his eyesight. Frightened by the riskiness of the surgery, Edward doesn't even consider it. Angry, Bella pushes and pushes him for it, until she finally realizes that she can't make him do something he doesn't want for himself. However, Bella's original insistence makes Edward realize he does want it. Despite the risks, he goes in for the surgery with Bella and his family alongside him. Is the surgery a success? Well, my dear readers, that is for you to find out: Blind by Jayeliwood.
  Earning three Twilight awards for best author, it's no wonder Blind is such an amazing story. Jayeliwood's general use of grammar and vocabulary was nothing short of perfection, and her descriptiveness was impressive. The plot, as a whole, was very well-written and thought out. Her characters were believable and, at some points, very infuriating, as human nature tends to be. There are only two critical remarks I can make. First, in my opinion, I think Edward and Bella's relationship progressed a little fast. That, however, is as debatable as the Twilight itself. My second critique, which, again, is only a matter of opinion, is the sexually explicit scenes, also known as lemons in the fan fic world. I myself don't much care for them, but see them as a relevant part of this story, so I'll let it pass.
  All in all, Blind is 100% percent worth the read.

Here's the link again: Blind by Jayeliwood

FanFiction.Net

  Anyone who likes fan fiction should most definitely know this website. With what I can only guess to be over one million members and even more visitors, it's easily the best site on the web for fan fiction-lovers.
  Not only does this website have a category for almost every book, television show, movie, manga, play, video game, cartoon, and comic, but it also has a new type of category system for cross-over stories, stories that cross two different books, television shows...ect.
  Fanfiction.net has a simple, yet efficient layout that makes it easy to find, read, bookmark, and review stories. It also has an easy way for authors to upload and update their own works onto the site, though improvements can always be made. Each author is known by a pen name; my pen name for this site is always-penombra. Though you sign in with the email address you used to sign up, it is never displayed unless you choose to do so. I must applaud fanfiction.net's privacy settings. They make it very easy to protect your personal information, and very easy to show off your information, if you decide you want to be known.
  I am not claiming fanfiction.net to be perfect, but it is an amazing website and I highly recommend anyone who hasn't seen it, to check it out. Most of the stories and authors I talk about will be from this site, so it might benefit you to click the link for fanfiction.net on the sidebar in order to follow my blog.
  I haven't touched base on many of this site's wonderful qualities, I'll leave that to you readers to find out for yourselves.
  ...One more thing before I go: I'm not limiting myself to this website alone. I am searching elsewhere for fan fiction, and if you have any suggestion, I'd love them. Just leave them in a comment below.
  Bye, now!