Ask the Author: runedgirl

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Ask the Author: runedgirl
Interviewer:
Interviewee:	runedgirl
Date(s):	February 5, 2010
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):	Supernatural
External Links:	interview and comments are here, Archived version
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runedgirl was interviewed for Supernatural Roundtable.

Some Excerpts

I tend to be fandom monogamous, partly because the rest of life is crazy-busy and partly because I don’t fall for a media text easily or often, but when I do? I fall HARD. Never as hard as I have for Supernatural though, which captured me heart and soul like nothing else ever has. Well, nothing else that’s a tv show anyway! When I’m moved by something, I have to write – and this show moves me. The writing, the acting – the characters – inspire me to want to go deeper, explore further, push the carefully constructed personas and see if they crack.

My first fic was a J2 falling-for-each-other story called Where Sam and Dean Leave Off and We Begin. I was such a newbie when I wrote this story that I thought Kim was a woman, but I was already fascinated by the dynamic between the actors that breathed such life into their characters. My first fic was also a J2 because I wasn’t sure I could go down the Wincest road, which makes me just about fall over laughing at this point, because yeah – every single story I’ve written since then has been Sam/Dean. I became thoroughly fascinated by the brothers’ complicated, conflicted, codependent, fucked up, gorgeously romantic relationship, and had to write it. Again and again.

My favorite of all the Sam/Dean fics I’ve written is Fade To Black, an 18 chapter story written between Season 3 and 4 which ended up having uncanny parallels in canon once the new season started. Dean comes back as a demon here, but I wanted to write this as an epic love story as well as a metaphor for clawing your way back from tragedy and trauma.

I'm rather partial to Ruby in this fic, though she's far from canon Ruby, and I might have a little bit of a thing for demon!Dean too. Now with bonus sequel in progress Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Eyes

I’ve written two Big Bang stories (thanks to those hardworking mods!), The Year Of Letting Go, which strips the ultra competent Dean Winchester of his ability to hear or see and some of his emotional shields with them, and The Ghost Of Somebody At His Side, a Stanford era fic that looks at the boys apart and longing for each other, with my take on Jessica and Cassie along the way. I played with outsider pov quite a bit in both big bang stories, which was a challenge, but also alot of fun. My artists for these and sillie82 were amazing, btw!

I’ve also written two spn_j2_xmas one shots (thanks mods!), both decidedly NC17 but also pretty schmoopy, as I tend to get around the holidays, How Dean Winchester Got Everything He Didn’t Know He Wanted For Christmas wherein Sam gets bossy and there may be cuffs and silk panties involved…. and Some Wishes Are Worth Waiting For which is sweet and romantic and awwwww, boys. Occasionally I manage to write Sam/Dean with more schmoop than sex (hey, hot boys are hot, it’s not my fault!) – my favorites of these are Five Times Dean Winchester Almost Kissed His Brother and (Will You) Remember Me.

Out of all the SPN characters, writing Dean comes very naturally, almost spontaneously. I am genuinely fascinated by the way Dean is written in canon, which is a credit to Kripke's original ideas, the writers' ability to keep the character (mostly) consistent, and Jensen's amazingly nuanced portrayal. I'm fascinated by Dean's contradictions - tough, snarky, hyper masculine on the staunchly defended outside - vulnerable, needy, emotional, feminine-coded on the tender underbelly he only ever shows to Sam. That kind of contradiction I find not only compelling but ridiculously sexy. And the existence of one and only one other person in the world who Dean trusts enough to be a little real with -- well, that's just too romantic for words. Add to that the handy dandy built-in obstacle of the brother thing, and you've got the perfect ingredients to explore angst, longing, need, desire, trust, mistrust, tragedy and ecstacy. No wonder I find the character easy to write!

Also, it helps that I just adore Dean. I love writing him through someone else's eyes, either Sam's or someone who doesn't know him at all, because I just love looking at him too. I'm so in love with the canon character of Dean that even when I turn him into a demon, or take away his eyes and ears, or put him into an AU situation, to me he still has to be Dean -- the characterization is important to me simply because I love who he is, and want to keep him that way.

Umm...I think what I'm saying is that when it comes to Dean Winchester, I am one selfish bitch. LOL. :)