Octaves of the Heart Interview with Indie

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Octaves of the Heart Interview with Indie
Interviewer:	Octaves of the Heart
Interviewee:	Indie
Date(s):	early 2000s
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):	Buffyverse
External Links:	online here, Archived version
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Octaves of the Heart Interview with Indie is posted at the Buffy website Octaves.

For others in this series, see Octaves of the Heart Interview Series.

Excerpts

How I started writing...I always thought that fanfic was a hideously goobery thing. I tended to lump fanfic writers in with stalkers and other generally questionable and undesireable people. However, I loved Buffy and used to surf show sites religiously. I read alt.tv.buffy-v-slayer fairly regularly and every now and then by accident someone would post a fic, or a link to a fic. On a lark, I decided to give it a shot and read someone's fanfic. It turned out to be an adult Angel/Doyle piece that was horribly written and generally made my ass twitch, reaffirming every negative stereotype I had about fanfic. Some months later (and I honestly have no idea how or why), I ended up at Fanfiction.Net. The first story I came across was Ducks' The Ties Between Us. Pure Bliss. I was immediately sucked into the fanfic realm. I read almost every B/A piece I could get my hands on, but I will admit that it was my own personal goddess, Laure Alexander, that inspired me to write. TEAOW&S is my hands down, all time favorite fic ever. I worship at the feet of Laure. Up until I decided to write, I was a total lurker. I never posted on any of the boards or lists, I rarely sent feedback. Possession was the first complete fanfic piece I wrote and very nervously, I posted it to the Buffy Beta list. I received exactly one email feedback - from Laure. That was it. I was hooked. Laure was very encouraging and wonderful and even beta'd my first couple of pieces. Her support was absolutely invaluable at that crucial time.

My own work...I would say that 80% of the feedback I have received over the years is from my After Effects piece. A lot of people really seem to love that fic. LOL! I hate it. It has become the bane of my writing existence. The fic is not very well crafted at all. The language and punctuation are deplorable. The characterizations are so far off that it's almost painful for me to read. In terms of plotting, it's pure, mindless fluff. As a rule, I like much darker pieces. The story that I have written that I am most pleased with is probably Domestication. I forced myself to take my time with it and from a mechanical perspective, I think it's probably the strongest piece I have written thus far. It's a much more polished piece than the rest of my fics and it is an AU piece, which I love. I'm one of the most vocal advocates of AU. I know a lot of people are less than excited about it, but I'll pimp AU however I can.