The Doctor Who Fanfic Review Interview: Levendis
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Doctor Who Fanfic Review Interview: Levendis |
| Interviewer: | |
| Interviewee: | Levendis |
| Date(s): | April 24, 2015 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | Doctor Who |
| External Links: | Levendis Part One, Archived version Levendis Part Two, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Doctor Who Fanfic Review Interview: Levendis was posted at The Doctor Who Fanfic Review on April 24, 2015.
See: The Doctor Who Fanfic Review Interview Series.
Some Excerpts
TDWFR: What prompted you to start writing Doctor Who fanfic?
Levendis: I’ve started twice, and both times it was as a reader frustrated that the story I wanted to read wasn’t being told. I wrote “Distances” as a reaction to the divides in fandom between different eras, it was a sort of love letter to the show as a whole. I’d never read a story that was about all of the Doctors, and I wanted one to exist. (That’s also why it remains the only time I’ve gone back and re-written a story; I’m usually fine with being Jossed, but that one I’ll keep updating for as long as I’m around. The original is still available here, if anyone is curious.) The first fic I wrote after my extended hiatus, “The Wilder Shores”, was entirely due to watching season 8, falling in love with the dynamic between the Twelfth Doctor and Clara, assuming there would be vast quantities of dom!Clara fics, failing to find any, and kind of just going ‘FINE I’ll do it MYSELF’.
TDWFR: You’ve written quite a stack of Doctor Who stories which seem to be a mix of your own ideas and also prompts. Which do you find most fun to write?
Levendis: They both have their pros and cons. Prompts are fun because they take a lot of pressure off - you don’t need to worry about whether an idea is too silly or strange, or whether you’ve written it perfectly. On the other hand, and maybe this is just down to how I handle them, prompt fics exist in a fairly limited world. A concept is introduced, the concept is executed, the story is over. While the lack of context can be kind of liberating, it’s also a little unsatisfying. Writing about Event A is fun, but it’s writing B that follows from A and leads into C that really makes me happy. It’s not so much about who came up with the idea, it’s about feeling like I can give the idea space to breathe and evolve.
TDWFR: We see that with some of your stories, you have an authors note letting people know that your story is inspired by another fanfic. We think that is very considerate and we hope that the other writers have taken it as the compliment that it is. What are some things about other writers that you have consciously learned from and incorporated into your writing style and story ideas?
Levendis: It’s a courtesy, yeah, and it’s also a way to say to readers, hey, if you like this story check this other one out too. Spread the love, you know?
The increasing variety in fandom, whether it’s different AUs or characterizations or just sexual positions, is definitely an inspiration. Seeing people change up their authorial voice, too, is something that makes me think ‘well if they can do it, so can I.’ It’s easy to get into a rut, and reading something in an unusual genre or tone, or with different characterizations than what I’m used to, or an interesting detail, can spark off a whole host of ideas I never would have come up with on my own.
Style-wise I try to not use any other fanfic writer’s tricks and stylistic conventions, mostly because I’m so busy ripping off famous published authors. That sounds like a joke and it kind of is, but I do occasionally find myself writing pastiches that are 100% What I Am Reading This Week. It’s a fun exercise, and for me it’s a good way to understand the mechanics of a particular style, how and why it works, and what it is I want to keep from it. For example: “Drawing Dead” is my James Ellroy story. Once I got the 'wow I wish I could write like James Ellroy’ out of my system, what I was left with was an appreciation for snappy, aggressive sentences, a technique to put in my bag of tricks and pull out whenever a story could benefit from it.
TDWFR: I’d like to get your opinion on trigger warnings. For those starting out with their writing, it can be an area of confusion. The big ones are obvious. We sometimes see some writers being asked to put all kinds of trigger warnings on fics that go well beyond the scope of what most people would generally find upsetting. Where do we draw the line with trigger warnings? Obviously one does not want to upset people but we also don’t want to start putting trigger warnings on our work such as 'OTP has minor tiff’ or giving away absolutely everything in the plot. What are some examples of trigger warnings that you think are necessary and which are an optional courtesy to the reader?
Levendis: I don’t mind warning for whatever. No one’s ever asked me to tag something in particular, but I would if they did. I try to cover everything that might be off-putting to someone, whether it’s an actual trigger or just a squick or preference. I can see not wanting to spoil the plot of your story, but it’s not something that’s ever come up for me; it’s easy enough to word a warning without giving everything away. I suppose it might be different for people who write plotty fanfiction with surprise twists, but personally, if my story doesn’t work once you know what will happen, then it doesn’t work full stop.