The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive Interview with Melissa Flores

Interviews by Fans
Title:	The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive Interview with Melissa Flores
Interviewer:	The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Interviewee:	Melissa Flores
Date(s):	October 1, 2003
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):	X-Men
External Links:	is here, Archived version
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The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive Interview with Melissa Flores was conducted in 2003.

Other Interviews in the Series

See The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive Interview Series.

Some Excerpts

My first fandom was Star Trek: Voyager. I was still in high school, and my mother had signed us on for AOL (those were the days where they gave you 20 free hours and thought they were giving you a deal). Since I was a big ass Voyager freak, I decided to look around those message boards, and was lucky enough to discover this amazing story being written there. I started posting, and then decided to write my own story. It kinda sucked. I admit that freely. And I didn't know what a beta reader was, and I was so excited to post I ignored any and all typos and grammar mistakes, and posted my little heart out. I ended up with best story at the KTH awards. (yay)

I tell you, thank GOD that the people in the fandom were so damned nice about it. I was able to really learn and hone my writing and discover for myself that I sucked. I mean, geez. I had my first Mary Sue and everything! And I didn't get flamed for it!

Well... you have to pick your battles.

Mind you, I try to write ensemble stories because usually my plots require them. I need certain things to work, and as a result, I tend to bring in so many characters, hoping at the end it'll all come together. Sometimes I get lucky. Other times I have to pull a few rabbits out of my hat.

That said - you do have to pick and choose. Fatal Caress was by and large easier because I would choose different characters to focus on depending on the story. I could 'break it up' so to speak. While Logan and Rogue were always in the forefront, with each different story, other characters would be explored.

Example:

Almost a Woman and Fatal Caress: Logan and Rogue - but we got a hint of Jean and a hint of Charles, establishing the relationships and leading them up to -

A Hazy Shade of Winter - We got only a hint of Bobby, Gambit and Jubilee - but the major characters in this piece were Jean, Rogue, Logan, and Storm. By pushing the supporting characters to the background I was able to provide enough to introduce the arc villain - Augustus, which moved us into-

The Splintering Touch - Because I didn't have everyone in one place, I was able to lock people in groups in order to move the plot along. That way - scene by scene, I could focus on individual characters without having to really extend the plot. For the beginning of the story, I basically took Rogue out of the picture, leaving behind the other X-Men to pick up the pieces. Then I was able to focus in on Storm, Logan and Remy in one group, with Jean, Scott and Charles taking a smaller role, and finally expanding on who Augustus was, which led us to -

Slippery When Wet - when we finally got into the younger X-Men. We're still with our older people, but we've established their characters enough so they can just play their scenes, letting the younger X-Men react accordingly. Charles was placed in a coma, and we let Jean run with the ball, backing up Storm, Augustus, Rogue to a lesser extent, and Logan. But I did make sure everyone had their part, no matter how small, a significant turn that gave some closure to their story.

I have no idea how that helped, but I hope it did. Basically - I let the story dictate who was in and who was out, but if I get an opening, and I see an opportunity, I don't let it go. Storm initially didn't have any real story in the Fatal Caress Series, but her addition as Rogue's best friend brought unexpected heart, especially when I 'killed her off'.

That was long winded... so I'm gonna shut up now.