Our third Author of the week is candylovespells who’s story “Watercress Creek” is currently being posted on both CID.

Teresa's current story Watercress Creek can be found here it's prequel Lost in America as well as her story The Singing Stripper can be found at Sugar Rush Archive.

The Author of the Week thread is open so lets give candylovespell a warm Candy .


Val

Hi Teresa. First of all, I've been reading Lost in America since the first part that you posted at CID. That's telling you how long I've been following that story. It's been my comfort fic everytime the fandom pisses me off. I just have to reread it and feel better .

Roswell has been cancelled years ago, do you find it hard to still go on writing Watercress Creek, with no new episodes to fuel your will to write?

Author's Note: My name is cinnamonroll2 over here, but it's actually me - candylovespell!

Thank you, VAL, for setting this up, inviting me and letting me talk about writing!


Hi, xmag,

yes, we both seem to be in it for the long haul! Thanks for staying with it all these years. LiA was my comfort fic, too. I didn't like where the writers took the 3rd series, so I just had to write so that I would know what happened afterwards and make it a little better for me.

Watercress Creek is for much the same reason, but it is now much harder to write in some ways and easier in others. RL is so busy nowadays that I have to sneak the writing in when I can. Also, I lost such a lot of work and ideas when my computer crashed that I found it hard to come back and start again. On the plus side, my interest has recently re-ignited and I've started thinking again about how to make the plot work and what's going to happen next...

However, it's really the feedback from you and the other readers that keeps me writing this. I don't want to leave anyone (including me!) hanging without knowing how it all ends. I hate unfinished stories - I always want to know what happens!

I'm not concerned about having no more episodes of Roswell because it would destroy my personal vision of what happened to them. In my own imagination, these post-grad stories are the way their lives move on in a hopefully 'realistic' way. I'm writing them for me and to eventually give me the closure that I wanted from the show.

Thanks for the question, Magali - it made me think about why I'm still writing this.

Hugs,

Tx

Hi Teresa, to Media Blvd.

I think what sets you apart from most other authors is your attention to details. You really paint a picture for ever scene in you stories.

I admire that as a writer but I've always wondered if that process slows you down? Do you have your whole scene mapped out in your head and work around it?

Hi, Val,

I guess I don't think of it as slowing me down because my writing just takes as long as it takes(although I expect people reading it must get impatient for the plot to move on! Believe me, I do too...). It just fills in time while I wait for the details of the plot to arrive in my mind! I don't have a scene all mapped out and write around it - I just sit in front of the blank screen and type whatever comes into my head. Quite a lot of what appears surprises me. Don't know who I'm channelling but it probably isn't the Roswell scriptwriters!

Seriously, setting the scene is important to me so I can visualize where the characters are and what they are doing physically and how they react to each other and events. That's a big part of the pleasure for me in reading books and stories. I like to get totally immersed in different worlds and that's where I find detail helps.

I'm not an organised writer, I just let the scenes flow, like watching a movie. I know where I want the story to be at the very end, and I usually know where I want it to be at the end of the chapter, but I really don't know what happens next until it appears on the screen. Working out one thing just seems to lead on to the next in a natural flow. I have ideas and make notes, but I can't get ahead of myself. It all has to be a logical progression or it won't work for me.

Maybe it's because I want to prolong the writing process because I enjoy it so much - or maybe I just don't want 'my' Roswell to end too soon...

Anyway, Watercress Creek seems to be about to take a leap (ok, baby step) forward in the plot soon, which will come as a big relief to me, and probably others, too...

Thanks for dropping in, Val. You always rock! Soooo, when will the next part of Monsters be appearing (no pressure, of course ) ?

Hugs,

Tx

Hi Teresa!

It's great to see you over here! I re-read 'The Singing Stripper' the other day and it brought back such good memories of the old RCWW days.

Anyway, I was just wondering what inspires you the most when it comes to writing fanfiction?

Also, I'm curious to know if you've written for any other fandoms and if so, which ones? If not, have there been any occasions when you've been tempted to write for another show/pairing?

Do you love other shows and did you think about writing candy crossovers with those shows?

Hey, Diane,

it's great to hear from you! RCWW seems so long ago, but it was a lot of fun while it lasted.

What inspires me to write fanfic? I guess it's that old control thing - I got emotionally involved with the characters and want the story to end the way I want it to end (mwah,hah,ha..)!

Roswell really was just a fluke for me - I surprised myself by even thinking about writing a continuation of the story. I suppose I'd read the all great early fics on Crashdown and when the series ended I thought - why not have a go?

I haven't written for any other fandom because Roswell takes up all of my writing time at the moment, and also no other series has captured my imagination quite enough to want to, as yet. At one time I might have tried Sliders, but the original 'romance' plot that first attracted me took a major wrong turn and the moment passed.

I guess I'm a one-trick pony where fanfic is concerned. The more I write, the more I find I have other ideas backed up behind Watercress Creek in my mind, just waiting for me to write them out on the page. They are not based on TV characters and I'm looking forward to starting out on one of those after I finish with Roswell (someday!).

Anyway, always good to hear from you. When are you going to write more M&M? I really miss your stuff.

Hugs,

Tx

Hi, Mag,

I don't really have any special favourites when it comes to other shows, so I haven't thought about writng any cross-overs. I admire the creativity of other writers who have the imagination to do that, but it's just not my thing.

I've always tried to avoid AU (with a few special exceptions) as I often feel they are totally unconnected with Roswell, except for borrowing the names. Even when the characters are similar to Roswell, it just doesn't do it for me. I always wonder why the author doesn't just go with their own idea as the completely original creation that it is (although deep down I know it's probably that control thing again... Feel free to tell me I'm wrong!). According to a friend of mine who writes for another fandom, that makes me a 'canon-purist'...

I just need to maintain the delusion of continuity with the original Roswell universe as the scriptwriters played it out, so LiA and Watercress Creek are 'my' extension of the TV series after it ended.

Never say never, though...

Hugs,

Tx

Hi, Teresa!

You know, if you're a "canon-purist," that must make me an AU purist. I swear, I have the most difficult time writing canon. It's so difficult to keep the characters in character, so the fact that you manage to do just that is something to be proud of.

My question for you is: How do you manage to keep the canon characters canon? Does it come naturally for you, or do you really have to focus when it comes to keeping them in character?

-April

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Hi, April,


thanks for coming to visit over here. I came very late to 'Passion' and I'm still catching up, but I must say that it is now one of my guilty AU pleasures and I'm totally hooked...

How I keep the characters canon is a good question! I'm lucky that I still have very clear mental pictures of them from the series, which helps a lot when I'm writing. I don't consciously think about working to keep them in character, but I guess it helps that I've been thinking and writing about them for so long. You keep them in canon character, too, (although more extreme and vivid versions) and make it look easy.

Also, everyone on Roswell has a 'key' characteristic or two that make them individuals and that dictate how they are portrayed, in the show and afterwards. I find I can use these to predict how they might behave and even change under difficult circumstances.

The interest for me is to make them grow and change, but still remain essentially who they always have been on the show. Probably that's the whole basis for my continuing interest in writing about the characters.

Now I come to think about it, I do have a kind of mental 'CV' for each of them that I use as a base to jump off as the story moves on:

Michael's complicated nature. On the one hand he's quite a vulnerable (as Maria instantly perceived) intelligent, private person, but on the other, being insecure, he tried to cover it with a show of hostility, arrogance and defensiveness. I want to try and show how much he's changing through their new circumstances, cautiously taking down his stonewall to let his true self show, at least to his friends. I thought he would find a kind of freedom in being on the run and having to take responsibility for himself and those he loves (he was an army General back in Antar, after all - he should have these qualities built-in). He's been the all-round hot guy on the show for me, so I'm naturally an M&M fan.

Max was a victim in many ways - under unique stresses all his life and lately pressured to acknowledge a previous existence with awesome responsibilities to another planet he wasn't aware of, wasn't prepared for and didn't want. I saw him as someone with his own defences (symbollically hiding behind that tree in his drawing) who had a repressed controlling nature, but without the confidence to take charge effectively. He was quite passive on the show, mostly letting events control him and hesitating to act decisively. He had 'alien king' facets of his character which could be either good or bad but they only emerged under stress. An unwitting pawn in interplanetary politics, he was bemused by events and manipulated by strangers such as Tess and Nasedo who used him for their own ends. Still, he wasn't entirely a 'good guy' (e.g. he never tried very hard to resist Tess and he apparently was happy to let Michael pay his bills when he moved out from the family home). It was this subtle 'dark side' that I wanted to see emerge when he thought it was all over bar the running away to a new life with Liz while still leading the group...

Now Liz, at the end of Roswell, was a meltdown just waiting to happen. Life was just one alien crisis after another for her but she usually handled things well (although always strangely reluctant to risk herself for others - for Michael in the healing stone circle and also when Ava suggested she contact Max to warn him of the dangers in New York). She used that wide-eyed innocent stare ("Oh, Maaaax...") to cover quite a cool, if not actually cold, intellect. She was certainly emotional about Max but also prepared to be quite ruthless in her treatment of family and friends in order to obtain him. Unfortunately, Tess was a master manipulator and had no inhibitions at all. I wanted to know how Liz would react when the emotional pressure-cooker of Roswell was left behind and she had what she thought she wanted...only for things to go wrong yet again.

Maria was the real sweetie on the show (ok, aside from the episode when she was in denial about her feelings for Michael after she'd slept with him to celebrate her record contract). Intelligent, resourceful and brave as well as having a great sense of humour (which Liz sadly lacked), despite her insecurities she was always loyal to the group even when they'd all treated her badly in some way or another. No one on the show ever appreciated her as much as she deserved. I'm trying to redress the balance.

Isobel is as complicated and as scared as her alien 'brothers', but much more desperate to lead a 'normal' human life. She was braver than them, choosing to show a confident 'public' face to the world and for a while apparently taking quite a high profile in Roswell life (the Christmas Nazi, helping to organise the town's carol concert). She made some desperate, risky decisions, but in part that was sparked by Max's controlling behaviour in blackmailing her into staying in Roswell when college would have been her escape to freedom. Like her, I'm not sure what the future holds for her at present, but I hope she's on the road to freedom, too.

Kyle? Well, he's just sooo cool...


Oops, better stop now before anyone still reading faints from exhaustion. Maybe I'm more obsessed than I thought I was... Scary thought.

April, I bet you're sorry you asked the question, aren't you? Thanks for giving me the opportunity to ramble on like this. It gave me a chance to think about how and why I write, which I don't usually do...

I'll pop over now to read another chapter of Passion - always a good idea. I hope you're busy writng more...

Hugs,

Tx

Now that my turn as 'author of the week' is coming to the end, I want to say a huge thank you to Val for giving me a chance to talk about writing. It was really kind of you to invite me.

Val, Magali, Diane, Mag and April, it was great that you asked me so many difficult but interesting questions. It really made me stop and think about how and why I'm still writing about the Roswell characters after all this time. It's also given me fresh inspiration to carry on regardless...

Love and hugs,

Tx

The RCWW was so much fun and I still really miss it. I definitely think the input I received from the girls helped improve my writing.

Aww, thank you, Teresa. I've got a few more M&M fics on the boil and hopefully there'll be something new posted soon.

Hi, again, Diane,


just curious to know what other fandoms you are writing for now?


Hugs,

Teresa


PS, sorry about the mental blip! I knew it was you, but my brain and hands don't always make the connection...

Hey, Teresa,

The main fandom I write for now is One Tree Hill - please don't judge me. The only reason I've stuck with that show for six season is because of Nathan/Haley and the amazing chemistry between the two actors who play them. The other fandoms I've written a little for have been Buffy and Veronica Mars but my NH and Candy stories have always come first.

*hugs*

I just wanted to thank Teresa again for participating in the Author of the Week series. This thread will remain open so people can continue to chat about Teresa's stories.

Thank you again Teresa!!


Val