April is leading the busy life of a full time college student in Nebraska. She is studying to become a high school English teacher. She still finds a little spare time in her hectic schedule for some hobbies including: writing, reading, dancing (on her university's dance team), singing, and wasting time in front of the computer. Check out some of April's favorite shows, movies, music and other interesting tid bits listed below.

Most fics can be found: http://www.april.candyisdandy.yuku.com/

April's Favorites:

TV: Roswell, One Tree Hill, Lost, Buffy, Angel, The O.C., Survivor, Big Brother, So You Think You Can Dance?

Movies: Titanic, Forrest Gump, The Butterfly Effect, Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, and Rocky VI

Music (my obsession!): Plumb, Sneaker Pimps, Yellowcard, Saliva, Nirvana, Travis, Sarah McLachlan, Taking Back Sunday, Three Days Grace, Hoobastank, Weezer, Mogwai, Finch, K's Choice, Blue October, The Lovely Feathers, Dashboard Confessional, Jack's Mannequin, Jimmy Eat World, Breaking Benjamin, etc.

Food: Cheese

Ships: Candy (duh!), Naley, Skate, Spuffy

Began writing fanfic in: Late 2000 (when I was 13!)

Longest fanfics I've written: Loving the Enemy, Death of the Oleander, Crusaders' Night, Beautiful, Stimulation, My Romance, Passion

Shorter fanfics: Absurdity; Accessory; Cemetery Party; Odiamos, Adoramos; Lie Detector; The Outcasts; Here Comes the Rain Again; Going Under; Bring Me to Life; Maria's Rant; Never Any Less; No Rules, No Boundaries, No Limitations; Maria's Rant; Spirit; Why Michael Should Live; Why Maria Should Live

WIP: "521." , a fic that I hope to start posting sometime in January. Key word: hope.

Fics I'm most proud of:
1. PASSION
2. Beautiful
3. My Romance
4. Stimulation
5. Cemetery Party

I recently got really into making music videos/fanfic trailers. Find them here: www.youtube.com/april7739

Let's give April a warm Candy !

Let the questions begin

April, how do you find the time to write so much?

Homeslice! Yay, you just watch how many questions we ask

Where do your ideas come from for your fics?

Is your new fic 521 (which I can't wait to read) going to be just as frustrating, infuriating, hair tearingly unsatisfying as Passion?

I have no idea. I actually calculated that, over the course of one year, I wrote an average of 3.5 pages per day of Passion. I guess I just make time. A lot of other people my age aren't having fun unless they're out partying or getting wasted or being irresponsible. I tend to have a lot more fun when I'm writing. A lot of my friends don't understand that, but I make it a priority because it's something I really enjoy, something that means a lot to me.



I doubt anything will be as frustrating as Passion! I'm not giving too many details away about 521, but I will tell you that I'm intending for it to be a really funny read. (Of course, it will have its fair share of drama, though, too!) It's focus is of course on Michael and Maria, but it's also going to have a strong Kyle/Tess storyline, a Max/Liz storyline, a Maria/Tess friendship storyline, and a bunch of other storylines that I can't even get into or I'll spoil it! I'm really excited to post it. Hopefully I'll be able to start posting in January, but we'll see.



Honestly, homeslice, I'm not sure! It depends on the fic, really. Sometimes, the idea springs from an image: Passion, for example, came about based on this totally random image I had in my head of Michael, Maria, Max, and Kyle standing in a house together. So as crazy as it seems, everything that has happened in that fic has srung from that single image. I wrote a fic called Stimulation which actually developed itself from the title. The word popped into my head, and I came up with an idea to go along with it. My earliest fics, Loving the Enemy and Death of the Oleander, were challenge-response fics, so I can't claim the ideas on those. However, I think those stories are probably the worst ones I've written, not because of the challenge, but because I was so much younger. Over time, my ideas have definitely become more intricate and interwoven.




Keep the questions coming!

-April

Hi, April!

What are some of your favorite Candy fics? Have any of them been particularly inspirational to your writing?

:HUGS:

Christina

Do you write original character stories too? Any interest in writing as a career?

What was it about Roswell and Michael and Maria that makes you want to write about them?

When did you get into Roswell?

Hey, I´m interest how you got into writting something yourself in the first place, what made you write your ideas down? Do you sometimes catch yourself imagine how your story will continue when you´re bored?

Oh, gosh, I have so many favorite Candy fics! "In Darkness, See Forever" by Mnemosyne was the first fic I ever read and still reigns supreme as my favorite. I would have to say that that fic inspired me to write simply because it pulled me into the world of fanfiction. "When I Have Fears" by Shelbecat is another favorite because the plot just seems so simple, but at the same time, it's beautifully written and has a lot of depth to it. And I'm pretty sure every Candy fan worships DocPaul! "The Day We Never Kissed" is one of my favorites (I'm currently re-reading it right now, in fact!) and also the "In the Background" series. Because I'm a gutter-head! We all know this. Actually, "In the Background" really helped me when it came to writing, you know, those kinds of scenes, because I've always found sex/love scenes to be the most difficult. And, let's see what else? "The Truths About Dating and Mating" of course! Another one of my faves because it has such a great balance of humor and drama. I think it really inspired me to write "Passion."



I've tried original character stories, but I always picture Michael and Maria in my head! Well, right now I'm in a Writing of Fiction class and an Intro to Creative Writing class, so I've written some stories with original characters, but something about Candy fanfic just has a hold on me!

I thought about writing as a career until I saw how much money authors make (or rather don't make). Now I've decided to be an English teacher. It's not like I'll be making a whole lot of money doing that, either, though, so I'd love to do some part-time writing and maybe try to get soem works published someday.



You know, I've asked myself this before. Why Michael and Maria and not any other couple on TV? I'm a big fan of Nathan and Haley on OTH and Sawyer and Kate on Lost and Spike and Buffy on BtVS, but I've never been able to write or read fanfic about them. I think I can say in all honesty that Michael and Maria are my absolute favorite couple of all time, and that's why I write fanfic for them. They just have so many possibilities. Their whole relationship's basis is that "sweet and spicy" thing, you know, so they're the perfect couple for romantic fics or tragic fics or adorable fluff fics, but at the same time, they're also the perfect couple for dark fics or sexy smutty fics or . . . you know, the possibilties are just endless. In fact, that's how I think of the entire Roswell fandom, all of the characters. There is just so much to write! I don't even know where to begin!



I was in middle school. I think I was probably eleven or twelve years old. I don't know, I'm not good at math. Anyway, at first, I thought it looked scary () so I watched it when they were showing re-runs over the summer, and I got hooked on it, got my whole family hooked on it, all my friends. And what can I say, the obsession has never waned! (Fun fact: Every speech I've ever given in my life contains some little nod to Roswell, even the speech I gave at my high school graduation.) lol, I've just never been able to get enough of it!



Well, I've always been into writing. In fact, when I was in the 5th grade, I wrote my first novel. (It was about Beanie Babies, lol). Anyway, I remember that I got all distraught when Roswell moved from the WB to UPN, because we don't have cable at my house, and my area's cable provider doesn't offer UPN. (Luckily, I ended up getting a friend to tape each and every episode for me!) Anyway, I got all distraught for awhile there, thinking that I might not be able to ever see Season 3, so I started writing. I figured I would write Roswell if I couldn't watch Roswell. And it just evolved from there!

As for if I imagine how my story will continue when I'm bored . . . yes, I do that ALL THE TIME! In fact, I'm writing the story "521" now, and when I sit in my Shakespeare class, I'm not paying attention to Shakespeare because . . . well, that would never happen. So lately I've been taking out some paper and jotting down scenes that I want to write!

Keep the questions coming!


-April

If you had to write a Roswell fanfic that wasn't candy, (say, you had taken part in the recent author auction and were won by somebody who didn't want a candy fic.) which couple would you write about and which pairing would you least like to write.

What's your favorite candy moment?

Have you written any canon fics? Any ideas in your head for a canon fic that you'd like to see written?

It would be really hard for me to write a non-Candy fic, but if not Candy, I would like to write a Kyle/Tess fic. (521 is going to have a big K/T storyline.) I actually think Alex/Isabel might be harder for me to write than Max/Liz, which is strange, because I actually like Alex/Isabel better. But lately I've written some Dreamer stuff that I have really enjoyed (Passion and 521), so I have to say that I would least like to write something Stargazer because it would probably be hardest for me right now.



Oh god. So many. If I have to choose one . . . probably when he comes to her window in Independence Day. Oh, but maybe the Crashdown makeout in Heatwave. Or maybe the "see me" scene in Departure. I don't know. Too many great moments to choose from!



I've written a few very short canon ficlets. "Here Comes the Rain Again" is an Independence Day ficlet for the Deleted Scenes ficlet challenge. "Going Under," "Bring Me to Life," and "No Rules, No Boundaries, No Limiations" are basically little drabbles that I wrote years and years ago that could be classified as canon, I suppose. I don't even remember what they're about, honestly. I'm just not a very good canon writer, so I don't read or write a lot of canon fics. I do enjoy post-Graduation fics, though, like "Lost in America" which I guess would be canon.

-April

As a candy -how difficult was it to write the Michael/Liz and Max/Maria sex scenes in Passion?

When you're reading the feedback of all the fans who are so frustrated and worked up over the actions of your characters in Passion, are you sitting there laughing evilly and stroking your cat? Because that's how I imagine you do it.

If you had been a writer on the show (if only) what storyline would have liked to write for Michael and Maria?

Actually, it wasn't that difficult, because I knew exactly how the story was going to work out in my head. (Writers always have that luxury.) I knew Michael and Liz would not have a good relationship, and I knew that Maria would just be using Max the whole time. So while some readers were probably worried that Michael was going to fall in love with Liz and tell her he loves her and stuff, I knew that was never going to happen. So the sex scenes actually weren't that hard because I knew they would never amount to anything truly romantic.



Ha ha ha! I don't have a cat! Sometimes I do laugh evilly. Other times I laugh out loud because somebody (usually you or Krista) has said something really funny. Other times, I feel really bad. Example here: People were already asking me back on, like, Part 25 when Michael and Maria were going to kiss. Well, obviously that took awhile, so when I would read those questions I would sort of wince and be like, 'Oh, that person's gonna have to wait.' Honestly, I'm surprised (and thrilled) that people are still reading after all this time. And some people like you have been reading from the very beginning!



Ooh, tough question! Honestly, I would have loved to see a storyline around 2x08 where Rath kisses Maria instead of Liz, because, think how jealous Michael could have gotten, and then we could have had a huge Michael/Rath showdown.

-April

I just wanted to thank April again for taking the time to participate in the Author of the Week program!!

As always this thread will stay open in case people want to discuss April's stories.

Thank you,
Val

Hi April!

Sorry for being so late to the party.

Where do you find you get your best ideas? For example, for me, ideas tend to pop into my head just as I'm about to fall asleep.

I read in one of your answers above that despite shipping other couples on different shows, you're unable to read and/or write fanfic for them and I'm curious as to why you think that might be.

When writing, do you find you're able to write pages at a time or are you a bit of a procrastinator like I tend to be?

By the way, going slightly off topic, but what did you think of the NH scenes we got this week?