Author Spotlight - @solareclipses

Sins of the Piano Man
by @solareclipses

Main Characters: Bella Swan/Edward Cullen
Genre: Romance/Drama 
Rating: M
Summary: A reclusive vampire's swan songs for the victims he regrets draw in a young woman struggling with her father's illness. As fate brings them together, Edward's dark past threatens to tear them apart. AU.

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Author solareclipses (God, her name is long. Four syllables!? Let's just stick with "Solar" from now on) and Twi Network staff member Justine spend way too much time talking about nothing as is. So when it came time to post this month's Author Spotlight, they were all too willing to discuss Solar's fic for the blog.

Well, okay, Justine was willing. Solar just showed up.

Solar:  Will you have to censor my foul "mouth"? 

Justine:  Okay, guidelines.

1. We're supposed to be funny. So try to be as much of a troll as possible, I guess?


2. No fucking swearing, says the boss-lady. TwiNet pimps smut but is a family blog (lolol).


3. I know we'll ignore number two.


4. If you don't reveal something horribly embarrassing, we have to start again.

Solar: Right-o.

Justine: So given your propensity to go against the crowd (Conversations involving "my Edward has to give Bella a hipster flower" come to mind), what led to your involvement in the Twilight fandom?

Solar:  Well, it was actually going against the crowd, haha. Two of my closest friends found Edward's characterization to be "creepy," and I argued that it sounded like your typical paranormal fantasy story. They assured me Twilight was the demise of feminism or some such B.S., so I decided to read it for myself. I found the books to be okay; each had pretty major pros and cons for me, but Breaking Dawn just left me frustrated on multiple levels. I knew about fan fiction, so I wanted to see if anyone had done a better job of Breaking Dawn or continuing the saga. 

I started writing here to practice my technique more. Lovers In Disguise (Solar's first fic) was just a big exercise for me, and mostly without an outline, so I don't like its flaws. I didn't really expect so many to read it.

Justine: Are you kidding? A realistically characterized Aro who isn't the manifestation of evil itself—do you know how hard that is to find in this fandom? I was ALL over that.

Solar:  Lol! Oh, you so should read "Cauchemar Vivant." (By LunarSiren) I can't wait for her to finish, so you'll read. You'll love her Aro. He's amusingly bad. Like...just unhinged.

Justine:  On purpose?

Solar:  Yes.

Justine:  All over that then, too.

When reading many of your works, and specifically "God's Will Be Done," one notices a lot of religious themes and commentary woven throughout. Anyone who knows you well is aware you're not one to shy away from the taboo (Understatement of the year goes to...), but did you specifically set out to approach these topics? Has there been a lot of backlash?

Solar:  I think I try to bring in God/religion to a lot of my writing. Though I'm not religious, religion still affects my life and society at large, and I think too much writing (even published work) ignores it. It's uncomfortable to talk about it sometimes, to consider the possibility that there may or may not be something beyond us, to realistically view how many things good and bad have been done in the name of some deity, that we may only be worm food when we get stuck six feet under. I've read too many things that pretend either that religion doesn't really exist or that there's no confusion over it.

 

As for backlash... I think the only backlash I've gotten is just people being too afraid to read! I joke that I've written the most unpopular one-shot in the fandom, because though "God's Will Be Done" has been up for nearly a year, only 150 people have even looked at it, hahaha.

You will fix my typos, yes? Yes. Yes, you will. 

Justine: All of them but one. Just so you can stare at it.

Solar:  Hahaha, I hate you.

Justine:  So you may have written the most unpopular one-shot, but in terms of your current WIP, you're becoming something of a BNA, hmm? (lulz)

Solar:  (MEGALULZ) 

It hasn't paid a bill yet or gotten me laid by anyone really hot, so I don't care.

Maybe when I "publish" it.

Justine:  For those who don't know, Solar writes "Sins of the Piano Man," which shall be entitled "Mistakes of a Musician" when she publishes.

Solar:  That's hot. 

Justine: So you don't deny it's popularity, it just hasn't changed that much for you?

Solar:  It's more popular than I thought it would be, but I think a pretty big reason for that is that it's longer. I started getting a lot more reviews after chapter fourteen or so, and I think some of that just had to do with its continuing to have updates and getting mentioned over time. And I don't think it really changes anything for me. I went into writing here for the purpose of learning, and I'll leave that way and be happy or at least my usual level of moodiness.

Justine: You exaggerate. You're always very chipper and have a GIF on hand to brighten anyone's day. 

Solar:  http://rknetwork.tumblr.com/post/4200375190 Oh, God, this is so creepy and...adorable?

Justine:  What is it?

Solar:  I think a baby octopus?

Or a booger.

Justine:  I don't want to look at that! I eat those.

Okay, the former. Not the latter.

Solar:  Suuuuure. 

Justine:  You caught me. It's my secret fetish. Write me a fic.

Solar:  One where Edward likes the smell of Bella's snot? Hey, if we can have him all over her period, surely boogers aren't too taboo?

"SO CRUNCHY, BELLA."

 Justine:  "GOLDEN BROWN DELICIOUSNESS."

Solar:  LOL.

Justine: Tradition dictates that I ask you about fandom pet peeves. If I go get a cup of coffee, will that leave you enough time?

Solar:  Just grammar pet peeves, or can I talk about how much I hate the nickname "angel"? It's a passionate, deep hate, mainly because I hate hearing Edward use it all the time, as if Bella no longer has a name. "I love you, angel, you and your chocolate brown orbs of innocence and beauty and angelic angelicness."

I meant to add "baby" at the end of that, because I hate it, too.

Justine:  You forgot to talk about her mahogany waves that glow with the halo that's surely hidden underneath them.

Solar:  I'm sure that was coming up next, just after Edward rips off his other nut.

Basic grammatical errors (its/it's, your/you're, etc.) annoy me, but I can overlook a number of little technical things if plot and characterization are good. (I guess it's worth noting that there's not usually a huge disconnect between all these things, so often poor grammar = poor story, but not always.) An extreme amount of "telling," instead of "showing" will get me to flounce a fic quickly.

Justine:  You're pretty good in your writing about leaning away from most of the clichés the fandom swoons for (I repeat: Solar does things like a hipster), and you manage to crank out a chapter every two weeks or so. We all envy/hate you. Does this come down to your writing process, something particularly inspirational, etc?

Solar:  I was a hipster before the memes came out.

I purposely try to rip out clichés and overused concepts (e.g., Edward will never save Bella from some drunkards in an alley in SotPM). I kind of hate myself when I go back and see where I wrote something very clichéd. It hurts. 

Maybe it helps that I write to music, too, and--like a boss hipster--listen to a lot of OBSCURE STUFF THAT NO ONE'S EVER HEARD OF. I think it influences my writing quite a bit, really, especially the accompanying art I make. 

Justine:  Whiiiiich we'll be linking to, because your art is fantabulous. (Please see below.)

Solar:  Daww.

Justine: Now I have to ask you about SotPM and your reasons behind writing it aside from the creative exercise. It's not just some fluffy work without a theme for you to practice your prose on.

Solar:  Because I'm silly and wanted to prove a point? I didn't originally think I'd write anything else for the fandom after "Lovers in Disguise," but hanging around... I saw a lot of people talking about how they no longer read canon and AU fics, because there wasn't anything else that could be written on the subject--as in, it had all be done, so "shut up about it." I like remix art a lot, and I don't know... Maybe I'm a jerk, but my initial reaction to comments like those are "Well, maybe you're not creative enough to think of something new, but..." Etcetera. 

Then, when writing it, I just don't think I can write much and not take it seriously. I love to write. I did long before I did anything in this fandom. It'd feel wrong to put out something that I didn't put a lot of effort into.

Justine:  So to paraphrase, fandom: you all pissed her off into staying. Please continue to do so, and maybe she'll write a new fic.

Solar:  LOL. I do so many things to prove a point. It's silly, because no one but me realizes this usually. So...it's...pointless? I think.

If it was about reviews, I'd put in a lot more sex. And unrealistic BDSM scenarios.

Justine:  I'm trying to fit BDSM into your story now. But dammit, your having real characterizations is making it difficult.

Solar:  At least some blood play.

Justine:  Snot play first, please.

So, it feels silly to even ask, knowing that I could just link the readers to your fantastic OCD rec list (which I will), but is there anything particularly tickling your fancy? You've mentioned "Cauchemar Vivant." 

Give the people something to read, oh mistress of the AU.

Solar:  Let's go with "Distractions" by windchymes, because it's probably my favorite fic. And also "Getting Warmer." It's a great example of how you don't have to compromise plot or characterization for the sake of sex; you can have it all. I really want "Getting Warmer" to be recognized more. I can't believe how much it's ignored.

Justine:  I've read those. *whine*

Solar:  For you, I don't know what to rec. I went through, like, twelve stories...to no avail.

I'm back to reading books more for a while, to give my brain a break.

Justine:  Hahaha. That says something sad.

Solar:  It was that are starting cutting. The writers, not myself.

*or

star

JESUS

start

I HAVE ONLY HAD TWO DRINKS.

Justine:  I think I'll leave that one in as my mistake of choice.

Now. Down to the final nitty-gritty questions that attempt to make you seem more approachable even though you're a big-ass BNA. Anyone you want to thank, love on, explain that you have an intricate plan to kill them via anthrax in the mail?

Solar: Honestly, I've been so lucky to have the betas/pre-readers I have. I've learned so much by looking at SotPM from their points of view. Aleea is amazingly creative and has helped me flesh out pretty pivotal plot points in SotPM, as early as in the first chapters. Duskwatcher keeps me from looking awkward and helps me keep my eye on the big picture, as much as the details, which I tend to get bogged down by sometimes. GreatChemistry makes me question EVERYTHING I DO, but in this good way that only makes me hate myself a little and makes the story a million times better.

So lots of inappropriate groping goes out to them.

Justine:  Okay, let's wrap this mofo up. Please say something pretty and all-encompassing that makes us like you. In three sentences or less. And use the words "monkey" and "bicycle." 

Solar:  You know I'm doing this now, right?

Justine:  I would think less of you if you didn't.

Solar:  I take my writing seriously, but I don't take the absurdities of the fandom that way, and I wish fewer would. They'd have more fun that way (and I wouldn't have to listen to their whining, which would be a bonus). Any time the fandom makes someone upset or angry, I just wish they'd remember this: http://i.min.us/imtWpw.gif

I cheated, but there you go.

Thank you, Solar, for taking the time to mentally scar us all with images of "snot play." 

If you haven't been traumatized by this interview and would like to read more of Solar's work, check out her FanFiction profile.  She's also a talented artist and maintains a list of canon/AU recs.