#csrt spotlights

[captainswanbigbang]

CSRT Author Spotlight: mayquita

Today’s Captain Swan Rewrite-a-Thon spotlight features @mayquita!

How long have you been writing for the OUAT fandom? Did you write anything else (original or fan fiction) before joining the OUAT fandom? Are you writing anything non-OUAT now that the show is over? 

Four and a half years I believe.

What sort of fic do you like to write? What sort of fic do you like to read?

I prefer to write AUs, but I have no preference for any particular trope. I read almost everything related to CS.

What kind of rewrite will you be doing?

Rewriting the beginning of an abandoned story and then finishing it.

Tell us about your Rewrite-a-Thon story! What's it about, and why did you decide to rewrite it?

Damn You for Making Me Love You may be the typical story that includes several tropes —best friends to lovers, mutual pining, set-ups, coworkers, bartender / musician — but I wanted to give it an extra little twist, that's why I  also included both Elsa and Liam POVs. Elsa, Emma's best friend and Liam, Killian's brother and boss work as a team with a clear goal, to get Emma and Killian to take the next step in their relationship and confess their love for each other. I found it quite interesting to write Emma and Killian relationship from other people's point of view. I decided to rewrite it because it's one of the many stories that I started, that I have completely planned but that somehow I was stuck without being able to finish it. Why did I choose this story? Because I like the concept, I like the plot and I think there is enough room to improve it. I want to add more depth to the characters since in the original idea the story begins with them being best friends (and in love with each other in secret) for three years. I want to show how they fell in love with each other and the reasons for their reluctance to confess their feelings.

What are you most excited about when it comes to rewriting your story?

Basically being able to finish it and not only rewrite the chapters that I had already posted but also get to put into words all the ideas that I already had planned in my mind.

Check out @mayquita on Tumblr, AO3, and FF.Net!

[captainswanbigbang]

CSRT Author Spotlight: let-it-raines

Today’s Captain Swan Rewrite-a-Thon spotlight features @let-it-raines!

How long have you been writing for the OUAT fandom? Did you write anything else (original or fan fiction) before joining the OUAT fandom? Are you writing anything non-OUAT now that the show is over? 

A little over a year for OUAT so a bit of a late bloomer there! I didn't write anything else before. I'm considering trying my hand at an original story, but that hasn't actually happened yet. Maybe one day I'll get around to it!

What sort of fic do you like to write? What sort of fic do you like to read?

I'm a Modern AU girl myself. That's pretty much my thing for writing, though I occasionally dabble into other things. It's pretty much the same for reading, but I do read historical fics, canon divergence, etc. 

What kind of rewrite will you be doing?

Taking a story's premise but going in another direction with it ("canon divergence")

Tell us about your Rewrite-a-Thon story! What's it about, and why did you decide to rewrite it?

Second in Command is my overly long fic baby. It's, well, it's about Killian being the second son of the King of England and having been mistreated by his family his entire life because he wasn't the "all important heir to the throne." Killian, on one of his many walks around the city to destress, stumbled into a pub one night where he meets a woman - Emma - and they begin dating and stay secretly dating for five years before it all blows up and Killian's family finds out. The story is what happens after that and how the two of them deal with the public fallout and the fallout with Killian's family. I love this story a lot, both because of the way I wrote it and also because it was my first really big writing undertaking, but with that, also comes the fact that it was my first big writing project and has a lot of flaws. My writing has improved a lot since then, mostly with my ability to plot and keep track of things, and I think it will be interesting to maybe write a lot of my original plot ideas that I didn't do the first time around because I wasn't sure how I would do them because I didn't have faith in my writing. 

What are you most excited about when it comes to rewriting your story?

Getting to work with something that exists and twisting it around to make something entirely new! 

Check out @let-it-raines on Tumblr and AO3!

[captainswanbigbang]

CSRT Author Spotlight: winterbythesea

Today’s Captain Swan Rewrite-a-Thon spotlight features @winterbythesea!

How long have you been writing for the OUAT fandom? Did you write anything else (original or fan fiction) before joining the OUAT fandom? Are you writing anything non-OUAT now that the show is over? 

About 5 years! I wrote Star Wars fic before that, and original stuff. And that's still pretty much how it is now, I still write a bit of SW occasionally and I'm working on original stuff as well.

What sort of fic do you like to write? What sort of fic do you like to read?

My favourite thing to write is characters bantering, working together, understanding each other. I like stories with a bit of action, a bit of pining, and fun, with a balance between making you laugh and making you cry. I think my interests are pretty similar for reading and writing, overall, but I probably write more crack than I read, and read more smut than I write.

What kind of rewrite will you be doing?

Taking a story's premise but going in another direction with it ("canon divergence")

Tell us about your Rewrite-a-Thon story! What's it about, and why did you decide to rewrite it?

It's about Killian ending up in Hades aka the underworld, and Emma going after him to bring him back. That was the basic idea. I started writing it before the show ever went there, so when the show did go there, I sort of lost steam. It felt pointless, and CS on the show had developed as a couple in ways that made me feel like my take on it all was just off. I can't finish it as is, so I feel like this event is pretty much perfect for it. The plan now is to rewrite it with a completely different beginning, basically an alternative take on the Dark Swan arc, and then go from there. I feel like I've improved as a writer since I started it as well, so hopefully I'll do the idea justice this time around.

What are you most excited about when it comes to rewriting your story?

Actually getting to the Hades part! I just about sent Killian down there, but I never got around to writing the rest of it. So I'm excited to actually get to the bit I originally started the story for!

Check out @winterbythesea on Tumblr and AO3!

[captainswanbigbang]

CSRT Author Spotlight: katealexandra26

Today’s Captain Swan Rewrite-a-Thon spotlight features @katealexandra26!

How long have you been writing for the OUAT fandom? Did you write anything else (original or fan fiction) before joining the OUAT fandom? Are you writing anything non-OUAT now that the show is over? 

Since 2016. Before OUAT, I wrote a Harry Potter fanfic. I haven't written anything in since I've abandoned my OUAT fics.

What sort of fic do you like to write? What sort of fic do you like to read?

I like modern AUs and canon divergent stories.

What kind of rewrite will you be doing?

Rewriting the beginning of an abandoned story and then finishing it.

Tell us about your Rewrite-a-Thon story! What's it about, and why did you decide to rewrite it?

I just miss writing and I'd like to finish at least one of my abandoned fics. I'm hoping finishing this story will have me in the right mood to work on some other stories that I don't think are good candidates for this rewrite-a-thon but I'd like to see through if possible.

What are you most excited about when it comes to rewriting your story?

I'm looking forward to seeing it completed. Most of my stories are abandoned and unfinished due to me kind of checking out of the fandom in Season 7 and for other more personal reasons.

Check out @katealexandra26 on Tumblr, AO3, and FF.net!

[captainswanbigbang]

CSRT Author Spotlight: phiralovesloki

Today’s Captain Swan Rewrite-a-Thon spotlight features @phiralovesloki!

How long have you been writing for the OUAT fandom? Did you write anything else (original or fan fiction) before joining the OUAT fandom? Are you writing anything non-OUAT now that the show is over?

I've been writing for the fandom since late summer 2014, soon after I binge-watched the first three seasons and got mildly obsessed with Captain Swan. Before that, I had spent years, off and on, writing for the Legend of Zelda fandom. I'm still working on Captain Swan fan fiction, but that's all I write, no original fiction or anything like that!

What sort of fic do you like to write? What sort of fic do you like to read?

I like to mess with tropes and expectations when I write, and I also like to take my "what if?" scenarios about canon and really overthink them. I like a lot of different kinds of fic, mainly canon divergence (especially S3) and modern AUs with fun twists/premises.

What kind of rewrite will you be doing?

Rewriting an older story from scratch and fixing problems it originally had.

Tell us about your Rewrite-a-Thon story! What's it about, and why did you decide to rewrite it?

It's With Affection, probably one of the stories I'm most well-known for. It's a modern AU about Killian leaving secret admirer notes for his neighbor, Emma. I decided to rewrite it because there was a lot in it that was really messy and lazy, along with some inconsistent characterization that was tough to handwave. I know a lot of people love this story, but there's just a lot about it that really bugs me and I don't reread it because of that.

What are you most excited about when it comes to rewriting your story?

Well, first off, fixing the number one mistake I made the first time around: Emma should be the one who doesn't want to meet in person, not Killian! I also am looking forward to cleaning up the plot a ton, reducing the overwhelming number of characters, and eliminating the info dumps towards the end. I'll admit, I'm a little nervous about the challenge (and very happy that we, the mods, collectively agreed that participants are allowed to drop whenever they want, just in case), but hopefully I can recapture some of the magic and write some even better letters for y'all to read this time around.

Check out @phiralovesloki on Tumblr and AO3!

[captainswanbigbang]

CSRT Author Spotlight: spartanguard

Today’s Captain Swan Rewrite-a-Thon spotlight features @spartanguard!

How long have you been writing for the OUAT fandom? Did you write anything else (original or fan fiction) before joining the OUAT fandom? Are you writing anything non-OUAT now that the show is over? 

OUAT was my first and so far only foray into fanfic; I've been writing for almost 5 years.

What sort of fic do you like to write? What sort of fic do you like to read?

For both: just about anything! Fluff, angst, whump, smut, modern AU, fantasy AU (the combination of both is a special favorite).

What kind of rewrite will you be doing?

Rewriting the beginning of an abandoned story and then finishing it.

Tell us about your Rewrite-a-Thon story! What's it about, and why did you decide to rewrite it?

The original story was my first attempt at both an AU and an MC, though I hadn't done a ton of writing yet so I think I bit off more than I could chew. Once Upon A Time In Panem was/is, as you can probably guess, a Hunger Games AU that puts CS in the roles of Finnick and Johanna rather than Katniss and Peeta (with Aurora & Philip originally in that position). I'm a huge fan of The Hunger Games so it seemed logical at the time to try to put the two stories together, except I was literally just plopping OUAT characters into the plot of HG. I posted 3 chapters (and wrote a few past that, which never got published) before losing steam (due to a number of reasons, partly that I wasn't all that inspired by Aurora & Philip anymore, but mainly because I started writing A Tall Tail) and never coming back to it.

What are you most excited about when it comes to rewriting your story?

Now that I've got more experience with world building and that we have more characters to work with, I'm excited to come at this with a bit of a different POV and a (hopefully) more solid premise: it will be set in the United Realms of Pomem, where magic is a thing of the past--or is it? Alice & Robin will be taking over the roles of the star-crossed lovers, but I'm happy that I'll finally be able to properly and fully explore CS within this story. And it's always fun to match up characters and places from one universe with another; now that there's 3.5 more seasons' worth of those, there are so many more possibilities. (Tiana as Commander Paylor? Yes please!) It's going to get angsty but I'm excited to flesh this out and start this adventure!

Check out @spartanguard on Tumblr, AO3, and FF.net!

[captainswanbigbang]

CSRT Author Spotlight: youre-not-a-cat-youre-a-rat

Today’s Captain Swan Rewrite-a-Thon spotlight features @youre-not-a-cat-youre-a-rat!

How long have you been writing for the OUAT fandom? Did you write anything else (original or fan fiction) before joining the OUAT fandom? Are you writing anything non-OUAT now that the show is over? 

I've been writing Captain Swan fic since after I binged the whole series the summer before s7. Before then I penned a few unfinished fics for Ian and Mickey on Shameless, and Leonard Snart and Sara Lance on Legends of Tomorrow. Unposted works gathering dust in my google docs feature Jim and Pam from The Office, Oliver and Felicity from Arrow, Lisa Snart and Cisco Ramon from The Flash, Lucifer Morningstar and Chloe Decker, and Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago from Brooklyn 99. These days I'm trying to realize my long held dream of writing original fiction, specifically in the romance genre. 

What sort of fic do you like to write? What sort of fic do you like to read?

Ohhh boy! Well I love AUs of any kind, writing or reading. A favorite pastime is watching new movies or TV, or reading books, and daydreaming about how their plots or couple dynamics might fit a completely unrelated pair of favorite characters. I think half the reason I enjoy OUAT is bc it p much is constantly suggesting AUs for itself (oh Deckhand Hook, who was I before you came into my life??).  I think my favorite thing about reading alternate universes, though, is that they often introduce me to a new genre, like sports dramas, reality cooking shows, crime thrillers. A cs fanfiction is what got me into listening to fictional podcast radioplays for example.

What kind of rewrite will you be doing?

Rewriting the beginning of an abandoned story and then finishing it.

Tell us about your Rewrite-a-Thon story! What's it about, and why did you decide to rewrite it?

So this is the very first Captain Swan story I ever wrote. I actually sort of went into watching the series (rewatching the first season and actually watching episodes I'd read about through Entertainment Weekly recaps) with the idea half formed. I always had a different idea than show canon of what Emma might be like if she was raised by Snow and Charming as a princess of the Enchanted Forest. And I loved Emma and Killian's enemies to allies to lovers dynamic, and I wanted to explore that in a different way. So my original story was about Emma, leader of a special order of knights, teaming up with Killian to finally track down the Dark One. It featured Killian as captain of a lonely hearts club crew that included a pining Mulan, and Emma in cool armor and suffering from past romantic failures. It's been so long since I've visited this story, that looking at it again when this event was announced, I started to see potential character motivations and conflicts that I had never considered back when I was writing it. This event got me excited to finally finish an ambitious story idea, and this one is just old enough that I realized I don't feel nervous about making the changes it needs.

What are you most excited about when it comes to rewriting your story?

Making Emma's sordid past a little jucier. Adding more culture clash of pirates at court, and knights on pirate ships. Revisiting friendships I was really invested in, like Killian and Belle and Emma and her knights. Killian's rivalry with Charibdis the Cat....

Check out @youre-not-a-cat-youre-a-rat on Tumblr and AO3!

[captainswanbigbang]

CSRT Author Spotlight: xemmaloveskillianx

Today’s Captain Swan Rewrite-a-Thon spotlight features @xemmaloveskillianx!

How long have you been writing for the OUAT fandom? Did you write anything else (original or fan fiction) before joining the OUAT fandom? Are you writing anything non-OUAT now that the show is over? 

Pshhhhh a couple years now! I used to write for Olicity which is how this fic got started. 

What sort of fic do you like to write? What sort of fic do you like to read?

I like all kinds, but AU’s are my jam! 

What kind of rewrite will you be doing?

Rewriting an older story from scratch and fixing problems it originally had.

Tell us about your Rewrite-a-Thon story! What's it about, and why did you decide to rewrite it?

Never Traditional was my first plunge into CS fanfics. I was just coming out of the Olicity fandom and I wanted to write my two OTP’s together and here it is! I’ve always loved it but felt that it was... less than good. It’s always been a longing of mine to rewrite it and now I have the chance!

What are you most excited about when it comes to rewriting your story?

Having my two OTP’s together again. I adored their friendship and it was really fun to write. 

Check out @xemmaloveskillianx on Tumblr and AO3!