2, 5, 11, and 14 for "A Man in a Room, Gambling"?
What scene did you first put down?
The Erlich monologue came to me first, because the whole nerdy world of online drug culture (Erowid, Bluelight, TCC at SomethingAwful) has its own language to it that I think is hilarious. I don’t think I’ll miss Erlich from the show very much but I love writing lines for him.
What part was hardest to write?
I had a hard time deciding on a voice for the therapist character, because I’ve written a few characters like that before (both in original stuff and in fic/RP) and I didn’t want to retread too much or pull the focus away from canon. If you’re trying to make a character functional but unobtrusive, you have to pick and choose their background details carefully, and that’s often tricky for me.
What do you like best about this fic?
I liked exploring Richard’s feelings about HooliCon without necessarily having to take a side. The show often shows us the results of Richard’s emotions but keeps the real processes of them hidden—we see him vomiting or making terrible decisions or lying on the floor, but he’s so inarticulate about his feelings that it leaves a lot of blank space. Which is perfect for fic.
Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?
I’m pretty passionate about mental health so I hope that positive portrayals of therapy can make people feel more comfortable about it. There’s also stuff in there about unhealthy relationships with work (and the whole deification of work under capitalism) that I feel pretty strongly about too. Throwing your life and your health and your relationships away for work is horrible and shouldn’t be glorified.