Fanfic Writer Interview
How many works do you have on AO3?
What’s your total AO3 word count?
How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?
What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
Do you respond to comments, why or why not?
almost always. i might have missed one or two here and there where i forgot
What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?
angstiest ending idk. i think i tend to make them all angsty and then have a bit of a good ending but nO i think i know! off the top of my head i think what do i do with this. it’s 13/missy where 13 drunk on ginger goes back to the vault and they talk and kiss and indulge themselves with things they know they cant have, 13 wont admit why she came back here and missy gets mad about never being good enough and it ends like this:
“Thanks for stopping by,” Missy says once the dust has settled and they’re standing in front of the doors. Sobered by anger and mellowed by silence. “See you tomorrow.” She meant derision but the residue of ginger and disappointment left on her tongue make the words taste bittersweet.
The Doctor doesn’t flinch. “I miss you.”
“Let me out then.” It’s a question more than an attack.
The Doctor nods. “Yes, that’s why I will.” She looks apologetic. “Just a bit more patience.”
“That’s one I could teach you.” Missy presses the empty paper bag into the Doctor’s hands. “Take your rubbish with you, I’m not having you get me in trouble.”
The Doctor looks at their hands together and then slowly crumples the bag and puts it in her pocket. She looks up at Missy.
“Thank you.”
“You’re good at that.”
“What?”
“Pretty lies.”
The Doctor bites her lip, considering, thinking. “I’m sorry, then,” she tries.
Missy’s expression hurts a bit too much to be a smile. “There’s another one.”
The Doctor scoffs softly, equally annoyed with herself as with Missy. She looks at the ceiling, in exasperation at first but then she turns pensive. She looks back at Missy, studying her face like she’s committing it to memory. Like she’s committing this moment to memory. Missy lets her, because she’s doing the same. Eventually the Doctor nods to herself and takes a deep breath.
“Last try?” she requests.
“Third time’s the charm,” Missy accedes.
The Doctor nods slowly, eyes still locked with Missy’s. “Can I kiss you?”
Missy bites back a smile. The Doctor doesn’t deserve it. Missy’s hearts are still open on display, throbbing and bleeding. But, “Sure,” she says. “For old times’ sake.”
“For old times’ sake,” the Doctor whispers, and takes Missy’s face in her hands. She kisses her like all the things she can’t say right. Missy will take what she can get.
When they break apart and the Doctor turns to the doors, her eyes linger on Missy. They stay on Missy as she pulls the door open, and Missy feels timelines shuffle around them. The Doctor looking for possibilities, options, other ways. Missy shakes her head and tears spring in the Doctor’s eyes.
“Okay,” she whispers. Acceptance. “Bye then.”
“Bye,” Missy says.
“See ya.”
The doors fall shut with a resounding finality.
Do you write crossovers? If so, what’s the craziest one you’ve written?
i had one idea for a tma/dw crossover with the doctor as avatar of the slaughter and the master as avatar of the stranger. i brainstormed it with @voidgremlin and i think the concept is really cool but i dont really know how to write it. maybe one day.
Have you ever received hate on a fic?
no dont think so. knock on wood
Do you write smut? If so what kind?
does kissing count. i dont think kissing counts. does Weirdly Charged Violence count? i dont think that counts either but kinda feels like it should sometimes you know?
Have you ever had a fic stolen?
no omg who would. why would. no. also knock on wood i guess 😬 im gonna jinx myself
Have you ever had a fic translated?
yeah! one time someone translated one of my fics to russian i think it was
What’s your all time favorite ship?
thoschei probably. is that a cop out because thats like 17 ships in one?
Whats a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?
like all the ones ive started this year. i still have a little bit of hope for 2 of them fingers crossed
What are your writing strengths?
really long really longwinded sentences and really obscure metaphors!! i love them!! sentences that are more about how they sound than what they mean!! metaphors that are 3 analogies stacked on top of each other and no one is really quite sure what i mean to say anymore, least of all me. this shit!!
What he touches cracks her open, turns her inside out, twists apart their lives vertebra by vertebra until marrow shows, shows how it twists and strains around that one focal point, inescapable as a black hole, spiraling higher, coiling tigher into itself, a snake biting its own tail, writhing in torment, its misdirected wrath warping its own body into a wreathe of flesh and sinew, wound around a void, a want, a wound, injury, injustice, suffusing from infected skin a mouth so hungry and confused it cannot identify its prey – this hollow nourishment – as wrong, even as its blood, sour acrid and its own, familiar, turns its crooked tongue vermillion.
thats fucking iambic meter at the end there!! why?? how did that happen?? i dont know!! it just sounds good! it has a nice rhythm it just Happens. just WORDS. lots of words. i love looking up words in etymology dictionaries, it’s a good source of inspiration. and this paragraph in particular was made because i was like ‘the master is spiralling, lets just use words that come from the pie root word that means ‘turn’ or ‘twist’. and i didnt really manage that. the first half is that and the second half gets more into the fleshy connotations. but still i love it. it’s ridiculous
What are your writing weaknesses?
exposition? actually being clear about whats going on? i took show dont tell a bit too much to heart maybe. im always like ‘this is what theyre feeling, whats happening, you get to figure that out on your own’. also cant do plot at all. just snapshots. moments. ambiance. a Vibe. just Feeling thats it
What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?
same as previous. if you know how to do it. if you speak the language and are bilingual like you know how that stuff works? but then again maybe im a hypocrite because i write thoschei speaking gallifreyan all the time. maybe thats different because that language doesnt exist. and also theres a difference between writing a line in another language and implying another language is being spoken i think. idk
What was the first fandom you wrote for?
doctor who literally last year
What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?
the danger the cage will relieve. character study of the master as dhawan!master goes back to visit missy in the vault a couple of times before setting his plan in motion and going to australia. it has like 6 months of meta behind it and i Think it’s canon compliant and i think it’s pretty good. i think it does the character justice which is probably the most important thing to me. i also have fic that doesnt necessarily do the characters justice i think.
and i just think it’s Fascinating to explore a character through making different regenerations of them interact. you dont get that opportunity in nearly any other fandom and it’s so valuable and cool. i play a lot with like, the different perspectives the master and missy have on the same things. at one point he leaves the door open and expects or wants her to leave - hes trying to sabotage himself - but she doesnt and when he comes back hes like:
She’s back by the dresser on the other side of the room when he turns around, holding a jacket like he’s planning on keeping it.
“You can’t borrow that.”
He gives her a smirk that’s radioactive at the edges. “What’s yours is mine, love.” She’s not sure it’d still fit him. Time thickens treacle-like above his head.
“How old are you?” she asks.
“The door is open,” he responds.
She tries and fails not to look. Suddenly he’s close, something in his eyes that makes her feel like he’s walking her backwards off a cliff. His next words are a whisper, a sacred secret, “I left it unlocked.”
Like a bubble popped, the cliff turns out to have been a roaring waterfall. As she falls she sees the eroded rocks of her own defenses. As she lands in frigid depths, the world is silent, and there’s nothing between her and the vast and empty darkness. She is going to drown here.
He’s enjoying the ripples he’s making, wide eyes drinking in her terror as a reflection of his own, buried beneath the contempt and satisfaction warring on his face.
“Why didn’t you leave?” It might be an accusation as easily as a plea.
She lifts her head, meets his eyes, and steps forward. Boot hitting stone with the clang of sword meeting sword.
“Why didn’t you?”
i just love this dynamic of like, the same person in two bodies. im obsessed with the physicality of it all. the embodiment. how they know what theyre thinking because they are the one thinking it. how they can view the same situation differently anyway because of something the master has already experienced that missy hasnt yet.
also i make missy realise whats going to happen and choose to do what she does in s10 anyway, making her choice more powerful imo. choose to be good even if you know it’s a losing game, or if you know it’s temporary.
anyway i love them and i think theyre fascinating and i cant understand why there are only 3 works in the dhawan!master&missy tag on ao3 because theres so much character to explore there!
