Current music:	"Sour Girl" - Stone Temple Pilots
Entry tags:	ask the author

Ask the Author: fakeplasticsnow

I can bench-press 300, bitch:
The fakeplasticsnow profile

Hullo! I am your hamster of the day, fakeplasticsnow, and you might know me as that chick who does the weird unpopular pairings. I'm no longer active in writing Idol fic, since I'm busy with my new life as a Literature major, but I'll definitely stick around for modding duties and moral support!

I like stuff. I talk a lot. Mandy Moore was my favorite pop princess. I think the hottest guy on Gossip Girl is totally Dan Humphrey's dad. (Hel-loooo DILF.) My first-ever crush was Robert Sean Leonard in Dead Poets Society, and I'm still in love with him seven years later. I have an attention span like this.

No holds barred, no topic too personal or taboo, ask me anything. :D

Helpful links:

• Masterlist of all my Idol fic, with summaries
  
• A comprehensive history of my early adventures in Idol fandom
  
• Meme in which I squee about Idol fandom
  
• My Mediafire account (in case you want to know what kind of music I like! [/pimp])

Sample questions:

• Adam/Anoop? Seriously?
  
• So I herd u liek mudkipz?
  
• Where'd you get your fierce icons? (kawaii_not FTW!)
  
• SERIOUSLY? Adam. With Anoop. I don't understand.
  
• Do you hate Kris or something? Why was he such a dysfunctional motherfucker in your other Kradam fic? (I'm a total Kris stan! I just like to play around with characterizations and occasionally fuck fanon up the ass, that's all.)
  
• NO REALLY. ADAM/ANOOP. WHAAAAT. (There's a theory behind it, I swear...)

fakeplasticsnow's 20 questions with fakeplasticsnow
1. Briefly state your fandom experience.
I'm a summer girl. Find a new fandom, stick around for a couple of months, and when the season fades away, I do, too. This is actually the most invested I've ever been in a fandom, so I think I'll be here for a long time to come, even if that's in a non-writing capacity. :)

I started writing for a bunch of fandoms (it's like a Lameness Checklist: WWE, Tekken, Final Fantasy...) on FanFiction.net when I was 13 and stayed there until 2007, when I finally decided to get my own LJ. So I would say that Heroes was the only other fandom that I was truly fannish in. I'd never gotten into the meta stuff before then.

2. Tell us about your history with writing in general.
I...wrote for the school paper? And blogged a lot? I did NaNoWriMo for two years? That's about it. But I do identify as a writer -- I can't go a single day without writing, be it in a diary, on a blog, or fanfic. That's why I've chosen to major in Literature; I'm taking a kick-the-door-down approach to making a career out of this. Preferably in a magazine or on a TV dramedy, but I'll honestly take whatever comes my way. I can't imagine myself doing anything else.

Being a flight attendant looks like a fun option, though!

3. How would you describe your writing style? What are your strengths and weaknesses?
I approached Idol fic-writing with a philosophy of, "Is it weird? OKAY, I'LL DO IT!" I like taking the most unusual concepts and trying to write them in a way that makes sense to people. Hence, my tendency to have at least one thing in my summaries that will scare people off: Adam/Anoop! Annoying, pretentious, post-modern narrative style! Dysfunctional Kris! First-person POV fic starring Matt as a Bridget Jones/Ugly Betty hybrid! Because even if it might gross someone out, it's different, and I like setting myself apart either by pairing or by concept.

Strengths? I think people like my banter/humor, but that oddly segues into one of my major fic weaknesses: I have the weirdest sense of humor! I laugh at entirely different things from most people, so writing humor fic actually makes me very nervous -- I'm never sure what will work and what will fall flat. For example, I had no idea the line readers would find funniest in Little Boxes was Matt's "I got oral from this dude I met in art class once." I didn't think twice about it when I wrote it, it was just kind of...there? The lines in my own work (and sometimes, in others' fics) that make me laugh out loud are the ones nobody ever notices!

As for my actual writing style? Teenagery, ahaha. Because OMG, Kris was like "ILU" and Adam was like "heartsssss <3" and Allison was like "asfGLkdsjnkRl" and Anoop was like "meh" and Matt was like "idk my bff lilo?" and Danny was like "D:" and Lil was like "..." and Megan was like "!!!" and Sarver was like "?" and Scott was like "0___0" Totally. You know?

I mean, I am a ditzy teenager, so I write what I know. Writers (and people in general) just end up looking lame if they try to be something they're not, like when was 17 and went through a phase where I tried REALLY, REALLY HARD to be Bret Easton Ellis. Sad. So sad.

Plus, I'm less bookish than your average fic writer because my attention span is way too short for me to read that many novels (unless your name is Bret Easton Ellis). I draw my inspiration from TV and film, particularly Judd Apatow, Six Feet Under and Grey's Anatomy. It's why my fics are very dialogue-heavy; that's what I like: simple prose, complex emotions. I would probably write fanfic in script format, given the chance. Aaaand actually, I spent one summer penning six episodes of an original TV dramedy, strictly following script format. Ahaha.

4. What drew you to start writing AI fanfic?
After 4 years of lurking in Idol fandom (yes, I read Bo/Constantine slash DDDD:), I finally grew a pair and started writing because of two catalysts: 1) the awesomeness of this season, with Kris and Adam and Matt and Anoop and Brad and everybody, 2) ruby_fruit wrote The Weight of the World (is Love), and at the time I didn't know she was going to write a continuation, so I wrote my own shitty sequel. I never showed it to anyone because: shitty (there's a scene where Kris gets Heartfelt Relationship Advice from...Scott), but I eventually started writing my own stuff and posting it.

5. How does American Idol compare with the other fandoms you've been in?
I used to believe 5 comments was a LOT, no lie, so I'm amazed at how supportive and enthusiastic Idol fen are. But I'm glad that I came from small fandoms, because the experience made me more appreciative of whatever feedback I got. I'm never disappointed because I've learned to keep my expectations low.

Idol fandom made me a better writer, too! I learned so much from reading some amazing Idol fic, working with brilliant betas, and getting extremely helpful feedback from readers. I think if you compared my first Idol fic with my more recent ones, you'd see a lot of improvement. I still have a lot to learn, for sure, but I am absolutely grateful that this fandom's helped me so much already.

6. How often do you read other people's Idol fics?
Almost never, sorry! I used to read voraciously mid-season when the fandom was small, but then it exploded with Kradam goodness and it was hard for me to catch up. I'm quite anal-retentive; if I miss one episode of a TV series, I stop watching altogether and maybe wait for the DvD instead. (I have no patience for watching on a laptop screen!) It's not rational, but there you go.

But now that I've opted to focus my attention on aspects of fandom other than writing, I hope to go back and read all the fic that I'd missed, and leave comments on the ones I like. ♥

7. What do you look for in fic that you read?
Good characterization, believability, and subtlety. My all-time favorite fic in this fandom is disarm_d's Adam/Brendon Urie series because it felt so real and it wasn't melodramatic or contrived and it even had bad sex and I don't have the balls to write bad sex (not intentionally, anyway), and just, ♥. It didn't try to romanticize anything, and that's what I loved most about it. All the romance came naturally.

I love how embee123 describes the fic: "You're referring to that long one where the first few times they have sex are all awkward and BAD and impersonal, right? And then by the end, there's practically jizz dripping down your leg?"

Hee. Exactly.

8. What's your favorite of all the Idol fics you've written so far? (Link, please!)
I'm still surprised that people liked Little Boxes as much as they did considering that Adam/Anoop was a pairing nobody even considered. Reviews aside, I do reread this fic from time to time (yeah, I suck) which I tend not to do with most of my stories, so it's my favorite. It's far from perfect, and I sometimes go back to fix minor errors here and there, but it was an honest story with a little humor in it, and I think that's why people responded well to it despite the flaws and the pairing.

To some degree, that fic sort of became a "How well do you trust yeats?" litmus test -- about 85% of the commenters wouldn't have given it a shot had it not been recced with a little "trust me!" note next to it. So thanks, bb, I owe you one! :P

In terms of prose, my favorite would be my Cruel Intentions fic. And I'd debated with myself on whether or not to bring this up, but: It made me a little sad to find out that a bunch of people bypassed that fic on the assumption that it was a "straight rewrite," "down to the letter." You can dislike it because it was OOC or pretentious, or because you hate what I did to the Brad character, or because the Matt/Anoop subplot was underdeveloped -- that's cool with me, I get where you're coming from. But I, despite maybe not being the most confident author around, have enough faith in my own creativity to know that I would never do a straight rewrite.

It was a challenge, because I liked the movie so much that I couldn't bear to excise that many scenes, but I'm actually proud of how I kept the superficial aspects of the scenes but added new twists and motivations: similar pool scene, except that Kris strips naked at the end like a feisty little thing; similar retirement home scene, except that Adam gets to have a meaningful conversation with one of those icky old people; similar ending, but, well. ;) Hee.

Blargh. I suck for defending my own fic, I know, but I'm defending against an assumption rather than a criticism. As the Weird Pairing Girl, I'm obviously okay with people not liking what I write -- I just wish it weren't for that reason.

Originality issues aside, I'm also glad that it got to be my final fic because it's an amalgamation of all the genres I dabbled in while writing for Idol fandom: the Brad/Adam dynamic hits my dysfunction and mindfuckery kink, there's some of the zaniness in the Matt/Adam scenes, and the Kris/Adam central plot is all about my fondness for slow-burn romance. And I still got to sneak in another John Mayer reference in there, haha.

TL;DR OMG: I think it's one of my best fics yet, and I really do like it, warts and all. ♥

(And I'm glad people dug the vanilla sex, at least! YAY.)

9. How did you come up with the idea for that story? Was the writing process easy or difficult?
Hee. Little Boxes actually stemmed from a theory I had about Kradam mid-season. I'd said, "If Kris and Adam were fucking for realz, they wouldn't be so open about it. They'd keep it on the DL, like early Brangelina or something." And then I thought, "Adam and Anoop aren't that outwardly affectionate. HMMMMMM."

The writing process was easy. I had an idea, and then BOOM, 13,000 words. I didn't intend for it to be that long, it just happened.

10. What have you got in the works right now?
LOOOOOL. Nothing.

11. What's the most touching or memorable review you've ever received?
I actually went back to try to pick a favorite, but I just got all heart-clenchy again. You guuuuuys. ♥ Like I'd said before, I appreciate everybody, but for this question's sake, I'll include a few stand-outs.

One that comes to mind without me even checking the pages is eleanor_lavish's comment on Little Boxes:

Okay, I should have been keeping an Anoop-like spreadsheet of my own of all the parts in this fic I laughed out loud, or made stupid flailing motions, or squealed like a ten year old.

I love this. I love your Anoop- so sure of himself, right until things don't fit into his boxes anymore. I love your Adam, who is snarky and sweet and doesn't push, and loves scented candles. I love how much Anoop loves Adam without makeup. I love all of your other Idols too, so much. Alison's text messages, and Kris's... EVERYTHING, and Matt's constant libido. I love your pop culture references, and your easy, brilliant dialogue. I love that Anoop mans the fuck up, and how he can't ever be the guy who breaks Adam's heart. I love that Kris will BREAK HIS FACE if he does. I loved Kris's biceps, though that is neither here nor there.

This was a JOY TO READ. It's a new gold standard in AI fic, and if people shy away because of the pairing, that is just... I am SAD FOR THEM.

Because the idea that the author of Take This Sinking Boat just called my fic a "gold standard" is just, well. It's funny, for one. And AWW and GUH and ASDKJFJBKSKBCL. And even without considering who this comment came from, it's one of the sweetest I've ever gotten. So thank you, bb, you are awesome. ♥

And gypsy_ophelia/gypsy_scribbles made a whole post about Little Boxes that had me blushing down to my toes. It's amazing, coming from someone who kind of hated Anoop!

So you all know what an opinionated bitch I am, yes? That I like nothing better than snarking and ranting and passing judgment based solely on my own bias and opinions? :D

But maybe you also know that the one thing I DO like better is being proven wrong by unexpected awesomeness, and that I am totally honest about it when that happens.

So here is my official call to ALL Adam Lambert fans on my flist who have not read Little Boxes by fakeplasticsnow to do so RIGHT FUCKING NOW. Yes I know that the pairing is Adam/Anoop, why do you think I initially skipped right the fuck over it and am only reading it now, a month after it was posted? JUST TRUST ME, DAMN YOU. I can't stand Anoop, except in THIS story. And Kris stans: Kris's characterization in this fic (even if his part is small) is so perfect and endearing I want to eat him up with a tiny little decorative spoon just so I can properly savor the awesome. But Adam. OMG Adam... without a doubt one of the most complex, layered, beautiful, heartbreakingly authentic characterizations of Adam I've read in fic. If you like good characterization, this is your fic. And it is just so fucking well written: funny and tender and sad and lovely and just so damn GOOD.

So now, all of you go read it, and leave pesty, adoring comments begging her to write more Adam fanfic. Be it Kradam, Adamoop(?), or Adam in a Lil Rounds and fucking Scott the blind guy sandwich ( D: D: D: ) I dont even CARE, I just need more Adam fic from her, stat.

I'm always thrilled to get compliments on my Adam characterization -- people usually don't notice him since I write him a little more subdued than most, and he gets eclipsed by my, er, louder characters, but it takes me just as much effort to write a toned-down, sensitive Adam as it does to write an OTT Matt or a quirky Kris or a mega-bitchy Anoop.

And then there's phaballa's comment on Sick Cycle Carousel, which means a hell of a lot because we put so much work into that story (honestly, there were points during the beta process when I thought, "I can't believe she's doing this for free!"):

I'm not gonna lie, even after reading this fic every day for two weeks or whatever, I still sat here and read it again and it is JUST AS AMAZING if not moreso now that I can see it all put together. You made really good choices with the ridiculous amount of suggestions I gave you, and that's really, I think, the sign of a good writer, that you can let someone else pick over your work and come back to it, make hard decisions about what to keep and what to toss and all that. The structure and the pacing are perfect this way and it just reads so fluidly.

After spending so long in popslash reading fic like, oh, the one where Justin is a cult leader, or the one where Justin is a serial killer, or the one where they're cannibals, the idea of dysfunctional Kris didn't phase me, but I love that you were willing to write something different, that you wanted to think about what other ways Kris might be, and what a Kris who made that first "mistake" would end up looking like.

And I think it's sort of like that movie, Sliding Doors? Like... you've got the real Kris (or how we see him, anyway), and then you've got fictional dysfunctional Kris. And their paths are incredibly different, but in the end they're actually the same Kris, and in my tinhat land, they end up at the same place regardless.

Anyway, you know how much I love this fic, and how amazing I think it is. I know you'll say that's partly because of me, but for me that was just like letting a kid loose in Willy Wonka's factory and asking them how to make it even more awesome. The fic was already amazing, and you let me play in it, and I'm just happy I got to be a part of it.

And now you're writing Matt's Diary, which is really the best part of all :P

I'M NOT CRYING. IT'S JUST BEEN RAINING ON MY FACE.

I was very hand-wringy over my Cruel Intentions fic, but brimtoast and emylina and oatmeal_cookie and lolitaray and jehane18 absolutely turned my mood around. Thank you, girls. ♥

12. Which Idol character can you most identify with?
Anoop! I'm polite, but I can't hide when I'm angry about something. Overthinking is totally one of my worst habits. And my humor almost always goes over most people's heads IRL. I call it The Amber Effect: I make a joke, the room goes dead silent. People stare at me, not even in a "That's not funny" way, but an "Oh, I thought you were serious" kind of way.

I'd actually describe myself as 75% Anoop and 25% Adam. I have multiple Adammy layers of insecurity/passion/optimism, and on the surface I'm like, "OOH RHINESTONES."

But unlike Anoop and Adam, I am quite the idiot. Really really. You know the "I didn't know August had 31 days" line in Matt's Diary? I wrote that in because I was looking at a calendar to assign dates to the entries, and I literally said "I didn't know August had 31 days!" out loud. So, yeah. (I have lost the battle against child-proof bottle caps and door locks on multiple occasions.)

13. Which Idol character is the easiest for you to write?
Anoop, for the above reason. And Matt, because he makes me laugh so hard.

14. Which Idol character is the hardest for you to write?
Adam's the one constant in all my stories, but it's a challenge for me to get the characterization down pat.

It's interesting, because I've gone on record saying that I can ship Adam/anyone because Adam's such a multifaceted, flexible character, but at the same time he's the one character I am most afraid of fucking up. I don't feel the same leeway to stretch Adam's character the way I can with, say, Kris, who I can write as a dysfunctional asshole in one fic and an angelic, virginal headmaster's son in another. Or Matt, who I'm pretty sure is not as big a fan of Tyra Banks IRL as I imagine him to be. (fic!Matt watches her talk show for the Serious Issues!) I think it might be because while a cartoony (within reason!) Kris or Matt can still be funny, a cartoony Adam could very easily become offensive. I've come across enough stereotypical Adam characterizations already, and I don't even read that much fic.

15. Which Idol character do you think you could never write?
As main characters? Gokey and Megan. I have to like characters to be able to write them well outside of supporting roles, otherwise I don't have the patience to closely study their personalities and mannerisms. They usually get the "agreeable non-entity" roles on the rare occasions I include them.

16. Do you have an OTP?
I'm pairing-flexible! I've never really had an OTP in any fandom I've been in, probably because I'd get bored easily.

17. Is there a pairing you wish more people would write?
Matt/Adam!



QED.

And I don't know if there's something about this pairing, or if it just happened to attract brilliant authors by coincidence, but both Adam/Brendon fics I've read (by disarm_d and miss_begonia) are among my favorite Idol fics ever. If it's going to continue being that awesome, then keep 'em coming! I keep saying I'm busy, but I'll drop everything for a good Adam/Brendon fic. And I'm not even into bandom at all!

18. Is there a character you wish more people would feature in their stories?
I firmly believe that Matt Giraud should be a requirement for every Idol fic.

(This is why I am currently a little in love with cjmarlowe. WRITE MOAR GODDAMNIT)

19. What's your biggest pet peeve in Idol fic?
The seme/uke dynamic, i.e. when someone always has to be The Big Manly Top and the other has to be The Weepy, Sensitive Bottom in Kradam fic, not just sexually but also personality-wise. If I can replace "Kris" with some random chick's name and your fic still makes sense? Yeah, not a fan.

I also wish I saw more complex Kris characterizations in fic. There's a lot under that pretty, pretty surface! Homie ain't no Mother Teresa, and he isn't Hester Prynne either. And he's certainly much more than just Generic Pretty Sperm Receptacle. (read: He's not Justin Taylor. OHHHHHHHH.)

And, ahaha, I can't lie: YMM(totally)V, but I'm turned off by post-Idol fics that involve Adam becoming a music mega-star and Kris fading into obscurity, or comfortable-but-not-a-chartbuster-like-OMG-Adam. Or any fic where an author's personal opinion of "Adam is more talented than Kris" bleeds through to the plot. Sorry, I'm just your standard-issue Oversensitive Kris Stan.

20. Share your favorite line/paragraph from an Idol fic you've written.
My favorite scene ever would be the one where Kris attempts to fellate a rainbow popsicle, obviously. (And also unwittingly gives Twizzlers, lollipops, breadsticks and Jamba Juice straws the best damn blowjobs of their non-lives.)

...And I love that I just said that after my "Kris is so much more than that!" declaration. Yay me. He is, he really is, and I do try to delve into those complexities outside of his bit roles in my humor fic. Because in those, I can't not highlight his cocktease-ness.

On a serious note, I'm fond of my Kranoop scenes, like the Bathroom Epiphany in Sick Cycle Carousel:

"I could leave now and pretend I didn't see you," Anoop said, "but something tells me it's not exactly normal to cry in a bathroom stall in the middle of your own debut album launch party. 'It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To' references aside."

In response, Kris unbolted the stall door loudly enough for Anoop to hear. Anoop snuck in and locked the door behind him.

Kris laughed, stubbornly wiping a tear-stained cheek with his fist. "Pathetic, right?"

"Well, you've chosen to hold your breakdown in the handicapped stall, so you may be more badass than I thought."

"I really don't know why I'm crying."

He couldn't tell if Anoop's smile was condescending or sympathetic. "Dude, you know why."

Anoop and Adam were equally blunt people, the only difference being that while Adam simply had no filter, Anoop had a method to his delivery: he was typically polite about every other mundane thing, but when talking about the truths that people didn't want to face head-on, he went straight for the jugular. That tone made his statements impossible to ignore, and it was that tone that made Kris realize that yes, he did know why.

Anoop was kind of magical, really. Kris never thought he'd have life-changing epiphanies on the floor of a bathroom without even one drink in him.