Let's see, what's been going on?
1) I outed myself
To those who don't know, I'm not only Frea O'Scanlin, but also Moonlight Pilot. Yes, I wrote Walker's Eleven. It started during the Thanksgiving/Jill arc of Fates, a story idea that wouldn't leave me alone. My reasons for taking up a penname (my brother's from ten years ago) are myriad, but the most important thing about W11 was that I wanted people to read it without "Frea prejudice." I know there's things people expect when they see the Frea name, some of them hopefully good, others not so great (it's going to be long, Frea's not going to put Chuck and Sarah together right away). I know my reputation isn't stellar with some parts of the fandom, too.
My reasons were never to make anybody feel stupid for not "recognizing" me or to taunt the fandom. I simply felt W11 deserved a chance to stand on the power of the writing alone, so I took up the penname. Just because Fates came first doesn't mean that I don't have anything left in me but Fates or that every story I write is going to be like Fates*, but sometimes people have a hard time understanding this about authors, so I chose to keep W11 on a different name. A lot more published and fic authors do this than most people realize.
Perhaps I could have published W11 under my Frea name and things would have been fine. I've no way of knowing that for sure, despite hindsight being, as they say, 20/20. I do know my Frea reputation sometimes took a little bit of a hit, as somehow the rumor got started that I dislike Charah and only write stories keeping Chuck and Sarah apart because I am "too afraid to put them together" or because I am evil and gleefully keeping them apart. There were many times I wanted to be like, "You think so? WALKER'S ELEVEN, BITCHES." Yes, occasionally, I am vain. But I chose to wait until the final Awesome Awards had gone through because I wanted to see how W11 did on its own merits.
And from the Awesome Awards, I'd say it did pretty well. I'd like to say a very belated thank you to everybody who voted for it to win the Chuck, the Sarah, and the Ellie last year. It came in second for the best All-Time Charah story, too, which was a bit of a shock to me, so thank you for that.
2) mxpw won a hat-trick
I'd like to talk about Max for a minute here. I'm pretty sure I make his life hell. I'm even more sure I made his life more hellish this past week when I got into a challenge with a South African to post two chapters in two days. I'm sorry for that, Maximus. And Nervert, too. But anyway, Max took home his third beta editor award, and I'd like to talk a little about how much he deserves it. Not that the other nominees didn't (anybody who ever genuinely betas and assists an author in helping their vision come true deserves an award, in my opinion), but Max has been my beta for almost two years now. Not just my beta: he's looked over stories for so many authors, like Kate and Crumby and quistie64 and Wepdiggy. He's generous and selfless (mostly. Sometimes I wonder if he doesn't do it just so that we'll inundate him with pictures of Yvonne), and he's patient. He doesn't believe in just one step of the beta process, he believes in all of it. From helping an author stuck with writer's block, hours and hours of speculation and spitball, learning to work around an author's foibles. He does it because he wants to see you and your story improve, and not because he has an agenda. Fates wouldn't be 1/10th the story it is without him, and I've learned so much from him. So to hear that he got this award for the third time was my favorite moment of the Awesome Awards, no offense to the others that I'm about to congratulate.
3) Some of my favorite people won Awesomes!!!!
St. Crumbylicious took the Best First Story award! Rogue Spy FTW! And quistie! Sound of Music did exactly what I predicted it would do and made a clean sweep with the Chuck, the Sarah, and the Ellie! All completely well-deserved and amazing. KateMcK's awesome Sarah vs. the Substitute got a Lester (hi, Frank!), and some credit for that one also goes to BDaddyDL, so I'm thrilled. Aerox nabbed himself that awesome New Author trophy. And of course, where would I be without acknowledging the crackiest trend of them all, the birth of the Adorable Psycho? To see Wepdiggy win the All-Time crack award was like a dream come true. Sure, there might be tapdancing penguins and a room full of auditors in that dream, too, but it's still a dream. A sincere, heart-felt congratulations to every single one of you, ya big lugs.
4) Spies and Nerds has started.
I know the first couple of chapters require a bit of a mental adjustment (Ellie Bartowski is our Intersect, not Chuck), but I'm going to do something different and advocate for a story I'm co-writing. Guys, quistie64 is a genius. Like, such a genius that I want to study her brain and figure out how I can be that awesome. So if you're not reading S & N, I think you're missing out on some of the cleverest moments in the fandom, all courtesy of la quistie. We always post "homework" before the next chapter, and the homework this week is for one of my favorite songs in the musical. I'm putting the Youtube video here for your convenience, but if you follow either of us on Twitter, you'll probably see that link float around shortly.
We're posting on Mondays for this story, unless it's a holiday. And yes, we've written ahead, so there's less worry that somebody that won the Verbanski this year is writing on this story. Besides, the q is a harsh taskmistress. She's so bossy. She wants this story to be a Charah story. What's up with that?
5) I did something silly
In my exhaustion this week, I completely deleted Fates off of Archive Of Our Own. But it's all back up, hopefully not too much worse for the wear. AO3 lets you do a lot of things like put a series in order and download Kindle/Epub right from the site. I've also put up That Which is Greater on AO3 as a series. My goal is to put W11 up next as a psued under my name, which is another one of the reasons I outed myself. I like AO3's interface.
6) I posted my outtakes up online
You can read the Google document of bits of Fates and Walker's Eleven that I've cut over the years here. I've enabled commenting on the document, so if you have a question about why I removed a scene or went in a different direction, leave me a comment there, hit me up on Twitter, or send me a PM on ff-net. I'll try to do my best to enlighten you, but I can't promise I'll remember.
There's probably a bunch of other stuff I've forgotten to tell you. We're on the final stretch of What Fates Impose and my last chapter has convinced people that Chuck and Sarah aren't meant to be together, so I have some work ahead of me. I'd better get back to that.
Thanks to listening for my rambles. I hope you have a wonderful day.
Frea
*To be honest: Fates? Not my typical writing anyway.
Nice read, Frea. Thanks for all of this and giving us a look into what you've been up to! (Even if I follow over on twitter)
ReplyDeleteStill.. Like I told ya before, I see why you wrote W11 under a different pen now, even if I didn't before. I can see how if you'd written it under Frea, people would have probably gone "Omg, Sarah's totally gonna leave him after she gets her money!" just because of the stuff that follows when it comes to Fates, Haha. I'm also kind of glad I didn't find W11 until it only had about six or seven chapters left. It really made the wait that much less.. agonizing.
Either way, looking forward to more "Spies and Nerds", along with the stretch run of #Fates (Oh noes, Chuck and Sarah will never be! Mountain man Chuck here we come!)
:D Take care!
Also, if I'd written it under the name of Frea, I would've gotten people accusing me of cheating on Fates. That's another part of it, but not really one I covered.
DeleteAh, yes, Chuck the mountain man. He's already got the beard. What next?
:) Thanks for the kind words about W11!
Walkers 11 is a fantastic story, and using a different name added some mystery to the story. I am a bit embarrassed because I remember going all fanboy on the chapter. The kiss by the elevator was complete awesomesauce.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout out, although all I did was have a plotbunny and work Frank into it. In the dictionary there is an odd picture of a sheep next to Da Bomb all cause of KateMcK. She did some great work.
I get a kick when I hear the golden age of the forum was years ago. Great stuff to be sure but Kate's, yours, Quistie ...act is just as good as that. Congrats to the winners, and to the nominated.
That kiss by the elevator startled everybody involved, Chuck, Sarah, me. Seriously. I'd never attempted a scene like that, and I'd say it was probably a success, judging by the reactions it got.
DeleteI do think we're a little past the golden age (reviewing has declined a bit) and probably started seeing the fall right around the time Wepdiggy began posting his Adorable Psycho series, but there are still some great authors at work, and it's a pleasure to read them, for sure. :)
I'm just in awe of aloof y'alls skills! But like BD, I absolutely love that elevator scene in W11. Plus, it made sense once you told me you were MP - your writing is awesome. :)
DeleteOne of these days, I will make you a Robo Rabbit in Illustrator in honor of Fates... :)
Honestly though, I want to slap myself when I see some of the reviews. Because, really, if you don't like a story for its plot-line, fair play, but if you don't like it because of the off chance that two characters (who if you follow his thought process and her words along, still care for each other) might not get together and as a result you curse the author...
DeleteWell, Professor Farnsworth said it best: "I don't want to live on this planet anymore."
Ze people, Aerox, zey like vut zey like.
Delete:)
But I'm with you on this one. All told, Fates probably works best as something to be devoured all at once. Stretching it out 2+ years was probably the worst thing I could do to it. It causes a lot of angst because I've outright refused to assure people there's a happy ending. And when the obstacles seem insurmountable, morale can be down. I say "seem" because honestly, I might fail everybody, but my hope is that people understand that I do have some idea what I'm doing by this point. A little, at least. Seriously. It's always the darkest just before they turn on the lights.
I could probably write entire essays on what Fates is and isn't (not quite separate novels, not quite one whole story, not quite a real, contained story but rather just a telling of a year in the life of a man who came from a bunker and won the heart of a spy), but then comments get too long. maybe if I get enough interest, I'll write it as an essay post or something.
Lindsay, I really look forward to seeing this roborabbit illustration!!!! That would make my YEAR! :) And I'm thrilled you like that scene. My grandmother did, too. Which...I really don't want to think about. ;)
So there's ANOTHER award winning story to your name.
ReplyDeleteI was never under the impression you were anti-charah, just not as fast getting into it as most, which is a refreshing change.
While I'm here: thanks to all of the members of CI, mainly for keeping me entertained with amazing stories.
Most of my "I'm anti-Charah" stance is a joke, I promise. I have a few disgruntled reviewers that have started going from passive-aggressive to outright aggressive. It's not even the popular opinion (though I'm a little puzzled by how many people were like, 58 is clearly the end of Charah as we know it!), but it's fun to poke fun at myself for it.
DeleteAnd you're welcome. We're all glad to know you're enjoying them. It's the highest compliment we can be paid. :)
i loved W11 and i love fates but i think it was a good idea for you to post under a different name. you deserved to see honest feedback unprejudiced by whatever else you may have written. thanks for writing under any name, i know i definitely enjoy reading :)
ReplyDeleteThanks!! It worked against me a little because in the beginning chapters, people were raising doubts I'd already worked past in Fates and I was like, "Haven't I already proven that in...oh. Right. New author."
DeleteSo, you know, two sides to every sword. But I'm happy to hear you like both stories!!
Haha, you know it makes sense. You did leave a clue though, (deliberately or subconsciously) you never added the story to your favorites section. A fairly glaring omission given everything else you've got on there. If you had done that I think you would have covered your tracks perfectly ;) Now that you've outed yourself, well... it's just as well.
ReplyDeleteI'd say I never added myself to my favorite authors section on either side, but that would be a lie. Wait, what?
DeleteWell, gosh, you made me blush. Thank you sincerely for all the kind things you said, Frea. They really mean a lot to me.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I appreciate winning another Awesome Award for beta work, and I really do appreciate it so thank you to everybody who voted, but as trite as it might sound, the real satisfaction comes from helping people like you and Crumbles with your writing. Getting to be a part of the Fates writing process has been a great privilege of mine, even if I do joke about it being a burden. Getting to work with you, Frea, has been an even greater privilege. I'm just glad I could help in whatever way that I do help. Fortunately, you are so talented as a writer that I learn as much as I help.
Crumbles told me today that she actually gave some writing advice recently that she learned from me, and that made me feel so proud! That's what makes being a beta so rewarding.
Thank you to everybody and especially you, Frea! You are an awesome friend and I'm lucky to know you!
I am recalling some of those after school specials of my childhood. (Yes there we tv back then kids). It's kind of strange how much a lot of us have learned from Fates and your work.
DeleteThis blog has greatly improved the quality, the quantity, and even the look of my writing.
While I've personally asked you a few questions, most of it has been through just following the blog and the interaction with other authors. So thanks sir.
Oh and BTW I have heard a rumor that if we can find MXPW a signed pick of Yvonne we will get 2 chapters of Fates till its done.
I'm so glad you're out now. Now, I can comment on how, weeks before W11 debuted, you asked if you could borrow aspects of a story idea I was working on at the moment (one that never came to be), and when I saw it pop up in the first little bit of W11, it kind of made me suspect you. Of course, I asked you, and you told me it was you, so it's not as if I really figured it out, but still. You know what, this story seemed much more interesting before I actually started telling it. Heh.
ReplyDeleteWas that Private Burton? Because I still kind of want to see that story. Granted, I'd rather you finish College Years or Breaking Out first, but you gotta go with your heart. :) Thank you, again, for letting me borrow the things I borrowed. Awesome story, too. Perhaps you need to read this:
Deletehttp://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/the-5-essential-story-ingredients
:-P
RE: Moonlight Pilot is none other than Frea.
ReplyDeleteSay Whaaaaaat?? !!!!
Frea, you evil genius!! ;) :) Most deserving of the Overlord title.
I just want to say that I am grateful to have read every one of your stories/sagas.
And as for Fates and Charah's fate in it - I am with you till the very end - because I know/believe/have faith that the payoff for these characters will be epic.
Thanks for the faith in me, genie! :) "Saga" does feel more appropriate to some of the things I write rather than story. So do the words "War and Peace-length envy." ;)
DeleteI actually have a bias toward your work. My coworkers, to my knowledge, don't read you but know about Violet Bartowski and Fates etc...because I inundate them at times. Walker's Eleven was another favorite to read. To find out you penned it was a surprise but all things considered not really I guess. Just reinforces my belief that you are a gifted, entertaining writer.
ReplyDeleteHahaha, oh, your poor coworkers. Hearing about fictional five-year-olds and their Darth Vader related capers. I hope you also bring them joyous things like cookies. Thank you for the compliments. I'm going to copy and paste your entire quote and email it to my mother with the message header: "SEE?" ;)
DeleteI'm only sad that you're Moonlight Pilot because I was looking forward to more Chuck stories that I liked. It seems as if many of the Chuck authors I like have moved on, sometimes leaving their orphaned, unfinished stories behind them.
ReplyDeleteYeah, honestly, it'd be nice if I weren't MP and there would be more stories coming from him, wouldn't it? A lot of Chuck writers have fallen off the grid, but unfortunately that's part of the nature of fanfic as its own entity. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to see some of the people that might come back. And of course, who knows? We might get some fresh blood in the section. Somebody might come along with an epic story to shake it all up a bit, you know?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteOh man, my first reaction to finding out was something akin to: "... you having a laugh?"
ReplyDeleteI held this reaction for roughly five minutes, then I started re-reading W11 to piece together the clues. And I found out that at its core, the writing wasn't completely different, but the subject was so wildly different from your other work, that the connection was damn near impossible to make. Although I had to laugh at the extremely random use of British words and expressions (sometimes not even in the right context :D) throughout the story and your A/Ns. I've heard some people be disappointed with the fact that it was you, but meh, I don't care in the slightest who wrote it. It's a quality story and that's what matters.
Also, a thank you for mentioning me in this post. To be even considered for an award was a mind-boggling experience and to win one just blew my mind wide open.
Anyway, it goes without saying that you've enriched the community with some of the best stories that it has ever seen and now we just add one more story to that already stellar list. Can't wait to see how you end up finishing your stories. It's a joy to read.
I understand your decision to publish W11 under another name. The fact is that great writing is great writing and I am sure if I was a more talented reader it could be worked out because of a writing style, use of language etc. I was always amazed that it was availablle as a download on CI so quickly but that all becomes clear now.
ReplyDeleteI have loved the way you write Sarah in all of your stories particularly in her relationship with Chuck and W11 has definately got some of my favourite Chuck/Sarah interactions. My only disappointment is that with all the stories you have on the go it is incredibly unlikely that we will ever revesit Walkers 11 Chuck and Sarah.
Thanks for all you do particularly the Ebooks side of things. I hope that you may be adding more books in the near future.