Rider of Rohan

Why do you write Steddie?

Because I like it! Next question! No, I’m joking. I write it because I like their dynamic. The jock and the nerd, the king and the freak, the popstar and the metalhead (You can take Steve loving ABBA out of my cold, dead hands.) Opposites attract with basically them only having the kids in common yet they get along and understand each other. Also, Eddie has been one of the only people on the show to tell Steve that he’s enough, that he’s a good guy and isn’t the person he was in high school any longer. And it helps that they look really good together, which helps with visualization since it’s hard for me not to spend every moment imagining stories about them.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

My favorite to read has to be Omegaverse. I like how it explores gender and satirizes it by pointing out double standards or expectations that are placed upon different genders. Then there’s the packs and mates that appear. I like the closeness, how the society is built to be close instead of isolated like our current one. It’s not strange to find extended family living together or for multiple pups from the family to be put into the care of another omega. I know it varies from universe to universe, but it’s more common to see the world structured around being connected to one another. Some people won’t agree with me and will find it too unrealistic, and that’s fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but reading it has helped me explore my gender.

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

My favorite trope to write is brainwashing. It’s an interesting topic to explore since the human brain is so unreliable. It’ll make things up or erase things. Sometimes, it’ll twist events and remember them wrong like the Mandela Effect. We put so much trust in our memory and perception because those are the way we interface with the world. We believe that our brains are infallible, yet it’s the exact opposite. I think it’s fun to write about how if you just twist a bit of information then your entire outlook and even personality is different.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

It’s a tie actually! My two favorite fics that I re-read constantly are Fresh Whole Milk by Steves_Scoops and Fully Customizable by TheFourthMusketeer57. I know I’m probably biased since they were both written by friends of mine, but they’re still my favorites. I’m very lucky to have such talented friends.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

I don’t think I’ve ever currently written a monster fucking trope where Steve is the monster getting fucked. It always ends up being Eddie. I’ve been kicking ideas around. If I ever did write it, it’d probably unicorn Steve. I’m really obsessed with the NSFW art that OtterNil did. (https://archiveofourown.org/works/77532676/chapters/203047581) The picture lives in my mind rent free at all times.

Are there any memorable Steddie collaborations (art, writing, podfic, etc.) you've done or would like to do?

I’ve only done two collaborations through the Steddie Big Bang with Boybonebird and Goodnight-Mi. Both were such fun to work with, and we’re mutuals on tumblr! It’d be nice to do another collaboration with either. And now I get to work with OtterNil on my big bang fic, The Omega Engine. I feel seriously lucky to have worked with such talented artists in the fandom.

What is your writing process like?

Well, when I get an idea, I first go to a friend and talk to death about the concept. It’s basically my outline phase with the chat serving as my outline and what I plan to do in the fic in question. Like I’ll ask which idea is better or what direction is better then expand from there until I finally feel like I have a good enough picture in my mind, which is when I begin writing. I’ll sometimes even copy and paste sections into Notepad so that I can have the discussion there while I type. Though, that’s because I typically ask about more than one fic at a time, so it keeps all together the notes for the fics more or less. I have several fics open at once. I find it hard to concentrate on just one, so I jump back and forth. It’s probably why I’m so slow to update since even if I do end up writing a thousand words, they’re spread between a few different fics.

What writing tools do you use, if any? For example, do you participate in community writing events like sprints or prompts, or have a favorite writing program aid like Scrivener?

Steddie Bingo has been really good at giving me ideas for stories. I like looking at the sheet and seeing which ones I can combine. I have a load of prompts in my draft files that people have sent me, except I’ve been extremely slow writing the stories that go along with them. WIP Weekend has been helpful in forcing me to write. Though my biggest writing tool is medical tape. I have a trigger finger, which is where the tendon doesn’t glide smoothly though the sheath. Like mine bunches up, so I put tape on my finger to keep it straight while I type.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I can’t write in silence. I need background noise. Typically, I go onto YouTube and put on a horror Let’s Play of a game I’ve already played or a video that I’ve already seen then write while it plays. A few times I’ve used Buffy as my background noise or specifically the sixth season of Charmed and only the sixth season of Charmed. I know having a show on might seem counterintuitive, but I’ve tried writing with silence or just music and I can’t seem to get a flow going as well as if there isn’t some supernatural creature or serial killer tearing it up in the background while I’m trying to type.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

I’d prefer to post on a schedule but preference and reality are two very different things. My ADHD makes it extremely hard to keep a schedule. Truth is, I post whenever I feel like doing the tags since those are what usually make me put off from posting the most.

Which fic are you most proud of?

I feel my big bang fic, The Omega Engine, is my best work yet. While I wouldn’t go as far as to call it my magnum opus, the worldbuilding and lore are pretty damn peak. Maybe I went into a little too much depth with the background stuff, but I don’t care. It was fun to think of how the world worked in the context that I had built, reverse engineering on what I wanted, then brainstorming why that existed and its purpose.

What's a funny or interesting or completely wild research topic you've dug into as a result of writing Steddie?

For my fic, Hectocotylus, I wanted to do “tentacle” porn, but that’s not the right phrase for what an octopus has. They’re actually called “arms” and I wanted to continue to be at least somewhat accurate with my depiction of octopus sex despite all of it being the Fly except underwater, so I did a bunch of research. Found out that the female octopus has her vagina in her head. And thus the decision to make Steve a dolphin was made! I had already researched dolphin sex for a previous scrapped fic, too. It made the fic easier to write overall.

How did you get the idea for Be Kind, Rewind?

My Steddie Bingo Card! Sadako/Samara and me go way back, so when I saw the prompts “VCR” and “Family Video” on the sheet, the Ring just manifested in my mind. Then it just came down to brainstorming how that would tie into what I wanted the fic to be about, which was bimbofication, and went from there.

When writing The Heart of Loch Nora, what was something you didn’t expect?

I guess I didn’t expect the response. Almost everyone I talked to at the time told me not to go with a dead dove, that I wasn’t going to get an artist if I did nor was it going to get much attention since it was such a niche subject. My beta told me to go for it anyway since it was what was inspiring me, so I did. When I posted Loch Nora, I expected maybe five kudos, ten tops, but I loved the concept so much, I couldn’t stop writing it. Then I got such a great artist and so many kudos compared to what I expected! And I met some really great people from it, got some regulars that I enjoy seeing in the kudos and comments.

What inspired The Heart of Loch Nora?

So, when I first said to myself that I was going to write dead doves myself, I made a list of all the types of stories that popped into my head that I eventually wanted to do. It’s called the “Scrambling Steve’s Brain Anthology.” The idea for Loch Nora is written down as “Vampire Eddie takes over Steve's kingdom and turns him into his queen.” Though, honestly, this was probably subconsciously inspired by the Hugh Jackman film, Van Helsing. I think all of my vampire fics can be tied back directly to it in some way or another. It’s legitimately a good movie. No one @ me.

What was your favorite part to write from System Hacked?

It had to be the physical transformation. The body modding is always my favorite part to write as it’s partly horrifying, having your body changed without permission, partly tantalizing since it’s sexual in nature. I know I always go for some of the same mods like huge tits, but I think it’s more the act than the result that I try to vary. Also, this was the second transformation scene I wrote and the first one rooted in sci-fi, so it’s just special to me overall.

How do/did you feel writing A Guide to Family Planning?

Frustration, if I had to give a name to the feeling. Not with the fic. Writing this one actually went smoothly for once. I guess more frustrated with life and society, etc. Horror as a genre has always been a great way to vent those, with sexual body horror being basically my go to when I need to take a stick to something.

What was the most difficult part of writing A Good Girl Actually?

The beginning hypnotism scene was such a pain to write because it was through the walkie talkie. I had meant for it to be longer, more involved, but I gave up and decided to go with what’s in the fic now. Maybe it’s a good thing. I do think the hypnosis scene is a lot cleaner and straight-forward compared to what was originally in my head.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

My favorite scene has to be in The Vanishing Cage where Steve’s memories are edited in the mirror maze, so that he’ll think that he’s always been cared for by Eddie and his brides. It was just such a fun scene to write and really gets into what I love best about brainwashing. Though my favorite line has to be from In The Family Way, which is “Steve had planned to electrocute him in the tub of their suite to make it seem like an accident, only the bastard survived.” Just love the frustration in it, which Debbie must have felt, too. She was just my favorite character in the movie.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I’m attempting to do a Christmas in July currently where I’m hopefully going to post what I meant to post in December but couldn’t because of the medical issues I ran into at that time. Going to post my Steddie Winter Exchange fic and the rest of Undertaking Steve then maybe some other fics that I have lying around but haven’t posted yet. Or at least try to get it all up by the end of the month instead of forcing myself to post once a day. There’s also the bang fic, The Omega Engine, that will come out towards the end of the year in October or November. As I said above, I’m really excited about it!

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?