You know, I still adore When Rome's in Ruins and I kinda want to hear the answers to all the questions for that story. It's an absolute favorite of mine! But feel free to just answer the questions you want if all 10 are too much lol. :)
Not the story I expected to hear about, but one beloved deeply by me, so sure, why not!
2. Which scene was your favorite to write in [title of fic]?
The scene where Derek fights that big troll and barely wins is almost hands down my favorite. It came out basically perfect the first go, ended up being a really clear battle scene, and I had a lot of fun coordinating it in my head.
3. Which part of [title] was hardest to write?
Face value, the ending was tough, I didn’t want to let that story go, I’d spent a really long time with it and not gonna lie, I went through some stuff after finishing it because of finishing it. Mechanically, any of the smut scenes just always suck for me to write.
4. If you could change anything in [title], what would it be?
I’d give the ending a longer time to spool out. I might do that for the original version, when I have more space to tell different POVs through the story. The last couple of chapters deserved better than they got, but I wasn’t ready to delve into the harder politics of their world at the time I was writing it.
5. Did you make an outline for [title]? Did you stick to it?
I did! I actually outline almost everything I write, even if it’s short. In When Rome’s in Ruins’ case, I actually had a long, in-depth outline that went chapter-by-chapter, scene-by-scene, from beginning to end. I should have saved a copy of it, rather than writing over the top of it as I went, because it was quite impressive. I also had two “story bible” documents I wrote up before (and during) writing. The rules and regulations of pit fighting was written out as the first thing i ever did for the story (and I wrote most of it feverishly on my phone while at work in a single day because I was so struck by having to write the story). The bestiary developed along the way as I needed creatures and world information.
As for did I stick to it.... mostly. The main storyline did stay fairly close to the outline, with some allowances for things I learned along the way and I always leave a little wiggle room in my outlines in case i need to add or alter things. It keeps me from feeling trapped by the outline.
6. Which scenes did you cut, and which were added in [title]?
I don’t actually remember cutting anything, but I did add a LOT to the ending section; the last two or three chapters were supposed to be only one chapter, but I found as I got to that point that it would need a lot more. Like I said earlier though, I still don’t think I added enough. C’est la vie
7. Who was your favorite character to write in [title]?
It’s always the dragons lol I had a lot of fun writing Negira. Dragons are always a riot to me.
8. Which came first, the title or the fic?
Depends on what direction you look at it from, but actually I think I’ll count the title, since I knew what I wanted to call it before I started writing it. I think I said something in the notes of the fic about it, but that line “when rome’s in ruins, we are the lions, free of the coliseums” just hit me so hard in the supernatural creature feels.
9. Which idea came to you first in [title]?
Don’t laugh, but my first glimpse into the story world was basically the question “What if dog fighting, but supernatural creatures? What would a world where that was legal (because supernatural creatures were considered monsters) look like? What would a world look like if that was a central form of entertainment and industry?” and in my mind this linked up to a little ficlet I’d jotted down off a picture of Stiles in a white suit; a ficlet where he was a very rich dude who kept a menagerie of supernatural creatures caged. It very, very quickly (within a couple of hours that same day) hit the “so how do they break the entire system to stop this from happening before it gets one or both of them killed” storyline it eventually became.
10. What are some facts readers may not know about [title]?
Tough one, I am not really sure what wasn’t answered in the narrative. I guess I was actually really surprised to find that a lot of folks were afraid I was going to put Negira and Derek into the pit against each other, but the thought literally never occurred to me, since wardens cannot fight their own pieces against one another.
I DO still have plans to turn it into an original, and I’d REALLY like to get a little bit more involved in the other divisions. WRIR was a bit limited having a werewolf as the MC, the original version will have an all-shifter MC, and be allowed to fight in divisions with flight and swimming involved. It was already a big world, but it’s actually much bigger than even that.
