#saltgundean

Thank you for the ask, love, and for the well wishes!

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

The way I write, I start with a basic outline in my head of what I want to happen, and then it evolves from there. Sometimes new plot points present themselves and feed into the other plot lines. Sometimes they can take on a life of their own and I have to adjust other things to make them fit, but it never really devolves into an AU. Many times I’ll have moments already written later in the story that I am working towards getting to while doing other things along the way. Very rarely I have had to cut/rework something because it just wasn’t going to work in the current story. It has happened though.

I can give you a few examples:

A. In Ouroboros (AU Sam and Dean), I had a whole sub-plot planned with Henriksen tracking them and a plot-point outcome based on that. And while I was writing, it became apparent that there was no room for it in the story. I could have shoe-horned it in, maybe, but it didn’t need to be there, it didn’t add enough to the story to be worth putting in. 

B. In Like a Fish Out of Water, I STARTED the story with the intention of God taking all his toys and leaving and Sam and Dean finding jobs/careers in the aftermath of that. I never even got around to exploring their jobs except as a footnote. Once I began the story it quickly let me know that this was about Sam and Dean’s relationship and finding their way in a community rather than finding jobs. So I went with it, and I loved how it turned out, even though the original intent barely made it into the story.

C. This is probably the biggest exception. In A Touch of Evil, I had so many plot lines to consider and keep track of trying to make everything work. I started down one road and then another, a few times, and each time I realized they weren’t going to work. I originally wrote Jensen catching Jared in a kill accidentally as opposed to the deliberate meeting under the hospital, and it just didn’t work. I wrote Jensen being caught on camera leaving the hospital with Ben, which led to Danny having some suspicions about Jensen, and that didn’t work at all. In terms of the ending, Jared couldn’t be the one who forced Jensen’s decision. And it was too simple to have Witwer be their fall guy, and he would have had to escape custody somehow (which he didn’t want to do) to put Jensen in the position Chris ultimately did. I ended up having to prove him innocent and bring in Chris as the final villain, and that was a really difficult conclusion to come to. So much of that story was written, deleted and then rewritten.

In terms of characterization, I usually start with a pretty good idea of what they’re like, but the second I begin to write them, they start telling me who they are. Fpr established characters, say Sam or Dean, I know pretty well who they are, but they still tell me things about themselves, more deeply and sometimes a bit differently. In terms of mostly original characters (like J2), I start with a basic idea and while basic character traits generally stick, the nuance and other traits just begin to come out as I write. Some examples:

A. Jensen in Homework Verse. I wanted him to be a more true to life, non-abusive Dom. I imagined him to be dispassionate and self-possessed, and a really good Dom for those reasons. It was all supposed to be pretty simple. And while he certainly seems to have those characteristics, it’s fueled by this immense depth and thought and fire of emotions that he tries so desperately to keep under control. That was a case of the character telling me unequivocally who he was, like he already existed somewhere and I was just channeling him. He' so complex and layered.

B. When I imagined Justin from Beautiful Disaster, it was a more typical take on the “dick boyfriend who’s in the way”. But as I began to write, I realized that wasn’t going to work, because then why would Jensen be with him? And I began to explore this fine line between dick and broken, scared boy. People still hated him, but I feel like I made him human.

19. If you had to pick one fic/scene/chapter of your work to describe your entire portfolio to a stranger, which would you pick?

It’s so hard to pick just one thing, because I’ve written so many genres and emotional ranges across the gamut. Honestly, off the top of my head, I’d have to say the story Thunder and Sparks in the Heart of the Dark, even though it’s a crossover (Dean/Jax w/ flashbacks to Sam/Dean), because it’s got all the elements I love to write. Complex plot/juggling a lot of story, plot twists, horror, monsters, heartbreak, loss, falling in love, hot sex, action fight scenes, humor, suspense.