Answers to Stuff I Get Asked on A Regular Basis~!
Q. When was SWAN written?
A. SWAN was 'published' from February 22, 2005 to February 22, 2008. Thus, the writng closer to the end is the better stuff, but I can't keep going back and editing every old thing I've ever done or I'd never make new things. The first half-ish of SWAN has been edited once or twice after it was already released, but I don't go back and do maintainance or anything.
ISH, just to cover that base, was written in chunks that I previewed for a small audience on my LJ for months before I 'released' any of it. It was being written sometime in March or April of 2008 and was first published in May. It is written/posted with lots of buffer material and things done in advance, while SWAN was done almost entirely in a straight shot. ISH is, as of this writing, still chugging along.
Is your stuff on Fanfiction.net?
A. Yeah, I'm here. SWAN was posted in chunks there a long while after it was written, but ISH was/is being posted as it updates. The formatting on FFN doesn't always translate well, so the chapters look best here, but if you're more comfy with FFN and want to leave reviews and get notices when I update, then head on over, I guess.
Q. When/how do you pick the songs?
A. It varies. Sometimes I have a song in mind that I desperately want to use and it just flows in perfectly. Other times, I've written the entire chapter and still haven't found a song. I almost never plan out what song will happen when, the exceptions being the last chapter of SWAN, the Meanwhile, and the last chapter of ISH. Some songs just drop into my lap right when I'm writing and then end up next. Others are songs I've had for years and years.
As far as how I pick the songs, they have to meet several criteria to be considered:
-I like it
-The 'feel' is reasonably accurate to the story overall and that particular chapter and isn't too based in my own feelings on the song
-It has not been popular or played widely on the radio (this has a few exceptions, especially regarding foreign radio)
-It feels like something the characters involved would be surrounded by (usually this means 'something they'd listen to', but it's not always the case)
These sort of limit the kind of songs I can use, and I think more than a few people have assumed that my musical taste is limited to what is in SWAN. This is not the case, I swear.
Q. Can you review my fic?
A. If you want to send a specific request for me to, go for it. PMs on FFN, or notes on dA, or comments on LJ or whatever is all fine. If you send something to me in e-mail, put something identifiable in the subject heading other than 'hi' otherwise I may just delete you. I'll likely get to reviewing it on the closest weekend I have that is not in the middle of finals week or something. At this point, I think I'd rather people come to me for reviewing, as it is getting harder to find fics that are new enough in this fandom that I feel okay reviewing them. Someone who wrote a Johnny/Edgar story back in 2003 is likely not even in the fandom anymore and isn't going to appreciate my input five years later.
Q. Can you beta my fic?
A. If you'd like me to check you over for stuff, and you're writing something based in a Jhonen-y universe, send me an e-mail or an IM or something, and send me some chunks of writing you've done prior, or the thing you want me to look at, and I'll see. It's kind of a case by case thing. Your chances are better if I already sort of know you (someone on LJ or dA or something), but it's not a sure 'no' if I don't. I'm not going to beta everything ever sent to me, but I also don't mind people asking, so if you want the weird AU chick to read your fic, send away.
Q.How do you write _____?
A. Questions about how I write anything - a certain character, a certain plot, a certain whatever - are best directed to my forum on dA. (Forum down until I can renew the subscription.) You'll find some already answered about plots and Edgar in the SWAN 19 thread there already (and some images I don't have posted anywhere else), so it's a good spot for everyone's questions to be seen by everyone else. Notes on dA are also fine, if your question embarasses you for some reason. If you don't have a dA account and don't want to make one just to ask a stranger on the internet questions, LiveJournal allows anonymous commenting, and actually, I won't kill you over instant messenger. I'll answer pretty much anything and my contact info is linked on the main page of this very website.
Q. Will you write *some other pairing*?
A. Not likely, but (almost) anything is possible. I enjoy Pepito/Squee and Devi/Tenna but I'm not nearly so passionate about them, and I fear I'd be doing them a disservice if I tried to write something that was just them. Maybe someday, for the challenge of it all.
Q. What other stories have you written?
A. Other than my original stories, none. This may change someday. SWAN is still the one and only fic.
Q. Why doesn’t Edgar remember Scriabin?
A. Yeah, I’ve actually gotten this question. Scriabin is from Zarla’s Vargas, and is not part of the SWAN continuity at all. Some people had some idea that Vargas was contained in the second life described in SWAN, but this was not the case. SWAN is not fanfic of fanfic – it’s its own universe.
Q.Can you send my *insert fan works* to Zarla for me?
A. I haven't been able to talk to her in forever, and I don't live anywhere near her. Be best to send it along to her e-mail or her LJ. There's no reason to go through me.
Q. Why don’t you have Dib/Gaz/Zim do this/that/the other thing?
A. This isn’t an Invader Zim fic. While I think that the universes are the same one for various reasons, and thus I felt that including Dib wouldn’t make this a crossover, it is still not about him or any one around him. He’s there for a reason, but the reason is not to be a main character.
Q. How did the life before the one in the fic go down? What the heck was the story there?
A. This is/will be covered in ISH.
Q. How much time has passed between the lives, and between certain chapters?
A. From the canon JTHM timeline to the second lifetime is hard to place. It’s really more like things picked up and just restarted a lot later. No one survived the first life. From the second life to this current one is a measurable amount of time, but it’s off in places. Some people who were alive for Edgar’s second life are still alive for his third, though some of them have questionable life spans.
Between chapters that show some time skipping is usually vague on purpose, but at the very beginning of Chapter 11, starting with Devi’s section, time has moved two years, as mentioned somewhere in that first paragraph. Some time, maybe 6 months or something, passes during 15. Between 16 and 17 is two-ish years.
Q. Why is this taking so long? Update more!
A. I sort of have a life. There’s school and my webcomic. Both are really demanding of my time and artistic efforts. Chill out there, hombre.
Q. Where the hell did you come up with this?
A. The Homicides is the accidental combination of Johnny and Jem in my Astronmy class several years ago while a friend and I weren’t paying attention. The original doodle of Homicides!Nny is in my scraps on dA, along with the writing of myself and my partner in Johnny/Jem crime. After I made the Homicides, a highschool idea wouldn’t leave me alone, and after a while, SWAN formed and wouldn’t shut up until my lovely friend Lana abused me about it and I went along with it. SWAN was primarily written for her.
Q. Can I make a fan-fanfic/fanart?
A. Yes. I really can’t stop you, after all. I’m rather flattered you’d want to take the time to do it, to be honest. I’d like to see it, and be credited with the universe if you plan on putting it up for the rest of the internet, though. I’d also like to put it up here eventually, if you’ll let me. Of course, you're entitled to have it just between us. Whichever you like.
Q. I have an idea for what you should do next/a story you should write!
A. It's cool that you're into the story, but I've already got where this mess is going pretty much laid out. If you've got an idea though, write it! We all know that small fandom is small and more fic would be awesome. If there's some specific SWAN thing you want to see that I didn't cover you're welcome to fic it yourself (as mentioned above) or tell me that you really want to see it and I'll add it to the stack of little stories I scan during my highest procrastination times. Just don't expect any concrete deadlines.
Q.What's the "Everyone here..." quote on the main page there?
A. It's a bit from Squonk Opera's 'Inferno', which provided both 'Above All the Silence' and 'Behind Your Skin' to SWAN.
Q.What's this Other! Edgar and Johnny stuff I keep hearing about?
A. That would be the insanely drama-filled AU of the AU that I dreamed and cultivated afterward with PolyesterRage, my beta for ISH. It supposes there is a reincarnation after the lives in SWAN/ISH and said reincarnation is done properly, where both Johnny and Edgar have parents and are visible. There are scrap versions of it on dA in my scraps and I've done a little writing based on it that I've squirreled away and linked to in a few hidden places. Perhaps when ISH is done, I'll post links to this mess.
Q. Did you miss the whole point of the comic?
A. This may surprise you, but no. I'm pretty well aware of Johnny's 'do not want' in regards to people and contact and the like. I enjoyed the comic as it was, grammatical problems, misspelled words and occasional 'trying too hard' and all. I still enjoy it like that. Johnny himself intrigued me, and I loved the way I saw him move on the page. I found his interaction with Edgar fascinating, and found other people on the internet who felt the same. I have to admit I was surprised to see there were others. I'm not operating under the delusion that Edgar survived their canon interaction, or that Johnny is some sort of raving gay nymphomaniac, and I'm hoping that that comes off in the fic as much as I intended it to.
Q.What is Banshee doing in all those CK pictures?
A. Since Banshee is my character, I had an intense urge to see her interact with my other characters, even if their universes are different. The crossover is not SWAN/ISH 'canon' or anything, don't worry. It's just silly fun for me.
Q. Dude, what the hell is UP with Banshee, anyway?
A. Banshee and most everything about her will be explained near the end of ISH.
Q. I have a Q that is not FA enough to be here!
A. That’s cool. IM me or e-mail me or post comments on dA and LJ, I don’t mind. Honestly, I love geeking out over this whole thing, so questions and such are quite welcome. Just try to keep it legible and don't send me e-cards.
-LYX
TO BE ADDED TO...!