Sylar - Gabriel Gray

8 – Do you write OCs? And if so, what do you do to make certain they're not Mary Sues, and if not, explain your thoughts on OCs.

I do not write OCs in Fanfic other than minor characters. They can be filler and canon fodder. They cannot be a major part of the story. It’s too hard to keep them from coming across as Mary Sues, and it’s not that hard to write a good fic using canon characters. If your fandom doesn’t have what you need, try a little crossover action to get the story you want.

I save my OCs for my real writing, where it’s also a battle to avoid Mary Sues. Sadly a great many novels in my genre, Urban Fantasy, feature Mary Sues. In some it’s taken them a few books to get there from power upgrades and sex with gods, but in others, especially YA books, it seems to be a requirement for the lead to be a Sue to begin with. That is something that I do not want in either my fanfic or real fiction.

( the other questions )

6 – When you write, do you prefer writing male or female characters?
It’s pretty obvious that I prefer to write and RP male characters. I can write a few females, but they have to be tough bitches that will hurt you like Faith, Aeryn Sun and the Huntress.

I started RPing males in our real life game because I was bored with RPing females, and the gender of a character does have an influence on game play. But the biggest reason was because the geeky guys I RPed with couldn’t handle encounters with female NPCs. The boys would freeze up the second they had to talk to a hot chick. They could never shut off who they were in real life to become their characters, and for me that is so easy. So by default my boys would end up being the Alpha Males in the party, which you know is kind of sad since I’m not a guy.

Then there’s Jace Winters. When I mentioned Denver running Jace out of her book, I realized it was because I suck at writing women. I have since scrapped two novels where Jace was female, and Jace is now Jason Winters. Jace as a male nearly writes himself, and his personality is strong enough to stand up to Denver. They are doing the buddy thing so well in my new project that it makes me smile.

And yeah, there’s a lot of slash potential there.

( the rest of the questions )

Note - I am currently working on another chapter of Fire & Ice, but I probably won't have time to finish it until next week.

4 – Do you have a "muse" character, that speaks to you more than others, or that tries to push their way in, even when the fic isn't about them? Who are they, and why did that character became your muse?

Let’s talk about my boys. I’m not sure who owns who. My Muses are more than a bit cat like. They want attention. They want control, and it’s really just easier to let them have it. I also let them each have their own LJs. It seems to help keep the peace if they have their own space, and since I tend to RP them as well that's a requirement.

In the Buffy fandom I was writing a bit here and there for Faith or Giles, and then there was Caleb firsts_chosen_1. Caleb was the chosen one of the First Evil at the very end of Season 7. Nathan Fillion got my total attention with the incredibly evil son of a bitch. I loved Caleb before I let myself care about Mal since Firefly had already been canceled, and I hadn’t been bitten by the Browncoat Virus yet.

I had so much fun exploring what made Caleb who he was. I joined joss100, and I completed all 100 prompts in a 4 year period. I RP’d him a lot too, although most comms freaked out a bit at how evil he truly was. He’s retired now, but once in awhile he’ll still pester me for a drabble or crossover.

Mal cptmalreynolds was a muse for a couple of years. He was so much more complicated than anyone knew. We only had 14 episodes of Firefly and then Serenity, and I wanted to know more about him. His lazy drawl and moral convictions led to some pretty good fic. I’m only bummed that I never got to really RP him. Any game we ever joined or created died, although he did have a lot of fun with a Kara Thrace a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

And then there’s Sylar thewatchmaker. He devoured me. He devoured all the other little minor muses that were in my head. Even now when a new character inspires me they have to fight against the Watchmaker. I’ve written more fic for him than any other character. I’ve been RPing him for almost 4 years straight too in one game or another, and for the past two on my own rp_shadesofgray.

I adore his complexity and his intelligence. I love exploring the shades of gray in his soul, and how he’s not completely evil. Somewhere inside of him, Gabriel Gray still exists, and studying Gabriel has been a frequently painful experience. I’ve had quite a few people ask me why Gabriel never gets happy fics, and I think that’s just the way it is. His life pretty much sucked ass. I write for Sylar and Gabriel Gray gabrielisgray, and they are so different that they each get their own LJ.

Peter Petrelli italianeaglesct was never supposed to be in my head. He’s a good guy. He will die to protect other people, and you have to admit that’s quite a bit different than my other boys. Mal will die for you, but he’s got to care about you and your cause. Peter doesn’t seem to be that selective.

It took until season 4 Peter to get to me. Before that he was too much the happy puppy, and it took Nathan’s death to make him into a character with enough balls to interest me. I suppose that’s why I also take a turn at writing and RPing Future Peter tarnishedhero, because that boy is totally fucked up.

I'd love to list Spock iam_spock and Castiel thursdaysangel, but they are fickle bastards.

( the rest of the questions )

2 – Name the fandoms you've written in, and how much you've written in that fandom, and if you still write in it. I'm BOLDING what I still write in.

Put on your seatbelts:
Star Trek – the original series – many Mary Sue fics from the dark ages

Star Trek – Mirror, Mirror – a few fics in the past couple of years

Star Trek – new universe – mostly drabbles and short fics from Spock’s POV

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – I used to write a lot of Buffy fics from Giles or Faith’s POV. I wrote a metric fuckton of fics from Caleb’s POV.

Angel – I wrote a lot here from Lindsey McDonald and Wesley Wyndam-Price’s POV, and a few from Angelus.

Highlander the Series – This was one of my first fandoms, and it was so full of Mary Sue OCs.

Firefly – Wrote a ton of fics from Mal’s POV including some crossovers with Kara Thrace from BSG.

Supernatural – Lots of fics from Deans’ POV, although now it’s mostly drabbles from Castiel.

LOST – Wrote quite a bit of backstory fics for Sawyer. Lost was hard to fic because the entire ‘verse was so weird.

X-Files – Mostly in crossovers with Heroes.

Farscape – A few ficlets from Aeryn’s POV.

American Gothic – I did a crossover with Caleb from Buffy going to Trinity. It’s one of my favorites.

Batman – mostly stories about Batman and his daughter Huntress.

Birds of Prey – TV These were from Huntress’ POV.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing a Long Blog – I did a tiny little ficlet crossover with Sylar.

Dr. Who – 9 and 10ish – Did a little fic with Hiro from Heroes and 10 although he sounded more like 9.

Dexter – I adore Dexter. I wrote a little bit for him, because god damn I wish I’d invented him. There isn’t much fic from me.

The Dresden Files – TV – yet another Heroes crossover based on a RP. I don’t feel right writing fanfic of current author’s work. I don’t know why. It’s weird, since I know I’ll have made it the second I see fanfic of my work.

Harley Quinn – I love the little nutcase. She has a few fics out there with my name on them.

Criminal Minds – I had a blast doing a Heroes crossover where the BAU was hunting for a serial killer who turned out to be Parkman because Sylar was in his head.

The Pretender – I used to RP Jarod, and I have a few old fics lying around. I had a blast writing a Heroes/Pretender crossover that I’m going to expand on where Gabriel is raised by the Center.

My Own Worse Enemy – I loved this show. Sadly it wasn’t on long enough for me to really get into writing fic.

Torchwood – I adore Jack. I wrote a few ficlets.

And a little fandom called Heroes – Enough fic to fill this journal and require that I have journals for Gabriel Gray, Peter Petrelli and Future Peter to cover it all, and that’s not counting the occasional fic from Nathan or Angela. Linderman is nibbling at my brain now too. It is my favorite fandom, and I don’t see me stopping anytime soon.

( The rest of the questions )

Day 4 - Do you ever.. maybe sometimes, just for a minute.. wish we were still behind the wall? empath_peter

It’s 3am. I know without looking at the clock that’s ticking away on my side of the bed. I can see the glow of your clock peeking through your thick hair if I glance at your nightstand. Taking a deep breath, I breathe in the warm scent of your skin, your soap and shampoo. Normally being so close to you will lull me to sleep, but not tonight.

This is my reality now, our reality. We’re in your apartment with its nearly barren walls and sparse furniture. There’s more than there was when I first moved in, but it’s not cluttered like the tiny apartment we shared in my nightmare. You were so happy when you set up a bookcase for me in the front room, and I was thrilled at the big box of used books you bought for me to fill it. You had so many of my favorites. You are so good to me.

But tonight I can’t sleep. There are too many sounds. I can hear your neighbor’s TV and the footsteps of your upstairs neighbor on the ceiling. It’s funny when I was alone I would have killed for any sound other than the ticking of my clocks and my heartbeat. But now I wish it was quiet. All I want to hear is you sleeping besides me.

Day 2 - Cake, brains, or ice-cream? from jaimie_prufrock

Every noise made me jump, and then I had to worry that I was making too much noise. The apartment smelled so good like hot chocolate and warm cookies. When I found myself biting my thumbnail, I grabbed a book to read. It had only been five minutes since I’d checked the cake the last time, and while it smelled good, it looked wrong. It wasn’t rising enough, and I was worried that it might fall which would be worse. I didn’t want to give Peter a chocolate pancake for his birthday, but powdered eggs, along with boxed cake mix wasn’t a very good combination it seemed. Luckily I had four cans of frosting to cover up any mistakes.

Several pages later, and it was time to pull it out of the oven. I didn’t need to set the timer. I always knew what time it was after all, but I did need to grab my oven mitts. The next to last thing I wanted to do after making the cake fall was to burn my hand on the pans. It was pathetic looking. It had barely risen, and it was in fact a bit sunken in the middle.

“Fuck.” I let out a sigh, and looked at the trash where the two cakes I’d thrown out were. This one was the best so far, and it would have to do. Peter would be back from the stupid wall in a couple of hours, and I didn’t have time to try to make another one. “Hope you like frosting, Peter, because there’s going to be enough of it to make a T-Rex’ teeth hurt.”

1 - Ask me seven questions.
2 - I will answer one a day with a fic, drabble, letter or graphic.
3 - Only the first seven will be answered.
4 - Only one question per person.

Day 1 - Do you ever feel bad about killing people? Not so much the act itself, but the other lives it impacts (parents, children, siblings, friends, etc.)? As someone who has lost your mother to a tragic accident, I wonder if you ever feel regret for inflicting a similar pain on others.

Day 2
- Cake, brains, or ice-cream?

Day 3 - You've mentioned that killing feels good. Which kill was your favorite? The one that actually moved you on some level, excited you most, or was the most coveted ability.

Day 4 - Do you ever.. maybe sometimes, just for a minute.. wish we were still behind the wall

Day 5 - So, what is your all-time favorite comfort food - the food you would pick if there was nothing else left to eat at all?

Day 6 - In Heinlein's Number of the Beast it was postulated that in an infinite universe all fictional worlds existed somewhere/somewhen. If you could travel to any fictional world - which would it be and, given the chance to start with an entirely blank slate, would you be villain or hero?

Day 7 * What book would you take if you were stranded on a desert island?

Verse #3 - This one is RP'd on masquerademix where I get to play with two of my kinks - Sylar/Sylar and vampires. The Sylar I'm RPing in this verse is from Season 1.

I was dying:
I felt like the Wicked Witch of the Fucking West. Whoever could have believed that little dork Hiro could destroy all my beautiful evil. Except I wasn't trying to be Evil. I was trying to save everyone by stopping Peter. But god forbid anyone figure that out. Oh no! It was much better to stab the only person who could have stopped the Exploding Man. Ask Nathan how much fun he had on that flight to hell.


Then you found me: vampire_sylar
I was soaking wet and going into shock. It took everything I had not to let go. I saw the sky burn like the sun through the open manhole, and then when I woke up again, you were leaning over me. You'd shared your blood with me, healing the wound. The rest of the story you told me blew me away. I'm still trying to sort through this fucked up world that I ended up in. But now I'm happy where I am. Happier than I ever thought I could be.

I'm doing this one three times for my primary 'verses.

This one is for rp_shadesofgray. If you'd like to read more of Gabe and my story, follow our RP there.

Gabe: graylikeme
He helped me find my way out of the darkness. He made me want to be a better person, and he gave me the family I so desperately craved. I try so hard not to push him over the abyss because I don’t want him to be like me. I’ve never had anyone accept and love me the way that he has, and I will do anything for him. I know he’ll do the same for me. He is the other half of my soul.


Home:
This is the clocktower penthouse that Gabe and I live in. It’s got an incredible view through the clock faces, and I knew it was the perfect place for us to make our home. Right now we’re in trouble, and I hope to hell that someone realizes that we’re missing because I want to go home. We’re in a really bad place right now, and I’m afraid. They’ve taken our powers, but Gabe and I will find away out of this mess. Then God help the fuckers who took us from our home and kept us apart.


Meme List

Stupidity:
If you cannot think for yourself, or keep yourself entertained, keep walking. I cannot abide stupid people. If you can’t find your own ass with both hands and a GPS, don’t expect to have your hands on mine. This also applies to smart people who do stupid shit – Mohinder – if you can’t use your brains, don’t knock on my door. If you however have a power that I don’t, take a number, I’ll get back to you.

Clingy:
I do not want to breathe air that smells like you all the time. If you want to spend time with me, that is fine, but call me first. Don’t surprise me. Don’t insist on being friends with my friends either. If you want someone to adore you 24/7, get a dog. I’m more of a cat. You may pet me until I decide that I don’t want it anymore at that time, go away far, far away.

Bullies:
If you fuck with people for the hell of it, don’t come sucking up to me. I was messed with enough when I was a kid. You don’t think that Martin was a good dad, do you? He bullied me all the time. Mom emotionally bullied me too, but I forgive her. She was kind of crazy. But the mean girls and dicks, you can just steer clear, because there’s nothing I like better than kicking the shit out of someone who reminds me of the people who fucked with me growing up. Must be why I like to torture Noah so much.

Manipulators:
Angela conned me, and she used me as a weapon. I don’t like being used. Lydia tried to do the same thing to have me get rid of Samuel, and I wish I’d been able to do that one. It was less of a manipulation since she wasn’t pretending to love me to get me to do what she wanted. Angela lied the whole time. Bitch.

Meme List