#my shep and jack have been through enough trauma and I feel like my shep wants her kids to have a better future fUCK HELP IM CRYIGN

[absyntthe]

FUCKING SOBBING

[masseffectspotlight]

This week we’re featuring @lauraemoriarty!

What got you started writing Fanfic?

Oh god.... I'd have to think right back to the early days of the internet. I think I'd just finished Final Fantasy VIII, and wanted to read more about the characters-- and then I decided to write a very, very bad (I was about 14 or 15-- can't remember now), fanfic that involved the main characters going on a journey... I stuck around in the Final Fantasy fandom for a long time, and then lost interest in writing fanfic around the same time I discovered forum-based post by post RPG sites, so writing fanfic went by the wayside. But what I did learn from those sites was a lot about character development and how to keep learning from your characters-- so it was a really great foundation for later writings. A friend got me playing Mass Effect, as I'd been obsessed with Dragon Age: Origins, and after the ending of ME3 (which I really didn't mind, and still don't), I decided to write about it. The characters sucked me in, and my Sheps weren't done with their stories. Are there any authors, published or fanfic, that inspire you in anyway? Oh god. Another tricky question....Published authors that have inspired me in the past include JK Rowling, Tolkien, Robin Hobb-- and I'm also inspired by poets such as Leonard Cohen and Alfred Tennyson. One of my more recent published author influences is the wonderful Sarah J Maas and her world building in A Court of Thorns and Roses, along with her Throne of Glass series. As for fanfic authors that inspire me, I'd go with our lovely Lena (vorchagirl), Kim (mizdirected), Juleshawke, and a whole host of others who I'm probably forgetting right now. Other authors have also contributed heavily to my work: L.M Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, and to a certain extent, so has George RR Martin. The GRRM influence is more apparent in my Dragon Age works, than my Mass Effect works. What Mass Effect character comes easiest for you to write and why? This can be a canon character, an OC, or one of the MCs (Shepard/Ryder) After Rose Shepard, Aoife Shepard, Lee Shepard, and Grai Shepard, one of my favourite characters for me to write is probably Udina. He simmers with outrage, and I feel that he has such potential. Another favourite of mine to write is Conrad Verner, but in my world, he has a huge edge to him. Another character who I love to write is Nellie Nevell-- Rose's twin sister, and a navy surgeon who worked in the refugee camps during the Reaper War. She's a different type of Shepard, in that she sees far more of the war than Shepard does, and it's a lot harder for her than most people would expect. She has a very different perspective on the war, and I find it to be an interesting and refreshing take on it. Are there any characters you want to tackle writing but haven't yet? Why? Ashley Williams. I'm torn on whether to like her or dislike her, because her favourite poet is my favourite poet, and I think I'll need to write my mShep/Ash story in order to explore her and what she truly is underneath her skin. I'd also really like to write a Jack/mShep fic that's from her pov alone-- that'd be interesting to write because Jack is so complex and damaged, and I'm fascinated by her. Time to talk about your fics! What's your favourite story you've written / are working on? I love most of what I write. I'm most proud of On Both Sides of the Glass, which is a post-war fic that features Leonard Cohen lyrics at the start of each chapter-- even the name of the fic is a line from one of his songs: "The age of lust is giving birth And both the parents ask The nurse to tell them fairytales On both sides of the glass" It's heavily influenced by the music of Leonard Cohen, and Rose, my absolutely precious Rose, is quite a strong character. I'm putting her through hell over and over, and she just lets me. It's pretty amazing what she's gone through, and what she still has to go through. I like writing Rose's post-war journey, and I'm planning on writing hugely ambitious work for her pre-and-during the Reaper War stuff, along with an origins story that starts in 1066, with the Norman Invasion. Rose and Kaidan are soulmates through time and space, and I wanted to write something that would combine my love of historical fiction with my precious baby.  Start with On Both Sides of the Glass and go from there. Things will make more sense if you do. What's your second favourite story you've written / are working on? The Renegade Angels. This story came about incidentally-- I messaged Laura (aka Potionsmaster) about an AU she was writing, and we hit it off. We're both massive Potterheads, and our story reflects our shared love of Harry Potter and other things. Aoife (aka Effie) is a bundle of anxiety masked by obnoxiousness, a sense of humour, and an attitude of "who gives a fuck?" What's your third favourite story you've written / are working on? Probably my entry for the 2018 Mass Effect Big Bang. It's a lot darker than my usual stuff, and features a Shepard who is genuinely tired of being labeled  the Butcher of Torfan, even though she ceased being the butcher a long time ago. 0h! Welcome Home. I really like what I did with my Shepard here. What are your greatest challenges when writing? ​Not going off on random tangents and lecturing readers on things that are well-known in canon. I have a habit of educating people while writing, and I struggle with that. I also struggle with writing smut-- I love writing it, but it's a massive struggle for me to write it inventively and with enough feeling behind it. Another great challenge for me when writing is to not get distracted by google searching-- I'm working on something that spans 1100+ years, and trying to get all the history into it without it sounding like a history lecture is pretty fucking hard. What are your greatest strengths when writing? I'm honestly not sure. People say that my work concerning PTSD is really human and tender, and because I've been through trauma, I think it's one of those things where I end up working through my own trauma of surgeries and idiots who have no place trying to cannulate a traumatised patient. I love writing battles, and the action of war and death. One of the things I love to focus on in writing is the way that there are always unforeseen costs to being a hero in the moment, and that there are always going to be the shadows of what you lose when you go to war. Okay, we're almost done! Any WIP or sequels or anything you'd like to give a hint about? I have a few things in the works, including a Jack/MShep fic, and another Shega fic.