ChargewithSword

That's hard to say. I run between thinking my work is brilliant and seeing all the imperfections in it. I really like other people to tell *me* what stories of mine they liked. However, I must say I have some special favorites.

I like "Slaugthering the Goat." It's a TP fic with an odd title. For those who haven't read it, it's a speculation upon the childhood of Twilight Princess Link - particularly about him losing his parents, an epidemic, and the people of the village having to slaugther their livestock to survive a hard winter. I think this is one of my better works because I did a lot to give humanity to Link.

I also like "Wolfhide," another TP fic because it is shocking and scary. It plays with a theme that I was surprised not to see written before I came along and wrote it: One of Link's friends killing him in wolf-form because they do not know it is him. Because of some of the details in it, it is a story I recommend only to people who enjoy horror.

I am... strangely and strongly proud of "The Great Desert." I think I like this one so much because I co-wrote it with a friend. We roleplayed the basic story out in AIM, then I wrote the story out, making some changes, and consulted with my friend chapter-by-chapter. She wrote the first parts of Chapter 2 before I became impaitient awaiting her slow pace and said "Do you want me to go ahead and write this and I'll just consult you?" And, it worked. I am expounding upon this because I cannot take full credit for the story. It was Lilith who came up with the character Cecelia, for instance, and with the rather unusual orgins of the Triforce Goddesses. Now, I really like this story because it is so unusual. It's an alternate universe type of story - a "new age Hyrule" that, unlike most stories of that stripe I've seen, takes a Western theme. It's actually Western/Fantasy with Science Fiction touches. As I've said, very weird. I like very much that my co-writer and I were able to take this theme (I'd come up with the basic idea) and actually make it somewhat coherent (your milage may vary). I liked the worldbuilding I did in it - essentially creating a new kind of Hyrule from scratch - and referencing multiple games as part of its history. I liked that our Link and Zelda were the same Hero and Princess of the legends, yet we had the freedom to make them our own characters ("orignal Link and Zelda.") I'd definitely like to do something this weird/au/ and worldbuilding heavy again if I get any good ideas.

I haven't read everything our forums, but, in general, I think it's great. Some of what I have read has been stuff that wouldn't be welcomed well elsewhere (referring to the stories that have author self-inserts and characters based upon forum members), but I think people in some places on the Internet take fan fiction way too seriously. I'd just caution that writers of such stories be mindful of the "inside" nature of some of the forum-based stuff so that they don't get hurt by flamers on other sites and forums. Some people forget that fan fiction is supposed to be fun and I think it's great that people are expressing themselves and having fun.

Getting the plot done, definitely. When I get an idea for a story, I just want to get all the themes and little situations in my head out there. If one of my stories is complete, I generally do not create a sequel, even if reviewers want a sequel. When one of my stories is done - it's just done, that's it. Every plot idea I have has a certain amount of "oomph" to it and if I try to drag it beyond its particuular "oomph," the plot will begin to decay. Most of my fan fictions are one-shot stories for this very reason.

Fantasy, I guess. All my original work of any note is Fantasy. As far as fan-fiction, well, the Legend of Zelda itself is Fantasy already - I think most of my fan fiction is in a general Drama vein. I've done a lot of Tragedy, Horror and Spiritual/Philosophical, but most of that condenses down into Drama -- aside from the usual Fantasy elements that make up Zelda.

Hey remember me? Its been a while hasnt it?

I like philosophical themes, contemplative things. I seem to particularly like using the idea of "small bits of heroism" - things that characters do that aren't immediately recognized. I based an orignal novel on that kind of thing - "quiet, little things that have a ripple effect," but in the context of LoZ fic, I'll touch on little things random characters do to help the Hero on his way - things that enable him to be heroic - in other words "The Hero gets by with a little help from his friends," or as I've had Link say in my short "An Artist in Ordon" - "We all save each other." I've also used supernatual themes in some of my stories - themes of death and ghosts. I like tackling things from unusual perpsectives.

Get them to cry? I don't know... that's a tough one. I always really like it, though, when someone tells me that a story of mine made them cry (or laugh, or scared them a little, depending upon what I was going for). Writing-wise, I think the key is in portraying emotion and realistic reations in the characters. For instance, I find it realistic if one character is greiving another's death, but don't find them immediately turning to sucide or "never getting over it" realistic - because, for most people, time heals wounds and life will go on. I read too many fics like that and try to be a little more realistic in my own writing.

In the case of actually "connecting with my audience" as in, replying and reacting to reviwers? Is that what you meant? I find the best way to do that is to be honest and polite.

I suppose I think about my own emotions and experiences - about people I've met and how they react to things, about myself and how I'd react to some event or issue. For canon characters (such as Link and Zelda in my LoZ stories), I try to think about how they would handle something, while combining it with my own thoughts - (an example of this would be giving Link some strong emotions while remembering that he's a lot braver than I am).

Your welcome Charge. I enjoyed the interview as well and you can definately post the interview on the fan works page. In fact, I planned to do it myself before I knew you wanted to post it. So feel free to put it up.

Kokiri: That sure is tough. I don't know many non video game songs, so I guess the one that would convey the feelings best would probably be the original Legend of Zelda title theme (fully orchestrated like this of course!). It starts off feeling actually somewhat ominous and quickly turns to something very marchy and triumphant, which is the feeling I'm trying to incorperate into my fan fic.

Kokiri: There could be quite a bit done to help my fan fic "come to life with a roar" as you put it. For one, I could polish up what is already posted and give a wee bit more detail. Another is some good advertisement in siggies. And a good plot twist or something extremely unexpected could indeed help out with bringing my fan fic to life.

Kokiri: I like the idea of an author having his readers directly involved in his writing, having participated in that sort of thing myself. It's a rather unique idea and it gets the readers even more interested in the story.

Kokiri: Lately I've been much more descriptive in my stories than I have in the past. I still have trouble with being descriptive enough, but I've actually improved a bit from the past in descriptiveness.

Kokiri: Out of all of the Zelda games, I'd say it's a tie between Wind Waker and Legend of Zelda that had the best sense of adventure. And actually, the both of them influence my writing. However, the original Legend of Zelda sort of works in concert with Adventure of Link in influencing my writing.

Kokiri: I am not attempting to put romance into my fic. And from my personal standpoint, romance is fine and dandy in Zelda fan fics but it should be balanced with other elements such as adventure.