I believe you have noticed that we have a banner for "The Perfect Girl". FINALLY! I have been in search of a banner maker for weeks now, unfortunately the ones I had found were not able to deliver nice banners for the story. So, here comes Domwards Playgirl to the rescue!Her real name is Annabelle, or Annie for her fiends, and I have known her most of my life. We share a lot of history together, and we were able to reconnect after 10 years thanks to our obsession with fanfiction and Twilight. She is a very dear friend to me, and the fact that she took her time to make me these banner and blinkies (just for me) is really enough reason to grant her a place of honor in the Hall of Friends of my heart.
I wanted to have a small interview with her, I didn't really prepare a sheet of questions for her, so she accepted to meet me over a cup of coffee and write this post with me.
So, this is what pretty much happened...
Me: Well, hi Annie!
DomwardsPlaygirl: Hola!
Me: How are we are supposed to do this?
DP: Easy, you ask and I answer. Jeez, and you are supposed to be the writer!
Me: *narrows eyes* What I meant is, should we make this a Q&A meeting or maybe carry out a conversation?
DP: Whatever suits you best, sis.
Me: Fine... Tell us a little about yourself.
DP: *clears throat* I am a 25 year old traumatology doctor (yes, doctor not resident, I'm that awesome!) that works for a rural clinic on the outsides of the city here in Ecuador, South America. I grew up in 5 different countries and speak three different languages.
Me: One of those countries was England, where we met. Do you remember how you got started in Twilight and fanfiction?
DP: *laughs* Of course, it was your fault!
Me: *fake gasp* Mine?
DP: HELL YEAH! I read the twilight books because of your suggestion. I knew you did it just because you wanted me to go to the NY premiere and get an autograph from SMeyer...
Me: WHICH YOU GOT!
DP: Hehehe... Yes, I did. I loved the books from the get go. I'm a sucker for this kind of stories, although Breaking Dawn left much to be desired...
Me: Don't start on BD, that's a whole new post, or five!
DP: IKR? Well, anyway... after the Twilight books I got the first "Black Dagger Brotherhood" book right before I moved here to Ecuador, and since then I haven't got anything interesting to read. I borrowed you the book and you ate it up in a day!
Me: I'm a fast reader!
DP: Yes, you are. After that I was really focused on my job, and because I have never really been into TV or movies, I rely on books for entertainment. It was about 5 months ago that you suggested fanfiction to me.
Me: And you gave the "are you f*cking serious?" look... *pouts*
DP: Well, how was I supposed to know that some of the stories were amazing!
Me: What was the first fic you read?
DP: TaraSueMe's trilogy... Which was the inspiration for my own alias. Then you send me the link for MoTU and the rest is history!
Me: What are you reading right now?
DP: The University of Edward Masen by Sebastian Robichaud, There Once was a King by Brits23, Parachute by KitsuShel, Your Voice was All I Heard by Twimamma and MoTU II by Snowqueens Icedragon. I'm also reading a bunch of complete fics from your favorites list.
Me: And now, the reason why I'm doing this. The banners and blinkies.
DP: Ok, well... I really have absolute no training or whatsoever in graphic design, photoshop or illustrator. I did the banners because I was tired of seeing you get your hopes up and getting all excited about getting a banner, and then getting disappointed when you saw those crappy banners that those "experts" sent your way. So, I took care of the problem.
Me: And what a fantastic work you did!
DP: It wasn't easy, it took me an entire afternoon to make the banner, after that it was easy to modify it a little bit. I wish I knew how to add color to it, but I guess it's fine the way they turn up.
Me: MORE THAN FINE! And the blinkies?
DP: That was for fun... I saw a blinkie for one of the stories, don't remember which one, and I thought: "Hey, I can do that!" I found a website where they did the animation and all I had to do were the pics that would go there. Easy as pie!
*Our interview is interrupted by Annie's cell phone*
DP: You got 10 mins to finish this thing. I have to go back to the clinic.
Me: Well, I guess this is pretty much it. Anything you would like to add?
DP: I wish you had more followers...
Me: *sigh* Me too...
DP: *smacks Mina in the back of her head* And update TPG for God's Sake!!!
Me: *rubbing her head* I will, I already sent chapter 5 to my beta. Is getting beautify as we speak.
DP: *glares* You better!
Me: *whimpers*
DP: there there... I had fun, sis.
Me: Yeah, me too. We should totally do this more often.
DP: I'm already helping you write "Love & Secret"!
Me: *GASP* You are not supposed to talk about it!
DP: My bad... *rolls eyes* thanks for the breakfast!
Me: It was my pleasure!
After that Annie left to save the world and I went back to my laptop to read fanfiction!
WHAT?! I'm on vacation! SUE ME!
CHECK OUT THE BANNERS!
Banner1: http://is.gd/eXC61
Banner2: http://is.gd/eXC9q
Banner3: http://is.gd/eXCj1
That's all folks, till the next time! XOXO
Mina
