Saturday, April 4, 2009

Bri gets schooled in Forbidden Love

Whaddup bitches? Apparently it's my turn to bore you with details on my pervy self. Alright then - pull up a chair, grab a piña colada, and lose yer bras. Let's get down to business.

I realize antiaol is kind of a stupid name to call someone, so allow me to introduce myself. Hi. I'm Bri and I'm addicted to Twilight. (all together now... Hi, Bri....)

You've maybe seen me (or my boobies) popping up on the Twi threads from time to time (and by time to time, I mean daily...because, as previously stated, I have an addiction). If you have seen me over there, you've no doubt grown accustomed to my Man Meat finding abilities and have hopefully immersed yourself in the wonder that is The Locker.

Besides being a complete and total perv who has a knack for picking out half naked hotties, I'm also a 29 year old mom of two boys (three if you count my husband) and have been married for....uh.... :checks dates: almost seven years. I'm a work from home mom and run my own business which keeps me rather busy. Well, that, the kids and all the smut I continue to read and write. (see above...it's an addiction)

Now, sit back and let me tell you the story of how one pervy lady found her way to Twilight. Many, many moons ago (aka last June) I was turned on to Twilight by a couple of girlfriends who gushed and gushed and gushed (tho, unfortunately not literally thanks to cockblocker extraordinaire SM) about this series. After putting it off for months and months, I was desperate for a read on a flight and figured I might as well pass the time with the book. That was a Tuesday. By Friday I had read Twilight twice and suffered my way through New Moon, only to start Eclipse on Saturday. I have always loved to read, but nothing affected me the way Twilight did. So, after my fourth or fifth run through of the series (as it stands in my mind as a Trilogy), I went browsing online... I wasn't ready to say goodbye to my favorite couple yet. And, I sure as shit wasn't ready to say goodbye to my secret boyfriend. I figured surely there had to be some more Twilight stuff I could read, right?

Well, my search brought me to SM's website...and then to Twilight Moms...and then to Fanfiction.net and finally to Twilighted. And then the world imploded and all hell broke loose and that was the last day my life resembled anything "normal." Yes, I was sucked into the world of fanfic.

Imagine my great surprise and utter giddiness at finding myself surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of extended stories, what ifs, alternate-universe and my personal favorite, all human fanfics. I had no idea that this world existed - had never even heard of fanfiction before, so I was like a kid in a fucking candy store. I spent hours upon hours devouring everything I could get my hands on. Starting with Boycotts & Barflies, then Passion Fish, A Rite of Passage, Cullen's Island, and about a gajillion more - srsly, I lost count somewhere around #278.

While I do enjoy reading good fic that has vampires woven into it, I much prefer to read AH. I love allowing the author to build the characters and the relationship as they want - and I'm not a stickler for IC peeps. In fact, I love me a good Doucheward or a Beautiful Bastard. Of course, I also love me a Romanceward, too. I love fics that make me laugh my ass off as well as fics that make me swoon. I enjoy good angst as well as the next person, but ever since I read Hi Honey, I'm Home, I refuse to read angst in a story until the Heart Fail is over and then I'll continue on my way with it. I just get so completely wrapped up in the characters that I literally take that shit to bed with me. HHIH was my nemesis for however long it was updated for. I actually lost sleep over it. Fer cereal. In the end, I loved it, but my poor little heart couldn't take the horrendous ride waiting for the HEA.

Honestly, I'm a big, fat, hairy wuss when it comes to what I will and won't read in fanfic. I refuse to read any vampire pairing besides Bella & Edward and it takes a force of God to get me to read something besides B/E in the AH universe. A few have managed this feat (All I Ever Knew, The Arrangement, Over the Top, The Trip Home and Let's Get Physical) but they are definitely unique in that. I am a die hard B/E girl to the end and I loathe anything that doesn't have an HEA.

Sometime after I'd begun reading fanfic, I started to get the urge to write one myself. I've written before - lots in fact - but all I really dabbled in were short stories (very short) or poetry. Never any on-going story or anything that had a great length to it. So, I sat and I stewed and I wracked my brain for an idea for a fic. I came up with nuttin'. Everything I did come up with had been done tons before and had been done well.

Then, all of the sudden, the Valentine's Day Contest came about and I thought - why not? It's a lot easier to come up with an idea for a one-shot than it is a full-fledged story, so I might as well try it. So, one Saturday morning I wrote. For four hours. And, 10k words later, Library Rendezvous was born. Once I sat down to write, the words just poured out of me. I secretly ended the one shot, purposefully leaving it open to continue if I wanted - or if readers liked it enough - and thank God they did. Now I can't stop writing - chapters fly out of me quicker than....a really great analogy for quick things. :D

Are ya bored outta yer mind yet?? Sorry about that. How about I talk about something besides myself for a bit?

It took me a long time to figure out which fic I was going to rec for this little ditty - I have so many that I love (many of which we've already rec'd as a group and many of which are from my fellow PPers). But, in the end I chose Lessons in Forbidden Love by xsecretxkeeperx for a couple of reasons. First, it's very well written. She's got a great storyline, great flow, and is creative in how she weaves our normal characters into the fic. Second, it's a taboo storyline and Dori (xsecretxkeeperx) has handled it so well - what is normally cliche and boring is not in this fic.

LiFL is the story of a teacher and a student who fall in love with each other. That's the really watered down version. We've been taken on quite a roller coaster ride so far in the 9 chapters of the story. The story starts out getting to know Bella - our intro to her personality and what her feelings are for Edward - Mr. Cullen - or Romeo as Alice refers to him as. The struggle she has with her feelings towards her teacher - that she can't even attempt to have any other sort of relationship with any guys because she is too wrapped up in Edward. Of course, Bella being Bella thinks it's a lost cause - he couldn't ever feel for her what she does for him. Although we see a few signs she is able to pick up from him - certain things he does (like gifting her a first edition of her favorite book for her birthday) that catch her eye and she stumbles over her thoughts for a bit, but she always resigns herself to the fact that she will always have unrequited love for Edward.

Then, Dori lets us into Edward's head. Edward is head over fucking heels (whether he wants to admit it to himself at first or not) for Bella, but of course - he's self-loathing. You know, struggling with his inner demons - 'how could she love someone like me?', 'I'm her teacher, I shouldn't think of her like that!', 'I'm disgusting and pitiful, I can't believe I let my feelings get this out of control!', but I love him all the more for it.

Dori has thrown us into this when they have already developed their bond, they are already both in love (whether they know it or not) and we now have to deal with the roadblocks along the way. And, there are a lot. You'd think the huge problem - the whole student/teacher fiasco would be enough. Nope. We've got the self-sacrificing from both Bella and Edward, we have student gossip from a bitchy Lauren, we have new players that come into the mix to shake things up (Rosalie, Tanya & James). And, no, I'm not going to tell you what roles they play cause where would be the fun in that??

Dori has done a fabulous job of setting the foundation for Bella and Edward's relationship - showing us that this isn't just one of those "lust after the teacher" or "fuck the schoolgirl" fantasies, but that we have two people - two adults - that have a real and true connection.

Now, there's no sex yet, but I'm hoping on all that is holy that these two will get horizontal (or vertical...I'm not picky) soon. The UST is hot - and I am a sucker for UST - so I have no doubts that the sexin' will be too.

Alright - I've taken your time for the last seven hours with this long ass thing, so I'll let you get up and refill your piña colada before you sit back down to read this awesome fic.

And, don't forget to leave Dori the love. <3

12 comments:

MsKathy said...

Bri, what a fun experience to peek into your brain and life. We have very similar "how I found FF" stories.

Thanks for sharing with us, and I look forward to reading LiFL!

Manic Pixie said...

I can't believe that there is a teacher student fic out there that I have yet to read. I must correct this terrible terrible wrong, right now.

Thank you for letting us know a little more about yourself, and I am off to read LiFL now :D

kelly_sixx said...

ok this is just a side note to Manyafandom because i am ocd and didn't know where else to voice this..
you said you would give us 9 fic requests and there was only 8... you're holding out on us??!! :-)

MuffNbutter said...

I love this fic and the author is a really cool person, too. I'm glad it'll get more attention and praise now!

Kassiah said...

Well Bri, u knew I would find u! I can't believe how similar our found ff stories are...thanks for the great recs and for letting this boob brigader get to know u more. I will gladly order us all a round of pina coladas when we finally meet for realz!

Sara Elizabeth said...

hey! we have very similar ff tastes! i am soooo anxious for a LiFL update i can't even tell you!!!! i can't wait to read your ff i don't think i've stumbled across it yet!

marilla_shirley

Rebekah said...

oh bri.. you and your boobs. I love all three of you.

Anonymous said...

Leaving the love fer mah Tater & her pick! I can't wait to read this one, Bri. You have SEXcellent taste. ;)

Emmy said...

Bri! I haven't read this yet - so tons of thanks & knocker honks for reccing something new for me! (Its added to the giganteum pile!). I love you & I love your writing!
Thanks for all that is you! & this interesting post. Mwah.
XX

Dori (xsecretxkeeperx) said...

Ah, so, I'm extremely late to the party, but I wanted to show my apreciation for reviewing my story. Thanks so much! It meant so much to me.

Dori (xsecretxkeeperx) said...

Oh! And I'm going to send you a PM, Bri. Sorry it's so late.

vampluvr25 said...

So I found you by chance and am currently reading your fic LR Which is great btw.

I love how you said you were sucked into the FFN world and it's pretty much all consuming.

That's exactly how I feel.

There are a few FFNs that we have both read which tells me that everything else you've recced must be great too. and once I get caught up with LR I'm going straight to check 'em out.