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twwpress · 2 years

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Creator Spotlight: Week 3

Welcome back to our TWW fandom Creator Spotlight! For every spotlight, we’ll ask each featured creator the same ten questions as well as questions submitted by you. This week, we’re chatting with @sinistercherubs on twitter // thababes on ao3.

All answers come directly from Connor, who creates gorgeous edits and also writes fic! Let’s dive in:

1) What are your top 5 desert island TWW fics?

the still feels good series by thotsandfeelings (also, affectionately known as yale au) https://archiveofourown.org/series/1895503

gOD. What’s not to love about this series? It brings me such great memories of FINALLY being able to get into the tag after I finished the show in October 2020. It’s a classic for the “renaissance” of tww fics that came flying in.

aftershock by greatesheights https://archiveofourown.org/works/4786607/chapters/10952567

I know this was just recommended by aleena, but it bears repeating. It’s absolutely a must for everyone’s post noel watch and also for anyone who loves general senior staff.

I fall apart (and i thought i was so smart) by roseyposeypie https://archiveofourown.org/works/30626918/chapters/75559058

Oohhh, the journey this was. I have Rosie and this fic to thank for most of the very close fandom friendships I formed from us spiraling and speculating about this story for months.

where the oleander grows by kairach https://archiveofourown.org/works/27211249/chapters/66468748

Cue me just yelling “THE FLOWER FIC!” I’m pretty sure I have recommended this to absolutely everyone that’s watched the show in the past 2 years lmao. It’s about the found family

nothin’ like you by sam_writes_fics https://archiveofourown.org/works/40285125/chapters/100907319

My poor samjosh summer camp au heart. This fics makes me muppet scream after every single line. Also background cjtoby, my beloved. The cutest concept ever.

2) Do you have a favorite character to write/edit? Favorite ship(s) to write/edit? Are there characters or ships you'd like to write/edit more of?

Joshua…I think for both? Ballet AU has fortunately let me get a chance to explore writing all of them, so that’s been fun! I like to write up lots of dialogue and meta, but to actually play with them for real is interesting. I’ve only “publicly” written Josh’s POV, so time will tell if I ever get comfortable enough to move on to someone else. Editing Josh/Brad is also always a hoot. Obviously, editing j/d is a good time, but i do like the challenge of when i get the inspo to edit cjtoby, those edits end up being a lot more heartbreaking. I loooove doing friendship edits and writing about those relationships as well, (chaos twins !!!) but im looking forward to doing some studio 60 edits soon.

3) Tell us about your creative process (setup/location? Night or day? Snacks/beverages? Computer/phone/notebook? Music or silence? Anything else you want to share is welcome!)

I like to call it “going into my edit hole” where I will clip/airdrop, edit, color, and then post all in the same sitting. I do like to outline edits (and now fics) on my notes app because most of my outlining and planning happens from 6am-2pm when I’m not home. This usually ends up being why I start editing at 7pm and finishing 3 hours later. Most edits usually take me 3 hours from beginning to end if I have it really thought out. For edits, I do like to be home alone or locked in my room to really pay attention to the music and voice overs. I have a Ballet AU playlist that I usually play while writing that.

4) What video editing/writing advice do you have for others who may be reading this?

This is for editing, but practice practice practice?? I made 40 tww edits in 2021 and you can definitely see when I started to get more comfortable with coloring/lighting this hell show. Voice overs were also kinda tricky for a bit, but I just played more and more with it for different edits, and you start to see what you like and what works. I think working with the same clips and show for so long provided something to work up to. My writing advice would be to open up google docs, advice that I myself should take ;)

5) From where do you usually draw your inspiration? (Other forms of media, music, tropes, etc?)

MUSIC!!! For about 5 years, I made gifs almost everyday for Tumblr (follow me at @karenandthababes if ya want!) and most were lyric sets. Gifs were my alternative for not having the proper programs back then for edits. I saw these characters and ships through music. Music either puts choreography in my head or it flows out an edit lol

6) What is the fic/edit you've written/created that you're most proud of and why?

I’m still really proud of having an almost 9k unfinished fic (i’m so sorry) published? Ballet AU started as a joke and ended up being REAL, and that freaks me out. The noel edit to Ave Maria is one I think I’m still most proud of from a creative standpoint? It wasn’t one i had planned AT ALL, came out of nowhere and ended up doing really well and hurting a lot of people, which really is my biggest joy hahaha.

7) What's the fic trope/concept/AU you'd read 1000 of? What's the fic trope/concept/AU you'd write 1000 of? And/or, are there any editing tropes/artists/themes you can't get enough of?

I’m team angst (derogatory) but I love hurt/comfort. (which this show gives you plenty of reasons for it) I love reunions. I love found family. I love people feeling and being loved! For edits, I’m back to just adoring a good friendship edit. Nothing beats just seeing some of these duos or trios be absolute ding dongs.

8) Is there anything you'd like to try writing-wise/video editing-wise that you haven't yet?

I would love to try to write my angst feelings and hcs down for tww. I’ve been really proud of stuff I wrote for another fandom and OCs that were really DARK, but I just won’t have that chance for that in ballet au (which I think people would be grateful for).

9) What's your go-to Starbucks/coffee shop/other drink order?

lavender oat milk iced coffee wink wink (I also swing for hazelnut most of the time)

10) Do you have any current projects you'd like to promote or anything upcoming you'd like to tell us about?

Ballet AU!!! There’s a bunch of surprises coming in ACT 2 that I think a lot of people that haven't caught up or started yet would really enjoy, still saving quite a few tags for secret plot lines. There’s definitely more edits coming :)

Submitted questions:

From @sam_writes_fics: one song you really want to make an edit to? how long have you been making edits?

Pretty much everything on my j/d playlist lol. I think there’s just so many songs to pick from at this point for any character dynamic and ship that now it’s just when inspiration really hits. I’ve been making fandom edits since 2019, but my first tww edit was in 2021.

From @jessbakescakes: What do you think is the easiest part of editing? The most difficult part? What’s the one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you started?

The easiest is getting the concept most of the time? Usually, it’s a song that hits my shuffle that I never thought of using and then suddenly my brain is just providing the scenes or vibes for me. After an hour of repeats, it’s an edit. The most difficult part for me usually is starting. The program I specifically use (InShot on IOS) doesn’t let you drop and move things around like working on a desktop program would, so if my beginning doesn’t work like I wanted it to but I know how my middle and end works, I just have to keep at it until I find a way that works lol.

From @jessbakescakes: What’s the one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you started?

This is a hard question. I went to school for multimedia in high school and focused on the post production of whatever we were making that week, so it’s less of what I wish I knew and more of what I wish I had. Studying graphic design in college threw me off from my video editing, so finding a way to just do it again, even on this level, is great.

From @claudiasjeans: what’s your fave tww rarepair? what got you into fandom, either editing or writing? how did you get exposed to tww?

For a rarepair, I’ll probably say andy/cj/toby and cj/kate? I’m a huge multishipper, so my end point is always a poly relationship lmao. I think samjosh might be too popular to be a rarepair, but I’ll put that down just in case. God, if we want to get real deep, my fandom writing background comes from twilight roleplay when i was a tiny teen. It wasn’t fic, but it was definitely years of writing. Gifs led to edits. Roselle (mskimwexler) and Di (onourownside) pulled me into watching tww completely blind and it was a magical time. I just celebrated my 2 year anniversary!

From @kennysroys: Since you’re an editor (a great one at that!) what scene or scenes from the show do you think are well edited?

What a compliment :’) Noel as a whole, jfc. It’s the only episode of it’s kind and nothing can beat that Emmy winning masterpiece. I think that’s what was so fun about editing noel, because you have to work a little bit harder with the therapy scenes because it’s already edited so well. I would love to add that I have a love/hate with editing the cold kiss hahaha. I have at one point even tried to clip the matching shots together to make longer kisses and no dice!! The cold kiss is filmed and edited like an fandom edit, the 360 is amazing for the drama of editing, but sometimes you just WISH we got some more transition type single camera kisses lmao

From @joshatella: When did you make your first edit/how did you start editing?

I posted the Humble Josh edit Christmas Day 2020, but I think my first twitter edits were Star Wars related from 2019. I just know Bea (schiff0rd) and I both started our tww edit journey around the same time, and it’s been really fine to work back and forth with her. Remi (piketrickfoots) was a godsend and actually clipped all of j/d for us back when it was still on Netflix, so without her and my season files, there’s no way I would have been able to edit at the quantity I was last year. The Humble edit and the Silver Fox Bradley edit were my firsts, which led to the red dress edit. The rest is history lol

Lightning round from @S4MWILSON: fave fic you wrote ? fave edit you made ? would you ever make an edit to a fic ? what app/software do u think is best for editing ? fave ship you have yet to write ? most underrated tww dynamic ?

I know I’ve talked about Ballet AU a lot, so I’m gonna say you know that i'm fallin’ was a really fun start to my tww fic journey. Ofc my first published fic was santos 3, which i would really love to do a little ficlet sequel to soon. The chaos twins or santos 3 edits i hold very dear to my heart, but the he's the man edit for josh was my real big break into making things as a whole I was really happy with. We’ve actually discussed doing a fic/edit/art collab event, so maybe soon! This is really a personal preference for me who’s used every editing software besides Vegas, but I prefer editing fancams on my phone. I use InShot for general editing and Prequel for coloring. I was originally trained with Premiere Pro, but anyone that’s used that program knows it’s the devil. I would love to write some cjtoby at length. As the one of the spokespersons for underrated tww dynamics, I could list for hours, but any dynamic with Abbey involving a member of the senior staff is so special to me.

Thanks again, Connor!

If you’re interested in being featured for a future spotlight, please drop us a line here on tumblr, on twitter, or email [email protected].

xx,

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