:.: Marmalade Skies :.:

"Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letterbox..."

D. AVIVA ROTHSCHILD

Aviva has been writing for over twenty years and in the year 2000 we had a chat about her love of writing, The Beatles, and her fantasy novel With Strings Attatched.

The format here is going to be very laid back so just feel free to ramble as you please, ok?

Aviva: Sure.

So the world wants to know: how long have you been a beatles fan, Aviva?

Aviva : Well, really since about 1980. I'm a second-generation fan; I was born in 1964, so I wasn't really aware of them until they broke up, and then I was indifferent to them until 1980.

And what was the moment that you *knew* you were hooked. Or as I like to say, the moment you fell in love with them.

Aviva: Hmm... Well, I'd been a fan of Sgt. Pepper for a long time, since my dad had the album. I used to play it, but I'd stop it just before "A Day in the Life," because I found that song creepy. One day, though, I read that "A Day in the Life" was considered the best rock song ever recorded, so I decided to listen to it. That's, I believe, when I went bonkers for the Beatles.

And is that about the same time that you started to write Beatles related fiction?

Aviva: Roughly. That's a complex story; wanna hear it?

With pleaure!

Aviva: OK. Basically, the summer of 1979 is when I started writing (regular fiction). In the late summer of 1979, I got involved with Dungeons and Dragons (I'm probably one of the first women in Colorado to have done so). In what I recall as February 1980 but was probably January, I got sick with combined pneumonia and bronchitis. While I was out of school, one of my teachers died. He was the first person I'd ever known who died. I was very depressed, and everything started coming together: Beatles, writing, D&D.

I see. . .

Aviva: I first decided to create D&D characters based on the Beatles' personalities, which quickly evolved into using the actual Beatles as characters. And I began to write a story about their adventures in a world I began to create.

Wow! So then you were influenced greatly by "Dungeons & Dragons" and I am guessing similar fantasy authors like perhaps J.J.R Tolkien? Whom else influenced your writing style?

Aviva: Actually, I hate Tolkien. My favorite authors at that time were Piers Anthony (though I hate him now), Thorne Smith (a Jazz Age-era author who wrote all kinds of funny fantasies), and William Goldman (The Princess Bride). I also consider L. Sprague de Camp one of my big influences because he was the only fantasy author I ever read who wrote funny fantasy that wasn't also stupid fantasy.

Well I have to say: your work captures the greatest of all of them. You take us on a fantastic romp through the most brilliant corner of our imagination-- leading us through places we never dreamed of with, ironically, the pople whom we've spent our entire lives dreaming of. "With Strings Attatched" really is exquisite, Aviva.

Aviva: Thank you! (blush)

I'd like to address for a moment, the actual plot of your novel:

Aviva: K. I'll warn you that I don't give away plot elements that haven't been written about yet.

Darn! (lol) Don't worry. I won't pry. . .

Aviva: Cool!

But I *would* like to know where in the world did you ever come up with such an extraordinary plot? The worlds you've created like "C'hou" and "Ketafa" and (my favorite) "New Zork" is most impressive. As you've said you've been writing this for twenty years. Are you like Paul where it just came to you in a dream? An overheard conversation? Something from Dungeons & Dragons?

Aviva: Well, some of it is -ahem- "borrowed" thematically. Like, the "New Zork" chapter owes its genesis in part to Piers Anthony's Xanth series, except that I did a better job with the concept than he did! The chapter called "Scale" is based on a glimpse of an otherwise worthless cartoon series that I don't even recall; one episode had the characters shrunk. I thought that was a good thing to do with our heroes. But a lot of the plot and the world is based on two concepts: a parody/satire of the D&D-type novel, and a diversion into utopias and dystopias. I had a professor who was a student of utopias/dystopias, and I inserted those concepts into my story somewhat in honor of her. Ketafa was originally supposed to be a standard theocratic medieval-type fantasy world, but I decided fairly late to switch it to a more Victorian feel, since no one ever does that.

And the effect works! I've spoken to several people about your novel, and we all agree that *somehow* you make such an unbelievable, impossible situation seem utterly possible! indeed! We (the reader) are forced into believing this world the boys have been thrown into. Others also have mentioned how the boys make some of the best "heroic" figures in *any* genre, not just fan fiction. . .

Yeah, they really make good characters. I stuck with the book in large part because they work so well.

you must have noticed as you were writing that having the beatles as main characters was turning your work into something truly magical. At the time you were writing, were you aware of the world of fan fiction-- or did you think you were the lone ranger in this field?

Oh, God, yes, I thought I was the only person who had ever thought to do something like this. Because I've lived in Colorado for most of my life, and Colorado isn't exactly a hotbed of Beatles interest, I NEVER met anyone who did what I did until I became a Netizen. I vaguely knew of other people who wrote fanfic, but I had no idea that there were more than a few of us. Now, I did see some professionally published Beatles-related stories, but I never viewed them as part of a larger body of work, just as oddities here and there.

So when you logged onto the net and found that there were countless others just like you, it was probably akin to something like crossing into the Promised Land! Is that when you decided to publish With Strings Attatched on the net?

Aviva: Not entirely. I had actually abandoned the book in 1994 because I had grown tired of it. I became a surfer in 1995 when I went back to grad school, but I didn't have a connection at home until 1997. That's roughly when I decided to start posting Strings--I had a friend with a website (the old Writer's Cramp site, if you've ever seen that), and he was willing to post a few chapters of Strings. I wanted to see if there was interest. Obviously, there was!

There certainly was! I remember logging onto Writers Cramp on the first and fifteenth of the month to check for new chapters! It became my favorite beatles fan fiction, and I know it to be the same of many others. Do you have a personal favorite fiction-- besides your own of course.

Aviva: Nope, sorry.

(lol) Well, there are a lot of new beatles fans out there and that means a lot of new fan fiction authors (in case you haven't noticed!) Do you have any motherly advice for them?

Aviva: Heh heh heh... I could bore you to death with all the advice I could provide. Here are a few tips: Learn as much as you can about the Beatles' personalities by reading as many interviews as you can dig up. The interview format isn't the most natural format, but it's as close as most of us will ever come to talking extensively with them. Read a lot in general, and in various genres. You may want to write only fantasies or romances, but it really helps your style to understand many different forms of writing. One more piece of advice: If you're taking a writing class and hope to present your Beatles material in it, be prepared for a lot of blank looks and even hostility. I found it best not to write Beatles stuff for writing classes, overall.

Now *that* is a true-ism if I ever heard one! A lot of people, personally, have asked me "Why do you write" fan fiction. Why do we spend hours upon hours upon hours writing about them? They just can't understand it! Can you put into words the reason, or better still, the feeling that writing about the boys gives to you?

Aviva: To be honest, the feeling I have now is not the same that I had 21 years ago. Back then, it was... oh geez, almost sexual to be putting our heroes through their paces. Nowadays, I'm more concerned with making sure I get their personalities right, making sure the plot doesn't have any stupid logical inconsistencies, and getting everything said that I want said. I'm much more of a craftsperson than I used to be.

And it's people like you that are turning fan fiction into more of an artform than it used to be. Perhaps one day we'll be calling it "Fan-Literature"! (well, a gal can dream anyway. . .)

Aviva: lol!

Okay, two final questions.

Aviva: OK, fire away.

We've all had embarrasing moments when a piece of our fan fiction (whether from a notebook, or on a sheet of paper, etc.,) fell into the *wrong* hands. Have you ever had that happen to you?

Aviva: Oh God yes... When I first started doing Strings (BTW, the original title of the story used to be "Middle-eighth"), like many budding SF/fantasy writers, I started out with a Star Trek scenario where our heroes ended up on the bridge of the Enterprise (the original cast, of course). I wrote 20 pages in four days--wish I could still do that! Anyway, I was working on it and left it lying on a desk in a classroom, when I had to go out for some reason. When I came back, my WORST ENEMY OF ALL TIME had picked up the story and had been reading it out loud. I wanted to sink through the floor. (Though, ironically, one of the guys said it was "pretty good.")

Oh my god, that has to top the list of most embarrassing moments ever! I trust you eventually recovered from it!

Aviva: I think so. However, I didn't work much on that piece thereafter--besides the painful memory, it was really pretty terrible, and I hated it.

So at least something *good* came out of it!

Aviva: Guess so.

Now the most important question of all: Aviva: Uh-oh... (bracing self)

Who is your favorite Beatle?

Aviva: Aha! John. In order: John, Ringo, George, Paul.

Ah so you're a Lennon Girl too! I *knew* I liked ya!

Aviva: Hey, are we the superior fans or what? Though I know a TON of George fans.

As well as Ringo and Paul fans! Hey, I don't think there is another group of people out there who still ARGUE about who is the best FORTY years after the band first came out. That really says something about them.

Aviva: Very true! I have to admit, though, as far as Strings is concerned, I try to give them relatively equal time. There are a lot of fanfics out there that neglect poor George and Ringo, and I try to see them as a group.

And I think it's the flavor of the entire group that makes Stings an exemplary piece. Just to let you know: WE CANNOT WAIT until the next chapter! Any idea when the novel will actually be finished?

Aviva: Oh, I quit making predictions about that a long time ago... I was hoping to have it finished this year, but I've had some personal issues that have distracted me.

Hey, take your time! It's been working so far! Well, Aviva, I fear that's all the time I have!

Aviva: OK! Thanks for interviewing me--I'm very flattered!

And thanks for taking the time out to do so! It was a pleasure

Visit Aviva at her website Rational Magic