Meghan, better known as Lonely Gamine, lives and attends school in the West. She is the author of A Test Of Will, The Wanderers, and other fics, as well as the webmistress of One Day More! and Sun and Moon: The Unofficial Rona Figueroa Site.

Q: How long have you been writing fanfic?
A: About a year, about the same time I got online. My first efforts were really, really bad--and can still be seen posted, embarrassingly enough--but I read a lot of writing and generally started to sort out what appealed to me and what didn't.

Q: Why do you write?
A: I've loved to write forever, but I'm never very confident about my writing -- I always see something wrong and then convince myself that it's horrible. I think I'm too neurotic about it to ever do it for a living, but something about sitting down and opening your mind to a flow of words is very soothing and relaxing. I'll probably always do it as a hobby.

Q: What got you interested in Les Miz?
A: In 1998 I went to see the Third National Touring Company, being completely new to musical theater at all, but Les Miz especially. It completely blew me away--I don't think I breathed for the entire three hours. About a week afterwards I read the novel, and I was gone. Les Miz really got me into musical theater as a genre, and it's still an incredibly amazing thing to me.

Q: Do you tend to base your stories on the novel, or the musical?
A: Both, really, because the characterizations are so different that some I like and some I don't. For example, I tend to write Eponine like she is in the book--but I always write Marius as the musical writes him--he's unsufferable any other way. :-) It really depends on the mood of the piece, and my mood of course.

Q: What condition is your copy of the novel in? ;)
A: I actually have two copies--a nice hardbound one that I got for Christmas one year and a dog-eared, abused paperback. It's a horrid mess--we're talking highlighter, scribbles in the margin, tape, what-have-you. I'm oddly fond of it.

Q: What kind of fic do you tend to write the most (humor, romance, vignettes, crossovers...)? Why?
A: Drama, mostly, and slash, but I try not to write all slash because there's only so many angsty pairings of the Amis you can have before they get repetitive. I get a perverted pleasure out of throwing the characters into horrible situations and running with it.

Q: Do you usually start with a plot idea or with a character?
A: I usually start with a gimmick, actually--the plot comes afterward When I wrote "A Test of Will", I had the idea of Eponine killing Montparnasse--but I didn't know how that would come about or what would come of it. Usually I get a gimmick or twist in my mind and then let the details come as they will.

Q: Do you research your fics? What are some sources you consult?
A: I don't research them well. I really should, because I would love to write a fic sometime dealing just with one of the ABC's political discussions, but I don't want to get anything wrong historically and I'm too lazy to research--so that's on hold. I do generally research dates and throw in French words to ground things in realism, however, but that's the extent to which I go.

Q: Who's your favorite character and why?
A: Eponine, because I think I see some of myself in her--in that she really does hide all her emotions, not just love. And dysfunctional--don't forget dysfunctional. :-) But in all honesty, she's my favorite character because she really is a poor soul just trying to get through life with these horrible circumstances of poverty around her. I think her love for Marius is overplayed in the musical--in the book she's much more of a political statement, and I find challenge in keeping that status but also developing her as a character.

Q: Do you like to write about original characters, or do you prefer to stick to the ones from the story?
A: I enjoy making up some original characters, but I have this tendency to do Mary Sue (or Marie Suzette), so I've scrapped most of my new character stuff. When I write an original character piece that doesn't suck, I'll let you know.

Q: What one character would you like to read more about?
A: Fantine. I'd like to see more about her as a young girl, beyond the usual desperate-mother angle.

Q: What's your favorite moment from the novel/musical?
A: The line "Let others rise...." from the musical. It's such a moving moment that I think it evokes different feelings in everyone--for me it's the vocalization of everything I want to do with my life.

Q: What's your favorite story of yours, and why?
A: See, the thing is, if I think too hard about my writing I find something to hate about it. So without delving too in-depth....I'm most proud of "The Wanderers".

Q: What story have you gotten the most feedback about?
A: "A Test of Will". I got lots of feedback commenting on the originality, but I greatly enjoyed the few I got berating me on my horrible disfigurement of Eponine. I really do adore flames, feel free to send me some.

Q: How did you get the idea for "An Opposing Power"?
A: Wow, I have to finish that, huh? I actually know how it's going to be finished, but I just need to write it. Okay. Don't laugh. One Tuesday night, I was in bed idly watching "The Mole", which is a terrible but addictive show. It operates on the premise that one of the players is a secret saboteur. I started to think about the Amis, and what would transpire if one of them was a traitor. And then my screwy little mind decided that it would be really fun to mess around with sainthood....and the rest is un-history.

Q: What other fanfic writers do you enjoy reading?
A: There are so many talented people in this fandom I couldn't mention all the people I enjoy reading, but some of my tops are Jenelin (she's a given, right?), Ursula, Ruel, Gengdalyn, Manon, Laura Waterstripe, Mersault, Elsb, Stefanie....I know I'm forgetting a million.

Q: What's your favorite story of someone else's?
A: "Just One Of Those Things" by Jenelin. I cry whenever I read it. I'm a big wimp, granted, but still.

Q: Do you read or write fanfic in other fandoms?
A: Yes, but I take Les Miz most seriously. I write fanfic in a couple of TV fandoms, but that's just for fun. They're nothing to be proud of.

Q: Do you think Victor Hugo would approve of what you write, and do you care? :)
A: Hugo would hate me. I don't particularly care. He is a genius. I am not. But I probably have more fun writing than he did anyway.

Q: What's your advice to beginning fanfic writers?
A: Go for it. Put your stuff out there, no matter how bad you think it is. Chances are it's a lot better than you think it is, and worst case scenario--you get some constructive criticism. You can't improve your writing without observing other people and risking a little--if you're too embarrassed to post it, get a beta. Most importantly, keep writing, and enjoy what you're doing! We do this because it's fun.

Q: What's a book you'd recommend to everyone?
A: "Women of the Silk" by Gail Tsukiyama, and its sequel, "The Language of Thread". Pure brilliance. She is a goddess.

Q: How do you come up with names for your original characters?
A: My trusty baby book fills in where my meager imagination fails. It smells like baby powder too. I didn't even pay extra money for that, either.

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