Moderator Spotlight - January: Daijah

Mica: Hello Rebels and welcome to our first addition of Moderator Spotlight where you our fun and faithful members get to put us in the hot seat.

Jill: Yes and if you are wondering why we are coming to you live from Daijah’s bedroom well that would be because she has locked herself in the bathroom.

Mica: Yes she’s a suspicious one and got all freaked out when I mentioned a blindfold.

Jill: Well that could be because you also made some comment about Seth wanting to see her and we all know that can’t mean a good thing.

Mica: Yeah, yeah but I was joking. He’s not coming. I promise. So let’s see if we can get her out here and get this party started.

Jill: Deej, come on now we can’t do this without you.

DJ: Whatever! Ask your questions I can hear you just fine from in here.

Mica: Really? Quit being silly. We are going to have fun promise.

Jill: Yeah we have a whole thing planned that will be ruined if you don’t come out. Mica said she was just joking.

Mica: Yes he’s not here and won’t be coming. Now come on put on the blindfold and get out here.

DJ: Nope not gonna happen.

Jill: Daijah, come on. You don’t want to disappoint everyone do you? I mean this IS all for you and our members don’t want to see us talking to you from a bathroom. Come on out here.

Both: pleasssseee

***silence. Well not totally DJ is mumbling to herself about this being a bad idea and something about brain dissection.*****

DJ: Ok but if he kills me I’m coming back to haunt you!

Mica: YAY!! Ok and fine now let’s go. Jill grab her other hand.

Everyone: SURPRISE!!!!!!

DJ: What’s all of this?

Jill: Well since we’ve never done us before we tried to figure out the best way to have fun. So Nancy...Hey Nancy come over here a sec. Anyway Nancy suggested we have one of the members ‘stand-in’ for the extra mod to do the interview.

Mica: Yep so that got me thinking.

DJ: Oh no that could be bad.

Mica: **rolls eyes** Whatever, like I said that got me thinking since these are your last few days of freedom we needed to give you a party. So DJ this is your Rebel-liscous bachelorette party and those members that had burning questions to ask you can do so in person.

Nancy: I’m excited!

DJ: Ha, well this should be fun. I’m excited too.

Mica: Well quit holding us up then woman. Go put on your suit so we can get this party started.

Jill: Well while we wait on her to get changed enjoy this little bit of eye candy. Because let’s face it, you can’t have a bachelorette party without eye candy.

JM: Speaking of eye candy there will be some we can actually touch right?

Mica: HAHAHA yes we got you taken care of there. 

***************

Jill: Well ladies now that she’s all ready let’s have some fun. I’m going to go check on the arrival of some special visitors.

DJ: Special visitors? What visitors?

Mica: Don’t you worry about that. Man so paranoid. I’m gonna get the hot dogs started. Ladies have at her!

DJ: Ok so what’s first?

Nancy: Well I’ve been wanting to try out the bubble bar.

Kristen: Yeah me too.

DJ: Ok bubbles it is.

Paula: I’ll join you.

DJ: What flavor did you ladies pick? I got pineapple.

Kristen: Couldn’t pass up cotton candy.

Paula: Chocolate of course.

Nancy: I went with strawberry.

DJ: I think I’m gonna be on a sugar high after this.

Paula: You aren’t the only one.

Nancy: So Daijah I’ve always wondered how do you come up with your storyline and character?

DJ: Well, once I have a plot in mind I go through the basics: settings, mood, characters and tone. Once I have that done I figure out who would best fit as a main character and what sort of supporting roles would be needed to elevate his or her goals. It’s sort of like a movie, I watch them all in my head all the time and they are very exciting. It’s disappointing to me when something doesn’t go as planned or doesn’t have the impact that I hoped it would. But it is always fun and interesting to get them on paper and see them at least close to what I’d imagined. I get ideas from everything though. The simplest thing could have a major impact on me and my stories and I write my version of that experience or thought.

Paula: Sounds like you really think things through. What made you start writing?

DJ: I honestly don’t know. I used to tell people these incredible stories and such and never thought to write them down until one day I just…did. And now I can’t seem to stop haha. Short stories would never work for me because I am always thinking up more that a certain idea could have.

Kristen: Well we are all glad you can’t stop. You keep us entertained with them all.  Which makes me wonder how do you keep so many stories going at once?

DJ: Patience. I decide which story to work on that day or week or so and concentrate on it until it is done. At times it can be a test because I can hear and see something so clearly for another story and want to work on it. When that need becomes overwhelming, I close out of whatever I’m doing and push the thoughts out by working on it.

Paula: I need to learn that trick.

Kristen: Me also.

Paula: How old were you when you first started writing?

DJ: I’ve always had a wild imagination, talk to my Mom she could tell you some stories that would have you rolling lol. But when I was 9 or 10 I wrote this huge story about a group of school friends who would go to the mall and shop together and stuff. One day, they witnessed a murder and the killer started stalking them killing them off one by one or just basically harassing them. Yes I was 9 or 10 and writing about murderers, don’t ask I had a fun childhood that included LOTS of scary movies. When I asked my mom about it she said ‘I watched those movies and yall jumped into my bed to join me. I wasn’t going to stop watching it. If you got scared that was your problem’. Anyway it was about 7 chapters in before sadly my sister deleted it. She had a problem with this boy she was crushing on and wrote in the word program ‘I hate Patrick Felton’ a number of times. The type of computer then only had enough room to save one document so she saved over all of my hard work. Imagine my heart ache when I turned on the computer and nothing that I had written over the course of MONTHS pulled up on that black screen with the green writing. I have three pages of that story printed on a dot matrix printer in an old scrapbook though. It’s actually not such a bad story/writing for a kid haha. It’s a nice laugh for me though to see it.

Nancy: Wow that sucks about your story. I think I would have been heartbroken.

Paula: Me too. I have one more question that’s on the personal side if you don’t mind.

DJ: Nope I’m an open book. HAHA I made a joke there did you get it?

Kristen: ***whispers to Nancy***I think the sugar is going to her head.

DJ: Hey I heard that.
 

Paula: Ok are there ever going to be little patters of feet at your house? If So How many?

DJ: According to Jason, yes. He wants two babies, a little girl and a little boy. But having met his family I can say I don’t think their rockets shoot double x’s, not a single girl in the bunch. Wait sorry I lied he has 2 aunt’s on his dad’s side. But they had a son each, his two uncles have a son each, his parents had 2 boys…yeah. My family is the exact opposite, mostly girls. Anyway, Jason has his babies already named Jennifer Rachael (this was his name at birth; his parents thought they were having a girl the whole time). And Jacob Matthew for his son. I told him any child past 2 (if that ever happens) WILL have a D name! I’m leaning towards Dylan/Derrick or Danielle/Desiree. I will not be made an oddball in my family! All J’s and then me? No spank you! 

Jill: LADIES!!!!! OUR FIRST SPECIAL GUESTS HAVE ARRIVED!

Zhip: OMG they are making my snow cone melt. 

JM: STRIPPERS!!!! WOOT! When are they taking it off?

Mica: Um, they can’t be nude. We didn’t pay for that.

JM: Well how much extra is it? Take it off boys I’ll pay.

Jill: Calm down. No nudity.

Paula: Yeah. Please don’t let my husband find out about this.

DJ: No worries. What happens at the mod house stays at the mod house. Now let’s dance.

JM: Psst Daijah can I bother you for a few questions? Daijah?

DJ: Huh? What? Oh yeah sure. I’m hot let’s go get something to drink.

JM: Much cooler in here. Those dancers made a hot day that much hotter. I have so many questions I’m not sure where to start.

DJ: Well what do you want to know most about?

JM: A little bit of everything, but we’ll get the personal stuff out of the way first.

DJ: Ok but if this is gonna take a while, I’m going to have a seat.

JM: Ok first the thing you have been waiting for the longest.  7 days past the 31st.... How does it feel to finally be the new Mrs. Carr? (Shame on Jason for not seeing the pretty butterfly in his house. Finally got the big idea to throw the net!)

DJ: Unfortunately that got delayed. But come Jan. 30, I will have his last name and I’m sure it’ll be great! And yeah haha he finally decided that it was time. He ‘proposed’ by giving me a giant box for Christmas while we were in California. Inside of that was a large snowman bag with a popcorn can inside. After digging through the tissue paper I came to a bag, inside the bag was a small wrapped item. Inside that item was another wrapped package. FINALLY inside of that one (I was about to just cut through it) was a Jared’s ad for a 2 1/8ct white gold engagement ring and a small note that said 1-7-13. We went ring shopping when we got home and I found something that I wanted. It’s a 2 1/8ct 10kwhite gold diamond ring with 12 accompanying diamonds (6 on either side). Here’s a pic: Engagement ring, My wedding band and his wedding band. Both are set in white gold also.

JM: oh sorry about the postponement. So will you have a big wedding or a ‘just signed the registry with friends and family’ type of wedding?

DJ: We won’t have a big wedding but are planning a reception for later on in the year for friends and family to come out and celebrate. His mom wanted to fly out here from Cali on the 30th to see us do vows for all of 5 mins. It’s crazy.

JM: That is crazy. Two more and we get to move on to the good stuff.  What is your favorite horror-movie and what do you like to do on a rainy Sunday?

DJ: Ok favorite horror movie. So hard to choose…hmm. I’d say because it was the first I’d really experienced as a child, the Halloween and Elm Street series. I’m not a fan of the new style of ‘horror’ that’s all gore and no plot or cinematic, I’m referring to the Hostels and Saws. While they are great for their brand it’s not the type of stuff I really enjoy. I love the old style of movies where makeup is done with latex not CGI and the story has more gasp moments than gross. I really love the campy feel of B movies by productions like Troma, the classic and utterly timeless tales as seen through Hitchcock and the countless scares and zombie flicks by Romero. I want to own all of them or at least what I can afford. Over the last few years my collection has gone from a meager 800 or so to 1,012. I need a new bookcase to keep them all on. I haven’t been able to get anything lately though.  On a rainy Sunday I like to sleep or watch movies. I used to read A LOT before I started writing so if there’s nothing I am in the mood to watch, I’ll just start plotting out stories or something.

JM: Always thinking about the next story. But that works with my next set of questions. Firstly where do you draw your inspiration from?

DJ: All over. I don’t have television so a lot of what I write about is from stuff I think up or maybe saw a movie on a subject and thought ‘what if?’ and various ways the plot could change. A sim I create could give me inspiration and I start making a story for him or her in my head. A new expansion pack could also be inspiring. I just have a lot of ideas at any given point and make up stories from them as I go.

JM: Tell me how do you write 3-4 different stories without confusing them or end up using bits of the same stuff/scenes in all of them? (Unknowingly of course).

DJ: I try and make each writing experience different. If you’ve ever noticed I have a varied amount of genres and plots that I write about; vampires (Desired/Cold Blooded), witches (Desired), werewolves (After Midnight/The Animal/Beauty), spies (Codename: Danger), homicide detectives (Cold Blooded), psych patients (Changes of Season), serial killers (Secrets Kill), zombies (Wasteland) and even Angels and Demons (Dark Rising). I don’t want to be like ‘Tom Clancy’ and his only doing political/spy stories for example. I want to make every story something different. Although I know specializing in one specific type of story, vampires for example, has its pluses because you get so good at it that it becomes like a second skin. But I see it as bad because storylines, characters and events start to bleed into the next and it gets harder to try and think up something new and unexpected within that field.

 JM: Your sets always seem so put together. Do you use a different building/lot for every scene? Or one lot that you change every time, like a movie-set?

DJ: It all depends on the story/scene/chapter. For some I have a ‘set’ (Like After Hours) where everything is already set up for about 5 chapters and I can always hop over there when I need to reuse a certain room or what have you. For After Midnight I built a huge mansion for the band that they are often seen at as well as other lots that are prepared for them like Moonlight Studios. Often times I end up just building something new though so a police station you see in CND may not be the same one seen in my newest story Cold Blooded and vice versa. Mica is trying to talk me into reusing my own builds and cut down on the work it takes of creating whole new sets. That might be nice for a sane person but… When I write I am envisioning how the building looks and such and that is almost ALWAYS different than something I’ve already done unfortunately.

 JM: I’ve been wondering, are any of your characters based on real people?

DJ: In the story Desired, Drake was based off of my fiancé Jason. I made some changes to his appearance of course (hair color, full beard, vampire etc) but the characteristics were mostly him; protective, funny, non-confrontational unless provoked, sweet and down-to-earth. When I started writing Codename: Danger, I used my Simself as the main character Yvette Evans. But before I actually started shooting for the chapters I backed out and tweaked her slightly. Now I am working on a story called Cold Blooded and am using my simself for real this time, Victoria Carson (Daijah Victoria Carr). She’s the closest that I’ve come to my actual self but there are obvious differences in the character and me (the first being she’s a homicide detective). I guess my sim really wanted to work in Law Enforcement. I have Jill, Quiana and Mica in Desired and Codename respectively and my sister Kasaundra in Wasteland because she has a HUGE fear of zombies. And of course I used a lot of the members here in the 2011 Halloween Special Twisted Tales.

JM: You always use interracial couples as your main characters. Any special reason for that?

DJ: One major rule of writing is to ‘write what you know’. Since I was in middle school I’ve always dated, befriended or been around people outside of my own race. I was in advance and accelerated classes since 5th grade and there weren’t very many faces of color in my classrooms. I just love the dynamic better than the ‘traditional’ sense of coupling I suppose. I’ve had a plethora of dissimilar relationships in all of the stories that I write; blk/blk, wht/wht, Indian, Asian/blk, Hispanic/blk, lesbian, gay, threesome, and for the first time white girl/black guy in Beauty. It’s nice to highlight some of the lesser approved courtships in real life.

JM: Your characters have such strong personalities. How do you maintain them? Don’t you ever confuse their characteristics when introducing new members?

DJ: Nope, never! When I write I stay in that character’s mindset until the end of the scene and jump to the next one. I think of how they would react to a certain situation, character or environment and just let them be themselves. I think basing characters off of people you know would help keep them in line and while I believe there’s a part of me in each of the characters I write, they tend to make themselves real and unique with each passing chapter. I also keep ‘notes’ documents that highlight major events and such to refer to and keep myself in check with the important aspects of each character and each story. Character bios also helps keep this in line for me. Whenever a new "quirk" or point is introduced for that character, their bios are updated. Helps me remember as well as the audience.  Whew...are we done?

JM: hahaha Nope. But I promise just a few more. I’m interested in your picture taking process as well.

DJ: Ok. Shoot. HAHAHA another joke. Shoot, as in shoot pictures. Get it?

JM: haha you are so funny. Don’t quit your day job. So moving on. Do you take LOTS of pictures and then decide which ones will make the cut? Or do you write and say, this chapter will have 50 pictures, and stick to that?

DJ: Ha! Could I ever set limits on my picture taking? Boy that would be something! Nope. I can’t. My finger goes clicking happy and I’ll end up with a folder of about 300 or so shots where maybe 50 of them will make the cut. I usually do one shot from about 3 or 4 different angles until I find one I like most and this is for every chapter. So if you ever wonder what takes me so long to post, this is only ONE of the hang-ups I usually encounter. A 4pg chapter might be about 200 shots with me using only 40 of them…takes a minute to weed through them.

JM: 300 shots??? Whoa. With you having so many stories going on at the same time how do you keep all your screenshots organized?

DJ: Each story has its own folder in a section of my computer labeled “Stories”. And within each story folder, let’s say ‘Codename’ for example, each chapter has its own folder arranged by season. The “Stories” folder itself is where I will keep images that could involve more than one story. For example the leg cast used in “The Animal”. I edited the image so that it could be used as a left or right leg and saved it there in case I needed it for say Beauty.

JM: Which screen-capturing program do you use? And why?

DJ: I use EA’s in game system, nothing special. I have a great video card though so the images are usually really crisp.

JM: Ok last question. Do you edit your pictures with something like photoshop or any other?

DJ: When I first started using Sims 3 as a medium I would take a picture and post it as is. Later on as I got into the whole story telling and setting the mood I began trying new things to make my images look better. I’m still very much a novice at it but I like to add the little things when I can; a cellphone in the hand, a cast on the leg etc. I use Paint.net to make these changes and I also change the format to PNG for a cleaner looking image. On top of that if the chapter is done in flashback I will give the image an ethereal look so it’s discernible that this is something from the past.

Mica: There you two are. I was wondering where you disappeared too. Come back and join the party JM you missed the strip show.

JM: WHAT???

Mica: I’m only kidding. But come outside any way.

JM: That was a cruel joke.

DJ: I was worried about these whole interview thing, but I’m having fun. I like talking about my stories that I work so hard on.

Mica: Well glad to know it’s as painless as I promised. And glad to know you are having fun since you aren’t done yet.

DJ: Bring it on. I’m ready. Who’s next?

Zhip: That would be me and I challenge you to a round of horseshoes.

DJ: Fun I haven’t played that game in forever.

Zhip: When we got the email about doing a moderator spotlight I thought about what I wanted to ask. It was tough to come up with questions without focusing on the writing aspect.

DJ: Well we are all writers on some level so it makes sense that your questions would center around that.

Zhip: True but I wanted to think of other things and since this is moderator spotlight that’s what my questions center on. Being a mod.

DJ: Kewl. Whatcha wanna know?

Zhip: As a moderator, how many technical things do you have to do to maintain the site, RWN?

DJ: Surprisingly there’s really never that much to do. We don’t care where you post so those are rarely ever moved. If you want to talk about kittens in the Sims 3 chat have at it we’re not going to throw bitch fits and ask you to ‘kindly stay on topic’. I will move a story to the bookshelf or hiatus thread when they haven’t received activity in over 3 months. I add coding for new smilies and buttons like spoiler, quote, or medication. And we change the skins every now and again.

Zhip: Do you sometimes feel like Dustin behind the scenes?

DJ: Hahaha no never. He’s a real technological genius and although I have a degree in Computer Science it was never as in-depth as his education.

 Zhip: How did you become a moderator for RWN? Would you do it again?

DJ: Back in April of 2011, myself and a group of friends wanted to have a place where we could discuss Sims without the worries of being yelled at by moderators. At the time we were all members of a different forum where the Admin had some real personal issues and would freak out and degrade her members for posting in the wrong place or uploading an avatar 1 size too big. I made the suggestion to Quiana that we should make our own and she asked a friend of hers and shortly after that RWN was born. Back then we also had 6 mods but some have left for various reasons. Would I do it again? I absolutely would! This is a game that we all play for fun or storytelling purposes. Who would want to be yelled at for placing a picture of a Sim in the thread for Pets?

Zhip: As a moderator for a story-telling site, do you feel obligated to read all of the posted stories even if the genre or style isn’t one you would normally read?

DJ: I try to give every genre a chance and read something from each of our members. Sometimes if the genre isn’t one I’m normally prone to read it’s much harder for me to get through it and finish it but I try. I’m not very into Sci-Fi but I’ve found a few stories by our members that are very well written and can hold my attention. Romance is also something that doesn’t always sit right with me. I know you’re thinking ‘but you’re a girl’. True, but I’m a girl into horror stuff lol. I like the chase in a cat and mouse romance but not so much the ‘love at first sight’ stuff.

Zhip: As a moderator, have you ever had the urge to ban someone?

DJ: Nope, never! The whole basis of ‘Rebel Writers Nirvana’ is to make everyone who joins feel welcomed and wanted. We run sort of like a dysfunctional family with a big heart; quirky, fun and loving. In its 3 year lifespan, there has only been one incident that resulted in a member ban but that was for the sanctity of everyone who was a member. The offending member turned out to be a troll causing havoc to the community and issuing death threats to people on various forums. We didn’t want that to tarnish RWN or what we’d built so the decision was made to ban him.

Zhip: If a member of RWN were attacked in the community, be it on their blog or emails or another forum, would you come to their aid?

DJ: Absolutely! I feel as if we are all family here and any jab at one of you is like a jab at me. This was the case with some of Kate’s poses last year. Someone was teasing her about making only gory, violent poses on one of the archival websites. I kindly pointed out that her poses are done by request and if they had a problem with the content then to skip it and not download them. Plus I got a new set of MAC Knives (the originals) for Christmas they need to be field tested somehow right? It’s funny when I opened them up, Jason’s uncle asked, ‘Is she normally this excited over cutlery?’ And he replied ‘she sleeps with a 9 inch Bowie beside the bed’. So he responded with ‘And do you normally wake to find her standing over you breathing hard?’ I promise I’m not psycho…just drawn that way. He was wrong by the way, my bowie is 13.25inches it's a German Widder Solingen original. GET IT RIGHT JAY! We look to do MAXIMUM damage in here!

Zhip: Do you get spammed with email or PMs or do you find the members of RWN a rather calm, cool and collected bunch?

DJ: Nope I am never spammed. RWN is a pretty relaxed atmosphere. Would I describe its members as calm and collected? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA um…yes for fear of one of these psychos actually forgetting their meds one day.

Zhip: This coming from the lady that sleeps with a knife. Well I’m all out of questions. Think it’s time for a dip in the pool.

DJ: That sounds like a good idea.

Mica: Shhh, she’s coming.

DJ: Hey guys what’s up?

Mica: Up? What are you talking about? Always with the questions.

DJ: Um...oookkkk. I’m gonna go swimming now.

Jill: Oh, yeah that sounds like fun. Let’s do that.

DJ: Did Mica seem a little off to you?

Jill: You mean more than normal?

DJ: Haha, yeah I guess you’re right. This is pretty relaxing and everyone appears to be having a good time.

Jill: yeah this was a pretty good idea. So why I have a moment I want to pick your brain a bit as well.

DJ: Sure thing. Ask away.

Jill: So since you are going to be an old married lady soon what are you planning on wearing and will there be a honeymoon involved?

DJ: Hmm haven’t actually thought about that. I’m not a dress person so mostly likely pants of some sort. As for the honeymoon I would like to go someplace exotic. Though from what I understand I’m to become a baby factory fairly soon so that might not be possible.

Jill: Well if you are planning on babies, you might want to talk him into taking that trip now. Baby making in an exotic location could be fun.

DJ: I’ll have to tell him that. Thanks for the tip.

Jill: Anytime. So I know you like to read - do you have any favorites you can recommend?

DJ: I’m a James Patterson, Stephen King, Dean Koontz fan so anything by them. I’m getting a little over with some of Koontz’s descriptions as of late though. He uses overly emphasized descriptions of EVERYTHING to the point it’s just nauseating and I find myself rolling my eyes. And it seems his favorite word is ‘ethereal’ when describing a woman. Someone needs to send that guy a thesaurus! On top of that he doesn’t complete his sentences and his settings seem off. I’m beginning to wonder if he has gone the way of Patterson and has a huge factory of people writing for him…his work just isn’t the way it used to be. I was supposed to be recommending something wasn’t I? Oops…

Jill: Yeah but that’s fine. Keeping with the reading line of questioning do you pick up inspiration from other Sims story tellers or real published authors?

DJ: When I first started I did. I read a story by Nygirl called ‘After Dark’ and it showed me a whole new way of playing the Sims. After that I tried my hand at producing a Sims story and the rest is history.

Jill: Well we are all grateful for that. How much time per day do you spend working on your stories?

DJ: From the time I wake until the time I sleep so…16hrs or so? I don’t work anymore and am at a standstill for school. Writing is a cheap way to be entertained until the meantime.

Jill: Well the time and dedication shows. In your character interviews, what made you decide to treat them as actors rather than the characters they portray in your stories?

DJ: It was actually a tossup between doing an ‘On the Couch’ segment where the characters are b*tching their thoughts to a shrink versus seeing the actor behind the scenes. Since ‘After Hours’ was all about ‘behind the scenes’ I thought it would be fun and refreshing to see the actors and hear their thoughts about the series. I still want to do something like the psychiatrist sessions too though. I think that would be really fun!

Jill: That is a fun way to look at it. Makes them seem more like real people. You usually choose to do stories in “Seasons” rather than have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Tell us why you prefer that style.

DJ: It’s easier for me and the reader to keep up with. You can get a clear sense of time jumps and season changes when there’s a break in the story and it’s much easier to keep events organized so I know what’s coming next or where a certain plot should taper off and another begin. Plus it allows the reader to take the series in parts rather than feel forced to have to read everything straight through. Season 1 with 10 chapters looks better than Chapter 1/50.

Jill: Do you have goals for your writing, or are you just happy to write?

DJ: Goals? No not really. As nice as it would be to have something of mine published (and I have a sister and Mom constantly badgering me about that) it takes soo much more work to produce a story for publishing than it does to just write. I’m not sure I can handle that.

Jill: Do you write anything aside from Sim Stories?

DJ: At the ‘request’ of my family, I started a story entitled ‘Call Waiting’ for publishing. I work on it when I am in the mood, which is rare because I think I psych myself out about its likelihood for being published. It’s currently on Chapter 8 though and going. The plot is about a woman working as a phone sex operator who gets on the line with a serial killer who calls her every night just to hear her voice. If he has a bad day he talks with her to make it better and get the pain off his chest. Things started off as a sexual release at first but after a while he becomes obsessed and tries to find out more about her. He begins telling her about meeting people that he thought was her and describing how he killed them because they never compared to how he feels when they talk. It’s a suspense-thriller with lots of twists and gets scarier the longer they communicate and she realizes that’s one call she should have let go straight to voicemail.

Jill: That sounds like a book I would definitely buy when it’s published. Now that we finally have Supernatural, are there any other things you’d like to see from the Sims 3 franchise?

DJ: Nope! I have everything I wanted. But there are some interesting concepts with the newer expansions set to be released. These I could say I can do without but watch I buy them anyway. Damn EA money grubbing SOBs. University and Island Paradise both sound awesome! /sigh

Jill: I don’t know when you’d have any free time, but what other games do you enjoy playing besides Sims?

DJ: I played World of Warcraft for a long time starting with Warcraft 2 before that. I’ve tried Final Fantasy Online also. Um for console I am a HUGE Resident Evil fan, I have them all. Um Devil May Cry, Silent Hill, Need for Speed, F.E.A.R., um…Jason plays CoD and I mess around on that every now and again. We have the oldschool Sega collection also that’s a ton of fun to play with. I played Heavy Rain (back in October I think) and OMG is it awesome! It’s a really innovative interactive game that allows the player to determine the outcome of the case with soo many different ways to go. Definitely one of my favorites!

Jill: I think I have time for one more. What do you want to be when you grow up?

DJ: A veterinarian. It saddens me to no end that I got halfway done before the money dried up. I want to finish my doctorate so bad but I don’t have the money or financial backing from the state that I need to do it. What’s worse is I was accepted to the school, the hardest thing ever since that college is so competitive. I just can’t afford to attend. $33k per semester… Ok Jill I’m gonna have to get in the shade. I think I’m getting a sunburn and that will not be a good look for me.

Jill: That makes two of us. I guess that’s where the rest of the ladies have gone as well. It is getting hotter out here. Besides I need to go check on Jean-Marie. We haven’t see her or the dancers lately.

DJ: Um yeah do we have insurance to cover that?

Jill: I don’t think so.

DJ: Man I’m hungry. Meeks! Where are those hotdogs you were grilling?

Mica: Right here grab one. I was about to. I figured everyone should be getting hungry.

DJ: Well Jill thinks Jean-Marie may have the dancers tied up somewhere doing who knows what to them. Nancy and Kristen are still enjoying the water slide.

Mica: Ah well the dancers are ok. I paid them and they left so we won’t have to cover up any crimes today and the other ladies are scattered about.

Jill: Well that’s good we aren’t going to be charged as an accomplice to anything.

Mica: Well let’s eat. I have a few questions if you don’t mind answering them while we eat.

DJ: Nope not at all.

Mica: Since we are eating we’ll start with this one. What’s your favorite food?

DJ: Chicken Alfredo or anything Italian. 

Mica: Can’t go wrong with Italian. Do you have any four legged children? If so what kind?

DJ: I have a German Shepard-Chow mix that I got Jason as a Christmas gift in 2009. It was ‘his’ gift lol her name is Carmella Carr (yes she got his last name before I did and he only knew her for a week!) This is her: Carmella

Mica: Well he’s gonna be correcting that over sight in just a few days. Speaking of guys, your male characters are always so hot, well other than Bane, but I digress. Would you ever share your character for others to use? Or have you ever made a sim specifically for someone else?

DJ: I think Bane is pretty hot. But to answer your question, when I first started writing I uploaded the characters for Desired in my S3 Studio. Later I found how big of a mistake that was when they appeared in someone else’s story without consent and the personalities of these characters had been horribly misrepresented. After that I removed them from my studio and stopped sharing them. My characters are like my children as strange as that may sound and I hate seeing them misused. If someone wanted to use them in a story I’d be more than happy to share but to take them and put them to use without consent publicly is a horrible injustice. I don’t think I’ve ever made a sim for someone else to use (not that I can remember anyway). But I would if asked. 

Mica: I guess people think when they are on the exchange they are out there to do what they want with them. They don’t have the same attachment to them that you had when making them. Do you think you will ever get tired of writing sim stories?

DJ: Illustrating them takes the most time. I think that if I were to just write, I could update and create ‘books’ much quicker. But I love knowing I can make the movies in my head come to life so to speak by using Sims to illustrate them. I enjoy writing a lot. It wasn’t something I said to myself I ever wanted to do and surprised me when I took pen to paper (or finger to keyboard as it were) and wrote something that people actually responded to and enjoyed! I don’t think I could ever tire of doing this. My mind is constantly coming up with new stuff and I am always looking for a way to implement them!

Mica: You’re telling me. I HATE the picture taking part of it. Well for all of us fans we are glad you don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Now we talk a lot and you know I have certain...hang ups. Your stories are rather racy, was it weird when you wrote your first sex scene?

DJ: LOL! Um no. I’m a pretty provocative person in real life, granted I don’t undress in public and put on a show, but I don’t ever want to feel sexually repressed either. When I did my first one it was still a fresh concept in my writing as well as Sims -- poses had not yet been made so it was a chore figuring out how to show what was written. I didn’t know how my audience would respond to it but it wasn’t taken badly or criticized. After a while I became more open about various sex acts and the writing became much more explicit. I’ve never been a ‘pg13’ person because it’s just not who I am. So as my writing evolved, so did the warnings that were included on the sidebars or summary headings. Don’t get me wrong, as open as I am about the topic, I’m not just gonna force my views or writing on someone who’s a little more reserved than I.

Mica: Your stories are very detailed and realistic, how much research do you put into making sure your background info is correct?

DJ: An endless amount! From costumes to weather and even time periods I want to add as much realism into my stories as I can. Did you know that all of the dates shown, for example Saturday, August 20, 1785, correlates to the real day? Although I know no one is pulling up a calendar and checking my historical facts I like knowing that it’s there in case anyone ever did. Although it’s hard to get the period clothing sometimes because the game can be quite limiting, I try as hard as I can to get it just right. When I’m doing work on a specific career, for instance the spies in Codename, I research weapons, specialties, country information if they were traveling. I was thanked once for using Bulgarians in Desired by a reader. She said no one ever mentions them in the works she’s read and it was pleasant seeing the names and accents (as best as I could write them) being used. Names are another thing I select specifically for my characters and must know what they mean before using. Another interesting fact: all of the main characters in After Midnight (with the exception of Kaya) have names that mean ‘wolf’ something when translated. Rafe (counsel of the wolf), Caleb (Wolf/Hound/Dog/Heart), Villalobos (town of wolves), Ulrich (power of the wolf), Connor (lover of wolves) – befitting a playboy? And even Bane has a specific reason as defined as ‘poison’, death’, ‘destruction’. Kaya (depending on the translation) means ‘pure’, ‘wise child’ and ‘forgiveness’. I did this also for Desired and Drake’s name. I wanted something close to ‘Dracula’. And any name used for a certain nationality is researched as well.

 Mica: That explains a lot. How often do you back up your saves for your stories? What program do you use to do that?

DJ: I have one save per chapter of every story I’ve ever done. It sounds crazy and I know a lot of people write over their current save with a new one but I could never do that. I set up each scene for what is necessary and if I need to ever refer to it again I don’t want to have saved over it. My saves folder currently has 687 files in it. Can you imagine how much room I could clear up if I just deleted them? And this goes back to Desired Season 1 Episode 1 PLUS the first family I ever played in Sims 3! I don’t use a program, just copy the save folder onto a thumb or flash drive. I upload my Sims and important lots to my Mediafire account or also save them on a flash as well. 

Mica: You have a vast array of CC and poses that make your pictures that much better. How much time do you spend looking for CC and poses?

DJ: None at all really. I follow my favorite pose makers and check MS3B on occasion when I’m in the ‘shopping’ mood. I don’t like to CC shop because I have no willpower when it comes to clutter. One set leads to another set leads to another set leads to 43 downloads in a matter of minutes and me saying ‘OMG I don’t remember getting that!’ And then of course I use it once (or never) and forget it’s even there. I have an addiction and it’s not good. On the bright side though it allows me to live out that shoe fetish I didn’t know I have. I can’t tell you how many pairs I own in game compared to the four or five I have in real life haha.

Mica:  Name 3 things you couldn’t live without.

Marcus: They are standing right behind her. Or at least one of them is. Not sure about these other two.

Malcolm: She knows she would be lost without me.

Chase:Yeah sure. It’s me hands down.

****DJ shooting Mica an evil glare*****

DJ: Is this some sort of set up?

***Mica looking innocently****

Mica: Set up? Whatever do you mean? I asked a simple question.

Marcus: Yes one we are all dying to know the answer too.

DJ: Just remember there’s always payback. Um Three things I can’t live without because she said things not people so. My computer w/internet access, my family, my friends.

Chase: Well the last two are people.

Malcolm: Very true. I think she’s trying to side step the question.

Marcus: I believe you are right.

Mica: Your are correct gentlemen so let’s see how she gets out of this one. If you could run off with any Sim character who would it be and why?

DJ: I knew it! SET UP!!!

***Mica laughing hysterically****

Marcus: I already know the answer to this one. Me hands down.

Malcolm: You wish.


DJ: Um...Just one? Seriously? What the hell kind of question is that? Um...let's see. I would combine all of my hotties into one jackpot and flee! Teehee! You'll never catch me alive coppas! Gosh there are so many I could never choose just one. And I think you're trying to bait me into saying someone other than who you want so later you can say "ha but you're not taking off with him, he's mine!" I see your dirty trick and I won't fall for it. Nice try. Next question!

Chase: I don’t approve of that answer.

Marcus: Me either.

Mica***still laughing***Um well fellas I don’t think she’s gonna give you a straight answer. So lets round up the other ladies and open some gifts.

DJ: ***still shooting Mica an evil look*** yes gifts would be good now. And Mica I got one word for you. Bowie....

Mica: Yeah yeah...whatever. Come on let’s go do gifts.

DJ: I want to thank you all for coming and celebrating with me. It means a lot and this was a lot of fun.

Mica: Yes we enjoyed this day very much.

Jill: And we can’t wait to see what next month brings.

****Hope you all enjoyed  DJ's interview. It was so much fun to put together. DJ congrats on the upcoming wedding!