DCA: Who is Edward Ainsworth?

Edward: He’s a twenty two years old, who is single and hates his job, so he goes home every night to write fan fic about superheroes who don’t hate their jobs and get it regularly. Bastards. He was raised on Science, Science Fiction and British Comedy, thus making him mental.

Which city and country is proud to call you an upstanding citizen of?

E: I don’t live in a City, Sadly. Well, actually nicely. I live in a small…Town? Village? I guess it’s a Village. Called Newington, it’s between Rainham and Sittingbourne, and if you want some crack or Heroin, go into town at Midnight. I’m English incidentally, not British.

What’s your background?

E: Currently, the far wall of my bedroom, and a bed. Honestly though my background is pretty varied, I have spent time living in two different countries, “absorbing” culture from Australia and England. I spent a lot of time when I was younger playing Superhero games with my brother and my friends, and we watched a lot of Sci-Fi stuff, from the Old Tom Baker Dr Who, through Red Dwarf and into Star Trek. So Sci-Fi is in my blood really. I’ve got a wide range of cinematic loves, and musical tastes, so a lot of my stuff is random because that’s what’s going on around me. I love random. One minute we’re listening to the Black Kids, the next its Arch Enemy.

What inspired you to start writing?

E: I’ve always created stories. I do/did a lot of role-play, and I spent far more time creating worlds for my characters than I did trying to get the ladies naked. I never got into that cyber sex ballacks. It went from there really, I did an out course in Screen writing at Uni, and I loved it. Did really well as well. I love creating things and then destroying them, because I’m essentially a bastard.

What were the first stories you wrote? Where they for English class back in school or something you decided to do for yourself?

E: Yeah, I did short stories, which then progressed into longer stories. I stopped writing for a while, when computers came along and ended up doing that. But I still read comics, and dreamed up my own storylines and characters and all of that Jazz.

What’s your approach to writing?

E: My approach to writing is this – I have an idea – Like Diana Fighting Geomancer, and then I sit down and I write it. There’s not a huge amount of mental planning that I do, and I generally just go straight from brain to page. I occasionally edit things back out, but it’s mostly out and written and that’s my stuff. It’s probably a really BAD way to do things.

Do you have any influences in fiction that have affected this approach?

E: I know LOADS of people have influences from really famous writers and that but most of mine are kind of…well, they’re mostly comic book writers, I’m influenced a little by other writers. Christopher Golden, Robert Rankin, Tom Holt, LOVE H.P.Lovecraft, but he’s so heavy it’s unreal. In terms of comic writers? Grant Morrison. I love that guy, I know he’s Marmite, but I love his stories, and the more insane they are, the more bloody mental the result, the more I want to express my man love physically. I’m influenced by people I know as well, a girl I role-played with, called Emma, she spurs me on, even if she doesn’t know it anymore. A lot of my creative juices are made to impress her, because I’m essentially a fan boy at heart and she’s a lady.

Why fanfiction and how long have you been writing it?

E: I’ve been writing fanfic for as long as DCI has been around really. That was the first place I did fanfic for. Mike kindly took a chance on me and let me come in, Guns blazing on Ultra Marines, which turned from my original proposal into something completely mental. Why fanfic? Because, I can do whatever mental thing I think of, and if I put with an established character, people will put it up on the internet!? Nah, fanfic because I can play with characters I love and give them the respect and air time they deserve. Who else wants to use Lady Quark in a fan fic? Or Continuity established years ago in the Veritgo Animal Title?

What brought you to DC Anthology? What was the first title you read at DCA?

E: I was searching randomly during my “Expansion” phase and stumbled across this place. It seemed pretty cool and more importantly, you had a Wonder Woman opening. So I read around a bit and it seemed like a really cool place to crash out – So I emailed Erik straight away, and honestly, I thought I’d get a rejection email. My friend tells me I do the big stuff, but without the little bits, so it takes away from the impact – And the first title I read at DCA was, surprise surprise, Dr Fate. Jaime, get out of my head. I think my exact words were “Ooooh, Doctor Fate.”

Do you have any work at another site?

E: Yeah, I mentioned before DCI. I do Animal Man there, and Blue Beetle, which I took over from Bowie. I also do some Marvel Work, in the form of Ex-Man, and an Upcoming Project for M2K which I’m really excited about.

What was behind your decision to pitch WONDER WOMAN as your first title at DCA?

E: The decision was, well, the actual process was – We were having a DCI chat about Wonder Woman, and I made a throw away comment just to be random, you’ve all seen me in chats, I talk bollocks, well, one Wonder Woman fan dismissed the idea, and continued to talk about what he’d do. That’s when I went away and actually started to think about the idea; Now, I didn’t want to do it at DCI, so, I found DCA and lobbed it your way. DCA had a free open title, and I had an idea that’d probably make you weep and fear me, so it was win win. To my surprise you emailed me back with some questions, and the rest, as they say, is bad luck for you.

Did you feel it was risky to propose so many radical changes to take WONDER WOMAN in such a different direction than normal, especially to a site where you’ve never wrote for before to gain a measure of trust?

E: That never even occurred to me, to be perfectly honest with you. I had an idea and thought, that it would be a good idea to go with something different. Different is always better than you know, following the same old beaten paths. I’m sure you don’t want to spend fifteen years reading about Superman punching Lex Luthor in the face. At some point it becomes cannibalistic and you end up with a story that’s inbred and boring and above all, just really crappy. Besides, when I get an idea that’s what I work with – I tend not to go “Oh, someone might not like that.” At the end of the day, I’m writing for myself, as opposed to everyone else.

Why did you feel it was necessary to change Diana’s status quo? And how did you come to decide on this direction when I’m sure her own history and continuity left it open for other ideas to explore that stayed closer to her Amazonian roots?

E: Okay, well, look at it this way. Diana’s been around for donkey’s years floating around the same central concept. She’s Greek, there are Gods around, she’s part of Mythology, and she’s got lady villains. Is that interesting to people? Yes, because it sells. Was that interesting to me; No, because it’s like having an actor be type cast constantly over the years. At some point they’re either going to stop getting work, or they’re going to try and break out of the blood role. So, that’s what I did to Wonder Woman. The concept itself, of her being an Earth Elemental, isn’t THAT farfetched. She was made from Mystical Clay, she’s essential made from rock already, and frankly, if we all wanted to retread the stuff from the comics we’d still be working over Superman Diana Slash fics, you know?

WONDER WOMAN gets praised for its vivid descriptions and solid characterizations. Can you give us an insight into why you think this is?

E: It does? I don’t know actually. Since I started writing Wonder Woman I’ve almost developed another writing style entirely. My Animal man work has a completely different narrative feel to it, or at least I feel it does. Wonder Woman, as a friend told me, feel’s Hellenic. Which, I suppose is a good thing. The other thing I feel is that Wonder Woman ends up playing second fiddle to all the other DC characters and she’s almost a non-entity, like Batman’s the bastard, Superman’s the Anti-Bastard, and Wonder Woman fills whatever middle ground there is, and that’s kind of upsetting. She tends to get lobbed through different revamps that all are essentially the same theme – Oh, Wonder Woman has no powers. Oh, Wonder Woman has the gods angry with her. Oh, Wonder Woman was a God herself, and now isn’t. Oh, Wonder Woman has no powers. It’s a horrid cycle, and I’d rather not be part of it to be honest. I want to give Diana some semblance of human emotions. She’s been lobbed from everything she knew into a world where she knows the Square route of piss all. If that doesn’t make you grow a personality than nothing will.

Any hints about what the future holds for Diana and WONDER WOMAN?

E: The Future holds a lot for Diana, some of that is being touched upon in the 10K series. We’re growing up to the battle of the centuries, of old and the new, as well as touching upon the Elementals of the planet, and because it’s a new era, we’ve got a new base, and a new lot of…Well, that’d be telling wouldn’t it. Basically, there’s going to be a lot going on, and I don’t want to scrimp on the violence – The first four issues have been without major fisticuffs, so the next few issues won’t be without fights. We’ve got the ultimate fate of Gaia, as well as some completely mental stuff at a later date involving Circe and Diana; and it’s not your usual business, I can assure you of that RIGHT now.

Are you planning on pitching another title to DCA? If so, would you stick closer to the books original feel or would you take it in the same radical direction as WONDER WOMAN?

E: Funny you should ask, actually. I’ve been thinking, as I often do, about another series for DCA. It might be overtly obvious by Science, Mysticism and…bollocks are my main themes. I read a lot of science magazines, and most of my family, with the exception of my Dad is from a Science background. I have a Zoology degree, my Mum a Botany Degree, and my Brother is currently studying Astrophysics, so we’ve got a lot of material about. Anyway, the resultant thing is that I love to shoehorn science into it, and my pet stuff is the natural world and conservation, as well as alternative energies and all that other left wing liberal bollocks. Down with Oil companies, free up Pharmacology and all that other stuff that makes people do cringes. It’s alright, I won’t be wandering around the boards dressed in my underpants yelling for death to animal labs, or plotting nail bombs for Microsoft. I’m not an extremist, I just like trying to put these sort of things into words and in a superhero setting, because let’s be honest, there’s no soddin’ way someone’s going to do anything about it in the real world. It wouldn’t be a completely radical about face, because frankly, it’s been done in that title before, Under Ostrander. I am, of course, talking about Firestorm, the Nuclear man. I don’t know whether you’re completely up to date with English affairs, but old Gordon Brown recently pumped out a mandate that we’re going over to Nuclear power in England, as well as Fossil fuels. Hurray for potentially mental environmental and ecological destruction, as well as all the other insane risks that comes from it. So, I’ll be taking these ideas, as well as your standard hero stuff and lobbing them into the Matrix. I also want to bring in other like-powered heroes, and some older concepts. Who the Hell DOESN’T want to see the Atomic Knights again? They rode around on giant Dalmatians for god sakes. It’s genius.

In chats back and forth it’s pretty obvious that you have far more ideas than the time to write them. How do you pick and choose what to work on from your pool of ideas and do you somehow incorporate any ideas from the projects you pass over into your current work?

E: I normally end up developing them all mentally, and then looking at sites and seeing who’s free, it also depends on the type of character. For Example, there’s no soddin’ way I could write Batman. A) I don’t like the character and B) I cannot, CANNOT write ground level characters. I write the mental, I write silver age bollocks about living trees coming at you in the form of a swarm of tooth picks, or space Catfish that sense life forms and are used as interstellar trackers, not Pickpockets, and mental murderers. I have limitations. I’d like to break them one day, but every time I try, it ends up reading like a Monkey got shot in the face and had a spasm over a keyboard.

So, like, with Wonder Woman, I find an idea and develop it, or an image, or…I dunno, something. A key word, and then it grows from there. For Example, a plot point pushed forwards for Wonder Woman 4, was Geomancer being an angry boy. I thought about Rock based characters; Major Force, Sand, Geomancer, Geoforce, Hardrock. I chose the one I liked most, since I want Geoforce for later in the series, Then it’s a case for coming up for a reason for Geomancer to be involved; that’s the easy part. So it all starts off as a random key word or thought and then turns into a sub-plot, or big plot.

What title is there that DCA doesn’t have that you would like to see added to the site?

E: Oh, I have a list as long as my arm, to be perfect honest with you. I’m very much a fan of the silver age comics, particularly the more mental concepts – Anything that’s insane. A Space title would be nice, or a number of them. I think the Big league JLA heroes dominate DC fan fic, much the same way that X-men do for Marvel, so I’m going to pick one out of a Hate.

I want a New Gods Series for DCA.

What was your first impression of DCA as a website when you first started writing for it?

E: First impression? Bloody quick off the mark, is my impression. I sent an email, quite a long one as well, and within a day it was answered with a shit load of questions. Really very astute ones as well, not just “Are you going to have Wonder Woman in a dress, or hot pants.” Like proper constructive questions. Really, quick off the mark. Everyone was really friendly as well, at lot more so through Instant Messaging than through the lists. Lists tend to drain the urgency and the fun from a comment, I find. It ends up sitting in your in box for five hours and it means nothing by that time. It’s a good first impression, trust me.

How has is been in dealing with the other authors and editors at DCA? Have they been pretty accepting of you and your work on WONDER WOMAN?

E: Surprisingly yes, they’ve all be brilliant actually. The editing is bloody helpful, because let’s be honest, my grammar is appalling. It’s commented on elsewhere in the fan fic world, particularly my randomly capitalized words. The other authors seem really pleased to have me around as well; I like meeting new people, and then making them hate my fucking strange brain.

Is there anybody on site you’d have assassinated in order to take their book over?

E: I think I’d probably kill Jaime, actually. Mostly because the bastard beat me to the H.E.R.O dial, which I think is an immense concept, right up there with OMAC, and Kamadi. I’d really love to take that, run away with it, and leave Tockman counting the seconds obsessively elsewhere. I’d also love to have a crack at Dr Fate, but, I if I am perfectly honest, I’m not sure I’d do a very good job of it. The Bar’s too high you smarmy bastard.

Any author you’d like to see do a fill-in issue on WONDER WOMAN to see what they’d bring to the table?

E: I’d love for either Erik, or Jaime to do a fill in issue, actually. I love for Jaime to because Dr Fate makes me so jealous. The first DC title I ever proposed was a Dr Fate series, and it got rejected on the grounds of half the characters being used elsewhere. Jaime just writes a fantastic mystical series in Dr Fate, and there’s a lot of what I’ve done to Diana that could be mystical.

And Erik because he always writes a bit off the beaten path. His Superman stuff ISN’T Lex Luthor this, or Metallo that, it’s Toyman and an intelligent Zod. It’s a clever mans Superman, not “Look at the man of steel punching a robot! OH! Kryptonite! OH, it’s alright. He got better.”

What are some of your favorite titles or characters at DCA (besides your own of course) and why?

E: Dr Fate, Clearly, because Jaime writes him so well (You Bastard.); Superboy, because Erik makes him an actual Teenager, Impulse because he’s not morbid and actually has a personality beyond “Look! I’ve got a short attention spa…LOOK A PENNY!”

Is it true that you think Keeley Hazell is the hottest chick on the planet?

E: No, that’s completely incorrect. She’s blight on my informative newspaper (Yeah right, because the Sun’s for people who want to be quietly racist and beat up Paedos. Gotta love British Press.)

Well, thanks for your time Ed, do you have anything to say or plug before we’re done?

E: If you Read Wonder Woman and liked it. Email me. If you read Wonder Woman and hated it. Email me. If you want to talk comics, or anything science like, I’m on MSN, Yahoo and AIM most of the time, so hit me and up and we’ll talk shop, an’ that.