Chapter 7: Authors' Roundtable

"Who's ready to see who won these awards?" Zack shouted into the camera.

"Oh, just tell me that I won everything as always," London said, with a casual wave of her perfectly manicured hand.

"Um, London, these aren't the fashion awards," Bailey corrected.

"Then why am I here?" questioned the heiress.

"Because you're the host," Bailey reminded her.

A look of confusion crossed the heiress's face. "Oh, I forgot."

"Anyway, we have a special treat for all you fans of these great authors," Cody announced. "All five of our favorite author nominees have agreed to come back for a second round of interviews."

"And no, we aren't just doing this to remind people to vote," Zack said, "And there is absolutely no truth to accusations that the coordinator forgot to include stuff in the last chapter."

"So, without further ado, please welcome these five great authors," Bailey cheered as the authors emerged onto the stage. "The Queen of Romance, Lodylodylody; the Master of Disaster, Kulmanari; the Diva of Drama, Woundhearts; the Connoisseur of Comedy, Elianna22; and the Virtuoso of Fantasy, Tiger002!"

"Welcome back, everyone," Cody said warmly.

"I can't believe this is happening," Woundedhearts exclaimed as she pulled out a pen. "I must have autographs!"

London was delighted with such appreciation. "Well, of course, anything for one of my fans," she said graciously.

"Um, sure London, but I was talking about these amazing authors. T-tiger, Ku-kulmanari, Elianna, and L-l-lody!" The author began breathing heavily.

"Whoa, calm down, you don't want a repeat of the Pirates of the Caribbean incident," Lody said.

Woundedhearts turned to toward her friend. "What do you mean?" she asked innocently.

"You fainted, landing in Johnny Depp's lap."

"Did I?" she asked. "Well, it was a rather warm day."

Her friend gave her a knowing glance, "And how do you explain what happened with the props?" Lody inquired with an I-know-what-you-did look.

"None of that was my fault," she replied in a huff. "Props have been known to disappear into thin air, and they have nothing they can pin on me."

The other woman rolled her eyes, making everyone laugh. "Whatever you say."

Woundedhearts took note of this before continuing. "I am no longer a star-struck teenager, I am an adult and will act accordingly," she instructed herself. "Right after this." She pulled out a camera and handed it to Cody so he could snap a group picture of the five authors for her.

"We want to thank all of these authors for their assistance with the awards show," Cody said after returning the camera.

"But none can deny Woundedhearts' tireless effort of coming up with great interview questions," Zack added. "You ain't seen nothin' yet!"

"You know it," the author said, pulling a large, encyclopedia-sized book from her bag and giving it to Zack."

"Whoa!" The older twin nearly stumbled under its weight. "Are these the interview questions?"

"No, those are just for Tiger."

At this, Tiger's eyes widened. "Um, Zack, you mind if I borrow your helicopter for a while?"

"Sorry dude, I'd like to see what she has for you, too," Zack said as he began looking through the questions and the other four authors took their seats in the front row. "First of all, if you could erase any traumatic event in history, what would it be and why?"

Tiger paused for a moment to consider the answer. "The first thing that comes to mind is to erase the Holocaust. Millions of innocents would not have died. I'm afraid to see what the ripple effect of that might be, though. While it might be good, it could make the world a much worse place in ways we couldn't imagine."

"If you could describe yourself in one word, what would it be?" Cody asked.

"Unique. I really hate sticking to what people expect. In my life, I love seeing unusual ways of doing this, and will do something strange just to say that I did. When I write, I refuse to post the same thing that a hundred different authors have done. The uniqueness my stories is part of the reason the readers seem to enjoy them so much."

London asked the next question. "If you were offered a lot of money to stop writing would you do it?"

"Is that by your definition of a lot?" Tiger queried.

"How about a diamond the size of your head?"

"If I could take the diamond and run away to Australia, and keep writing anyway, I'd do it, but barring that…" Tiger paused as he contemplated his answer. "I'd have to say yes. With all that money I'd be able to get through college, help out those I love and care about, and really do some good for those I don't even know. I'd be willing to give up this hobby for that."

Woundedhearts called out the next question, eliciting a gasp from the audience. "Zack and Cody are hanging over a cliff. You have a hold of each one, but in order to avoid falling you have to let go of one of their hands. Which one do you release?"

"And I thought I was an evil author," Tiger chuckled. "Well, my completely on-the-spot answer would be to save Zack and let Cody go." This promptly earned the author a glare from the younger twin. "Let me explain, Cody would know more about physics, and would be more likely to find a way to survive by pulling out the normally useless item out of his pocket, knowing how to make a parachute out of his clothes or something. Barring that, he likely knows the human body well enough to know how to land in the way that would make it easiest to survive."

"Now on a lighter note," Cody said, "if you could spend the day with us, either on the hotel or ship, what would it entail?"

"One thing for sure, Moseby would have an interesting day," Tiger said with a smile. "I'd start with something simple, like eating from the best restaurants on board, and then sending the bill to London. There would definitely be parasailing, some experiments with the pool water, and causing the computer system to go completely haywire."

"So what I do every day?" Zack said.

"Exactly."

"You always seem to be coming up with new ideas, while some authors struggle to come up with anything," Bailey said. "How do you manage to do it?"

"Part of it might be that my mind is trained to come up with ideas after writing, but part of it is asking questions. The simple 'what if' can be incredibly powerful in coming up with a story idea. Think of a simple change in the show, and ask yourself where it could go. You might get a great idea with that, you might not, but it's something."

"I have a question," said Elianna, raising a hand. "With your recent Holiday stories, you've worked on genres other than adventure. Is that something you plan to include with any future projects?"

"I'm not sure," Tiger replied. "I do have a longer romance story in my head, but I'm not sure if I'll get that written. I'm also participating in a Valentine's Day collection, which I'm sure Lody will tell you about."

"Try and stop me!" Lody declared, walking up to the stage.

"What can you tell us about this Strange Love collection?" Bailey asked her.

"We've made a list of every named character that has ever appeared on an episode of TSLOD and TSLOZAC. This includes characters from other shows that've appeared in crossover episodes like Hannah Montana and Justin Russo. Every author who wants to write a story for this collection will have the names of two different characters drawn out of a hat … and then the writer writes about those two characters as a couple. The results we've had so far for have been crazy! And all of the authors who've already signed up have been very excited at the pairings they've gotten and figuring out how to craft their stories. We want lots of people to sign up … so for more info see the forum link on my profile."

Tiger stepped down from the stage and joined the other spectators.

"You've written a lot of stories for the Suite Life series. Are there any other forums you'd be interested in writing for?" Cody asked.

"There are many shows and other settings I'm a fan of. I don't know why, of all of them, Suite Life has been the easiest for me to write for. I think everyone knows I love Wizards of Waverly Place, which I've written one story for. I hope to try more in the future with those characters. Outside of Disney shows, I've started a fun little story with Marvel comic book superheroes. Check it out by going to my author's page. I can't believe I've never attempted a Buffy the Vampire Slayer story yet … I have all the episodes on DVD. In fact, I think I have copies of every Joss Whedon show ever made. It would be fun to write a Firefly or Dollhouse story someday. Hmm … maybe those should be Suite Life crossovers? London the Vampire Slayer?

"Would I get to wear awesome clothes and jewelry in that?" London asked eagerly.

"Um, sure."

"You should definitely do it then," the heiress said.

"Why do you think Two Brothers and a Pop Tart was so popular with your fan base?" Bailey asked.

"I really wish I knew. I have to admit, there was a time when I'd look at my reviews and feedback for that story and think: 'WOW! I must be a GREAT writer!'

"But then I'd read other stories from Woundedhearts or Elianna22 or James Doyle or dozens of others on the site and realize my writing is nowhere near their league. Yet people continue to shower love on my story.

"I can only guess they respond to my examination of the characters. If there's anything I do well in fanfiction, I think it's that I sometimes present the characters in ways that people wouldn't necessarily think of … but at the same time do not violate the true nature of the characters as we see them on TV. With Mikayla, for example, on TV she's been a pretty nasty character. I would have no problem reading or writing a story that played up her nasty side and made her an all-out villain. But, there were some tidbits about her that had been shown … and many other details about her character that had never been addressed at all … which left plenty of room to make her a nice and sympathetic character, while still making her entirely consistent with what we'd seen of her on TV. I loved that.

"I think writers should ask themselves those questions when thinking about characters and how they could be used in stories. I hate reading stories where characters are portrayed poorly and not as themselves. But if someone can take a character and write them in new and unusual ways, but still keep them in-character … I love that."

"Who is your favorite character from TSLOZAC?" London asked.

"The first response to that question for me has long been a tie between Carey and London."

"Yay me!" the heiress said, clapping. "If you had to choose between the two of us, though?"

"I fear that Carey may have developed a teeny tiny lead as of late, though. Not that I mind having Carey as my favorite … the part that bugs me is that I haven't been crazy about the way London's character has been handled on some of the more recent episodes. The truth is, and I say this with all due respect, that some of the television writers need to start asking certain fanfiction writers about how to handle the characters."

"Who is your favorite new character from TSLOD?" asked Cody.

"I remember watching the first episode of TSLOD, hoping that it would be a good successor to the original series. Almost at once there were some things I didn't like … but plenty that I did. The first thing that struck me was Bailey. I thought she might have a thankless task, having to fill the 'Maddie-role' of being one of the two main female characters. How could she just step in alongside Zack and Cody and London when those three had been working together for years?

"So you can't imagine how delighted I was to immediately realize that Bailey is REALLY likable. She had no trouble winning me over."

"I could say the same thing about her," Cody said, winking at the farm girl. "Anyone else that has stuck out for you?"

"I've sort of fallen in love with Tutweiller. It may be the writer in me that draws me to her, because she just exudes tons of untapped potential for stories."

"If you could collaborate with a well-known author on a brand-new story, who would it be and why?" Cody asked.

"There are so many amazing writers here that would be interesting to write with … though also intimidating. I've had great fun working with Woundedhearts on a few things and am very excited she's co-writing a new story I dreamed up. It will be called Wicked Games … and it's going to be quite different from anything either of us have done before."

"I would have to agree." Woundedhearts added, making her way up to the stage. "This is going to be quite different than anything you've seen before. We are stepping away from our safety zone, in order to try something new and exciting. It's a story filled with danger, and malice. It will both intrigue and shock the reader. Quite a few characters will be tested on their ability to survive the Devil's Playground and destroy the evil mind that controls it!"

"Now I'll let my friend have the spotlight," Lody said, stepping down.

"I didn't write any questions for myself, though," Woundedhearts said.

"Don't worry, I took care of that," Tiger told her with an evil smirk.

"What is your favorite episode from the Suite Life series?" Cody asked.

"I have to say that from TSLOZAC it would have to be 'Birdman of Boston' because there was a really heartfelt talk between Carey and Cody at the end. As for TSLOD, it would have to be 'Flowers and Chocolate' because there's a point in there where Zack really shows everyone how much he cares for Cody. Right after Zack finds out that Cody was hurt by Barbara's actions, he walks around Bob with this deep concern look on his face, and it shows me just how much he cares for his little brother."

"If you were a character in an adventure/fantasy story, what type of weapon would you use?" Zack asked.

"Either an eraser or a paintbrush. If this is a fantasy, then I can go around and change anything I don't like, which includes poverty, pain, loss, heartbreak, sadness, sickness, etc. I think that would be a very powerful weapon, and one that would be great for humanity."

"I guess big explosives aren't the only thing that can be powerful," the older twin said.

"You've used music in a number of your stories. Are there any types that you find help you the most while writing?" Bailey asked.

"The sentimental songs that tell a story really move me while I am writing an emotional scene. I find that I really can understand and relate to the content better if I listen to these kinds of songs."

"What gave you the idea for your fabulous Holiday Collections?" London asked.

"To be completely honest, Lody was the one who had come up with a basis for the original Halloween collection. I just filled in the blanks here and there, so we ran with it. We wanted to find a way to thank our readers for being so supportive of our stories. Then we thought about how fun it would be if many authors were to contribute, and Halloween is such a fun holiday, so why not? Now readers have something they can treasure because they will be able to find their favorite authors in one place."

"If you could have a specific skill of a certain author, what would it be?" Zack inquired.

"That's a good question, I admire several authors and would love to steal … uh … borrow certain skills from each. I would have to say Lody's ability to bring heart to a character/story and Elianna's ability to bring depth to a character/story. Both would really be amazing skills to possess."

"Speaking of Elianna, we have a few questions for her, too," Cody said.

"Sure, I'd love to answer them," Elianna responded, joining the hosts onstage.

"What's your favorite Suite Life episode?" London asked her.

"Wow, that's a tough one, but I'd have to say 'Moseby's Big Brother' from Season 2 of TSLOZAC. Like some other authors in this forum, I am also an only child and have always been drawn to family-oriented TV shows as way to vicariously experience having brothers and sisters. This episode really highlighted the highs and lows of having a sibling. The sweet moment at the end where Zack hands over the bike to Cody gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling every time I watch it.

"A serious runner-up is Goin' Bananas' from Season 2 of TSLOD because Zack and Cody reached an important connection about how they've misunderstood each other. And Cody's banana costume is just hilarious. I also love 'The Fairest of Them All' from Season 1 of TSLOZAC. Elements of the unforgettable beauty pageant have popped up in many of my stories."

"Don't remind me," Cody grumbled. "Zack keeps threatening to blackmail me with the video of it."

"It's not my fault I just happened to hide a camera there." Zack then turned to the author. "If you could change an established character any way you want, who and what would you change?"

"I'd really like to see London returned to her original personality as a self-centred heiress who generally doesn't need to use her brain because almost everything is handed to her. Lately she's been portrayed as truly mentally deficient, and to me that's just not funny. London has had some really strong moments throughout the series, where she's proven herself to be a strategic thinker and a generous, caring friend. I'd love to see that London again."

"Which character do you most resemble?" Bailey asked.

"I'm probably a combination of Cody and Bailey. Like Cody, I was really nerdy growing up and felt like everyone was better at sports, dating and making friends than me. And then I got a cool leather jacket, just like 'Bad Cody' in the 'Bermuda Triangle' episode from Season 2 of TSLOD, tee hee :). During high school, I also had a very close friend who was a little older than me and everyone thought we were sisters, even twins, because we looked so much alike. She always looked out for me, the way Zack does for Cody."

The author turned to Bailey. "And like you, I lived in a small town for a while. I just couldn't adjust to it and when I started writing Just One of the Guys, I drew on this experience of wanting to escape small-town life and see more of the world."

"If you could bring back any minor character and make them into a main character, which one would it be and why?" Cody asked.

"I'd make Mr. Moseby's niece Nia into a student at Seven Seas High. Nia is a strong female character and her scheming side has plenty of potential of drama and trouble. Right now Zack is the only ringleader, and Nia could get the girls to launch some hi-jinks of their own. Nia also gave some family context to Mr. Moseby, whose main focus in life is his job and keeping the twins from creating too much chaos."

"How much do you plan ahead of time before you start writing?" London asked.

"I like to plan to ahead quite a bit. For example, when writers ask me for advice on beginning a story, I suggest they start with an outline. I always create an outline before I start writing, with the main conflict points in place and a basic idea of the ending. I write chapters out of order, as various ideas for scenes come to mind. When trying to figure out how a story should end, I've found that the final arc often grows from a single conclusive scene to several other scenes, followed by one or more chapters attaching themselves to the end of the story. With Repercussions: Part 2, the first scene I wrote was the original ending. Much more content has been added since then, which actually surprised me, but I think the readers will enjoy the final arc more as a result of these changes.

"One thing I've found with posting chapters one by one in a forum like this is that a chapter is never finalized until the reviews have come in for the previous chapter. Readers always point out issues and questions that haven't occurred to me, or that deserve more consideration. Their attention to detail is invaluable. A couple of times, readers have shown so much sympathy for a character, such as Cody in Just One of the Guys, that I've worried they wouldn't accept the next arc in the story. Paying attention to readers' thoughts really helped me strengthen those next chapters so that readers wouldn't feel disappointed or cheated."

"You're researching scenes for your upcoming chapters involving Zack's experience as a prisoner of war," Bailey noted. "Now hard was that to do?"

The author nodded. "Writing Repercussions: Part 2 has definitely been more challenging than any other story so far. It was much easier to write about high school romance and teen angst from the perspective of a 16-year-old girl in Just One of the Guys and Repercussions: Part 1. Almost everything in Part 2 is based on research and imagination. My reading pile normally contains books that would be classified as 'chick lit' and lately I've been reading prisoner of war memoirs and other military books – completely different for me! I've really learned a lot about the human will to survive and the incredible courage of soldiers whose missions have taken terrifying turns. I wanted to write a story that focused on survival and family ties rather than gory details. I also rely on touches of humor to lighten grim or emotionally draining scenes.

"As well, I've met a few veterans in my own neighborhood here in Toronto, Canada, who kindly shared their personal experiences with me. A former soldier noticed me reading Black Hawk Down at Starbucks a few weeks ago and enthusiastically struck up a conversation. He was very excited to show and tell me about the many scars he'd gained. Hence Zack's recurring line 'Chicks dig scars.'"

"Will I get to kick more Ultranationalist butt?" Zack demanded, punching a fist into his palm.

Elianna winked at him. "We'll see."

"Call of Duty 4 is such an awesome video game," Zack added. "Great idea with that crossover, by the way."

"Do you find it difficult to get into the mind of a character when writing out a scene?" asked Cody.

"Definitely. Bailey has always been the easiest character to write because she's down-to-earth. Writing London as an adult in Part 2 gave me some anxiety because I wanted her to be recognizable as the superficial, materialistic heiress she's always been but with a realistic level of maturity and a job that suits her perfectly. I've been really flattered (and relieved!) by the positive reviews of Grown-Up London.

"As a female, getting into the mind of a male character always makes me second-guess myself. With his emotional, sensitive side, Cody is fairly easy to write. Zack has always been the most challenging character to write, which is ironic since he's the protagonist in Part 2. With Zack, I constantly strive to find the right balance between thinking and taking action."

"Yeah, I'm just not a really sappy guy," Zack agreed.

"Oh, please," the younger twin snorted under his breath.

"In your stories you tend to drop a lot of references to TV shows, movies and songs. Do you find that easy to do?" Bailey asked.

"Disney is genius at building allusions and spoofs into their shows – it's one of the reasons I love them so much. 'The Kidney of Sea' was the first episode I saw of TSLOD and I laughed all the way through it. The iceberg appearing as an ice sculpture of Mrs. Berg and Zack falling into the hot tub at the end were just priceless, and hooked me into TSLOD right away. So adding references in my own stories feels like paying homage to the Disney tradition, and sometimes I have to restrain myself from revealing them too quickly in my Author Notes. I had fun referencing Casablanca in Just One of the Guys. As soon as I wrote Bailey's heartfelt line to Cody 'I guess we'll always have the closet in Cabin 2-330,' based on the famous line 'We'll always have Paris,' I knew I had to run with it."

"Any closing thoughts?" Cody inquired.

"So much thanks to everyone for their reviews and support! This forum is a great way to meet and collaborate with like-minded people. Your feedback makes a huge difference and helps create a better story." Elianna stood up and waved to the audience. "Good luck to all the nominated authors!"

"And we still have one more author," Zack announced. "Welcome back, Kulmanari! Up for some more questions?"

"Bring them on!" Kulmanari encouraged the hosts, taking a seat onstage. "And thanks for flying me out here."

"No problem. Where did you get the idea for The Three Gifts?" Zack asked.

"An idea (inspired by the movie Push) that just wouldn't get out of my head and was interfering with the Chaos Project. It's definitely out of my thoughts now, as I'm sure you can tell, and has run its course as far as its plot goes. I may pick it up again as a novelty."

"I'm sure if you continue it, you'll get a number of readers," Cody predicted.

"You've written a number of stories that are still incomplete; do you plan to go back to any of them?" Bailey asked.

"Just Visiting is abandoned; I have no idea where I was going with it now. Angels and Demons was another knee-jerk reaction story and likely won't get finished as it has no real plot. Reflections In Time also suffers from an unclear plot. I honestly think I wrote it because I wanted to create Jarran and also because The Chaos Demons was so successful I felt I should take a shot at a sequel. Truth Seeker is still on solid ground, I'm just focused on my Novel at the moment."

"You realize after your new year's story, I will hound you even more about finishing reflections," Tiger said from the audience. "Which reminds me, can you tell us anything about your Chaos Project?"

"It's a huge and very deep project. At times it becomes very engrossing. The Chaos Project follows Jarran Noh'Malkiri's life growing up in the Chaos Realm as he trains to become a Champion while also uncovering the ugly truth about his father's history and the grim consequences that it will have on his very life.

"At the moment the story is mostly in sections and I'm writing out of order to keep things interesting and challenging. There's some good stuff in the rough draft of some scenes and I can't wait to share it. When and where, I'll let you all know in my profile when I figure it out.

"Here's a VERY VERY Rough Draft excerpt:

The Chaos Project

"Darius was the most powerful person in his day, just like your father is today, but his lack of ambition and poor leadership skills led to several of his Champions turning against him."
"What?" Jarran exclaimed, appalled that such a thing could happen. How could Champions of Chaos betray their Demon Lord?
"The Realm was relatively weak at that point and under constant attack by the other dark worlds. Darius was doing nothing but maintaining the status quo and for many of the Champions that simply wasn't good enough. We had the potential to become quite powerful, but it wasn't recognized under your grandfather's rule." Deimos paused to let Jarran process that information before continuing.
"What isn't in the history books is that when it came time to act, no one was willing to cross that invisible line that marked the point of no return, no one except Ashani. I thought that we had time. I thought that we could work things out with Darius, but before I knew it your father challenged his own father for control of the Realm." Jarran's jaw dropped open upon hearing his father's audacity. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't. The impact of his uncle's words had a mesmerizing effect on him. Their written history was a lie… Ashani didn't innocently emerge from a catastrophic battle as the Demon Lord… It was he who had started it all!"

Tiger's eyes widened at the small taste of this new story, and he could no longer form coherent sentences.

"We want to thank all of these authors for returning and answering some hard questions," Cody said, sweeping a hand toward the nominees.

"And let's not forget the one category our coordinator forgot to put into the last chapter," Zack concluded.

For Best Author:

1. Elianna22

2. Lodylodylody

3. Woundedhearts

4. Tiger002

5. Kulmanari

"Also," Tiger spoke up, returning to the stage, "I want to remind all the readers to vote if you haven't yet. All the categories are still open and still will be until 11:59 Pacific Standard Time on January 10. My Suite Life Awards forum, accessible from my profile, contains the entire list of finalists, and links to a community with all the nominated stories. Don't feel like you have to have read all the nominated stories to vote, or vote in every category."