#disasterbi replies

[disasterbiwriter]

You have no idea how thrilled i am to find the other person in the universe who loves Izzex! What do you see as their biggest differences and most important similarities? And what would you choose as your five favorite izzex scenes?!

I am not exaggerating when I say izzex changed my brain chemistry in a pivotal way.

I think their resilience is what connects them most. It always kind of made me crazy that these two people who worked so hard to overcome the challenges of immature parents and trauma are held to these inaccessible moral standards. (And it also made me crazy that they would sometimes hold each OTHER to impossible standards!) Yes, they were never perfect, and yes, they backslid at times, but they were always trying to move forward. I don't want perfect characters! I want relatable characters who grow and change! I also love that they both came from worlds where they weren't expected to succeed, and they they not only succeeded, they thrived!

Their biggest difference, imo, is how they perceive being vulnerable. Alex's vulnerability is so associated with shame, it's lucky he manages to connect with anyone! Whereas I think Izzie appreciates vulnerability, especially in Alex.

As for my five favorite scenes, it's so hard for me to pick. I really think Katie and Justin were some of the best scene partners in the early series. But here's my top 5 for today:

1) The scene in the tunnels where they are speaking about themselves in the third person. I love when we get to see that connection of friendship and when Izzie brings out Alex's goofy side.

2) THEIR FIRST KISS. Surely no explanation required there.

3) The scene where Alex brings her the banana and her meds during her first surgery after her medical leave. Izzie Stevens deserved nothing less than a hot man taking care of her every need.

4) The "I care about you" scene. The TENSION and the fury and the attraction radiating off of Alex while Izzie challenges him!

5) This is a cop out because it's a cut scene, but the scene in Derek's trailer when she says, "I'm not going to die in your arms. Maybe someday, but not today" and Alex takes the scarf off her head. I MEAN 😍

Thank you so much for the lovely ask!!

[disasterbiwriter]

If you're not sick of my annoying asks yet: since you name izzex and literati as your two favorite ships, I would love to hear what you see as the biggest parallels/similarities between them and also what you see as their main differences!

Oh man. The similarities in their relationships are mostly thematic: the absolute inability to communicate, the women being the only ones who can see the good in their men (at first!), the bickering as thinly veiled flirtation. As characters, I find Izzie and Rory very similar in a lot of ways (a desire to see and do MORE than what they grew up with, moral perfectionism, people underestimating them, the way that they are absolutely EXCORCIATED by the fandom for *checks notes* being human) and Jess and Alex somewhat similar as well (though Jess's "jerk" status is very WB-ified; Alex is really properly terrible to people).

Overall I find that the ships I love most are never about two people who are perfectly matched, but two people who balance each other out and work at their relationship, because it matters SO much to them. I wish we could have seen that play out more for both ships (at least on screen!)

[disasterbiwriter]

This Jess is the Jess I picture in Say What You want. Is my headcanon accurate?

Oh absolutely, but add a soupçon of flannel thanks to formative years under Butch's influence. Fewer punk t-shirts, more jaunty patches on pants and coats because Luke is frugal and Lorelai uses her sewing skills to stretch his clothes longer.

[disasterbiwriter]

Last ask for today---I promise! what are your thoughts on Jolex - the good, the bad, the reason s you didn't ship them as much as Izzex, etc.?!

Poor Jo. It's really not her fault. But the minute I feel like a character is written FOR an existing character to form a relationship with, I check out. Izzie and Alex were unique, holistic characters, who built a relationship. Jo was written to be Alex's new love interest, and I feel like it really showed. (Plus - and this is a DEEPLY unpopular opinion - I wanted Alex to get together with Maggie.)

But jolex wasn't all bad! I do think they had a chance to build a much healthier communication style (though still imperfect.) And they are both two very hot people, so I'm not mad at that 😅

[disasterbiwriter]

so lately i kept thinking about what it’d be like if rory grow up with richard & emily as her guardians (maybe lorelai had died / they got custody idk but she’s their best hope for doing this right this time around), and i kept thinking about your thoughts about this. because i love your rory growing up with the haydens but how do you think rory would be affected living with richard & emily as ‘parents’?

oh man... In MY world or ASP's?? Because I cannot get behind the Palladinos' "the same problems the same results" mindset. And you know i love Emily and Richard, but if this was canon, I think they would view rory as a chance to do things "right" even more then they already did... and unfortunately I think they would have just doubled down on how they raised lorelai ("The pressure didn't work last time, we must need MORE PRESSURE.) So whether that would have led to rory getting pregnant at 16 remains to be seen, but it definitely would have resulted in so much pressure on rory that I think she would have also come to resent them just like her mother 😫

in my beautiful fixit universe, Emily and Richard would miss and mourn lorelai so much that they would be DETERMINED to do better by her daughter. They would have taken rory all over the world and told her only the best stories about lorelai, how she was talented and smart and vivacious, and rory would STILL grow up thinking "I want to be just like her."

[disasterbiwriter]

Okay, a process question for you. Do you outline your stories before you start writing them? If you do, how detailed are your outlines and do you stick to them or are they more like "suggestions"?

I feel like since plot is often 90% of the challenge for me in writing, i require an outline, but I find them kind of variably useful. More often than not I am operating off of a vibe or trying to get to a piece of dialogue, and sometimes I can't get the outline to lead me to that place! So it kind of forces me to kill my darlings, but it takes a lot for me to actually come to terms with doing so.

When I DO outline, it's mostly tentpole outlining of the big beats (like in my drabbles.) With Say What You Want... I'm working on developing a theme (the way Rory and Jess, in any universe, are deeply bound by others' expectations) and it's making my outline basically useless 😅

[disasterbiwriter]

What’s your history with Gilmore Girls fandom?

I didn't really get INTO FANDOM until fairly recently, because it always felt... cliquey and judgey and I'm an introverted weirdo 🙃 but I had a friend tell me about all these gg stories on ao3 during the pandemic, and then i started OBSESSIVELY reading all of beedee's gg fic. and everyone was just so... sweet! and affirming! and excited to be there! and then the ao3 stalking turned into tumblr stalking and a whole new online group of amazing fellow fans 🖤

[disasterbiwriter]

So just curious if you were a long-suffering Grey's watcher (I usually only watch an episode or two a year myself) or tuned in occasionally or quit years ago. Because if it's the first one that's a really, really long time to wait for an Izzex ending, especially given all the drama behind the scenes.

I quit regularly watching after they killed off George, and when they wrote off Izzie it was pretty much the nail in the coffin for me. I heard about the plane crash episode(s) and tuned back in, and fell back in love with Sandra Oh, so I would read recaps and catch the occasional episode. When she left I watched even less frequently, mostly just getting the deets from my sister and our best friend in our group chat. Smash cut to finding out Justin Chambers was leaving and I prepared to turn in for one more episode, figuring that they probably wouldn't kill him off with no warning (they tried that on Private Practice back in the day and it turned into a whole thing.)

After Grey's stopped focusing on the found family aspect as strongly, I didn't love it enough to really stick it... but Alex and Izzie were the first ship that made me completely feral, so that reunion felt like a crazy gift I didn't deserve lol

[disasterbiwriter]

What do you think the odds are for Alex and Ozzie to show up in person on Grey's and if it was possible, would you support it?

I would say MAYBE they could convince Justin or Katie to show up, for one episode, but almost certainly not together. And honestly I don't want them to. There is nothing i could find more satisfying at this point than the ending i got (even if it was offline).

[disasterbiwriter]

hi hello I had two whole beers AMA