![]() Dear ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) feist,
In all the years of writing together, I have never once shown you the kind of public appreciation that you’re too shy to accept. Your time has come so take a deep breath! So much of it has gone unspoken or was said concisely in short bursts now and again in conversations with each other, but I’m still here anyway to give you the praise that you deserve for the patience, loyalty, creativity, and partnership you’ve brought to our storyline.
“If they only knew,” is what I always think to myself when I want to shout from the rooftops how incredible you are when it comes to writing someone like Leslie Feist. We both know that a character that does best in the shadows (or vocally evades your consciousness whenever she wants to so she can just… go over there) has a hard enough time existing in a community which thrives on social activity of all kinds and how you’ve managed to give her a niche is something that few could attempt and even fewer could nail without compromising the integrity of the celebrity’s reputation – in your mind or anyone else’s. This is exactly why I want to praise you as a writer. You are a writer, through and through, and your attention to the details of her traits really shows through in entries, comments, and scenes. You absolutely don’t give yourself credit. Never question the voice you hear when writing; I know it belongs to Leslie Feist.
I still remember how fast my heart was racing in 2006 when we scened them together for the first time and, nearly 6 years later, I still get the same oh-my-god-it's-my-turn feelings with every reply. Even when we aren’t scening them, their conversations literally break me down into tiny pieces inside. Now, okay, we can sit and laugh about the circumstances surrounding why these two ever came together in the first place and how many times Leslie had to Febreeze the carpet pre-rescue, or how many Snoop Dogg jokes she had to tell to loosen Emily up at her saddest or most melancholy. For being such heavily cerebral and emotional people they bring out such amazing things in each other. They’re so funny, they do such strange things and I love the weird ways they think up of getting through to one another when they least expect it or when they need it most.
What means more to me here is that I let you know that you have helped me develop the character I play in such a way that I’m sure I could not have done on my own. You’d paid me the best compliment recently and you have no idea how much it meant when you said that Emily was so well developed and thought out that all I can think of is how much more true it is that she is this way because of the writing we’ve done together. Leslie is such a gigantic piece of her puzzle and I shudder to think of the road she could have taken without someone like minded, let alone caring and understanding to hold her hand through the hard times both in character and in real life that somehow happened perfectly parallel to what was being written or experienced anyway. Emily keeps Leslie’s feet on the ground and Leslie keeps Emily in the light. You and I have brought these two from a really complicated and beautiful real life friendship into an even more complicated and beautiful romance. Neither of us ever expected it and I’m pretty damn sure neither of us saw us still continuing on with it today.
I’ve never written anything like this before, I never will again, and I’m so honored with how many years we’ve managed to keep them going in some form since the beginning through highs and lows, thick and thin. I’m so glad it was these two women and I’m so glad it was you and I that did it. Thank you for writing a storyline with two very strange women and making it work beyond reason. You are amazing.
Love,
emilyhaines
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