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How long have you been writing, and what made you decide to start writing fan fiction?
I've been writing for three years now. When I discovered fanfiction, I read a lot of stories over a period of a few weeks, quickly falling in love with Snape romances in particular. One day, I simply had the impulse to try it myself. I wanted to share in the experience a bit more than I could by simply reading silently from the sidelines. Fortunately, I didn't stop to think about whether or not I had the ability to write a story, because if I had, I probably would never have tried it. Instead, I simply sat down and started typing, and then finished the story in longhand once I had to give up the computer for awhile. I'm not sure why I decided to actually post the story. I dithered quite a bit over that, but in the end, I just decided to give it a shot. It was rather out of character for me, and to this day, I can't really explain it.
How did you discover fan fiction?
Both of my daughters wrote fanfiction. My middle daughter was spending a lot of time reading fanfiction online the summer I got interested, and I wanted to see what she was reading. So I got nosy, and asked her about the sites she went to and what sort of stories were there. Then, I started to do some reading myself. Once I found a few good authors, I was hooked. Ironically, none of the stories that really drew me into fanfiction are completed yet.
Do you have any writing experience outside of fan fiction?
No. I used to make up stories for my own amusement when I was a kid. I'd draw a picture and as I was coloring it in, I'd tell myself about it, but I never had the courage to really write anything down. I didn't think I had any writing ability at all, and, in fact, others had reinforced that idea in my head over the years.
Where do you get your ideas or inspiration? Do other people ever suggest the ideas for your stories?
I'd be very interested in knowing if people can pin down how they get their ideas, because in my experience, they just show up randomly. I've had them come from dreams, or conversations, bits of something I read or heard, but most of the time, they just come…out of nowhere identifiable. You could say that some people have suggested ideas for some of my stories, in that some of my stories are responses to challenges, and I'd probably never have written those particular stories without the challenges to spark the ideas.
Which story are you the most happy with how it turned out? Looking back is there anything you'd want to change about any particular story now?
I'm quite happy with how "Truth Beyond Memory" has turned out. It's definitely the longest and most ambitious story that I've ever written, and completing it was a major accomplishment for me. I was also really pleased with "Shadow of the Moon", which is a fairly short story that no one ever seems to read, but I've always been very pleased with the way it turned out, too.
I'd change many things about my early stories, reading them now often makes me cringe, but they show me how far I've come as a writer, so I keep them around anyway. :)
Do you find any particular genre (angst, romance, humor, etc.) more difficult to write? Do you prefer to write any particular genre?
I find humor to be both the most fun and the most difficult thing to write. I write a lot of drama and angst because it's natural, and it's easy. Humor is much more difficult to really do well, and I'm never sure whether I'm hitting the mark or not until someone tells me that I made them laugh. Most of us tend to cry at the same things, but there are so many different things that make us laugh.
Almost every writer at some point or another suffers from writer's block. Have you ever had that problem and if so, how do you get past it?
I had terrible writer's block after I finished writing "Public Agendas and Private Hells". I think the story simply drained me of even the desire to write for a while. Writing it was a very emotional experience because it was such an angst-ridden story. When I finally did want to write again, absolutely nothing was there, so I began to try to respond to the challenges at 30minutefics. They were short, and learning to write something that made sense and hung together in 30 minutes was a new type of challenge. Gradually, the challenges seemed to spark my creativity again, and eventually, I was able to write some longer pieces once more.
Do you find love scenes more difficult to write than other types of scenes?
Yes. ;)
Do you work on more than one story at a time? If so, how do you keep them straight in your mind?
Yes, and no. I usually only work on one multi-chaptered story at a time. If I have more than one that I've worked on at the same time, one will eventually take over, and the other will usually end up not being finished at all. At least, that's the way it's gone so far. I have two or three unfinished stories that may never go anywhere. However, if inspiration strikes, I'll often do several short pieces, short chaptered stories or one-shots, while I'm working on the longer story. It's no trouble keeping them straight as one story seldom has that much to do with the other, and one-shots are very quick to write.
Have you ever been flamed or received negative feedback regarding your stories? How do you handle it?
I've never had what I'd consider a real flame. I've certainly had people leave unkind and unflattering comments; I've been called immoral, and melodramatic, and sick…but no one has ever called me boring, so I guess I can live with it.
As for negative feedback…early on, I pleaded with people to tear my works to pieces and give me the best feedback that they could. I was as inexperienced as they come, and I really needed the help. I got some pretty harsh goings over, and it helped me tremendously. As long as it's done politely, and the criticism is correct and helpful, I'm all for it. Sometimes, I've had people pick nits just to do it; when that happens, if I don't agree with the criticism or don't find it helpful or pertinent, I usually just ignore it. After all, just because someone leaves a criticism, doesn't automatically make what they say correct, but I don't pretend to know it all. I can always use help and pointers on writing.
Would you describe your ideal writing surroundings (food, weather, music, etc.)?
My ideal situation for writing is to have the house to myself. Then I can write, and jump up and walk around if I need to, I can read my dialogue aloud to hear what it sounds like, I can lay my notes out on a table and play around with scene placement. As long as no one is around to see me acting like an idiot, I'm happy. I don't need any special place, or food, or music…just privacy.
What do you look for when you read a fan fiction story?
When I read a fanfic, I go looking for something that will entertain me. I look for stories that explore hidden aspects of my favorite characters, because being able to read more about the characters I like is one of the reasons I got into fanfic in the first place. There are a lot of stories out there that continually touch on the same things over and over, and they tend to blur together after awhile. My favorite stories stand out in my mind because they did something new or unexpected, and they did it well.
Do you usually write in a linear fashion or do you write scenes out of order? Does one method work best for you?
I'm a linear writer, no question about it. I need to follow the trail of breadcrumbs to the end of the line. If the order of scenes gets all messed up, I get mired up in story and can't go anywhere. I tried to write a story once by just writing down scenes as they occurred to me, even if they were out of order. The scenes themselves were very vivid and dramatic, I was pleased with most of them, but I never was able to tie them together into a coherent whole, and that frustrated me no end. I could only see the middle of the story…I had no ending and no focus. Needless to say, that story will never be completed.
What was your first fan fiction story? What was it like to post your first story?
My first story of any kind was "Is a Picture Worth 1000 Lives?". As stories go, it's not anything special, and I fell into a lot of the traps and clichés that wait for the naïve new writer. I was absolutely obsessed with writing it, though. Once I started, I could not stop until I had it finished. I existed in a fog for the three weeks or so that it took me to write it. The story was all I thought about, for every moment that I was awake, and it bled over into my dreams as well. I was really a bit unnerved by the intensity of the experience.
Once I had written it, I made the decision to post it because I really wanted to share in the experience of fanfic. I'd enjoyed reading so many other people's stories, and I wondered if anyone would enjoy mine. Well, I posted it, and for a solid week, not one person left any commentary at all. That was quite a let down, but eventually, I did begin to get some responses, and, frankly, they were kinder and more positive than I probably deserved, but they kept me going. Getting that first review was a thrill, though. I'll never forget it.
Who is your favorite character to write? Least favorite? Why?
My favorite character to write is still, and probably always will be, Severus Snape. I love to write Minerva McGonagall and Remus Lupin, too, but there's something special about Snape. He's just so much fun to explore as a character.
My least favorite characters to write about are the Trio…Harry, Ron and Hermione. Perhaps because they're kids, I find them less easy to write for, but also I think, because the books focus on them, so we already know most of the stuff that's so interesting to speculate about and cover in fanfic writing. We know much less about the adults in the book, and that makes then much more interesting to me.
How do you choose a title for your stories?
I love to choose titles for chapters and stories. I don't have a set way of doing it though. I usually just play around with words and ideas until something clicks. Sometimes I'll try to find a theme or twist a quotation. Usually the right thing will dawn on me sooner or later.
How has your writing evolved since you first began? Has it become easier with experience or more challenging?
Well, I think I'm a bit more descriptive now than I was when I started. I've always been a fairly plain writer, but I've learned how to vary sentence length and structure and how to add in detail, hopefully without going too far the other way. I'd like to think that I've improved as I've practiced writing stories, but I'm sure that there's still plenty of ways that I could do better. My dialogue isn't quite as stiff as it once was, either, at least, I don't think it is. LOL
It's both easier and harder to write now that I have some experience at it. I now have a better grasp on how to structure my ideas in order to turn out something readable, but at the same time, I now see so many things that seem continuously just beyond my fingertips. I have a long was to go before I'll be really satisfied with my ability to write a story.
How long does it usually take you to write a story? How many revisions do you go through?
How long a story takes can vary a lot. "Truth Beyond Memory", at over 180,000 words, took me over a year from planning out the plot to posting the final chapter. Of course, there was a break of a few months in there when I just couldn't make myself work on it, because there was a part of the story that I was really afraid to tackle. One-shots can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Then there are the 30minute pieces. In general, I'm a fairly fast writer. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but I usually do well with a deadline. I don't bother to count revisions; some chapters and stories go through many…others, practically none.
What do you think are your writing strengths—plot, characterization, dialogue, action, etc.?
That's hard for me to say because I'm conditioned to see the flaws before the strengths, but I guess I'd have to say that my greatest strength is my plotting. I don't write the best action scenes or the most scintillating dialogue or the loveliest descriptions, and I sure as he## don't write the hottest love scenes, but I tell a good story. I can keep people entertained. Which was my aim when I started this, so I really can't complain.
What challenges do you set for yourself as a writer?
Always try to improve, to do it better the next time, and never post a story that I can't finish.