heartlaboratory

[sundays-mutt]

my life is so cyclical. i find a hobby. i write self insert fanfiction for it. the cycle continues. how long? who knows. until i die perhaps!

[todaydreambelieversfic]

Author Spotlight: notthetoothfairy day 3

Day 3:

1. How long have you been writing Klaine fic? Do you consider yourself a part of the Klaine fandom?

I’ve been trying to write Klaine fic since 2012, approximately, but I never really got the basics (and the really good ideas) until 2014. Glee was almost over by then and I was only an active writer for most of season 6, so it all took off a bit late.

I do consider myself a part of the fandom and have done so since I joined Tumblr right around the start of season 3. I was merely a passive fanfiction consumer before then but after joining Tumblr, I started posting about Glee and Klaine, editing some videos, commenting on fanfiction and fanart, and eventually writing my own fanfiction – basically, I started interacting with other fans, and to me, that marks the beginning of my active participation in fandom.

2. Have you written fic in other fandoms or non-Klaine Glee fic or are you a Klaine only kind of a writer?

Funny you should ask because the other day I re-discovered some of my really badly written fanfiction called “The Royal Consort Diaries” on my old computer. It was a companion piece to “The Princess Diaries” (which I was obsessed with as a teen) and written from Michael’s perspective. :D However, those writings are only fragments; I never actually finished writing it. Apart from that, I was an active part of both a Harry Potter and a Lord of the Rings forum about ten years ago but I rarely wrote for those fandoms. So all in all, I’m pretty exclusively a Klaine writer.

3. What's your most popular fic(s)? (by whatever metrics you like) Why do you think people loved that story?

That would probably “The Saturday Morning Shift,” at least when counting the notes on Tumblr (on AO3 it’s “NYADA Crushes” but I already talk about that in my recs). I remember how I almost fell off my chair when I checked my Tumblr the morning after I posted TSMS because so many people had reblogged and liked it. I published that one mid-season 6, I think, and probably on a Friday night, too, so I guess a lot of people saw it while checking their dashboards on Glee day. ;) I’m super glad people liked this one because it was a spur-of-the-moment kind of story – I went swimming and was alone in the pool (except for the lifeguard), so I had a lot of time to myself to let my mind run away with me.

What did people love about this story? I’m actually not sure. If I had to take a wild guess, I’ll say (hope) that it’s a combination of Kurt as a hot swimmer, Blaine as a cute lifeguard, his adorable friendship with Sam and Tina, Sam’s desperate crush on Mercedes and the shy flirting between the friendly-verging-on-friendlier Kurt and Blaine. Did I miss anything, guys? :D

4. What fic do you wish more people had read?

I guess my Animorphs!Klaine/Animorphs!GleeClub fic is something that I wish more people would read because I am personally quite proud of it. I’m pretty sure most readers don’t really know what they’re in for with this one because maybe they don’t know Animorphs, or alien/sci-fi stories are not their thing, or the warnings about violence and death put them off. But at heart it’s a coming-of-age story. It’s about values and life choices, about friendship (Kurt, Blaine, Tina, Sam, Santana and Brittany are the core group of this fic as they discover their new powers and form an alien-fighting gang, with some other characters joining them later), about the journey from being best friends to friends who are crushing on each other to friends who tentatively try to be with each other, and about family. The alien apocalypse and the turning-into-animals powers are just the basic setting for all of these themes. So if you’re on the fence now, just give it a try (and if you’re worried about the warnings, I can tell you what parts to skip!). I promise I’m just super bad at writing summaries, and it’s actually a lot cooler than it sounds!

5. What’s a good thing that’s come out of writing Klaine fic? (Friendships? New skills? New understandings? New opportunities? Love?

This is such a good question. The first thing I need to mention is my incredibly amazing friendship with @a-simple-rainbow that stems from me being one of her biggest fans since day one and eventually reading one of her fics as a beta reader. We now beta each other’s stuff and are super close friends and I am so, so, so, so glad that actually happened because she’s wonderful and talented and a pure joy to be around. I love you, Rainbow!

Something else that’s come out of writing Klaine fics is that I am now more confident in my creative writing skills and truly believe that maybe one day I might write something original that people would enjoy reading. And of course I am learning so much in the process – my English got better by writing fic, my writing skills are improving, I am learning more about building worlds and characters and am able to appreciate the writing of others more by knowing how hard it is sometimes to create something with words.

[carnationbooks]

Author Interview - marswithghosts

We’re going to continue our series of interviews with fandom authors with this conversation with Check, Please! author @marswithghosts. We were really excited to chat with this author, who has written several popular fics in this month’s featured fandom!

Check out marswithghost’s fic on AO3 here!(http://archiveofourown.org/users/marswithghosts/pseuds/marswithghosts)

How did you first get into fandom? What was your first fandom?

I didn’t realize I was in a fandom until I was maybe fourteen or so? Fifteen? Because I think my first fandom was probably Animorphs when I was 8-10, then I got into Harry Potter, anime in high school (Gundam Wing, my love), then probably Supernatural and then Check, Please!. I sort of fell into everything by accident, just about! I’ve always had a huge imagination for things, and I’ve always wanted to be more involved with the media I consume. So I think that’s probably how I got into it. I started thinking, “What if this were to happen? Or this? Why isn’t this in the book? I want to read it.” And then I would just write it for myself at first. I didn’t start posting any of my fic until I was on fanfiction.net in early high school. Don’t go looking for it—it’s pretty…awful…

Other than writing fic, do you participate in any other fandom activities such as drawing fan art, podfic, gif making, meta, cosplaying, etc?

I legitimately have no other skills besides writing, to be honest with you. I enjoy everything from everyone else, but I am not a big contributor to fandom besides the writing itself! I have lots of friends who have cosplayed, drawn great art, made gifs, and their meta is so complex and interesting…but that ain’t me.

What inspired you to start writing fic?

I’ve always been a writer, ever since I was in about first grade. I enjoyed writing, I liked exploring my imagination, and I didn’t realize that what I was writing at first was fan fiction. When I wrote about myself being an Animorph, I never knew that was any different from any other kind of writing. It was only when I got into Harry Potter and Gundam Wing that I discovered fanfiction.net and started realizing that “fanfiction” is when characters belong to someone else but the words and the story are totally mine. This is always what got me interested in Alternate Universes—damn near everything I write is AU, and I probably enjoy writing AUs the most.

What is your favorite thing you have written so far?

Sheesh, this is a hard one. Honestly? Totally honestly? Probably A Little Bit Closer in Check, Please! fandom. It’s the longest thing I’ve ever written in my life, and so much of it is really *mine*. It made me realize, hey—I actually *can* do a novel if I really want to. And so I am now working on an original novel.

What is your favorite fic by someone else?

There are a lot of them—too many to even comprehend at this point, honestly. My actual real-life fiancée is @annundriel​ (Ed. note: Annundriel on AO3), and I’ve always enjoyed her writing from way back in our Supernatural days. I think she has a really poetic way with words and imagery while staying very genuine and honest to the source material. I think that’s a really impressive feat that I’ve never been able to get the hang of…which is why I just make AUs :)

How did you get into Check Please?

This is actually embarrassing. I didn’t want to read the comic at all. But annundriel started reading it and gushed about it so much and showed me all these things that made absolutely no sense (there’s a character whose actually named Shitty?), but then I finally read it…and I fell in love with it…and she started writing fic and I loved her fic…and then I went on AO3 and found more fic…and then I wrote my own fic…and here I am a year later.

What pairings do you like to read in this fandom? What pairings do you like to write? Do you read gen fic?

My favorite pairings are Zimbits, Dex/Nursey, and—I have to admit this—Kent/Javier Martinez (my OC) (Ed. note: The fic is if this isn’t nice, i don’t know what is). I also like Kent/Tater as well! I’ll read just about anything if I like the writing, though, so I’m more willing to branch out now than I used to be even six months ago. As far as writing…I prefer Zimbits and Kent/Tater, Kent/Javier. I like doing Dex/Nursey, but still struggle with those characterizations; the others feel most natural to me. For gen fic: I would totally read gen fic, but I’m more inclined toward the ships. If it’s recommended to me by someone I trust, I’ll read anything.

What's your favorite fic trope?

Lord, there are so many. Fake dating, accidentally falling in love, tol and smol, etc. I also love coffee shop AUs, any customer service AUs (where’s the call center AU? oh right, that’s a WIP I’ve got…) Can you tell how I feel about AUs.

Do you ever get writer's block? What do you do to combat it?

I get writer’s block all the time. And with my anxiety, I also get panic attacks for sometimes no reason. When I get writer’s block, it’s intense. I have a lot of negative feels of worthlessness and self-doubt. When I was in grad school for my MFA, I kind of couldn’t afford to have writer’s block, since I had deadlines and workshops and my grades were at stake. Lately what I’ve tried to do is impose deadlines on myself—for example, I knew with my Kent/OMC story I wanted to post it for the very beginning of 2017. So I basically told myself “Okay, you’re going to get this done because you can,” and I went from there. Now what I do is I try to write by hand. I have several fancy notebooks and I’m currently obsessed with fountain pens and inks, so handwriting is enjoyable and soothing. It makes me want to put ink on the page so I can watch the pretty colors. This helps my anxiety a lot because I don’t feel quite as pressured as I do when I’m sitting at my computer and staring at a blank page. I’m so long-winded with my stories, even the short ones, that computer writing gets daunting really fast.

Do you have any recs for us to share with our readers?

— Because I’ve been so focused on my own writing, taking control of my mental health (and my physical health in general—yay for great employer health coverage), and playing video games (who’s ready for Mass Effect Andromeda?), I haven’t been reading as much fic lately. But I do have a list I’d done here: http://marswithghosts.tumblr.com/post/146909969360/wahs-into-ur-inbox-do-you-have-any-fanfic-recs And I super hard stand by those fics as well! So good. This fandom is tremendously talented and funny and brightening. I’m pleased to be a part of it.

We want to thank @marswithghosts again for such detailed and thoughtful answers to all our questions. One thing we love about this interview series is finding the similarities in how people tend to “find” fandom, while also getting unique perspectives about what fandom represents to each individual person. We hope you all enjoyed this perspective as much as we did.