Spotlights

Welcome to the monthly spotlights section of PTH. Each month I will choose a new author, website and story to highlight and bring to your attention. You can find new challenges to enter, resources to make use of, new stories to read and learn more about your favorite authors. Use the menu to the left to view the previous spotlights.

Author

Hanfic is far from dead, folks! There are still new authors appearing all the time. One of them is Liz, who has been writing for a while, but only recently has she started to post her stories online for all to read.

You can read Liz's stories in a few different places. Her biggest project is her story Best Kept Secret. You can also read it and other stories of hers here and here on LiveJournal.

1. Why did you start writing hanfic? How long have you been writing?
I guess I should say I started writing hanfic as an escape from everyday life. I was just a regular school kid that loved these guys and wanted to really portray my emotions with them, and get some connection through my writing.

Oh sheesh! I’ve been writing longer than I’d probably like to say. I started writing around 1997-1998; right in the beginning of the “craze”. I was still in middle school at that time and wrote fantasy stories with one of my friends during our lunch and recess time in a small, spiral notebook. We were always afraid of our parents finding our thoughts jotted down, so the stories were always hidden, until one day I just panicked and put everything into my dad’s paper shredder. What I wouldn’t give to have those first stories back.

I did take significant time off through the years, and if I did pick up a story, I wrote it purely for myself. After reading so many great pieces from the girls I’m friends with on Livejournal, I convinced myself to give it a go and take a leap back into writing. I definitely still feel rusty compared to some of the other authors—sometimes I don’t feel like my word play is as creative, but I enjoy it and it’s a great activity to keep working on since I do want to write a book or two later in life. At least I’m getting a taste of feedback and experience under my belt as I move along right?

2. I know you've just started posting your stories online. What's that been like and what made you decide to try it?
I had been a fan of fanfic since maybe 1999-2000 era on HansonHouse and I had somehow come across some stories on LiveJournal after a day of boredom found me on Google looking up sites that still posted fiction. Needless to say I got sucked in more and more, and decided to make my own page and add some of my work as well.

I graduated college as an English major and always enjoyed writing (Hanfic came easiest to me) and always had this one story (my original posted story, Best Kept Secret) going. Whether I took breaks, modified it, erased it all to start over, or wrote for hours a day and days on end, I had a good portion of it in its final stages so I decided to suck it up and post it to see if any other fellow writers would want to enjoy it or leave their feedback on ways to improve it.

Sometimes it’s a bit hard to get any sort of reactions from people, but just like wanting opinions on your work, you also wait to see what everyone else is writing as well. There are definite slower days in the fanfic world, but the bursts of praise is always helpful in ways to boost motivation.

3. What are your favorite hanfic stories and authors?
Oh gosh. Over the years, it’s so hard to name the stories I love. I can read anything from tragedies, romance, slash, pure smut, angst, you name it. I remember enjoying old stories like “I’m Not A Playa, I Just Crush A Lot” about Taylor being a total man-whore. I LOVE and have re-read Catapult many times, and even have it saved both to my laptop and on my iPhone. I read stuff regularly from diamondjourney, ahopper84, hudsone_coltrane, ohtheirony, irresistablehf, drunkinlov3, the archived memories of thesweetshoppe, prettyzombiegirl (on both LiveJournal and her website: a cinematicsunrise), shewasred (you of course), and so many others. My loves in the hanfic universe cover both ends of the spectrum that I’m always reading something. I still have stories to catch up on, and I can never seem to get enough of all sorts of authors.

4. What is your writing process like?
Since my first posted story has me as the main character (big creative stretch, I know), I revert back into my “fantasyland” of sorts when life gets too stressful or becomes too much of a downer, and I write about how another life might be like. Without knowing the guys personally, writing about them makes me sort of feel close to them in my own weird way, and I enjoy writing them how I have them pictured in my head for the particular story. Maybe it’s a source of comfort for me, who knows.

Since my second story is a spin-off of the first, again, it’s the same inspiration really. I’ve never written angst or anything along those lines before though, and I’ve never written from a guy’s POV so that’s become a challenge in and of itself as well.

The third story is really just taking off. I came up with a new character and wanted to try something completely different. I haven’t updated it in a few weeks, but my ideas are in my head, it’s just a matter of getting them down. Luckily, in all stories, my characters kind of take control so I’m never 100% about how each chapter is going to turn out. I’m hoping they surprise not only my followers/ readers, but me as well!

5. Where do your ideas and inspiration come from?
It varies. I always have ideas churning in my brain, and I love to people-watch and observe ideas that I see unfold before my eyes. Sometimes an idea will spin off from something as simple as that, or I can be falling asleep and a scenario will pop into my brain. I just have to make a mental note to remember it so I can elaborate on it later on. Lastly, and I can’t believe I’m going to admit this, but I do slip into daydreams here and there and imagine completely original situations in my sort of parallel universe with the Hanson boys.

6. Which stories are you most proud of having written?
Well, I only have the three that are being posted right now and are all still in the works, but out of all of them, I can’t pick just one. I want to say I’m most proud of my original, shredded story that got me started in this whole world. That silly little story led to this deeper hobby that is helping me be creative and spread my wings with these other pieces I’m working on. Doing this also helped me meet more friends/ fans on twitter and facebook that like my writing and leave me lots of love, yet we can be crazy fans over the boys together at the same time. I’m really grateful for that.

7. Favorite songs to listen to while you write or which inspire your writing?
Man, I can listen to almost anything. Mostly, I watch television while I write just to have background noise, but I do enjoy losing myself in music as well. Right now I’ve been listening to a lot of Florence + The Machine, The Black Keys, and I’ve downloaded all of the music from the first season of American Horror Story. I can’t stop listening to it all. They lyrics aren’t necessarily inspiring for the plots I’m working on, but they relax and comfort me so that I can clear my brain of all clutter before I sit in front of my Word documents to type.

Thank you, Liz, for being the February spotlight! I hope you continue to write hanfic for a long time.