I’ve been very busy lately and thus rather MIA in the fandom. When it came time to pick this month’s spotlight author, I was surprised and a little annoyed with myself that I hadn’t already featured Veronica.
You might also know her as Nikki or Ambrosia. Whatever you call her, she’s a great author and you can check out her stories here, at her LiveJournal or on AO3.
Why did you start writing hanfic? How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing hanfic for about 6 months now. Prior to that I had been writing fanfic and slash for 10+ years in various other fandoms. I was on the lookout for a new fandom to write in and the whole idea of the brother dynamic interested me, it’s a nice chance to explore different challenges and conflicts you don’t have in non-brother fandoms. I’ve been a Hanson fan since the MoN days too and used to read some hanfic back in the day so that was the reason it was one of the fandoms I looked into.
What’s it like being part of a mostly American fandom when you aren’t?
Fun but challenging at times. It helps that I’m from a country where we don’t dub movies and stuff so I’ve heard American English since childhood. I have a tendency to really immerse myself in fandoms I actively write in at the moment too, so that makes it a bit easier as well. And I’m a night owl so it suits me that most of the other people in the fandom are American, if I’m in European fandoms I’m mostly awake when everyone else is asleep!
What are your favorite hanfic stories and authors?
The first hanfic I read was And With Each Mile, it’s still one of my favorites and I’m still sad that it was never finished. I really love Guilt and Life Less Ordinary, I spent days doing not much more than reading catching up with those, they are like really great books, couldn’t put them down once I started reading. I tend to fangirl over mostly things Amanda, Abby or Ali write but I do have to say I love most of the hancest (which is what I mostly read in this fandom) writers that are active right now, quality wise, right now, it’s one of the best fandoms I have been.
What is your writing process like?
I’m definitely not much of a planner, I have a few fics I have outlined before writing but most of the time I just know somewhat how I want it to end, find a starting point and work my way towards the goal. When inspiration comes to me I tend to stew on the idea for days/weeks (even years in some cases), playing out possible scenes in my head until I finally find a good starting point and sit myself down to write. Sometimes for short stories I get a random inspiration for the first few lines and just sit down and write from there with no idea of the end, I tend to write really quickly like that and for some reason they end up being some of my best stories so I love when that happens!
Where do your ideas and inspiration come from?
Most of my inspiration comes from either real events that I make up a cause and/or consequence of, or music. Now and then I’ll be inspired by something totally random or just get a scene in my head out of nowhere. And admittedly a few of my stories, like Ghost, were inspired by dreams (oh how very Meyer of me).
Which stories are you most proud of having written?
The one story I’m most proud of so far is definitely 9 Crimes. It’s one of those that turned out more or less exactly how I wanted it to. I also really like Rest in Pieces and Treat Me Cruel. And I think my current fic, Ghost of You and Me, will end up being one I’m really proud of, I’m really happy with that so far and I actually have a plot outline for it that I really love.
Favorite songs to listen to while you write or which inspire your writing?
I have a really, really long playlist specifically for music I listen to while writing – it includes a lot of stuff like Muse, Joshua Radin, David Gray, Damien Rice, REM, Greg Laswell (thanks Abby!), Nirvana etc. etc. It has quite a lot of Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack music on there too, they are great for background noise while writing. For many stories I’ll have one or a couple of songs on repeat, currently for Ghost of You and Me I’m listening a lot to Whataya Want from Me and Broken Open by Adam Lambert, Drive You Home by Garbage and Night Terror by Laura Marling.
Thank you, Veronica, for being the December spotlight! I hope that the little break from hanfic that you’ve taken has served you well, and I’m very glad to have you back 🙂