Just as I predicted, Hanson’s new album and all that it entails is bringing in not only new fans but also enticing old fans to return. The latter is Becca’s story — recently reinterested in Hanson, she’s come back to hanfic as well, and she’s this month’s spotlight.
Becca’s fiction can be read at her website, A Million Contradictions. She also runs the holiday challenge, Christmas Time.
ETA: Becca has closed her domain, but her stories are available here.
Why did you start writing hanfic? How long have you been writing?
I started writing Hanfic because I loved Hanson and I’d read stories by several other people and I was like ‘hey, I could do that too.’ I read it on websites, but a lot of my early interaction with Hanfic was via the old yahoo groups before they became yahoo groups.
Before I went on a two year hiatus, I had been writing for about 9 or 10 years with the years 2003-2005 being my most successful based on the number of stories I wrote. And I’ve been back to Hanfic for about two months now.
What’s it like, for you, to come back to hanfic after a hiatus?
Honestly, it’s like coming home, as corny as that sounds. While I was on hiatus, I wrote in other fandoms, but I never really got connected in any of them and I found myself missing the Hanfic community. When I left I was frustrated by a lot in the Hanson world and I just needed a clean break. I honestly didn’t plan on coming back to Hanfic, but then I watched the 5 for 5 concert series on a whim and I remembered why I loved Hanson when I started: they’re gifted musicians. And with a renewed interest in Hanson came a renewed interest in Hanfic…
What are your favorite hanfic stories and authors?
Many of my favorite Hanfic stories have disappeared, sadly. I remember a story back in 2000ish called College Life (I think) that was posted on the old yahoo groups. Then there were other good ones like The Naked City and By Appointment Only. Distorted Blessings is one of my favs as well and is probably my favorite story that Brittney has written. I loved Damn It by Natalie and Hayley’s sadly never finished He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not.
What is your writing process like?
When I was younger, I used to open word and just start writing and I could work on two or three stories at a time. Nowadays, I try to focus on one story and I have a hard time opening word and just writing when I don’t have an idea of where I want to start, where I want to end and what I want to happen; you can blame that on my English degree.
After I get the initial idea sometimes the rest of it comes flying out after and other times things come slowly and I have to piece the ideas together as they circulate in my head. From there I start plotting what I want to happen in the story. I can’t start a story without having a general idea of how I want it to end and how I plan to get there. After I’ve done all of that, then I start writing the story.
Where do your ideas and inspiration come from?
My ideas and inspiration for things come from all over the place. Mine and Natalie’s story If I Don’t Kill Him First was inspired by Hanson’s Detour livestreams that cracked us both up. The shower seems to be the place where a lot of ideas come to me, not quite sure why though. But I’ve been inspired by songs. There was a story I wrote a few years back where I was inspired by Fourth of July star necklaces that my grandpa gave my sister and I. It’s just a bunch of random stuff and there’s a lot of stuff just floating around in my head, getting stronger and stronger with each day that passes.
Which stories are you most proud of having written?
Kindred Souls – I wrote this one back in 2003/2004 and I see this piece as the story that really changed the way I looked at Hanfic and what I could really do with Hanson in general. I took a chance with it, doing something different and I found myself liking it better than anything else I had written to that date.
Life As Only I Can Understand It – I wrote this one in 2005 and it was the first time I really wrote about Hanson in an true alternate universe setting. I enjoyed writing it and I had fun with the different twists in it.
Unwanted – I wrote this in 2006 and took a huge step away from other my other stories by making the focus on a character that wasn’t a Hanson brother, wasn’t a girlfriend of a Hanson brother, or anyone who wanted to be a girlfriend. I wasn’t sure how well received the story would be, but I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who enjoyed it.
Hannah’s Song – this story was inspired by the song ‘There Goes My Life’ by Kenny Chesney and the version that is up today is actually the rewritten version of a completed story that I no longer have (though would love to find). What makes me proud about this one is that I took a story that I really hadn’t been happy with and reworked it into being one that I was proud to have my name attached to. It went from underdeveloped with a ‘how and when did they get together’ ending to a more defined evolution of the main characters relationship.
When It All Falls Apart – probably the story I’m the most proud of and not because it’s an Isaac story, but because I spent a lot of time thinking through the story and setting it up. I feel that it was all the preplanning that I had put so much time into that made the story what is was. This was the last story that I wrote before I went on hiatus and I think it is a great example of how I’ve grown as a writer in my long Hanfic career.
Favorite songs to listen to while you write or which inspire your writing?
I used to be able to listen to music when I was writing, but these days I seem to lose focus if I listen to music with lyrics because I tend to start singing along. The difficult thing is that I’m also a person who likes white noise, I have a hard time with quiet, so usually I put on some classical music or smooth jazz like Kenny G.
Thank you Becca, for being the July spotlight. I’m tickled to death you were so excited about being asked.