Once again, I’m playing it easy here and picking another author I’m good friends with. I’ll be honest, though — I’m not as well-connected in the hanfic world as I once was. But I’ve met some fans who welcomed me back with open arms, and Renee P. was one of them.
Renee P. runs the domain Acinematicsunrise.com, where you can find her hanfic and other genres of fanfic. She also ran the Trick or Treat Challenge this year, and is involved in the new HanficSprints. She’s very active in the fandom and here are her answers to my questions!
Why did you start writing hanfic? How long have you been writing?
Well, I remember the day perfectly. It was a little bit after Middle of Nowhere came out (1997-ish) and my dad told us that we got the internet! It was AOL of course. I found out about the online Hanson fandom within days of learning how to work the internet. I signed up for these Hanson email groups that sent out little newsletters filled with pics of the boys and fan fiction. I thought it was the most brilliant idea at the time- writing about the boys and posting your work for the fans to read. I ended up having my inbox filled to the brim with Hanfic email newsletters and after reading story after story I became inspired. I began to write my own and even got my other Hanson fan friends to collaborate. I also joined the Angelfire bandwagon and set up my own little webpage for my fanfic. It was the greatest feeling in the world to write Hanfic, still is, but there’s no greater high than that first year writing chapters among chapters of what I thought would be the most amazing Hanfic ever! It makes me smile just thinking about it. Good times.
I know you’re involved in the Moffatts fandom. How is it different from or similar to the Hanson fandom?
Oh! Great question! Despite the fact that the Moffatts and Hanson are so similar in that they’re brothers who played music together and are relatively the same age, writing Moffatts fanfic was completely different. By the time I got into Moffic (as we call it), Hanson had been around a while and I had been writing Hanfic for several years. I guess I was starting to get bored a little with Taylor, Isaac, & Zac and needed a break from their world, but I didn’t want to completely stop writing. Then the unthinkable happened, Taylor announced that he had gotten married to Natalie. As Taylor was my favorite of the brothers, I was devastated. I knew that my writing would be crap because of my annoyance with the situation. So, being that I was almost finished with high school when I began to write my first Moffic, I felt that surge of writers adrenaline when I wrote Power of Goodbye. I was so motivated to create their world as I had with Hanson’s and being a better writer at that point, the stories seemed to have so much more depth. I think I even had more readers/hits/guestbook signings on my Moffatts page compared to my Hanson one. Naturally, even though I took a break from writing Moffic for several years, I came back to it recently and love it just the same.
What are your favorite hanfic stories and authors?
I knew you would ask this question because I hate answering it! Haha! It’s way too difficult to truly decide this because I have my favorites now and I have my favorite classic fics, but you can’t really compare them. They’re almost two separate genres. Back then it was a bunch of junior high kids writing down their fantasies and now that we’re either in college or graduated from it we actually write fanfics with plot and substance. I will never forget reading Tulsa 74132, I’m Not A Playa, and Devil Angel though. They influenced me more than the authors will ever know.
What is your writing process like?
Slow and full of procrastination! Seriously, life has caught up with me and it’s so difficult to find the time to write like I used to, but I refuse to give up. Writing Hanfic still gives me that satisfied thrill to this day, but I need to devote more time to doing it. Back in junior high and high school though, I would churn out like several chapters a day. My brain still thinks the same way it did back then, but my fingers won’t allow it. Being a mom, I have to plan out when I will sit down and work on stuff. Also, I don’t waste my time writing something just to write down a fantasy. I focus on story ideas with major plot lines and character development. If it bores me just thinking about it but the idea for a fic sounds like it could be fun to write, I’ll still scratch it. So, needless to say, I don’t update often because when I do begin a new story I want it to be the best that it can be. I’m also OCD and get frustrated when I have too many unfinished fanfics lying around the site. Which reminds me, I should get to working on some of those soon…
Where do your ideas and inspiration come from?
Anywhere and everywhere of course. Music. TV. Movies. Books. It’s hard not to be inspired by things that have already been created. In fact, I try to take those things and figure out how I can incorporate them into the Hanfic world. That’s pretty much what I spend the majority of my free time doing. Since I love watching horror films so much, my ideas have generally come from there, but when it comes to Hanfic anything goes. The more challenging the better!
Which stories are you most proud of having written?
Just because this was my first attempt at Hanfic Far From Reality would be on the top of the list. My two best friends and I worked on that one for years. Still from the past, a trilogy of stories called The Slayer Series which was about vampires and included the Moffatts as well as Hanson had a concept that I thought was unique at the time. Also, this one really weird story I wrote called For the Love of the Princess holds a lot of sentimental value. It’s kinda got a fantasy vibe to it because Taylor gets stuck in a time warp in this castle in Scotland. Weird, I know. As for the present day, Family Ties is my baby. It’s a rewrite but it’s in the horror genre I love so much and it’s been a blast to write! I’m really proud of every one of my stories and co-writes though. They just keep getting better and better, as far as my own personal progress goes.
Favorite songs to listen to while you write or which inspire your writing?
This depends on my mood, which story I’m writing, what scene I’m attempting, or what emotion my character is depicting at that moment. I usually just put my ipod or itunes on random and go with it. I have a hard time listening to rap or country (although Taylor Swift and Old Crow Medicine Show have been pretty helpful.) My music taste is pretty eclectic and once I skip through the shuffling and find those few songs that fit with a particular story I’m writing I’ll create a playlist or soundtrack for it that I will listen to on repeat until I finish that fanfic. Of course, Hanson is usually on those lists among many, many others.
Thank you, Renee P, for being the January Spotlight, even if I did wait until the last minute to do our interview.