This probably seems a little self centered, and I suppose it is. I’ve realized recently that a few people don’t actually know who is behind this website. So, with the fourth anniversary of it coming up, why not shine the spotlight on myself?
In case you guys weren’t aware, my name is Bethany and in addition to being the hostess of PTH.net, I also post my fic here on the site Extemporaneous. If you haven’t read any of it, I would love if you did… after you check out this interview of course.
Why did you start writing hanfic? How long have you been writing?
Oh man. This is going to be a long and convoluted answer. The thing is, I’ve come and gone from the Hanson fandom a lot. Of course I liked them in 1997 – what ten year old girl didn’t? But it wasn’t “cool” to be a Hanson fan, so I threw myself headfirst into the Backstreet Boys fandom instead. Not long after we got the internet in 1998, I discovered Backstreet Boys fanfic. At first it was a little weird to me, but then I found some stories I really liked. I’d always loved writing, so it seemed logical to write my own. I wasn’t great, because what twelve year old is? I got frustrated with the whole fanfic scene around the same time that I started to tire of the Backstreet Boys…
…which just so happened to be in 2000, when Hanson returned to my life. Their music was darker, angstier, and so much more inspiring to write about. I still wasn’t very good, although not too shabby for a fourteen year old. But the fandom was so cliquey and all the writers were older than me (or so it seemed) and way, way better. By 2002 or 2003, I had pretty much abandoned hanfic, although I lingered on the fringes of the fandom until 2006.
Then it gets cliche. Life got in the way and Hanson got harder to follow. I downloaded a few songs from The Walk but they didn’t grab me right away (no, I still don’t understand why not). It wasn’t until early 2009 I stumbled upon news of Tinted Windows, the MMMCock scandal and various references to something called a “walk” that I bothered to give the guys another shot. It took one viewing of All This Love Crap for me to be sucked back in.
I didn’t get back into hanfic until that summer. I’d found the few communities for it on LiveJournal, because I’d dipped my toes into other fandoms there over the years, and followed the trail from a friend’s old site to Brittney’s domain, AloneInThePretense.org. I had been posting some writing, including a short story I’d been trying to finish since 2007, on a website a friend was hosting for me for free, and at some point the reason why I couldn’t finish it just clicked – it was hanfic! I was writing about the same Bonnie and Clyde characters I’d written three drafts about way back in 2001 and 2002. Once I made a few edits and posted the Hansonified version on LJ, I was back… and I haven’t left since.
What are your favorite hanfic stories and authors?
This isn’t hard to narrow down or anything, is it?
Favorite authors, in that I can pretty much guarantee I’ll enjoy anything they have or will post: Abby, Brittney, Calla, Diamond and Nat. There are others I love, but those girls have some of the highest output of super quality writing. I was also a huuuuuge fan of Candystix and Ivey back in the day. I devoured all of the delicious smut those girls wrote!
Favorite stories are listed on my reading list, but here are a few of the cream of the crop: Avenues, By Appointment Only, Catapult, Falling and Farther In, Look To The Stars, The Quiet One and Untying the Gordian Knot. At one point, I would have included Devil Angel, Holding Onto Nothing and My Mother’s Obsession With Pies as well, but those three hadn’t held up very well when I went back to reread them years later.
What is your writing process like?
It varies a bit depending on the story, but it’s more or less like this. First, I have to let an idea marinate in my brain for a while. I have to get to a state of what I call synesthesia, although I’m not sure how accurately that describes it, where I can feel the story — not just the emotions, but the setting and something more that I can’t really explain. It’s just a certain quality, how the story feels. Once I’ve latched onto that, I need to start planning and writing before I lose it.
My outlines start out stream of consciousness, just me writing down everything I know about the characters and the plot. I have to nail down the point where the story begins and at least a vague idea of the ending, even if it’s just whether or not it’s a happy or sad ending. Then I break it down into chapters, as much as I can. These are always a bit in flux and sometimes just devolve into a list of things I know happen in the future, but that I’m not sure how they fit into the outline.
I’m finding that I prefer to write a lot at a time to give myself a “buffer.” I can edit and post portions while I still have more to work on, and I can even write out of order if it works best for me that way. Trying to post as I write is something I have done, but I’m finding it’s too stressful and causes me to write myself into corners.
Where do your ideas and inspiration come from?
Where DON’T they come from?!
A lot of them come from dreams, which doesn’t always work out well, because dreams are not required to make sense. But mine tend to be detailed enough that I can find some inspiration in them and turn it into a story. Otherwise, I often work off speculation and rumor and spin it into a story. Sometimes I use prompts. Sometimes the ideas come from nowhere at all. Love and Other Socially Acceptable Emotions came from my desire to write a college AU. Songs Left Unsung came from an idea for what I called an unrequited love triangle.
Honestly, now that I’ve tapped into my creativity again, the ideas just keep coming at me from all sides!
Which stories are you most proud of having written?
The story that brought me back to hanfic, for sure! Little Deaths may not be my best work, but it was the first chaptered story I had finished since 2001. Plus, I had lived with various iterations of those characters in my head for years. It was good to finally give them a story.
After that, the story I started less than a week after I put that first hanficy chapter of Little Deaths up. In fact, the whole series that was spawned from that one story. The Sweetest Downfall Series. It started out as me stubbornly bucking some trends I saw in hanfic at the time, but it turned into so much more. Those characters are my babies, and it makes me sad that I’m finished telling their story, but I’m so, so happy with how it turned out. Okay, so Cause and Effect could use some editing… someday…
Favorite songs to listen to while you write or which inspire your writing?
I’m constantly listening to and getting inspired by music. I tend to get fixated on certain artists and albums and play them over and over. Right now, it’s JT and the 20/20 Experience. Before that, it was the entire Fall Out Boy discography. Often it’s Damien Rice, Rufus Wainwright, Delta Rae, Vienna Teng… soft, pretty music I can play in the background and kind of ignore. For some reason, I had Darren Hayes’ Secret Codes and Battleships on repeat for most of the time I wrote Audience of One. Other artists who I find really inspiring or who just make good writing music: Florence + The Machine, Ryan Adams, Tool, Adele, The Civil Wars, Mumford and Sons, Fleetwood Mac, Jason Mraz, Mika, The Hush Sound, Kings of Leon, Matchbox Twenty, Meiko, Michelle Branch, Placebo, and Silverchair.
….I have very varied tastes.
I really don’t listen to a lot of Hanson while I write, unless I get stuck on a particularly inspiring song. However, my iTunes thinks it’s hilarious to shuffle to Back To The Island while I’m writing sex scenes!
I usually throw in one random question tailored to each author, but I couldn’t decided what to ask… me… so I had my friends pitch in a few questions. Here they are, along with the shortest answers I could manage.
Who’s your favorite muse? What’s your favorite genre? Will you ever publish any of your work? If you could live out one of the stories you’ve written (or read) which would it be and what role would you play? – Tonya
Zac, of course. Urban fantasy, which I realize I don’t write (in hanfic, at least). I hope so, but probably entirely original works. I would love to be a fly on the wall for most of Untying the Gordian Knot. Or maybe Sam. Definitely Sam.
Do you prefer to write alone or collaborate? – Frances
Alone. I didn’t really touch on how my collaboration process works above, but suffice it to say, it can be frustrating. I’m kind of controlling in my need to do everything and do it perfectly, so collaborating is not really in my wheelhouse. Sometimes, though, an idea just begs to have two brains involved and I have to do it.
What’s the most difficult part of writing? – Calla
Coming up with a title! Also, the falling action. That last 1/4 of the story.
Do you still remember the very first story you’ve read? – Nadine
I don’t, actually! I do remember clicking around on a list of hanfic erotica (in late 2000 or so) and reading some of the awful smut posted on Nifty.org. The first story I truly remember reading is Zac Hanson, Boy Slut, and I suppose that says a lot about me.
Thank you, er… me… for being the December spotlight! Come back next month for a less narcissistic edition of the monthly spotlights.