I always feel a little embarrassed when I realize an author has been around for a while and I haven’t gotten around to spotlighting them. Consider this admittance my apology for failing to spotlight Selina sooner.
So far, she’s written two very different stories that have one major thing in common: Isaac. Both stories, Watch The Throne and Other Than You, can be read on her Livejournal, here. If one of those names sounds familiar, it’s because I reviewed it a few months ago.
Why did you start writing hanfic? How long have you been writing?
Why I chose Hanfic is realistically because at the time I first started putting pen to paper to write fiction, I was about 11 or 12 and I was obsessed with Taylor Hanson.
I have been writing fanfiction before I even knew that’s what it was called. I only found that it was something other people did when I had access the internet. Discovering the Hanfic community in the early 2000s was like falling into a black hole and finding other people who were like you.
Do you write other fiction and/or fanfic as well? If so, what genres/fandoms/etc?
I write other general fiction but not other fandoms though I have had RP characters wander into Hanfics. Sometimes they’re not even people I’m a fan of, they just fit the kind of character needed.
Mostly the genre would be chick lit, humor or urban fantasy. I prefer light and funny stories because that’s how I like my entertainment. I write more for fun and experimentation than trying to hone an art and with that mindset it’s easier to have something that you can dip in and out and for me those genres are ideal.
What are your favorite hanfic stories and authors?
I’m actually out of date on most Hanfic because I disappeared from the scene when it became predominantly incest and have only in the last year or so started to look around again to see what the landscape is now.
The first author who I actually followed was Ella who wrote Catapult, and to this day it remains my favorite Hanfic. It took a very surreal premise and made the characters very real. In an era rich with Mary Sues you had characters who were fleshed out and likeable despite how easily they could have fallen trap to being formulaic protagonists. If I could get one unfinished hanfic finished, it would be Anna Begins from the Catapult universe.
What is your writing process like?
One I wouldn’t recommend. I usually have ‘scenes’ that will come to me in a story arc and I tend to write out by hand as I think them up and then do some research into things I’m not sure about and tie them together as the story.
Sometimes it ends up a long way from what I thought it would and sometimes it follows my initial idea. That became a problem with the first story I posted because it strayed and should have been edited before posting ideally.
Where do your ideas and inspiration come from?
Sometimes pop culture, sometimes movies, television series and books that I like the premise of but think they could have explored another direction and, it sounds corny, but a lot of the time they come from life.
Watch The Throne, unsurprisingly, was inspired by the Holland, British and Monégasque royal families. Other Than You is very loosely based on the end of a relationship in my circle of friends.
Which stories are you most proud of having written?
I’m most proud of a story that I started writing during the 2012 NaNoWriMo challenge. Despite several attempts I still haven’t found a title that I like for it, so it’s nameless at the moment. It’s a retelling.
Favorite songs to listen to while you write or which inspire your writing?
I actually don’t get that inspired by music when it comes to writing. I like to write in quiet or with background noise, I find music in itself distracting when it comes to writing personally.
Thank you, Selina, for being the August spotlight! I’m looking forward to seeing more of your writing.