I always feel a little silly when I realize I’ve neglected to feature an author who I’ve known for quite some time. That’s the case this month, with the spotlight now being focused on Sammy.
Sammy is a very prolific author, and I’m sure most of you are familiar with her stories Pages of Your Diary and Here We Go Round Again. You can read those and others here on her LiveJournal.
Why did you start writing hanfic? How long have you been writing?
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ve been writing hanfic a little for five years now! I guess it doesn’t seem possible because I still remember it all so vividly. I remember browsing the web for new Hanson info and innocently coming across a Zaylor short–a hilariously vulgar Zaylor short. It was the first fanfic I’d read, ever. I’d never come across a cest story or even a slash story, so to say I was initially shocked and traumatized would be an understatement. But for some reason, I couldn’t stop reading. I laughed and blushed my way through the entire thing. It wasn’t so much the dirty content of the story that was sucking me in as it was the idea of Zac and Taylor together in general, and there was suddenly no shortage of Zaylor-centered plot bunnies clouding my mind. Immediately after reading, I began writing my own Zaylor fiction, and have been writing ever since.
The genre you write is rather controversial. What draws you to it?
I just love the challenge that idea of such a forbidden love brings. It’s always a struggle when writing to figure out how/if two famous, married brothers will defeat the odds overcome everything thrown at them, and wind up together.
What are your favorite hanfic stories and authors?
The first story that really touched and inspired me was called “This Kind of Life” by Leigh. Unfortunately it’s not online anymore, but it’s still very dear to me. “Guilt”,”Gordian Knot” and “In Praise of the Vulnerable Men”, and by Abby (sadly, neither of which are online anymore), “Avenues” and “If I Fall” by DiamondJourney, “Little Taste of Innocence” and “Cravings” by Psychoknot, and the “Before We Began series” by Ali. My all-time favorite fic is “Life Less Ordinary” also by Ali. The characters, the setting, the storyline–everything about it is incredible, and everyone I know who’s read the story feel as passionately about it as I do.
What is your writing process like?
Spastic is the best word I can think to describe it. Even when I’m feeling inspired, sometimes I can’t sit still or focus long enough to write, and will have only produced one measly paragraph after several hours. Other times I wind up writing several thousand words per day. Either way, I usually tend to open Sticky Notes on my laptop and write outlines before starting chapters. Helps organize some of the chaos in my head!
Where do your ideas and inspiration come from?
Everywhere, really. Some of them are inspired by my own dreams and experiences with people and places I’ve visited, others from things I’ve seen people close to me go through. I just try to take what I’ve been through and seen and incorporate them in my stories. A large part of my inspiration comes from music-nothing inspires me the way a good song does. There’s also something about being outdoors, especially by a lake, river or beach that’s deeply soothing and inspiring to me.
What really inspires me to write, though, is Hanson. Listening to their harmonies and interviews, watching video clips of them being completely weird and insane, watching the way they interact with each other, feeling the passion that they have for their craft–it just doesn’t get much more inspirational than that.
Which stories are you most proud of having written?
I tend to be hard on myself and feel like there’s always a lot room for improvement, so I don’t know that I’d say that I’m “proud” of my stories. But I think the one that means the most to me is probably “Pages of Your Diary/Here We Go Round Again”. I first started writing it about five years ago, and I’m still writing it. A couple chapters more, and I’ll have written a ridiculous three hundred chapters in total and yet, at least to me, it still feels fresh and exciting. I’m not sure what it is about that story, but I’m constantly coming up with new ideas, characters and twists to weave into the story.
Favorite songs to listen to while you write or which inspire your writing?
The music I’m listening to completely depends on the mood that I’m in at the time I’m writing. But typically, I listen to everything from baroque to metal, and everything in between. I tend to listen to a lot of Hanson, of course, Aaliyah, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alexz Johnson, Cassie Steele, Wide Open Cage, Vivaldi, Arcana, Korn, Orgy, Tchaikovsky, NIN, Secret Garden, Linkin Park, Selena, Michael Jackson, 2 Door Cinema Club, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Flyleaf, Vampire Weekend…I could go on and on. Oh, and 90’s music. Anything from the 90’s, definitely (I might be slightly obsessed).
Thank you, Sammy, for being the June spotlight! I hope we can hang out more the next time we’re both in Tulsa.