Mel was one of several authors I contacted when I was running very very late on the January spotlights. We got our wires crossed a bit and things didn’t work out for that month, but I promised her she would get her time in the spotlight. And that time is now!
You can check out Mel’s stories on her site, Rain Queen. I would suggest starting with Lessons of a Laundry Mat Attendant, which I’ve spotlighted here before. You should also be on the lookout for her upcoming story, Queens in Castles of Beaded Lace, which looks like it will be a good one.
ETA: With the closing of AITP, Mel’s site is also now offline.
Why did you start writing hanfic? How long have you been writing?
I started writing hanfic after I read some of it and got more involved in the fandom. After several conversations with Brittney, a hanfic writer, she convinced me that I should try my hand at writing. I’ve been writing since I was sixteen, but I didn’t start with hanfic, I started with General Hospital fanfiction.
You’ve participated in The Spark Inside a few times. What advice can you offer writers for it and other such challenges?
The only thing that I can really say is that you don’t want to push yourself. It’s easy to want to dive right into writing something, anything, since you are under a time line but pushing yourself will only led to writing something that isn’t fully fleshed out with flat characters.
What are your favorite hanfic stories and authors?
To be honest, I don’t read a lot of hanfiction; there are only a few that I read. I read anything by Brittney and Becca. Other than those two ladies, I’ll read the challenges written for The Spark Inside and writers nominated for awards (before I vote). My favorite stories actually change with my mood. Right now, it’s Infinite by Brittney.
What is your writing process like?
I don’t have a writing process, I don’t think. I mean, the most important thing is to know how to start a story and how to end it, and then, like Meg Cabot says, everything in the middle is an adventure. Most of the time I just write when I feel like it. I don’t write when I don’t feel like it because if I do it more often than not turns out to be complete shit. Other than that, I turn on my music to drown out my complaining cats (because heaven forbid that I do anything else besides give them attention) and write whatever comes into my head. Sometimes I have a time line, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I have pieces of scenes and other times just a picture of what I want to see. I just have to know where I’m starting and where I’m stopping and anything in the middle is free game.
Where do your ideas and inspiration come from?
My ideas come from all kinds of places. Sometimes it’s from a song, or a book I’m reading. Sometimes it comes from day to day life. Lessons of a Laundry Mat Attendant started when Brittney posted a picture on tumblr, sparking the typewriter inside my head, it also helps that I work at a laundry mat, so I know what it’s like. Sometimes ideas just come in dream form. I don’t have a lot dreams that I remember, so when I do they usually end up in a story somehow. Sometimes, they form from just sitting in the middle of a mall and making up stories about the people going passed.
Which stories are you most proud of having written?
Lessons of a Laundry Mat Attendant. It was the first story that I’ve written that I actually finished that wasn’t a short story. Although, I’m growing to love the two stories I’m working on now, Queens in Castles of Beaded Lace and Push.
Favorite songs to listen to while you write or which inspire your writing?
That depends on the story I’m writing. As matter of fact, it also depends on the scene I’m writing and the voice of the character. Each story has its own soundtrack that I listen to when writing for it. Sometimes the track listing grows and changes as the story does. Lessons ended up with a playlist of twenty-six songs. The story I’m working on now, Queens in Castles of Beaded Lace, already has a playlist of eighteen songs and I’m only on the eleventh chapter. Push, another story, only has ten songs but I’ve only written four chapters, so I can tell that story is only to be very song driven.
Thank you, Mel, for being the March spotlight. I appreciate you agreeing to be spotlighted at the last minute, even if it didn’t turn quite the way.