Featured Author: Christine

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Published on Thursday, 18 February 2010 19:37

The February featured author is Christine.  She is the author of Ready and Waiting to Fall, This is Home, Art, and Welcome to the Family

In 1999, there was this “little” Web site called nsync-world.com and there was *NSYNC fan fiction on it. I started reading and writing it.  In 2004/5, I stopped reading and writing it to focus on college and to just move on.  In Spring 2008, I don’t know why, but I started to read it again and decided to write another Justin Timberlake story just to see if I could still do it.  If you’re so inclined, that story can be found here along with stories I wrote nearly five or six years ago.

After “Twilight” came out and I got into Robert Pattinson, I started to search for fan fiction revolving around him.  Much to my surprise there were very few stories out there, so I decided that I wanted to try my hand at writing about Rob.  He really was an open book, because the stories just weren’t out there to be compared too; plotlines hadn’t been done over and over and over again like they had with *NSYNC.  Therefore, it was a fresh new start, and I liked that.

2. What made you decide to start writing fan fiction?

I really am not sure what made me decide to start writing fan fiction.  I was 14 when I first wrote *NSYNC fan fiction, and those stories will, hopefully, never see the light of day again.  They are very much out of a 14-year-old’s mind.  I guess I figured if these other girls could do it, so could I.

3. What is your writing process? Do you have a specific place you like to write, music you listen to, etc.?

My writing process involves a Moleskine notebook, a pencil, a few different iterations, typing it up, and then editing it and/or sitting on it for few days.  When I was working, I would sit in my Tahoe during lunch, curl up in the driver’s seat and write.  The couch works too.  As for noise, it really depends on what kind of mood I am in and where I’m at.  Sometimes I like music, sometimes I like the TV, but more often than not I just like silence.

4. How much research goes into the stories? Time spent on the internet? Personal experience?

It just depends on the story and what the premise is regarding research.

As for personal experience … well, I’m still young so there are a lot of personal experiences I haven’t divulged in.  I am a dreamer when it comes to relationships, having never been in a full-blown romantic relationship myself.  However, I grew up in a household with both parents, and I’ve watched my friends and their relationships – so I am not totally innocent to the ups and downs of that kind of relationship. 

I do put myself into my characters which you’ll see with Millie in her passion for architecture, her growing up in Texas and going to school in Arkansas, and studying abroad in Rome in Spring 2007. But, my characters will do things that I won’t do, like drink alcohol or live with a person of the opposite sex they are not related too (yeah, I’m weird, I know … even my Dad’s like “It’s not the 1920′s! You can share an apartment with guys and drink!”).

My story ideas mostly come from daydreams and sometimes another story might trigger an idea.

5. What is the hardest/easiest part about writing?

The hardest part for me is letting go.  I have a tendancy to hold back when I am writing out of the fear of what someone will think about me, as a person, because I wrote I-don’t-know-what in a story.  Sometimes I have to make myself just write it and forget what the reader might think or say about it.  I have to just do it.  I practiced that a lot with “Better Part of Me” (JT story) and ”Ready and Waiting to Fall”, and those stories are better because of it.  I need to do that with “Art”, which I believe is part of the reason why that story is on hold – I can’t let go.

I don’t know if there is anything easy about writing.  Maybe the sense of relief, excitement, accomplishment, etc., you feel when the story is done, and you know you put your best foot foward with it.

6. Out of the stories you’ve written which is your favorite? Favorite character? Why?

I suppose “Ready and Waiting to Fall”; it was the first story I wrote around Rob, and it was the first story I’ve written that got the recognition/reviews it did – the amount of response to it, still blows my mind.  Writing the correspondence between the two was fun and making you all wait for them to see each other …

I love Millie because she pursued her life-long goal to be an architect and made it through, she sticks to her guns and goes with the flow, she’s understanding and supportive of Rob.  She’s the me I’d like to be.  If that makes sense …

7. What do you think makes a good story?

Experience - A good story comes from someone who’s had those experiences.  I think the reason why mature writers are as popular as they are, is because you can see lifetime experience in what they’re writing.  There’s a difference in the way words, emotions, actions, etc., are depicted in a story that is written by someone who has had those kinds of ups and downs in their lives. 

Proper grammar, spelling and paragraphs!  I don’t claim to be an expert on grammar and punctuation, but I cannot read a story that lacks those things.

Obviously a great plotline, being able to feel what the characters are feeling, is it written well, and many other things go into making a story good.

8. Is there any story (or book) you wish you could have written? Why?

 There are several, but I can’t really name anything off the top of my head.  Those stories are all really well written and the plotlines make me go “Man, I wish I had thought of that!” 

9. Do you have any writing tips?

Not necessarily a tip, but write for yourself and not for reviews/popularity. 

Edit!  Don’t be afraid to ask someone to look over your story for spelling or grammar mistakes, or to make suggestions.

10. Who’s your pick to be the next author interviewed?

My pick for March is m244robp, because I’ve enjoyed each of her stories that I’ve read.  I look forward to seeing how “The One” turns out and her next work, whatever that may be. 

From readers:

1. What made you decide to make a Rob Fic site? – benjis_monikuss

I kept looking for fiction written about him and it just did not exist.  I figured that if I was looking for it, so were other people, and apparently ya’ll were.  : )

2. Have you ever written yourself into a corner? If so, how did you fix it? – chickadee

I think I have done just that with “Art”, and I haven’t figured out how to get out of it yet.  The story has big shoes to fill when it comes to the plot.  For it I really need to delve into research, but I haven’t been in the mood to do just that. 

3. What are your favourite stories, yours and someone else’s? – ameliainthewater

Like everyone else on here, Swoozy’s stuff.  I also enjoy m244robp, sassy spacey, and your (ameliainthewater) stuff.  I really don’t read much of what is on here; I did when the site was much smaller, but it’s really hard to keep up with it all. 

4. Have you thought about writing a novel or having something published? – sassy spacey

All the time.  I would love to be a part of something like Twilight.  That would be an incredible accomplishment.  If/when I do decided to write an actual novel, I’d like to be older and have more life experiences under my belt.  I do have an idea for a novel though, but I will not share. 

I have had three news stories published in The Arkansas Traveler, which is the University of Arkansas student paper, that were about the architecture school and architecture on campus.

5. What kinds of books do you read? – sassy spacey

Chick-lit … girly books; usually something with a head strong female.  Except for Sophie Kinsella/Madeliene Wickham books, her characters are usually a bit delusional, and I want to reach through the pages to ring their necks.  However, I cannot resist picking up whatever her latest book is. 

I also love memoirs/true accounts of the Holocaust written by survivors or WWII in general.  They are always really touching and help to put things into perspective.

6. If you could talk to one author dead or alive who would it be? What would you talk about with them? – sassy spacey

Hmmm … tough question.  Probably one of the Holocaust survivors like Corrie Ten Boom, Mel Melmerstein, Elie Weisel, and I’d want to talk about their experiences and maybe go beyond what they have written.

7. Your dream job? – sassy spacey

Architectural photographer, writer, getting to play with Adobe InDesign all day,  … there are so many jobs I’d consider to be a dream.  Now if I could only focus and actually get on a path that would lead in one of those directions.

8. Is there any other kind of writing you’d like to try? Screenplays? Plays? Poetry? – sassy spacey

I would love to write a book about architecture.  My friends want me to write an architectural history book that isn’t boring.  Now that would be quite a feat. 

9. Greatest accomplishment so far? – sassy spacey

Hmm … probably my B.S. in Architectural Studies and B.A. in Journalism.  Would studying abroad in Rome count?  Thats more of an opportunity than accomplishment though.

Favorites:

- Book: Anything by Jane Greene, Sophie Kinsella (aka Madeliene Wickham), Sarah Dessen, and Curtis Sittenfeld. 

- Movie: Dedication or All I Want

- Actor/Actress: Mandy Moore, I have this strange obsession with her movies

- Band: House of Heroes, Relient K, The Wedding, Emery …

- Song: all time favorite is “Don’t Worry Baby” by The Beach Boys; “I Am Understood?” and “Deathbed” by Relient K; “In the Valley of the Dying Sun”, “If” and all other House of Heroes songs

- Cookie: Oatmeal Raisin

 Last Words:

Is there anything else you would like to say or share with us?

I cannot thank you all enough for your support for my writing and this Web site.  It’s really hard to say how much it means and how mind-blowing it is. 

All of you who followed me from various places on the Web, NF.com, Twilighted and FF.net, helped to establish this Web site to what it has become in less than a year.  It’s crazy, seriously crazy!  I just wanted a place for people to be able to post their Rob stories, easily and without a hastle, and it has become way more than that because of everyone who has found a home here.  I never imagined it would grow like this, and I look forward to the next year, and hopefully years to come.

And, uh, Rob (Don’t you have better things to be doing than reading this? Apparently you’re not unlike the rest of us … ), thanks for being our muse.  : ) 

God bless.

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