interview.

[omona_shi]

RurouniHime - Please click on the cut below for the interview.

1. Please introduce yourselves as an author.

 
My name is RurouniHime (pronounced roo-roh-knee-hee-may, because there has been debate) and I’ve been writing fanfic for about nine years now. My first fandom was Harry Potter, but since then, I’ve written for Highlander: The Series, CSI, Supernatural (rpf), Dawn of the Dead (1978), and Merlin BBC (rpf and canon). I honestly am not sure what I’m best known for… In the Harry Potter fandom, there’s World’s Edge (the penguin fic), Under Fingertips (the ever-unfinished mpreg one), Vale Sanare (the one where Draco has magical epilepsy), and The Arrangement (the one where Harry and Draco are all grown up); in Merlin, The Good Life (the one where Merlin is living out of his car); and in SPN, The Flub (the one where Jensen messes up in front of Misha Collins and forever suffers for it).

1. What is writing to you? Is it a medium to express your feelings and vent frustrations, purely a hobby or something to pass time with?

 
Put simply, it’s my life. I know that sounds clichéd, but I’ve known I wanted to be a writer for just about as long as I can remember. It was always, “I wanna be a cowgirl… and a writer. I wanna be a trapeze artist… and a writer.” My college education was entirely focused on writing. I’ve found that when I don’t write, I tend to get mightily tense, unhappy, sometimes grouchy. It is definitely a way of expressing myself, and fanfic in particular started out as a way to try out new genres, styles, voices and plot devices in what I considered to be a relatively safe sphere of feedback. Now I know that it can get kind of brutal in the fandom, but I still stand by my original idea: fandom is a place full of supportive individuals where pretty much anything goes. If you have something you want to test out, you can definitely do it here.

1. Were you always good at writing? A lot of aspiring writers worry about this the most- if they have enough talent.

 
I doubt I was always good. But I was always determined, and that’s a major part of the craft. I think there are probably people who are born with a certain gift for writing, but I feel that the majority of the craft is a learned thing: you don’t just come upon it and know immediately what you are doing. I have old, old original fiction that I go back to just so I can laugh at how clichéd it was, how many plot points I ripped off from what I was into at the time… It was a learning experience, and reading plays a huge part in it. Writing is like a muscle, and like any other skill: it takes practice. You can be good at writing and still be fairly naïve about what has already been done, what is fresh and what is sort of stale. It would be like someone trying to write a vampire novel without having read Dracula or understanding the Anne Rice evolution: you run the risk of repeating things and not realizing it. But in a sense, you kind of have to repeat things in order to learn them. Understand the rules first; then you can break them properly.

1. What are your opinions on beta-ing? Have you considered beta reading for others?

 
I think beta-ing is necessary for several reasons. One, getting a second opinion: it is always a good idea to get an outside opinion on your work. As the writer, you can become too close to what you have written and be therefore blind to the simplest of mistakes or inconsistencies. You need that fresh POV to point at things and say, “Hey. Fix.” Two, beta-ing for someone else: I have beta-ed (or edited) for many people both in and out of the fandom. You can learn about how other people write by analyzing it rather than just reading it. More importantly, you start getting into a dialogue with another writer and that’s a great place to pick up skills and share your own. And beyond even that, this way you can eventually learn how to beta more effectively for yourself, so to speak. Three, writing a good story: More than one beta reader per story is a good thing. If just one person comments on a certain element, that’s one thing, but if multiple people are commenting on the same problem, that’s usually a good sign that changes need to be made in the story. Four, learning how to give and accept concrit: This is a skill on both fronts and it takes a lot of practice. When you have betas and you beta for others, you learn how to give and accept constructive criticism for your or others’ work rather than feeling like there is some sort of personal attack going on. A lot of writers feel offended by concrit, and they shouldn’t; that is addressed to the story, not the individual writing it. But it’s a TOUGH line to find and a hard one not to cross.

1. What do you normally look for in a good fanfiction you'd like to sit down and read? Or, on the other hand, what would completely turn you off from a fanfic?

 
I look for engaging plot, a believable storyline, in-character portrayals, and evocative description in terms of the five senses. As far as immediate turn offs, correct grammar is a major issue with me, as is spelling. I’ve heard people say that the story is the most important aspect and writers should not be immediately discounted for grammatical mistakes. My take on it is, sure, the story might be awesome. But if you can’t convey your story properly, no one will be able to read it or understand what you mean, and then what’s the point? The story itself is lost.

1. Just a quick yes/no question- do you normally give critique? Either in the form of reviews, PMs, blogging, etc.

 
Not usually. I’m notoriously bad at it.

1. What can you tell us about your writing style? Do you tend to focus on the dialogue, emotion, or description?

 
Sometimes my approach to writing dictates style: I could focus entirely on dialogue or entirely on inner thought. I think I tend to go towards emotional aspects more often than anything else, but it really depends on what I’m trying to do with the story. If I’m trying out a new type of writing on purpose, then that will dictate my style.

1. What do you base your writing on? Pure fiction, or your own experiences?

 
I base things heavily on the canon itself, and of course on my own experiences, but also on those of other people I’ve heard about, things I’ve read about in the news, seen on TV… Anything that strikes me as particularly intriguing for whatever reason. Pretty much what I come across when I go outside on a daily basis, really. There’s drama in peeling a banana, if you can do it right. I also like using writing to explore questions I have and feelings I am trying to process.

1. What do you think is the problem that writers nowadays have most? If you had that problem, how would you try to solve it?

 
I think this is a pretty large question and I’m not sure where to start. I think writers nowadays probably have the most trouble finding fresh things to write about. It seems we’re always seeing the same plot over and over again, but I think that if the writer can bring something new to it, that’s great. The best way I can think of to solve the problem is to read, and to try to personalize the situation as much as possible: make it applicable especially to this or that character and it will feel new.

1. How do you become inspired? Please feel free to answer in any way, quick or long.

 
Every day life! The people I see, the conversations I hear and participate in, the books I’m reading, the shows I’m into (sometimes I’ll read or watch a scene and think, “But what if it had gone THIS way instead? I’m going to write that.”)… There’s a smorgasbord out there just waiting to be tackled.

1. How do you begin your stories? What do you think an opening should achieve?

 
An opening should be gripping. It should get the attention. My mother and I have this unofficial rule when we read novels: if we are not grabbed by the first two to four chapters, we usually put the book down and move onto something else, because there is sooooooo much out there that we’re interested in reading. For short stories, there’s even less time to grab your reader. If you can introduce some sort of problem or humor into the first paragraph, even the first sentence, that’s a good tactic. You want to make the reader want to read on, find out what happens next and who is going to deal with it.

1. What techniques to you use to develop your character/make it believable/move others?

 
I think bringing the character home, so to speak, is the most effective technique. Yes, it’s Draco crushing on Harry, but Draco still has a favorite food to eat for breakfast, and Harry is still a cat or a dog person, or maybe both. Nick and Greg may be CSIs, but they both have families with family problems and they both oversleep and have car trouble and they both have favorite movies. Methos and Duncan are Immortals, but they get in arguments with their best friends and they’ve done things they’d like to forget about, and they hate and like opera respectively. The more you can pull a character down to earth, the more a reader will relate: So make the character like you. Not just like you, obviously, but… What concerns do you have, day to day? Chances are, the character has them, too. I think a good way to do this is to pick a snapshot of the character’s day and focus in on it. Attention to the little details is very good here because it zeroes in and makes things more concrete, something the reader can remember vividly rather than vaguely.

1. How do you write an ending/epilogue? What do you try to do?

 
Sometimes something just needs closure. I’m actually not fond of this approach because I feel like stories never really end at the finale of a book. Those characters, if they were real people, would continue to live on after the marriage/birth of a child/death of a family member/job change/worldwide apocalypse/etc. For example: Harry will get up the day after defeating Voldemort and go downstairs to find breakfast. His life doesn’t just stop. But yeah, sometimes you want a little closure. In that case, I make it a point to try NOT to tie up every loose end. I find that approach to be unrealistic; it just takes the reader further away from the character because suddenly relating becomes more difficult (“Hey, would you look at that? The main character is finally married to her dream dude, and her troubled sibling got lobotimized, and the zombies have been defeated, and everyone’s paired up happily with significant others and multi-children families, and whoopee, that asteroid ran into a comet and both exploded and the Earth is safe!” Yeah. Right). Tie up some of it, maybe even most of it. But don’t feel required to wrap everything in a pretty bow. Otherwise, there’s nowhere for these characters to go after, regardless of whether you write the “after” or not.

1. What do you think makes a good plot, or how do you develop your own plots?

 
I think I’ll mention what doesn’t necessarily make a good plot instead. You don’t strictly need explosions or violence or orgies or asteroids or murder. There are definitely ways to handle those things, but you don’t need them, and if they’re done poorly, they can make readers roll their eyes rather than empathize with the characters. I think a good plot is one that engages the reader quickly, makes him or her think and put him/herself in the characters’ shoes and cheer for an ending, whatever that ending may be. I think realism is important, and deus ex machina (hand of god) is Not Welcome. I also think it’s a good idea to have your character grow/change in some way because a static character gets a little boring.

1. What advice would you give to people with a writer's block in the middle of a lengthy story, or lose interest halfway through?

 
I say, work on multiple things at once. It can get a little hard to juggle sometimes, namely if you start too many projects and then feel overwhelmed, but I’ve found that if I keep one or two projects going at once, I always have something to fall back on when I hit a block on one story. Being able to turn my thoughts in a different direction (maybe another story within the same fandom or another fandom altogether) usually helps me get the writing beat thumping again. I’ve also found that letting your mind sort of… digest the story subconsciously is a GREAT way to open up new doors. Put the story aside, sit on it for a few days. Even though you may not actively be thinking about what to write next, your brain is still working on it. Also? TALK. Brainstorm with a trusted friend. Some of my best plot developments came from chattering about a story with my writing buddies.

1. Any general tips for the either the newly budding writer or just someone aiming to improve their writing?

 
I know a ton of people say this, but my advice is to READ. Reading is where you pick up tips, discover new genres that interest you, see new ways of developing a character or a plotline… But here’s an important aside: Don’t forget to read the bad stuff as well as the good. I’m not saying you should invest whole chunks of your life in reading less-than-stellar writing. But it is a good idea to remind yourself from time to time of the things you want not to do just as much as the things you want to do. This next suggestion may ruin any reading you do from now on, but sometimes I find it helpful to sort of “rewrite” the story in my mind as I read: what word would I have chosen differently here? How would I have phrased this to make it more evocative? What is it about this sentence that makes it work/not work? Why is this character not ringing true?

-Fin-