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bellarkefanfiction · 6 years

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Lina got the chance to catch up with @ticogirls author of I Think You're Cute, Between the Lines, what a delicate heart, what a hard head and many more on ao3.

BFF: Tell us about yourself!

Mel: I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who starts sweating whenever they get this kinda question but here goes: I’m Mel and despite what my Twitter handle says, that’s not short for “Mellamy” lmao. I’ve been on Tumblr for close to eight years now (I just got a small stroke from saying that), I watch a fuckton of TV and movies (I mean. Who doesn’t, right?), and I’m also a proud BoC (Bisexual of Colour).

BFF: When did you start shipping Bellarke?

Mel: The first place I saw Bellarke was, I think like many of the fandom, on my Tumblr dashboard. During the post-S1 hiatus, one of my favourite gif-makers (she’s changed her URL and gone on several hiatuses so I genuinely don’t know where to find her anymore) was posting a bunch of gifsets of them. Again, like many of the fandom, from the gifs and screencaps of S1 alone, I basically assumed Bellarke was already a canon couple and decided “ooh, they cute. Lemme watch this show for that Good TV Romance™”. (Once more, like many of the fandom, I got a Rude Awakening when I started watching the show because it turned out to be So Much Worse… but also So Much Better.)

As for when I started really shipping Bellarke in the actual show, I think a lot of people fell in 1x02 (Bellamy saving Clarke from the grounder pit) or 1x03 (Clarke relieving him of the burden of mercy killing Atom). While those were both huge steps for me in terms of perceiving their relationship, I don’t think I really fell for this ship as a potential romance until 1x04, ‘Murphy’s Law’. The Charlotte/Murphy conflict peeled back the layers on both Bellamy and Clarke: his posturing and bravado was melted away in front of the delinquents, and all of her cool logic and reasoning was temporarily suspended. That, for me, was the first episode that really showed that despite all their oil/vinegar clashes throughout the show, at their very deepest core, Bellamy and Clarke were always going to be unified by the same goal — to protect their people.

BFF: How long have you been writing fanfiction?

Mel: I used to write (bad) fanfiction for some older fandoms, back when Wattpad and AO3 weren’t even conceived yet and all we had was FanFiction.Net and LiveJournal. Shit, I was really out here when ‘My Immortal’ was still being updated, lmaooo. I stopped for several years for a multitude of reasons — overstuffed schedule, physical exhaustion, a bunch of big life transitions, mental health issues etc. Bellarke was THE ship that restarted my fic-writing engine in 2015, and I think because of that, I’m always gonna have that Soft Spot for them.

BFF: Are you a part of any other fandoms?

Mel: Aside from The 100, I’m a huuuuuuge Star Wars hoe. Original trilogy, prequels, Rogue One, current series — I love them all. I’m genuinely nervous about Disney’s future plans for reviving this franchise but having quite literally grown up on this stuff, I just don’t think it’s ever going to be possible for me to walk away from this franchise, no matter how Messy it gets (and I’ve a feeling it will!).

I’m also really big on the MCU (currently obsessed with Thorkyrie) and From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, which I have no shame admitting is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures.

BFF: Are there any writers that you’ve drawn inspiration from?

Mel: I’m going old-school here, but I’ve always been enamoured by Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series) and K. A. Applegate (Animorphs series). It’s not so much about their kickass creativity with plot or characters, but more of the rhythm and pacing of their writing. They’ve each got a great way of balancing story and characterisation, all underscored and punctuated with these unique comedic inflections and beats.

BFF: Do you have favourite side-pairings or characters you also enjoy including?

Mel: I love writing Minty and, I’m not gonna lie, it’s mostly as a fuck-you to the writers for refusing to acknowledge Monty Green’s Gayness™. Memori have got a really fun dynamic to write too, and I still include a lot of Jasper/Maya in my fics because they deserve to be happy and in love forever. As for solo characters, Raven is hands down my favourite to voice, mostly because I feel like I can 100% relate with whatever’s going through her head in any given situation.

BFF: What are your favourite tropes to write?

Mel: Oh LORDT, do you got a full hour???

Lmao okay but real talk, I absolutely love writing Enemies to Friends to Lovers. I prefer Modern AU’s, simply because I like the concept of breaking our fave characters out from the grimdark world of The 100, to see how their relationships and attitudes could possibly evolve if they were allowed to care about dumb stuff like TV shows and public transport instead of just whether they manage to live or die. I am also a die-hard fan of the Roommates trope, simply because it’s the most convenient fic-writing device for ensuring that your ship will always have some reason to share the same space alone together with some regularity.

BFF: What do you predict will happen in season 5? Especially for our favourite duo?

Mel: So this is basically just “do you think Bellarke will become canon in S5”, right? (lmaodskjfhks) Well I hate to sound like I’m pushing a fatalistic attitude towards S5, but honestly, I don’t see Bellarke becoming canon in S5. After all, they’ve got a lot of ground to cover once they reunite on the ground. Six years is a heck of a long time, especially when one of them fully thought the other was dead. (It’s hard for us as fandom to grasp because we have been shown that Clarke’s fully alive and well, but we gotta remember, death is a separation of utmost finality. It’s not just like thinking someone’s away or missing.)

I do, however, think it’s feasible to expect some kind of recognition/acknowledgement of explicitly romantic feelings on either one or both their parts.

BFF: Do you have any plans for other fics you’d like to write, if so could you spoil or tease us?

Mel: Oh boy, do I ever. Full disclosure, I’m currently working on about 6 or 7 fics for Bellarke alone, but they’re setting up to hit at least 8k in length each so they’re definitely not going to be ready for publication anytime soon.

I do have one that I’m planning to post as a multichap, which means I won’t have to wait until it’s fully completed. I don’t want to give away too much, but it’s based on a French romcom titled Blind Date (Un peu, beaucoup, aveuglément). It’s basically a neighbours / enemies to friends to lovers AU, and I’m really excited for y’all to read it!

BFF: What advice would you give novice writers?

Mel: I answered this question a good while ago in this post here with a few major points, but I think the most important one is this:

You are your best competition. I know it’s a lot easier said than done, but this is seriously the most important thing for me as a writer: DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF WITH OTHERS. It never makes anyone feel better (especially if you’re, say, writing fic for a big fandom with a lot of existing content). Honestly, it doesn’t even make sense when you think about how every writer is different and has their own unique style.

Be your own harshest critic, but also your biggest cheerleader. Write for you, to express yourself. That way, whatever you write/publish, at the end of the day, you feel good about it.

#ticogirls #bellarke fanfiction #features #author interview #by lina

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artistic-writer · 7 years

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2, 6, 9, 12, 16

Thanks for the questions anon! Here are your replies!

2. Favorite piece overall?

So I started writing fanfics about 15 years ago. They weren’t good, but I had a passion for words and a drive to create. In all of that time, I have written fanfics for various fandoms, but my favourite of all time is one I wrote for the Prison Break fandom.

It is called “The Virtues of Michael Scofield According to Lincoln Burrows” and I wrote it in 2007 for a PB Hiatus Fic Challenge on LiveJournal. The prompt was “Virtues” and could have been any, but I went with all of them. It is by no means my most popular fic (read about 700 times total) compared to Turbulence (27,000 of you have read that!) or Love, Life and the Forbidden (read a staggering 38,000 times!*) but I really enjoyed writing it and making Lincoln into a deep thinking human no one really saw him as!A close second would be My Last Betrayal which is one of the most difficult, heart-wrenching, angst-filled fics I have ever written. And I loved every minute of it. The prompts were: Linc/Sara, Michael/Sara, Drugs, Pain, Bruises - So as a Michael/Sara fan, I wrote the only thing I could write that wouldn’t get me lynched! lol (trigger warning).

*stats according to FF.net/Prisonbreakfic.net/AO3 combined - the majority being on PBF.net.

6. Idea that you always wanted to write but could never make work?

Hmm…thats a tough one. I have so many AU ideas floating around my head, because who doesn’t love AU, but I often sit back and wonder how they would work. I have had a Killian/Emma AU running around in their for a few days actually, but I have such terrible OCD for details and descriptions, I feel so woefully unprepared! How will I know if she is doing her fake AU job properly? How will I know is Killian is doing HIS properly? I have never actually been to New York, so how do I know what’s on this street? Or that street? What way do the signs face? How long is the delay between traffic lights changing and the crossing alert? How does the engine of the car Killian drive’s sound in RL? What car does he even drive? How do they drink their coffee? Will AU Killian have two hands in which to hold Emma with, or will he lose it in an accident? This is my brain people.

9. Favorite character to write?

Michael Scofield. No question. I would probably go far as to say I practically role play him when I write, which I have since discovered is a thing now. I am also afflicted with a form of LLI, so my brain does not shut off like normal people brains. I remember when I saw PB for the first time, and Wentworth Miller played what is basically a male version of myself so well, I cried. I cried because in all of my years watching TV and engrossing myself in the lives of fictional characters, no one had ever spoken to me as vividly as WM’s portrayal of Michael Scofield. And I love him for it. I love him for showing the potential of imperfect perfectionists ;)

12. What WIPs do you have going now? Are you excited about them?

Oh well. Of course, there is Turbulence which was started in 2007, and has recently been revived. I had a small mental implosion in 2008 and my entire life was halted - I dropped off grid, stopped watching TV, quit all social media and tried to kill myself. Twice. I didn’t even see season 3 & 4 of PB until earlier this year when S5 was announced, so finishing a fic I started ten years ago was the last thing on my mind. I wrote a few sentences of a new chapter and it was like I had never stopped. I even got a comment from an AO3 member who had started reading it way back in the beginning and couldn’t believe it was back (i had left it on a cliffhanger by accident - oops! lol)

As for being excited about it, I wane. One minute I am super psyched to write more, then I remember I have no idea where it WAS going to go, so I am winging it. The WORST possible way to write a long fic is to just go with each chapter without an end game lol. So I have decided that I will write the next one (half way done) and then maybe one more, which will leave it on an open ended type ending, where i could write more, but it will be equally as finished if i do not. I have always planned a sequel too, and that will be a whole new kettle of fish with no bad 2007/2008 connotations for me, so might be more likely to happen.

I also have an OUAT AU Killian/Emma fic in the works. It’s very early days so I am in the planning stage with very scrappy notes on possible chapters. Just know it is loosely based off the relationship of a good friend of mine and how he met his now wife.

And then there is Tabula Rasa. Currently unpublished, it is a total love at first sight smut fest written with AO3 user eternalcaptainswan. We live in the same country so it makes co-writing much easier, and it started out as an exercise to help a fellow writer who didn’t think she was good enough :) Because I am nice, and despite her reservations, she is good and writes Sara very well. I am Michael. It is post series 2, Sara was never at Fox River because she was in her drug addiction phase of her life, Michael and Lincoln were exonerated and the whole fic is set 4 years after season 2. And when i say smut fest….boy ho boy.

16. 3 favorite comments ever received on fanfic.

Ok, out of context these are going to be hilarious but they are as follows.

“Fucking Killian lmfao” - The Jolly Roger

“ OMG that was I don’t even know. I think I’m going to have to go take a cold shower now because really? That was so DAMN good!! Loved it, off to read more …” - Beautifully Chaotic [review left on PBF.net]

“ ITrustYouToKillMe with every chapter. Definitely worth the wait. **fansmyself** “ - Twelve Months [the review was on PBF.net]

So, a lot of what i write/have written involved explicit material, and a lot fo my reviews were from people telling me how hot they got reading my “incredibly descriptive” sexy stuffs :p These three stick out in my mind because they made me laugh (the recently left #1) and i appreciate every single word left for me!

#itrustyoutokillme #author questions #fanfiction #prisonbreakfic.net #ao3

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