Mel here! Time for another Sit Down Saturday and this week I’m bringing you a slash author I discovered and have absolutely loved ever since! She’s written such amazing fics as: Hard, Dirty Words, I Slapped a Brat (and I Liked It), and What Happens in Zurich, a collab fic with SadTomato. Check them all out, they are amazing!
Let’s start off with the basics…
What’s your penname?
SingleStrand
Where do you post most often?
Fanfiction.net
What’s your favorite pairing? Favorite genre?
Hmm…Edward/Riley is a good one. My fave genre right now is slash romance, but I do love a good E/B if it’s unique and not horribly angsty.
Is there a pairing or genre that you absolutely cannot stand?
I can’t read Seth. Tried and tried and tried … he’s that 15 year old kid to me no matter what light an author tries to paint him in. Sorry!
What got you into the Twilight Fandom? It’s all the hot guys, wasn’t it? Don’t lie.
Get this – my MIL. That’s right. My Mother in Law was reading Twilight on a road trip vacation with them. After a day in the car with Mr Strand’s entire family, I decided I’d read anything to tune them out. Turns out Twilight was pretty awesome. I read the entire series that week.
What do you find to be the most challenging part about writing your fics?
I’d say keeping myself true to the story I have wanted to tell from the beginning and not letting reviews influence that. It’s so flattering to be reviewed, but sometimes it makes me second guess where I’m going with these boys, and I don’t want that.
Best review you’ve ever received? Worst?
Oh gosh, I get tons of sweet reviews. The best ones are when I start recognizing names of people because they review every chapter. That’s sweet. I don’t think I’ve had a bad one yet.
How do you get into the zone? What’s your method for getting the creative juices flowing?
Dancing around your living room in nothing but a baseball cap, weird shit like that?
Nothing gets me in the zone like a good gchat with sadtomato. That girl and I have talked about absolutely everything on gchat. EVERYTHING.
Do your friends and family in your real life know about your fanfiction alter-ego?
Friends, yes. Family, no. They just know I met a bunch of really cool girls online on some ‘blog thing’.
What do you look for in a good fanfic?
I look for something that is well-betaed, a relatively unique plot, has some wit, some drama, little angst, and I love an author that gets involved. I want to read something written by someone that is accessible – replies to reviews, is on Twitter, likes to talk, etc.
Tell us a bit about yourself…
Anything you’d like to share with us? Married, single? Kids? Covert CIA agent? Alaskan crab fisherman?
I’m married to MrS and we have one child, the adorable 7 month old bbC. We’re currently living in my parents’ basement while we wait for our house to sell so we can relocate fully to Kansas City
Spill! What’s you guilty pleasure? I promise not to judge you, as long as it isn’t Justin Bieber.
Guilty pleasure would probably be Wizards of Waverly Place. I say I turn it on because C likes it…but I love every episode. J
Do you have a favorite published author? Someone that actually has printed novels with a publishing house, like Stephanie Meyer.
Hmm. Not really? I can’t think of anyone I would drop everything to go buy the current book of the day it comes out.
Favorite musical artist? Anything we should definitely check out?
My musical interests are wayyy varied. I can listen to Mumford and Sons in one minute, Adele in the next, and Lil Wayne the rest of the day. My favorites are Dave Matthews Band and Jay-Z though. Always.
Time to spread the love…
Who do you drop everything for, including the urn with your great grandmother inside, and run to the computer when you get an update?
The Diva Diaries by KiyaRaven and Expectations and Other Moving Pieces by chrometurtle. I don't have any CURRENT multi-chap slash owning me right now. Mostly rereading good completed ones and one shots. There are some damn good slash one shots out right now
Do you have an author that you fangirl over? And do you squee? I do. Many times.
I used to fangirl a lot more than I do now. We’re all just regular people know what I mean? But I’d have to say that I squeed when theladyingrey42 reviewed Dirty Words and back when Chicklette was pimping Hard all over Twitter before I could tell anyone I had written it. That was a happy day!
If you were to break someone into the Twilight Fandom, what fic would you give them to read first?
I would definitely recommend something vamp, like Lola’s trilogy or Creature of Habit. Reading AH takes some getting used to for some people.
Can you suggest a fic to be recommended on the blog?
I would totally recommend a rec post of some contest entries. There are so many writers that I found through their entries to the Dirty Talking Jasper contest and the Eurofornication contest. And now there's the Vamp Slash contest and the Plot my Bunnies contest. Seriously good stuff written by some awesome ladies.
And now for a bit of fun…
Give a shout out to your team!
Love and hugs to MeteorMuse for always, always challenging my comma placement. I feel like I can’t write a thing without her checking it over now! And to sadtomato and TippyL for always telling me when something is good or if it needs more smut. I love you all!
Stephanie Meyer’s Bella… Strong, independent woman and a role model for all girls, or a sniveling, whiny, spineless twit? And do you that KStew makes a good Bella? Anybody you think could’ve done it better?
I think KStew has done the best anyone could do with the scripts she is given. Bella is … not the daughter I would want my daughter to look up to. I don’t know how to describe her other than needy in the books. The movies have tried to do a better job of making her appear to have her own thoughts and wants.
Ever imagine yourself in the place of a character in the fics you read? (It’s the lemons, isn’t it? Naughty naughty!)
Umm, I totally put myself into mjinaspen’s RME Bella. Who wouldn’t want the kind of sex her Edward gives?! But with most of my favorites, I just feel like someone curled up in an armchair in the corner of the room watching.
Let’s say that your friends and family don’t know that you write fanfiction. You’re at the office, or the family get together, and someone mentions that they’ve be reading this fanfiction online. As you listen to them recount the details of this story, you realize with growing horror that this is your story! How do you react?
I definitely react by first spitting out my drink and secondly going to the bathroom to put on a calm face. I could NEVER let my family know I write about Twilight boys that love other Twilight boys. They would in general not be supportive of fic writing as a hobby.
Thank you for participating!
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