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farfromsugafanfic · 6 years

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glitteringconstellations interview

Before we get started with the interview, do you mind introducing yourself (whatever name you are comfortable with) and telling us a little about yourself?

Hi everyone! I’m glitteringconstellations, Glitter or GC for short. I’ve been writing fanfiction for well over 15 years now, though I only started sharing it around 2005. I minored in Creative Writing in college and I love writing in pretty much any capacity! When I’m not headcanoning one new story or another, though, I’m either adulting (ugh, adulting) or playing video games. These days it’s mostly Skyrim. I’m fluent in Korean and passable in Japanese and Spanish. I drink way too much pop to be healthy and I hate most fruit (though, give me any kind of melon and I’ll be a happy girl). Oh, and I’m a fledgling figure skater! I’m just a hodgepodge of random hobbies haha!

Q1: What kind of fan fiction do you normally write? Have you ever written fan fiction for other fandoms other than your current one?

A1: I tend to gravitate toward angsty fics. It’s long been my outlet of frustration, to put the character I love in harm’s way. The more pain, the better, haha! Though I do love the hurt/comfort aspect of it. Recently (as in, the last year lmao) I’ve been writing for the Voltron fandom almost exclusively (and sometimes YURI!!! On Ice), but before that I was in the k-pop ficdom (Super Junior, for the most part) for a looooong time, nearly 10 years. I won’t be opening that particular can of worms, though--I have Feelings and Opinions lmao. Before that I jumped around from anime to anime.

Q2: I see in addition to fan fiction that you do commissioned fan art! I’m not an artist myself, so I find it really interesting and cool. Do you want to talk a bit about that? And, feel free to plug yourself!

A2: This is actually a common misconception--I can’t draw to save my life!! I took commissions for fan fiction back in late June as a last resort to pay my rent. Typically though I’m horrible on a deadline so I don’t like to do it too often because I feel terrible making my commissioners wait. The art you’re referring to is the comic spread for The Parting Glass, if I’m not mistaken? I actually commissioned another artist by the name of Cota (@ccooooostuff on tumblr, go check her out she’s amazing at what she does and super sweet!) for that comic with the money I got for my birthday this year.

Q3: Do you write anything outside of fan fiction?

A3: I do! I journal a lot, or I try to anyway. This year I’m hoping to tackle an original novel for Nanowrimo, but more than likely, that particular project will start as fanfiction and we’ll see if I turn it into original fiction or not. I spend more time thinking about the things I want to write than… actually… writing them lolsob. My notes will be this gigantic document but when it comes to putting things together in a cohesive manner? Haaaaaa….haha…. The blinking cursor mocks me, I swear.

Q4: I see on your profile that you are 26. I think when most people think of fan fiction writers they think of someone younger, usually a teenager. Do you encounter younger writers a lot? What do you think of this assumption?

A4: I do encounter younger writers a lot! Surprisingly, though, most writers I know are either in their late 20s or late late teens (say, 15~19). Most people tend to think I’m young anyway just because I look a lot younger than 26, but as far as fandom goes, it doesn’t really bother me if people think I’m younger than I am. Usually I’m pretty forward with how old I am on my profile anyway! But yeah, I’ve been around the fanfiction scene a while. The k-pop fandom in particular had a way of reminding me just how long on a pretty frequent basis lol.

Q5: Why did you begin writing fan fiction? If it was for a fandom, why did that particular thing make you begin writing? And, for your current fandoms?

A5: I used to tell myself stories to get to sleep or on long car trips as far back as I can remember, and most of the time they involved characters from my favorite shows of the day. Pokemon and Digimon were two big ones for me before I hit those fun preteen years. As far as what got me started actually putting those stories to paper, it was born of frustration with shows not going the way I wanted them to, so I’d write the ending I wanted to see. For Voltron in particular, it’s just SUCH a fun sandbox to play in, be it by utilizing the incredible world-building or the plethora of interesting characters to play around with. So many possibilities! *3*

Q6: Do you ever want to be published in a professional capacity one day?

A6: Yes and no. I flip flop on this ALL the time. I’d LOVE to see my stories on shelves, but I’m actually very insecure and sometimes the thought of people reading my stories makes me want to die of embarrassment and sink to the center of the earth. That said, if I win Nano this year, I may run it by some publishers, even if only to get feedback. (Although if you want to get TECHNICAL I am officially a published journalist; I was an assistant editor for one of The Big 3 kpop news sites for a while. The one that starts with S. Also another can of worms.)

Q7: Has writing fan fiction taught you anything? About writing? Reading? The fandom? Etc.

A7: Oh absolutely. I definitely would not be the writer I am today without fan fiction. I wouldn’t say I’m super skilled, but the critique I’ve received over the years has helped me more than I have words for, honestly. Not even just in the capacity of writing fiction; my academic and professional writing has improved too. Also, just like reading anything in high volume, reading fanfic has helped me learn to read like a writer, how to pick out things that authors do that I admire and try to emulate that, and conversely what doesn’t work for me so I can avoid those things.

As far as fandom goes, fanfiction can be quite polarizing, as I’m sure you’re well aware. Just in my experience by and large it can be kind of toxic, to be quite honest. The particular issue Voltron faces that I experienced to some extent in other fandoms but not quite to this degree, is fandom policing. I find that certain members of the fandom (which, in my experience, tends to actually be mostly among those younger demographics, though not exclusively so) see certain topics as morally wrong and therefore anyone who writes those topics are 1) romanticizing said topic and 2) automatically a disgusting, horrible person and they have no problems telling you about all about it. The number one thing I try to put out there in my interactions is live and let live, ship and let ship. If it makes you uncomfortable, that’s okay! But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong, and it’s definitely not okay to go around purporting hate in the name of “morality.” Sorry, didn’t mean to go off on a tangent there haha...

Q8: What is a piece you’ve written that you’re most proud of?

A8: Just in the Voltron fandom, I’d say the fic I’m most proud of is The Parting Glass, by far. Funny story about that one; I’d never heard the titular song before I came across a cover of it on Facebook one day around St. Patrick’s Day, and let me tell you something. The reaction I had was almost a spiritual experience, it was so visceral. I was in tears when I heard it, and the story came so hard and so fast that I wrote it in 2 days. It stayed with me until I got it down in writing. It was an interesting challenge for me, exploring the grief part of a character death fic while almost entirely omitting the actual dying part. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had such a vivid vision of exactly how a fic is going to go from start to finish and I’m quite happy with the way it turned out. Which is why, when I had the money to do so, I commissioned Cota to illustrate what had to be the hardest and yet my favorite part to write. She brought the scene to life so beautifully too, I’m really happy with how it turned out. Months later I still go back and stare at it!

Q9: Do you notice any stigma surrounding fan fiction or fan fiction writers?

A9: Without a doubt. People hear “fanfiction” and they think one of two things: the pudgy neckbeard who lives in his parents’ basement, or the rabid tween/teenage fangirl. It’s a rather unfortunate stereotype, because some works of fanfiction are truly works of art, more masterfully crafted than some novels I’ve seen published. Yet they get dismissed simply on the basis of being fanworks and not “original” (which, let’s be real, nothing is truly original anymore). One such example that comes to mind of a beautiful fic is those glittering instruments in the EXO fandom, which was based on the real-life destruction of the Library of Alexandria. If you can find a copy of it floating around the interwebs I HIGHLY recommend giving it a chance no matter what fandom you’re in!

Q10: If so, how do you feel about this stigma?

A10: Like I said, it’s really a shame. The thing, too, is that as young girls we’re often shamed for the things we’re passionate about, like boy bands and, well, fan fiction, while boys don’t get that kind of shame to such an intense degree (at least, not about the usual suspects, like sports and girls and such). Not to say that it doesn’t happen, but there’s something terribly sad about seeing more young people afraid to talk about a hobby that makes them happy because they’re afraid of being perceived as weird or gross or something like that. Hell, even to this day I have very few friends from outside the fandom sphere that know I write fanfiction, because they still talk bad and make mean jokes about fic writers. It’s such a silly thing, because a lot of famous works are derivative fiction and people don’t even realize it! So I hope the day comes soon that we can get over this silly stigma and just enjoy what people share (for free!! Seriously!! FULL NOVEL LENGTH WORKS. For FREE.)

Q11: Is there anything you’ve ever wanted to talk about or be asked that no one has asked you about or given you the opportunity to talk about? (And if so, feel free to answer/talk about it).

A11: I really had to think about this one! I couldn’t really pick one topic that I’ve really wanted to talk about that I haven’t already discussed, but no one has ever asked me if I was okay with having fanart of my work. Which I would answer with a resounding YES. I am more than okay with it QuQ

Oh, I guess I do have something!! It’s unrelated to writing (well, I guess it could be related, depending on how you look at it) but since I have your attention, if you’re an American citizen GO OUT AND VOTE. The midterm elections are one week from today in the USA and it’s important you go vote!! I won’t tell you who to vote for (a third can of worms I’m not opening up. WHY DO I HAVE SO MANY WORMS) but I assure you, your vote matters, now more than ever. I believe in you!! Go vote!!!

Q12: What is your prefered site for writing/posting fan fiction?

A12: These days I prefer to use AO3. It’s a work in progress, but it’s far and away the superior fic platform of the time. Back in ye olden days (circa 2010~2012) Livejournal was my platform of choice, and FF.net before that. A surprising number of people prefer to post their fic on tumblr, to which I say, are you out of your flipping MIND?!?! Tumblr is soooo temperamental, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had to restart a post or go into the HTML editor because the rich text editor decided to be stupid. Noooooo thank you. I’ll stick to AO3 thanks ahaha!

Check out Glitter’s Tumblr and AO3.

Interviewer Note: Glitter used her free question to encourage everyone to vote and I would just like to stress the importance of this, especially if live in the US. Young people are the demographic that votes the least, despite being the demographic that will have to live the longest with the outcome of the vote. If you are currently not registered, please register as it is important for all of our futures. And, remember the deadline for the upcoming US election is Nov. 6th, so make sure to get to those polls and/or turn/send in your ballot. If you need information on how to do any of these things, do not hesitate to reach out to my page and I will point you to trustworthy resources.

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amariemelody · 7 years

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5 Things Meme

I was tagged just this Tuesday (an eon ago) by @hobbitsaarebas for this meme. So sorry that it took so long, Hobbit, and thanks for thinking of me always!

I tag @afro-elf, @zetsubonna, @platonicharmonics, @indi-flying-with-dragons, and @the-omniscient-narrator. Have fun if you like, loves!

Here we go, under the readmore! :D

5 Things You Can Find on My Blog

Note: I don’t post very much to my Tumblr blog here, but still!

1.) Positive, uplifting, pro-black content, especially pro-black women & girls content. Hell, you can see that in my blog’s headers. Gotta take care of your people; gotta love your people. And then you start and continue to love yourself. ‘Tis vital for a healthy heart, soul, and identity.

2.) Shippy things! Mostly Marvel! I ship the hell outta SamSteve, SamBucky, SamSteveBucky, RhodeyTony, etc. I don’t quite consider myself an active black gal Marvel blogger because of how little I post, but I do hope I post a lil something that some people like and enjoy-I know I certainly like and enjoy those things.

3.) Links to my AO3 fics. I...don’t quite have a large fanbase. Haha...hah...hahaha...hah. -lolsobs- So as soon as I finish editing and posting to AO3, I gotta excitedly head over here to my Tumblr blog to post the good news! I only write stories about and with characters of color, especially. Feel like I’m doin’ the fandom lord’s work and I love, love, love it!

4.) Just about anything I find hilarious.It could be yet another meme, videos, joke posts, etc. Ya’ll can usually find that under the “I iz HOWLING”, “I iz CACKLING” or even “I’m done” tags. Yep, yep! :D

5.) Correspondences with my friends. I love, love, love, love getting tagged/mentioned by them (can ya tell by me doing this? Haha!) and I strive to return the favor in kind. I love when they reblog things from me and I reblog things from them. I love hearing kind, encouraging words from them-it never fails to brighten my day. You can find a lot of this under my tag “Chitchat with friends” and “Being tagged by friends is WONDERFUL!”

5 Things You Can Find in my Room or House

1.) Romance/erotica books. Comic books. Romance/erotica books. Graphic novel books. Romance/erotica books. African American-centered books. Romance/erotica books. Educational and classic books (ex. I love and read the shit outta Cyrano; I’ve re-read it 4 times so far.) And now I also have fucking nursing books right now because I had the brilliant, dumpster fire idea to go to nursing school. Fucking hell, Amarie. Fucking hell. What were you thinking.

2.) My wittle Windows Surface RT tablet! I got her as a surprise Christmas gift from my friend’s family just this January! I gave her a pink screensaver (wallpaper), and so I thusly named her “Pinky”! (Her freakin’ charger had to be replaced, tho. And I gotta take her to Geek Squad ‘cause her keyboard acting up next...grrr...)

3.) Posters! I’m a huge, huge black gal nerd and proud of it! I have 3 Spider Man posters (well, one is really a calendar from my 13th birthday party, but shush), a Sailor Moon poster, a Lego Batman movie poster, a Transformers: Bumblebee poster, a Monster High poster, a Marvel characters poster, 2 Falcon (Sam Wilson, baes) posters, and finally one Tuskegee Airmen poster!!

4.) Makeup. Uhh...I’ve been told that I have a pwetty face shape and I’ve been told that I’m pretty good at using makeup to softly highlight my features. Uhh...I get compliments. That’s all I know. ‘M just here.

5.) More books.

5 Things I’ve Always Wanted to Do

1.) Travel, travel, travel! Especially wanna go to Paris, France (I’m a huge ass romantic sap). And recently, I wanna go to Disneyland and spend a whole mortgage payment and then some just to finally hug Princess Tiana.

2.) Write at least, ehh...30 to 50 fanfictions. Wanna make a whole library for you all.

3.) Take a ballroom dance/waltz class. I wish to whirl ‘round and ‘round the ballroom.

4.) Play Super Mario Kart Brothers, or whatever the hell it’s called. I’ve never owned a game console (I be broke & so I’ve only ever had books and Sims on my PC), so that’ll be a novel experience for me!

5.) More traveling.

5 Things That Make Me Happy

1.) Thinking hopefully about the future. Honestly, it’s the main thing that keeps me going. I think about what a mostly great career I’ll have as a nurse (I’ve always wanted to go into healthcare, but never even dreamed that I’d be an RN). I think about my lil chute-chute of a car that’ll be all mine. I think about my time that’ll be all mine.

2.) Watching cartoons, especially old ones from my childhood. Ya’ll, prolly about 98% of what I watch is literally cartoons. I’m learning not to beat myself up about that/call myself immature. Like...if that’s the worst thing I do to cope with life right now, then ain’t nobody getting hurt.

3.) My wittle entitled white boy of a cat, Dante. Sweet baby boy has gotten me through many a hard day and night.

4.) Music, music, music!

5.) Reading

5 Things On My To-Do List

1.) Finish my physical and shit for my clinical packet at school.

2.) Pharmacology homework

3.) Fundamentals of nursing homework

4.) Speech class homework

5.) Clean the goddamned house

6.) Sleep (Fuck it, we need a 6th one)

5 Things You May Not Know About Me

1.) I have a vivid, surrealistic imagination. One of the most common complements I get on my fics is along the lines of “This was so vivid that I could picture everything so clearly! I could smell that scent, I could see them dancing!” or “You painted such bright, beautiful pictures in my head-I could see and understand everything so easily! It was like I was right there in the scene!”

Yeah, it was just like that for me, too-I saw it like that in my head, too. I just have the ability and desire to translate that onto the page in black-and-white. So thanks a ton!

The...slight problem that this causes, tho? I can’t turn the strength of my imagination off...and so I can’t watch horror movies. I am 25-years-old and I can’t watch horror movies and I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon. It’s all just as real, just as vivid, just as valid to me and I take on the emotional tones of the movie just as easily as if I were watching Brandy’s Cinderella or Rugrats in Paris: the Movie.

I become terrified & affronted when I’m tryna listen to music on YouTube and a fucking ad comes on first for a horror movie and I smash that “Skip Ad” button as quickly as I can-lately, it’s been It and I just...ugh. Ya’ll, not everyone can handle horror movies.

It’s not kind. It’s not good.

2.) Umm...I wanna cuddle Bucky Barnes. Like, if I could cuddle Bucky Barnes one day, my life would be complete and I’d need no more fulfillment. Just...lemme cuddle Bucky Barnes and all will be right in my world.

3.) I am an avid tea drinker! I especially love to drink tea when I’m working hard-be it at writing or homework! I drink plain English breakfast tea, lemon-ginger tea, Constant Comment tea, Jasmine green tea, plain green tea, English black tea, french vanilla tea, and just about every other kinda tea you can imagine! Yep, yep!

4.) I grew up and still live in the south, but I got my parents’ northern blood. So I love, love, love, love, love and prefer the cold. You can betcha ass that I’ll get up a 5am in the morning just to go for a walk in the freezing, pre-dawn morning. It’s like a soft, soothing winter wonderland and I love it!

5.) I am a proudly self-professed romance sap...but I couldn’t give less than a shit about sci-fi. I’m just...not a sci-fi person. At all. You gotta put some black folk up there in them stars before I think to care.

Well, then! That was quite a long and enjoyable meme and I hope you all had fun! Thanks so much again to Hobbit and much love to one and all! :D

#Being tagged by friends is WONDERFUL!#Amarie talks

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