The wait is finally over! This is your official one stop shop for all of the previously unreleased BrittanaCon Author Interviews. Huge thanks to all who submitted questions and especially to our participating authors. We hope you'll use this blog to engage with the authors and each other. Feel free to leave messages and reblog these posts at will. Enjoy!
Our final Author Interview features monochromeheartbeat and is a bit out of order because we wanted to do it justice. HeeBee sent us an incredible PDF featuring adorable images and answering all our questions in a fun, creative way so we wanted to preserve the integrity of her work by presenting it as a serious of jpeg images here. Her story, I’ll Teach You to Dance, is one of the most beloved Brittana fics of all time and we hope you enjoy her responses to our questions as much as we did! Thank you so much, HeeBee, for taking the time to answer these and thank you again to everyone who sent them in!
Also, seriously, thank you to everyone who is working so hard to bring such lovely things to the fandom. I happen to really like the interviews, which is why I'm commenting here rather than your general Brittana Con page, but felt compelled to express my gratitude. While I'm sad that you're not conducting another round of interviews this year(everyone else's questions made me realize how many more questions there are to ask!), I am really glad that these exist. Thank you for your work! -CA
Hey there CA! Thanks so much for your nice notes. I wanted to respond to this one publicly to make a tiny announcement for this year’s author panels at BrittanaCon :)
We’re thrilled that you’ve enjoyed the interviews so much, we sincerely hope that is a fandom-wide sentiment, and we truly appreciate you taking the time to drop us a line and let us know! It was a really neat project to put together, we are so grateful that so many people sent questions and that so many authors participated. But it was a TON of work, as evidenced by the fact that it took us so much time to get the interviews posted publicly, we were all pretty burned out after putting on the inaugural Con last year.
That said, we will conduct FIC PANELS featuring specific fandom authors and their stories as well as the larger AUTHOR Q & A again at this year’s BrittanaCon. Once registration closes on July 3rd and we know which authors and artists will be attending, we will contact each of them to gauge their interest in sitting on these panels. When we know which authors/artists will participate, we will put out another fandom call for author questions. Just like last year, we will go through and pick the best ones to use for the panels so start crafting your questions now and be on the lookout for that announcement sometime in July.
Thank you for your support for these side projects of BrittanaCon. A lot of hard work goes into every step of putting this Con together and it wouldn’t be possible without the support of the fandom and the hard work of the people behind the scenes!
Today we bring you where’smynaya’s Author Interview! She is a prolific Brittana writer who has filled numerous prompts from the fandom and completed a lengthy Brittana triology, in addition to a few other stories. She graciously took a few of the prompts for our BrittanaCon prompt project so be sure to register as an attending or supporting member in order to get all the additional prompt fills on the media USB in the swag packages! Thank you to where’smynaya for taking the time to answer our questions and to all those who sent them in:) Enjoy!
1) What do you think are your particular strengths as a Brittana writer? What do you wish you did better? (Submitted by Lindsey via email)
I’d like to think that being relatable is one of my biggest strengths as a writer. You’re able to understand the characters because you’ve gone through something similar and it reminds us that we aren’t alone. Whether it is every day activities, casual conversations, or even arguments, someone relating to it makes the story and its characters all the more real.
2) What's a short piece of your writing that shows your Brittany is Brittany and your Santana is Santana (even if the circumstances of your fic make them different from canon Brittana)? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
From chapter 21 of The Perfect Blend;
“Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t win..I didn’t even have a speech prepared.” San joked trying to cover that little disappointment I saw on her face.
“Santana..”Her mom sighed as she gave her a disapproving look. San just shrugged until her parents started to tag team a little pep talk. It was sort of funny watching them try to comfort their daughter, but I could tell they didn’t really have any idea what they were doing which is understandable since they all haven’t had a decent relationship in who knows how long. It was the thought that counted though and after a few more failed attempts, I decided to step in. I took a napkin and borrowed a pen from Jenna who was still sticking around our table but not exactly sitting with us. I started drawing straight lines and curved ones and I colored in some areas and I drew little stars and some dots and soon I was done and I was scooting back over to San then laid the drawing down in her lap so her parents couldn’t see it. Not that I didn’t want them to, I’m not a very good drawer and I didn’t want them to see it and laugh.
“What’s this?” She asked as she picked up the napkin and looked down at it in her hands.
“That’s your award.” I answered innocently as I watched her smile down at the picture then grinned lovingly to her.
“You drew me an award?” She asked through a little giggle as she looked up at me with a wide smile threatening to break through her lips. “Why’d you do that?”
“Because, you’re my winner.” I said softly as she tilted her to the side and let out a soft sigh. “Always.” I sensed her parents watching us with smiles as Santana finally let herself be comforted.
“And what exactly have I won?” She teased as she laid the picture back down on her lap.
“A lot.” I shrugged with a bashfully smile.
“Hm, like what?” She asked as she tilted her head the other direction and watched my tongue swipe across my bottom lip as my cheeks already started to flush from what the first thing I thought of saying was and before I could change my mind on what to say, afraid of being teased for my corniness, I had already said it.
“My heart.”
I think that one of the greatest things about Brittana is the way that they so easily support each other, whether they’re friends or lovers, it’s like they were born with this instinct to forever root for one another. I think that little snippet describes each of them perfectly because it’s so like Santana to try and play off her feelings and it’s so like Brittany to see right through it. It’s even so like Santana’s parents to completely miss the ball when trying to comfort Santana, not that it’s canon but because of how guarded Santana can be, but I imagine that her parents have a hard time getting through to her and Brittany’s the only one who truly understands. Santana likes to think she’s a badass and she’s too cool for things like drawings on napkins, but when it comes down to it, she’s putty in Brittany’s hands.
3) Do you find it easier or harder to write stories based off of movies? Do you use any real life experiences in your stories and if so where is the most memorable? (submitted by jj-lives)
I’d say it’s a little bit of both. It’s easy because when there’s already a storyline set, I can’t really wander off and loose my train of thought like I did when I wrote Workin’ Girls. It’s hard because although I’m trying to follow along with the movie’s storyline, I still want to put my own spin on things. I want Sloppy Babies to be the reason why Burlesque and Coyote Ugly have made it on my readers’ list of Top Favorite Movies because they can’t sit through it without subconsciously thinking about Brittany and Santana and their snail’s pace climb to being together. As for using real life experiences in my stories, I don’t see how a story can be successful without tying in something that the writer has actually had happen to them. I believe that it makes it all the more real, relatable.
4) Are you planning on continuing 'Second Best'? And if so when do you think it will be updated? (submitted by jj-lives)
I do! I hate to leave a story hanging like I have with Second Best, but it’s truly a hard story to write because it’s based off of events that happened in my life. I started writing it as a way to burn off some of that steam because it was such a frustrating and confusing time for me. I was blown away by the response it received and knowing that so many people could relate pushed me to keep writing, but writing so much angst is exhausting. I’m not sure when I will be continuing the story, but just know that it is fully drafted and though I didn’t really get a happy ending, it looks much brighter for Brittana.
5) Is your 'Coffee Breaks' series really finished or do you have any more further ideas to add to it, if so what are they? (submitted by jj-lives)
It’s pretty unlikely that a fourth installment will be added to Coffee Breaks mainly because I’d probably get bored and nothing is worse than writing a story that no longer interests you. It’s my favorite story I’ve written, definitely my pride and joy, but I think I better stop while I’m ahead. I’m still open to one shots though if I ever get a good enough idea to stick to.
Yes, we have saved some heavy hitters for this last week of BrittanaCon Author Interviews! We aren’t sure if you’ve heard of this quiet little fandom genius who goes by JJ or themostrandomfandom but you should probably go check out her stuff if you haven’t. ;) Not only is she the best Brittanalyzer around, she’s written on of the most moving and epic Brittana stories to ever exist, The Knife Thrower’s Daughter. She’s been a big supporter of our Con, we can’t wait for the second annual Dramatic Reading of JJ’s Tags at this year’s convention!!! Thanks so much to JJ for her support and for taking the time to answer the plethora of questions we sent and thank you to all who submitted them! Enjoy!
1) What do you think are your particular strengths as a Brittana writer? What do you wish you did better? (Submitted by Lindsey via email)
One of my strengths as a Brittana writer is my ability to write "quiet Brittana" (i.e., Brittany and Santana just enjoying private, low-key moments together). Another one of my strengths as a Brittana writer is in allowing Brittana's gestures to do a lot of "work" within my prose.
Something I wish I could do better as a Brittana writer would be to write "Snix." In canon, Santana can be truly caustic, even though I think that, at her core, she is an inherently sweet and vulnerable person. When I write Santana, I tend to heavily favor her sweetness over her edge. It is very difficult for me to write Santana being genuinely mean to people, so I always tend to always vindicate her or even downplay or sidestep some of the harsher things she says.
2) What's a short piece of your writing that shows your Brittany is Brittany and your Santana is Santana (even if the circumstances of your fic make them different from canon Brittana)? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
From "And Things We're All Too Young to Know," Chapter 2:
When Brittany comes back from the bathroom, Santana has one knee up on the seat, almost like she was saving it for Brittany—like anyone would take it. When she sees Brittany walking over, she starts to move, but Brittany hurries and presses into the booth.
"Goofball," Brittany whispers, and Santana giggles, but instead of just sitting down where Santana's knee was, Brittany slides all the way over until she sits in Santana's lap. Santana gasps a little, surprised, but then a grin spreads over her face. She adjusts how she's sitting so that Brittany can get comfortable.
"Hey, you," she says.
"Hey, mouse," Brittany says back.
For a second, they stare at each other, grinning like idiots, Santana's hand reaching up to tug at the Cheerios flap on the back of Brittany's jacket, just to have another way to hold onto her. Brittany feels a warm, sweet feeling spread out inside her chest. She can smell the Very Sexy Victoria Secret body spray that Santana put on after they got out of the pool dabbed at the hinge of Santana's jaw, and, underneath that, just Santana.
A hard laugh cuts through the moment and both Brittany and Santana look over to see Quinn staring at them, mouth agape. She seems amused.
"Do not tell me that Santana's the big spoon."
"Shut it, Fabray."
A pause.
"It's cute."
3) What other kinds of circus performers do you think fit Brittany and Santana's characters? Did you ever consider any other acts or was it always knife thrower and fortuneteller? (Submitted by MisAtentionSpan tumblr)
The phrase "the knife thrower's daughter" was something that came to my mind years before I began writing Brittana fic. Originally, I was going to use the phrase in a poem for my MFA thesis, but I just couldn't get it to work the way I wanted to, so I just sort of tucked it away in my mind, unsure that I would ever get the chance to use it. I knew, even way back then, that the knife thrower's daughter was a girl who trusted even when doing so put her in danger; I just didn't know how to explore that idea or make it come alive on the page.
It wasn't until I had been in the Brittana fandom for a while that I realized that Brittany Pierce and the knife thrower's daughter were one-in-the-same character. But once I did realize that such was the case? That was it.
Brittany came into my mind pretty much fully formed as you meet her in the story today, complete with the tatty blue sundress. She was a target girl from the very start; I never even really considered making her anything else.
I cast Santana as a fortuneteller sometime after that—once I decided to really make an attempt at writing a circus story and fleshing out its world. Like Brittany, Santana came into my mind also pretty much fully formed. I knew she would be a fortuneteller from the get-go.
Innumerable "microcalculations" undoubtedly went into my decision to make Brittany the target girl and Santana the fortuneteller, but, for me, casting Brittana in their respective roles felt like something both very immediate and very organic. Brittany was the girl who trusted even when doing so put her in danger, and Santana was the girl who had answers for everyone but herself and who felt inherently flawed or "cursed"—it was as simple as that.
That being the case, I never really spent much or any time considering other acts for them, and particularly as I felt that the acts I'd already chosen suited their aptitudes.
Brittany has this awesome physicality that I was able to incorporate into her target girl act in the way that she poses and contorts herself in front of the board. Similarly, Santana is an astute reader of people, able to pick up on their hopes and insecurities and speak about them frankly as part of her readings.
Once I got my head and heart set on having Brittana perform the acts that they do, I kept finding new parallels between the roles they play in TKTD and the roles they play in canon and mining them as I explored their characters.
Another writer might have thought, "But what if I did things in another way instead?" and considered various options, but I guess I'm kind of stubborn and maybe even lazy because I never even went there.
Having now written the story and worked out Brittana's full histories, I can tell you that, had she not been a target girl, Brittany could have become a very accomplished ballerina.
When Brittany was ten years old, a ballerina from Russia joined the circus.
The ballerina was beautiful, and it was she who taught Brittany all the dance poses that Brittany does before Mr. Pierce's board. The ballerina moved like no one that Brittany had ever seen. She was also kind, and, of all the adults at the circus, she was the quickest to praise Brittany, complimenting Brittany's natural grace and poise. Brittany was instantly smitten with the ballerina and took every opportunity to work with and learn from her, picking up the first positions of ballet and various movements very quickly.
The ballerina stayed with the circus until Brittany was twelve years old, at which point the ballerina suffered a devastating ACL injury that forced her into retirement. Brittany took the ballerina's exit from the circus very, very hard, both because the ballerina had been one of Brittany's only friends and because the ballerina had been Brittany's first "little love."
As for Santana, had she not been a fortuneteller, she could have done very well with a singing act, a la Rachel's Little Malibran. Like Rachel, she has a voice big enough to fill the big top. Like Rachel, she has a gift for comedy. Like Rachel, she lights up when singing. Unlike Rachel, she probably wouldn't have gone out for the whole "shattering crystal by the pure sound of her voice alone" thing, as it would have made her too nervous, relying on so many uncertain machinations to earn her applause. She might have done some other kind of trick, though.
Were she not either reading fortunes or singing, Santana could have also made a pretty primo target girl—provided that she were paired with a knife thrower she truly trusted, of course. Just putting that out there.
4) TKTD is a kind of sprawling epic reminiscent of Gone With the Wind, Wharton-esque in the detailing of its setting. The world you conjured through the J.P. Adams & Son Traveling Circus & Menagerie is so vivid that I find myself listening for Methuselah's trumpeting call, holding my breath with Santana as Brittany stands—vulnerable—against the backboard, and reaching out to touch fireflies that aren't even there, all because of your matchless diction. Your use of language (often stressing the parlance of that time) is exquisite, and I'd like to know a little about how you fashioned it for TKTD. If you wouldn't mind my asking, please? (Submitted by Createdforogc)
Thank you for the high praise! I'm glad to know that the language I used in TKTD invited you into the story world. As for how I came about it:
Much like Brittany collects mementos for her nightstand shrine through the rising action of TKTD, I "collected" the language that I would eventually write into TKTD throughout the course of my life.
When I was very young, my family lived with my paternal grandmother. My grandmother was born in 1927 to parents themselves born in the nineteenth century, so she had grown up speaking a fairly antiquated style of American English. She had then attended university and become an English teacher during the heyday of Stunk & White.
Spending my formative years under my grandmother's roof introduced me to many turns of phrase and sentence constructions from "bygone" days—and particularly as my grandmother was still an enthusiastic promoter of grammar rules, even in her old age.
Having long since retired from teaching, my grandmother eventually went into business and opened up an antiques shop. Many items from her shop made their ways into our home, including innumerable nineteenth century novels with moldering, old covers—of the same type that Santana might have borrowed from the Grolier Club when she was still in Manhattan.
As a child, I played with my grandmother's antiques as if they were toys and read to myself and my younger brothers from her "old timey" library. Though I didn't realize it back then, I was familiarizing myself with the cadences of nineteenth century American English, and particularly as it looked upon printed on the page, so that it became "natural" to me.
Beyond these first incidental exposures to nineteenth century American English in my grandmother's home, I also had the benefit of growing up in a part of America that is very proud of its "pioneer heritage." As a child, I attended day camps at historical villages, where actors in costume affected nineteenth century accents and taught campers to sing old "turn of the century" songs.
All of these experiences became part of my "collection" and stuck with me as I grew and eventually pursued higher education.
At university, I majored in English and later earned an MFA degree in creative writing before starting a PhD in English with creative writing emphasis. As part of my studies, I had the opportunity to read numerous texts written in and about the nineteenth century. I also took creative writing, linguistics, history, and Old and Middle English language courses which would greatly influence my eventual forays into writing historical fiction. In general, I gained a very in-depth understanding of the English language and how it had functioned and changed over time.
When I finally began writing TKTD, I continued to do "on the spot" research to help me get a feel for the dialogue. In scenes where I might have used a modern slang phrase, were I writing a modern Brittana story, I found a nineteenth century equivalent term, using the Oxford English Dictionary to make sure that the language I used was accurate to the period.
As for actually crafting my prose itself, I wrote with every admirable piece of literature I'd ever read "tucked into my back pocket." I tried to convey the grandeur and sprawl of the Midwestern countryside that I love so much using color-language and metaphor and image to truly paint out the scenes. I wanted to write a story that communicated to all five senses and made the setting—both in place and time—inhabitable for its readers.
Thankfully, it worked out for me that since Santana was new to the circus, I had ample opportunity to describe her world, as her world was just as new to her as it was to her audience.
5) Do you find that writing in another time period reduces the possibilities of various types of relationships, as both the fact that Brittana are women and of different colors makes it practically impossible to stay true to the time period and be realistic? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
The way I see it, every narrative decision a writer makes affects what "realistic possibilities" exist for the story she's writing.
For example, if I'm writing a modern AU story in which I've chosen to make Santana thoroughly unathletic, and I've given her no opportunities to train or develop any athletic skills over the course of the story, then I have certainly reduced the possibility that I could write a realistic conclusion to my story in which Santana competed in and won a triathlon—i.e., I've set up a constraint regarding what actions my version of Santana might take within her particular story universe.
Setting, characterization, tone, plot, point of view, and other elements of fiction all work to establish the specific constraints of a particular story and inform both writer and reader about what "realistic possibilities" exist for how said story will play out.
In that sense, my choice to set my story about an interracial queer couple in the late nineteenth century is no more or less limiting than any other narrative choice I make overall. It is just another choice that gives me a specific set of constraints to work within in my story.
Certainly it would have been unrealistic to end TKTD with Brittany and Santana, as queer women of different races, getting married to each other in a legal, open ceremony, just as it would have been unrealistic to end TKTD with Brittany and Santana, as queer women of different races, having an overwhelmingly positive experience in coming out to all or even most of their family members and friends—but that doesn't mean there aren't other ways in which their story could end on a relatively positive note and still be "true to the time period" and "realistic" according to the rules of their established fictional universe.
Queer women—and particularly queer women of color—living in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in America did face hardships, discrimination, dangers, and persecution in the extreme, but the fact is that some of them did manage to have happy, fulfilling long-term romantic relationships.
For as long as there have been queer folks, there have been queer folks who have managed to thrive as queer folks, despite insurmountable odds—and that means that there have been queer folks who have managed to thrive, despite insurmountable odds, in every period of human history.
Just Google image search for "1900s lesbians" or "Victorian queer couples," and you'll see what I mean.
Since there were indeed some—though, admittedly, not many—queer, interracial female-female couples living in the same time and at the same place where TKTD is set, I don't feel that either the geographical or temporal setting of TKTD entirely precludes the possibility that Brittana could have realistically had some type of "happy ending" in the TKTD story universe.
One of my favorite authors, Flannery O'Connor, once said, "It's always wrong of course to say that you can't do this or you can't do that in fiction. You can do anything you can get away with, but nobody has ever gotten away with much," and I find her statement to be very true.
If one chooses to read the epilogue of TKTD as being about Brittana, then one might see a potentially happy ending for TKTD based on the real life experiences of historical queer couples living during the early twentieth century: i.e., one might see a woman who cross-dresses or presents as masculine living with her wife, who herself wears traditional women's clothing and presents as feminine, with both women thriving in and working beyond the boundaries of mainstream American society.
The possibility is definitely there.
The question is, "Is the possibility realistic? Does it work within the constraints of the story as it is written?"—and that's a question that my readers would have to answer for themselves.
Of course the potential happy ending Brittana could have in TKTD is different than the potential happy ending Brittana could have in a story set in the twenty-first century—as it must needs be different, by virtue of the stories themselves differing in their basic composition—but that doesn't mean that the potentially happy ending for TKTD isn't still a potentially happy ending after all.
I very firmly believe that one can write historical fiction about queer, interracial couples without necessarily having to end the story as a tragedy for the sake of "realism." Whether or not one views TKTD as a story with a happy ending, there exist many, many possibilities for telling stories about women like Brittana in historical settings in ways that are both realistic AND potentially happy.
6) After the rumor on tumblr about Heather Morris having read "The Knife Thrower's Daughter," all I could wonder was, because of this online medium, could a fanfiction writer, who is essentially a fan, have her interpretation of a character influence the actor/television writer in any way? As a writer, if you could influence the onscreen characters would you want to? How so? (Submitted by Whitney)
Related: How did you feel when the rumours of Hemo reading TKTD happened? (Tumblr Anon)
I wouldn't want to change anything about how Naya and Heather portray Brittana. What I would want to change is the quality of writing on Glee, so that it would be equal to Naya and Heather's immense talents and to the awesomeness of Brittana as characters. I would definitely not be up to the task of writing Glee scripts myself, but I would love to cheerlead any other fandom author who did so.
As for the rumors about Heather reading TKTD, all I can say is that, if she did read it, I hope she was able to tell how very much I admire her work and respect her as an actor and storyteller. TKTD is basically a one-thousand page long love-letter to Brittany Pierce as Heather Morris created her, so, if anything, I would hope that Heather would come away from the story knowing how much Brittany means to me as a fan and feeling that I had, at the very least, treated Brittany fairly.
7) What did you feel was the hardest part if writing TKTD? Or which part were you stuck at the longest? And how did you get through it? (@sezcretgroove)
The most difficult part of writing TKTD was finding time in which to write and brain-power with which to do so. It took me over a year to complete the story itself. When I first began writing, I was just working full-time, but by the time I hit Ch. 9 Pt. I, I had begun my PhD program and so was both working full-time and going to school full-time. The busyness of my "day job" made it difficult for me focus on writing my story. It also made it so that I often only had occasion to write on weekends and over school holidays.
Thankfully, I had a great cheerleading team, patient readers, and excellent betas to help me through the process. I was also highly motivated to finish the story because I felt so invested in it myself—i.e., I wanted to see Brittany and Santana through their adventures at the circus, and I wanted my readers to see how everything in the story came together in the end.
In terms of individual scenes, the most difficult ones to write were the sex scenes. Choreographing and striking the right emotional tone with them requires so much thought, revision, and care—and especially where a character like TKTD!Santana is involved, as she has such a limited understanding of her own body, sexual orientation, sex itself, etc.
As far as getting "stuck" goes, I had the entire plot for TKTD plotted out in detail before I ever set about writing the prose of the story, which meant that there was never really a point at which I had to figure out how to advance the story plot. I always knew where Santana needed to go and what she needed to do and experience in sequence. That being the case, for me, getting "stuck" amounted more to me not having the time or wherewithal to write due to real life obligations or simply not feeling good about the quality of the prose I was producing at the moment.
Of course, as my readers who followed TKTD during its original publication run know, I would often take a long, long time to post new chapters, even when the writing was going smoothly and I was writing continuously with few real life interferences to complicate my process. The longest I ever made my readers wait for a chapter was one month and twenty-nine days between TKTD Ch. 9 Pt. II and TKTD Ch. 10—and I'm so grateful that they did wait despite the long lag between my updates.
At times when my prose wasn't turning out the way I wanted it to, I dealt with it by reading the work of other writers whose work I admire—both from the fandom and from outside the fandom—in order to get inspiration and spend time with sentences crafted in ways other than the ways I tend to craft them. I also sought for fresh inspiration from within the story universe itself (i.e., I tried to find some new facet of Santana's world to explore, whether it were a particular type of flora in a Midwestern meadow; some new detail concerning Mr. Pierce or Ma Jones or Brittany Pierce; or a reference to a nineteenth century brand or song or work of literature, etc.).
I learned a long time ago that "writer's block" is just the brain's way of telling a writer, "Hey! Hold up! There is something here you need to explore. You need to find something new and interesting about this chapter or scene or character. There is a question here that you haven't considered yet. Take some time with it. Look inside all the drawers in this metaphorical room. Open up the cupboards. Poke your head behind the curtains. Figure out what's hiding here. Chances are that doing so will help you later on," so nowadays, I tend to just go along with it when it happens.
Some of the best scenes and moments in TKTD came about as part of the organic process of discovery that occurs with writing. I found out so much about Santana, Brittany, their relationship, and their circus world just because I spent so much time with them, considering everything.
8) You often used repetition in TKTD, specifically the use of words or phrases in threes. Was this in any way connected to circus magic and three's status (as highlighted by School House Rock) as a "magic" number? (Submitted by Createdforogc)
My reasons for so often using repetitions of three in my writing are mostly aesthetic.
Many human beings are attracted to symmetry, and the number three is highly symmetrical in the sense that it is one entity "balanced" by two other entities, one on each side. This attraction to symmetry and to the number three as symmetrical shows up in architecture, art, mythology, and literature from across the globe, manifesting in almost every culture.
I guess I share that old human attraction to threes as part of my "poetic sensibilities." To me, a list or sequence of three repetitions both sounds good aurally and looks good on the page. I prefer "She remembers the kiss with her lips and her mind and something in her chest that beats to Brittany, Brittany, Brittany, suddenly thrilled and braver than before" to "She remembers the kiss with her lips and her mind and something in her chest that beats to Brittany, Brittany, suddenly thrilled and braver than before" and "She remembers the kiss with her lips and her mind and something in her chest that beats to Brittany, suddenly thrilled and braver than before," you know? I like the cadence the three repetitions create.
Of course, that's not to say that "three" isn't a magic number in TKTD for reasons beyond the aesthetic: e.g., the Unholy Trinity are three in number, and they're a very special group of characters within the story; every third day in the story is a bath day; there are three marriage proposals in the story (i.e., Arthur proposing to Quinn, Shane proposing to Ma Jones, and Puck proposing to Santana); when the story starts in Ch. 1, exactly three weeks have passed since the death of Mateo Lopez. It is also in TKTD Ch. 3 that Brittany and Santana share their first kiss.
I'm actually not a very numerically-inclined person, but somehow numbers snuck into TKTD, and three is one of the most prominent numbers that did so. Honestly, I'm probably unaware of many of the instances where "three" shows up in the text, just because I'm so much more attuned to words than to numbers.
9) In re-reading both TKTD and Dr. Lopez I noticed something curious: both stories feature a real elephant as a convenient conversational diversion from the metaphorical elephant in the room, and both highlight the phrase "many hands make light work." Were these perhaps subtle hints that Dr. Lopez!Brittana are actually the modern reincarnation of TKTD!Brittana, finally able to unite unfettered after all this time?! Or is there something about elephants and labor I should know? (Submitted by Createdforogc)
Curious how both Imperé and Methuselah are captive African bull elephants renowned for their old age, huh? And curiouser still how poachers tried to sell Imperé to a circus when he was young, when Methuselah was also sold to a circus in his younger years, yeah? Curious how Imperé warms up to Brittany so quickly in Dr. Lopez, considering Methuselah's close relationship with Brittany in TKTD, right? The coincidences almost strain credulity. Curious, curious, curious.
Anyway.
Have I shown y'all this quote I really like?
"The point of fics set in alternate universes is to show that no matter what setting or circumstance, these two people will always find each other. I will find you. Every me loves every you."—tumblr user deimosluna
10) What's Mejooli's story? (Submitted by Createdforogc)
Mejooli was born in the rainforest of West-Central Africa. Illegal animal-traffickers captured Mejooli when he was just a hatchling and sold him on the black market to an "exotic animal collector" in Belgium. Mejooli spent the first several years of his life living in an illegal aviary. He was later sold to a private owner, who took him to the United States.
As Santana tells Brittany during their interview, African Grey Parrots make very demanding pets, and Mejooli soon proved too difficult for his private owner to care for. The private owner abandoned Mejooli in a public park, where Animal Control later apprehended him.
(Mejooli had clipped wings and couldn't fly very far, so he was both easy to capture and in great danger, once he was out on his own.)
With Mejooli both injured and dehydrated at the time of his capture, Animal Control relinquished him into the care of a veterinarian who specialized in exotic animals. That veterinarian ended up adopting Mejooli. The veterinarian later took a job abroad as the on-site veterinarian at the N-aápo Preserve. He was Santana's predecessor. When he retired, he left Mejooli at the Preserve, believing that it was the best place for him. The veterinarian then moved back to the States, leaving Mejooli with Santana.
As you see in the story, Santana and Mejooli have a fairly complex relationship but ultimately get along well. Mejooli basically rules the roost at the Preserve headquarters, and he doesn't let Santana forget it.
Fun Mejooli fact? In addition to being able to say "tits" in Maa, he can also say some select curse words in Dutch, having spent his "formative years" in Belgium.
11) Your analyses and tags are so important to me. Anytime the Glee writers aggressively attempt to corrode the sacred image of Brittana, your Brittanalyses are there to take their careless drivel to task and eloquently refute its nonsense. By thwarting all attempted character assassination with careful logic, you give a basis for meaningful understanding of what is otherwise incomprehensible trash. And then, of course, you go and reignite ALL the feels the show might otherwise sap with your tags and unparalleled understanding of all things Brittana. Anytime I might waver slightly towards thinking, "Wow, I think I might finally be released from the crushing death-grip these girls and their fabled love have had on my life for more years than I will ever admit to anyone," you make a post, do the thing, and I become a puddle of NOPE formed from my own tears of hopeless affection and angst. As Brittana's benevolent savior (a title I just gave you), do you feel it your duty to use your words against the injustices done to these girls by hostile creators, as Shania Twain's "Forever and For Always" plays quietly in the background? (Submitted by Createdforogc)
In Glee Season One, a ragtag group of very different individuals came together to accomplish something special, working hard, overcoming differences, and forming sometimes unlikely friendships in the process.
But then a force that was bigger than they were—that had more power than they could ever muster and that didn't play fairly or show basic decency—threatened to ruin their chance at achieving that special end that they had been working toward. Faced with potential failure and the undoing of all that they'd worked towards, the group had to find reasons to keep trying, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
One girl in the group gave a very simple reason as to why she wasn't going to give up. Scared but brave, she said, "I like being a part of glee club. It's the best part of my day, okay?"
I feel like, in the Brittana fandom, we're all this girl, somehow—we're all Santana.
We came to the fandom from different places, some of us even reluctantly at first, and worked hard to make something special happen, overcoming our differences and forming friendships in the process. Being a part of something special made us special, and though the big force that is the powers that be at Glee and FOX has threatened to sink our ship and sap all of the enjoyment out of our fandom more times than we can count, we've banded together as a group to find reasons to keep trying, time and time again, even in the face of sometimes seemingly insurmountable odds.
Together, we've weathered summer spoilers, Santana's outing, Brittany's silence and failure to graduate, the Brittana breakup, various midgame ships, biphobia, bad writing, and the open hostility the showrunners direct at our fandom through various social media channels. Five years later, we're still here because we fell in love with Brittany, Santana, and their love for each other. We're still here because shipping them gives us something special.
Back in Season One, Santana stuck with her ragtag group, helping them to choreograph new routines after Sue stole their set-list for competition. Together, Santana and Brittany lent their voices to new songs. They sang their hearts out on that stage, and, ultimately, the fact that they did do so helped the New Directions make it through to Regionals.
I think everyone who has stuck with the fandom to this point helps Brittana to make it through. I'm just one fangirl, lending what I have to the cause. For me, that's my words. For others, that's their art, music, friendship, candor, tags, gif sets, screencaps, positive energy, organization, download links—whatever have you. Everyone working together is what has sustained the fandom for so long, and it's the reason why Brittana continues to be such a rewarding pairing to ship, all of the opposition Glee levels at it notwithstanding.
Ultimately, I'm here writing because I want to be here with you.
Brittana is the best part of my day, okay? Being a part of it is really special.
12) You killed Brittana in "The Only Voices Are Me and You" (and possibly TKTD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯). Please explain yourself, JJ. (Submitted by Createdforogc)
1. "Death cannot stop true love."
2. Literature explores what it means to be human, and isn't death a part of being human?
3. Brittana live into old age and have grandbabies in the Mouseverse.
13) Did you plan for the epilogue of TKTD to be as concise and almost cryptic as it was all along or did that idea form after the action and cliffhangers of the final chapter? (submitted by Uvaack/Nayas-sports-bra)
When I first got the idea for TKTD, there was a period of a few days when I didn't know how I would end the story. Then, as part of my research, I was looking for blueprints for nineteenth century circus big top tents, and, by happenstance, I found a link to a website about the 1944 Hartford Circus Fire. Once I read about the Hartford Circus Fire, I knew how TKTD had to end. I also immediately got the idea for the epilogue and wrote it out in my mind in its entirety.
The epilogue has remained virtually unchanged since that early date, except for a few grammatical editions, courtesy of my brilliant beta Dr. Ruth. The epilogue was always supposed to be both very concise and very cryptic. It was always supposed to leave the ending to the story open to interpretation.
Years ago, I had fallen in love with the idea of le genre fantastique, or a genre of fiction popularized during the nineteenth century, in which one potentially supernatural element intrudes into an otherwise realistic fictional universe.
One of the allures of the genre is that stories written in it present "equal evidence" as to whether the potentially supernatural element in the story is in fact supernatural or if it is simply a natural event for which there is an obscure explanation, and this ambiguity invites a lot of participation on the part of the reader.
When rendered correctly, a fantastique story will cause the reader to hesitate—i.e., it will make it nearly impossible for the reader to say with certainty, "This is the way things happened. This is the one correct explanation."
Suffice it to say, it is a very difficult genre to "pull off" when writing, and I wanted to challenge myself to make TKTD a fantastique story, if I could.
TKTD exists in a realistic, albeit historical, universe which, for the most part, functions according to the same rules as our "real life" universe does. However, the story contains one potentially supernatural element—i.e., Santana's "curse."
If I've done my job right in rendering TKTD, then there should be equal amounts of evidence suggesting that Santana's curse is real and that Santana is simply a victim of a series of really unfortunate coincidences. The reader should hesitate at the end of the story and wonder if Santana's "curse" will hold and Santana and/or Brittany will die OR if cards are indeed only cards and Santana and/or Brittany have a chance at survival.
To that effect, TKTD's epilogue is really the final "trick up my sleeve"—i.e., it is the last move I make to insert some ambiguity into the story.
If I've done things right, then it is perfectly possible to read the epilogue as being entirely unrelated to Brittana; it could just be a news story about a knife thrower and his wife in a traveling carnival.
However, if I've done things right, then it is also perfectly possible to read the epilogue as being all about Brittana; it could be a news story about Brittany and Santana living under assumed identities, using skills that you've seen them hone throughout the main narrative arc of the story, enjoying a generally happy though obscure existence, perhaps protected by some "circus magic" performed courtesy of an old friend.
The epilogue is just one more piece of evidence in the overall mystery of the story.
14) Most art requires a modest amount of research. What is the most interesting thing you have done (or found) for research of a story? Has there been anything you wish you could have put back into "Pandora's box"? (Submitted by Whitney)
Research is my jam, and I've had the opportunity to perform all sorts of fun research while writing Brittana stories.
For instance, for TKTD, I visited the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, WI, where I got to climb inside circus wagons, try on circus costumes, watch old circus footage, take in a magic show, hang out with elephants, and watch a one-ring circus perform. I also visited a nineteenth century historical village, where I toured homes not unlike the bachelor cottage and stepped inside a general store like the one where Brittana purchase their candy thin stick. Speaking of candy thin sticks, I also tracked down one of the largest old-fashioned candy stores in America and went there to sample the goods. That research was delicious!
Of course, not all of my research for TKTD was so hands-on. I also enjoyed the opportunity to reread many of my favorite nineteenth century novels prior to and while writing TKTD. Likewise, I got to read up on all sorts of nineteenth century products, types of media, artwork, historical events, conventions of speech, etc.; watch fun documentaries and film clips; look at period photographs; and listen to period music.
Anytime Santana encountered anything either natural or manmade in the story, I looked it up, from the wildflowers she and Brittany pick on their jaunts across camp to the sarsaparilla they drink in town to the train rides they take each morning to the circus acts they participate in and see. I got to learn about all sorts of awesome subjects, from fire-handling to nineteenth century dances to old-fashioned laundry techniques to Gibson girl fashion.
I had a similar type of fun researching for Dr. Lopez; I got to watch a lot of animal documentaries for that story. I also got to learn a lot about Kenya, animal conservation, and large animal veterinary science.
For me, one of the things that makes being a writer so fun is having the opportunity to become familiar with so many different subjects, ideas, and areas of interest.
I can't think of anything that I've learned through research that I've wanted to "put back inside Pandora's box," so to speak. Obviously, I have learned some heartbreaking things about racism, homophobia, misogyny, etc., through my research, particularly for TKTD, and knowing those things has made me sad. However, I feel very strongly that it is important for me to know these things, sadness of them notwithstanding, as they're things that have happened—and in some cases are still happening—in the world. They're real things that people should know about, you know?
Welcome to the last week of BrittanaCon Author Interviews! It has been a pleasure sharing these with the fandom, thank you again for your patience as were finally able to get them all posted. We kick off this final week with a bang, alittlefoolish is probably near the top of most people’s lists as one of their favorite fandom authors, so much so that’s it’s difficult to pick only one of her stories as a favorite, but since you’re asking, and even if you aren’t, (I’ve Never Reached An Answer) I’m Only Given Clues has to take the top prize with Rhythms as a close second. Check them out today if you haven’t done so already! Thank you, so much, to those who sent in questions and a big thanks to alittlefoolish for taking the time to answer our questions! Enjoy!
1) What do you think are your particular strengths as a Brittana writer? What do you wish you did better? (Submitted by Lindsey via email)
I can make people cry.
I can make people horny.
I can make people cry while they’re horny.
But, hopefully, I’m honest with the characters and I keep them true to themselves and realistic. That’s what I want.
2) What's a short piece of your writing that shows your Brittany is Brittany and your Santana is Santana (even if the circumstances of your fic make them different from canon Brittana)? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
My gut reaction was to say The Website with the Missing E.
Because it shows that both my Brittany and Santana are as quietly loving, dorky, hopeless, patient, knowing and unconditional as each other. Also, the thought of a Brittana who tease each other will always make me happy.
3) What inspired you to write In Echoes when you'd only written canon to that point? It's amazing and my most anticipated work in fandom. (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
I hadn’t actually only written canon up to that point. I actually spent 6 months before joining the fandom writing a Hollywood!AU that I ended up abandoning because I didn’t think it was working. A lot of ideas in my other stories have been harvested from it.
However, the origins of In Echoes came from the beginning of season 3 when Brittany was running for class president. I can remember having a conversation with my friend Margie about how great it would be if Brittany really did run for the actual US presidency because of how perfect she would be. It somehow stemmed from a quick mention to an idea that still makes me absolutely giddy with excitement almost three years later.
4) Florida has something of a dubious reputation as the sweaty armpit of America, populated by retirees and the insane (apologies to any Floridians who are not old, insane, or sweaty), but damned if OGC didn't make me want to move there with haste. You made it sound delicious, possibly because your chosen location was Key West and I associate that with key lime pie. Anyway, what made you settle on Florida as the primary setting for OGC? And, as an offshoot of that, what made you swerve right on off the road of "generally established as law in fandom" to make Brittany a marine biologist and not a dancer (because I loved the shit out of that choice)? (Submitted by createdforogc tumblr)
I was pretty adamant when I started writing OGC that I WASN’T going to write them going on a trip to the west coast because I felt that it didn’t represent what I wanted them to achieve. I knew they were going to go somewhere and I wanted them to go on a journey that would last a few days at least. I wanted them to go on a journey that was a physical representation of the internal journey that Santana was going on at that point. When they reach the Keys — which homes the most southern (or lowest) point in mainland USA — is when everything comes to a stop. There’s nowhere further they can go. This is where everything comes to a head. I liked that if they went any further then they’d be in Cuba and Cuba represents the past. They would be going backwards and achieving nothing. In a way, Key West/Cuba tied together all the similarities between Brittana and Libby/Elena. Libby and Elena started this journey and Brittana ended it.
On a more aesthetic note, I also liked the fact that Key West pretty much looks like it’s a paradise stuck in time. Nothing appears to have changed in decades when you look at pictures of it's iconic areas. I liked the idea that Key West was a place that was stuck and where stuck people came.
As for Brittany’s career, I wanted her to have a career and a dream that matched Santana’s in a way. Santana had wanted to be a doctor since she was a toddler wearing a ‘Canes jersey. I never saw them having jobs as performers. I spent a long time researching what Brittany would end up doing eventually. I wanted to incorporate her family in that decision and I always had the opinion that Brittany’s family only thought she was good with her body but Brittany didn’t want that. The Marine Biologist thing sort of figured itself out from that idea. It worked with the visit to Seaworld and to the fact that there’s a lot of marine life in the Keys too. I also liked the fact that Brittany’s dream was something she’d have to work hard for, that she wanted it so badly that she was willing to work hard for it, that going for it would terrify her because it meant so much. I wanted both of their dreams to scare them and I don’t think being a dancer would scare Brittany. It’s expected of her.
5) The anticipation building within me for In Echoes is getting a little out of hand. It's still such early days that there's nothing I can really think to ask that wouldn't be impossible to answer for spoiler reasons (I want to know everything already). The one question I do have is, because your Santana grew up without a Brittany and didn't have that tempering force in her life, can it be expected that the upheaval she's currently experiencing will cause her behavior to get worse before it gets better? (Submitted by createdforogc tumblr)
The anticipation to write it is getting out of hand!
And, in short? No.
In the last chapter, Santana learned more about herself and how she came to be in her position than she was prepared for. She’s going to want some answers and she’s definitely going to be more wary of everything around her. She’s definitely going to have some (more) trust issues but—ultimately—Brittany IS going to be a lot more present in her world after their kiss. She’ll have that tempering force and now all she wants is truth and honesty.
6) I've heard it rumored that you harvest the energy generated by fangirl feels to nourish your life force, that you wield OGC and Rhythms as weapons in this quest, and that you bathe in an ever expanding ocean of their tears, laughing maniacally over your glorious success. Can you confirm or deny this? (Submitted by createdforogc tumblr)
No comment.
7) Have you ever consider writing and publishing a novel aside from your fanfic? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
I wrote a novel when when I was 18/19. That was the last time I wrote something original and I have a bound copy that I started editing before I realised that the only person I’d written it for was myself and I was okay with that. It was more like a self-help book. It was like each character was a different facet of my personality that I was trying to work out.
8) If you had to choose one of your stories (even one of the one-shots) to turn into a movie staring Heather and Naya, which story would you choose? (Submitted by MisAtentionSpan tumblr)
I want to say OGC because in my head it would look absolutely gorgeous and because I’ve seen it played out in my head so many times that I want everyone else to see it. Plus everyone would be barely dressed…
But also, In Echoes could be just as beautiful. At the moment it’s all hotel rooms and campaign stuff but later on it’s all beautiful coffee shops and rural Georgia peach fields. Also, the thought of Heather and Naya in fancy lady suits makes my mouth water and my brain happy.
9) Are there any parts of any of your stories that you'd like to go back and change or rewrite? (Submitted by MisAtentionSpan tumblr)
I don’t think so. My changing and rewriting stage usually happens before I’ve published. I can sometimes write up to 8 or 9 drafts of the same chapter. I won’t publish something if I don’t think I’ve written it how I think it should have been written or if I think I could do better.
We’re thrilled to round out this week’s Author Interview’s with Summerkid! She’s written so many fantastic stories for this fandom and for Brittana, perhaps none better than the epic We Become Who We Are When We Fall in Love (and if the canon Brittana barn wedding didn’t give you major We Become verse feels, you may be doing it wrong). If you haven’t read her stories, please do so immediately, you will not be disappointed! Thank you so much to Summerkid for answering our questions and to all who sent them in! Enjoy!
1) What do you think are your particular strengths as a Brittana writer? What do you wish you did better? (Submitted by Lindsey via email)
A: I think that a strength in general for any fan fiction writer is to publish their work. It takes a lot of faith to put out something you've worked hard on and put it into the hands of strangers and hope for a positive outcome. As for being a Brittana Fan Fic author, I guess I would say that my strengths are taking chances. I try and write things and ways that others don't because it can be quite boring to read the same story over and over again which is pretty easy considering we are writing about the same characters over and over again. I want the situations I put them in to be as realistic as possible. But also, on the same note, if I'm doing a very out there story I want to make it as interesting and outlandish as possible.
As for what I wish I did better... well, I wish I had more time to put out updates faster. But life is life and unfortunately a lot of us don't write for a living. Also, I sometimes wish I proofread a little bit more and definitely right before hitting publish. I have certainly gone back on the site and had to take down a chapter because I'm hasty. I'm sure there are other things that are way more interesting that I could probably work on. The more I write, regardless the topic, I always find myself learning and altering my craft.
2) What's a short piece of your writing that shows your Brittany is Brittany and your Santana is Santana (even if the circumstances of your fic make them different from canon Brittana)? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
A:
Q: I’m always surprised when I look at your author page, because your stories are all so totally different from each other that it feels like a different person wrote each one. The topics you choose are varied, yes, but more so than that your writing style is really chameleonic. Your stories allsound distinct, especially, I think, in the case of Hush. It’s so starkly different from the rest of your writing, yet every bit as enjoyable as the rest (albeit an emotionally difficult read). I think that’s pretty awesome. Is this distinction something you notice yourself creating, and do you consider yourself the Tatiana Maslany of Brittana fic writing? (Submitted by createdforogc tumblr)
A: I have never considered myself the Tatiana Maslany of Brittana, but I absolutely take that as a compliment. (It made me laugh, in a good way). I don't want to write the same story over and over again, which is extremely difficult considering a lot of Brittana authors have more than one Brittana story just like myself. When one story ends a completely new one emerges. A lot of my writing is influenced by music. It gets the creative juices flowing and then all of a sudden a scene comes to mind and that scene morphs into a story. It's easy to get inspired and thrown into all these different directions in writing while listening to music because all music is different. Some are sad and others happy and so on. When I hear these songs that motivate me, I get that feeling. Whatever the feeling is I get it and that's what I put into the story.
When I was writing Hush I definitely intended it to be a specific story with a particular tone to it. Prior to that I had written all the lovey dovey sort of story. I'm hopeless romantic as a much as the next girl, but life isn't always perfect. And so with Hush and a lot of my other stories, I feel the need to incorporate obstacles and issues and problems. On the flip side to that, I need them to flow with the story. So at the end of it all my stories are purposely different. As a writer it's an adventure to write almost the complete opposite in your second story as to what you did in your first.
3) I am ridiculously in love with We Become Who We Become When We Fall in Love. The characterizations for both seem to reflect canon!Santana and canon!Brittany to a certain degree but it seems like you’ve zeroed in on certain aspects of each personality and really magnified them in this story (i.e. Santana’s behavior & lashing out is rooted in a different place, she’s out and proud from the get go and Brittany’s status insulates her from criticism of her quirkiness). Was this a deliberate choice on your part? If so, how did you choose these things to highlight? (Submitted by Mama U/Nayas-Sports-Bra)
A: It definitely was deliberate. Firstly, when I started writing this story I knew Santana was going to be the 'bad girl,' it was just figuring out what it was that made her so. I didn't want her being a bitch just because she wanted to be one like on the show. I needed a reason for her to be a bitch for this story to really come together. So, I made her problems deep rooted to her family which would inevitably make her not trust anyone ever. With that it made it easy for her to shut Brittany out and act out with Aunt Linda. With her family in 'shambles' I wanted her to wary of letting her guard down and be uneasy about what Texas could really do for her. In the show it is easy to label her as a bitch because she is popular and a cheerleader and pretty. In this story though, I still wanted that side of her but I wanted it to mean something.
With Brittany, I wanted her to be the object of everyone's affection whether it be in friendship or romantically. I wanted everyone to like her no matter what, especially Santana of course. It's not that easy to like someone who isn't exactly the brightest bulb, but for Brittany it's how she treats people that make her such a sweetheart. Sure, some people say that she was mean on the show but to me it wasn't without reason. Regardless, I think it's her positive attitude that makes her seem less than brilliant and that's the part of her personality that I really wanted to show. I think it's shown too often in shows and books and movies that the popular kids are just assholes and I wanted to keep Brittany's sweet and innocent like mind as she ruled the halls of Knox City High School.
4) Can you talk a little bit about your use of flashbacks in WBWWBWWFiL? I adore the structure you’re employing as the flashback so clearly sets the stage and connects to present time, I find myself almost guessing at what may happen in the present as I’m reading the flashbacks! It seems like it would create so much more storytelling for you because you are telling a story within the story. (Submitted by Mama U/Nayas-Sports-Bra)
A: I love the flashbacks almost as much as the present time. I mostly wanted to incorporate the flashbacks to show that there was a time when Santana was a sweet and innocent girl. She wasn't always this rough chick who curses way too much. I wanted to show that certain experiences can alter a person's behavior. I could have very well written the story without those flashbacks but I wanted the reader to be invested with Santana finding herself all over again. I wanted them to know that she was optimistic and sincere and honest and brave and true before because those are traits and qualities that are sometimes lost but never forgotten. In the present she starts off so rigid and turned off that it's like a breath of fresh air to go back five years ago and see her running in the rain with Brittany, laughing and smiling.
5) I really enjoyed true as the sky is blue and when skies are grey, are you already working on the third part? Do you have an idea of where and how it will be set, months or years from where the previous one left off? (Submitted by Mama U/Nayas-Sports-Bra)
A: I have been working on the third installment for a while now. However, I have been debating on where I want to take off from. I have toyed with the idea of jumping ahead and then I decide against it to show the sweet just engaged fun. Currently I am undecided, haha, sorry. What I will tell you is that there is going to be weddings, babies and love.
We are thrilled to bring you Silverdoe14′s Author Interview. The Journal was absolutely one of the best Brittana stories out there during a very difficult time in canon, which made us appreciate it even more! Thank you Silverdoe14 for answering our questions and thank you to all who sent them in! Enjoy!
1) What do you think are your particular strengths as a Brittana writer? What do you wish you did better? (Submitted by Lindsey via email)
A. I think to be good at anything there has to be a passion for it. In the Brittana story I wrote, I combined one of my favorite TV pairings with my love for writing and a lot of my personal life. I think that passion makes the story stronger.
2) What's a short piece of your writing that shows your Brittany is Brittany and your Santana is Santana (even if the circumstances of your fic make them different from canon Brittana)? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
A. I always wrote my version of Brittany with a lot of patience. And I wrote Santana as very insecure for many aspects of her life because to me Santana on Glee has a lot of insecurities. I think these were the two characteristics that kept them closest to their original counterparts. I don't know of any one piece of my writing that could say that more than the whole story itself.
3) How did you come up with the idea of a story inside a story? Was any of it based on your personal life? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
A. I'm not entirely sure how I came up with the whole plot to be honest. I actually write quite a good bit and almost all of my ideas just sort of pop into my head nicely laid out from start to finish. The idea of a story inside a story came from me wanting to use parallels between the two couples to show why Brittana is different, and I just thought having a 1940s love story would be a cool way to do it.
I did use a lot of my personal life to write The Journal though. I just gave different parts of it to different characters.
4) I think your writing is so descriptive and different. You seem to be able to write emotions. Not write about emotions, but actually write them and make the reader feel it. How do you do that? Does it take a long time to write that way? Does that even make sense? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
A. This is not the first time I've been told I write emotions so I think I understand what you're asking me. As I said before, I used a lot of my own feelings (past and present) to write the story, and so I think that helps a lot into translating emotions into words. And at the end of the day, I didn't want to write a story about Brittana that people would read. My ultimate goal was to make the readers feel it. So I feel so accomplished to even get this question. Oh, and yes that does take a long time! I spent a lot of my "writing time" just staring at the walls.
5) How did you come up with such an intricate plot for the journal? How much planning ahead did you have to do for it, because it seems like you hinted at things all throughout the story, even in the beginning! (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
A. I basically knew how I wanted things to unfold from the very beginning, and so I knew I needed to drop hints about things throughout the story if I could. It just helps with continuity and subtly shows the readers the direction you're going in!
6) Is she better from her surgeries?! (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
Today we’re pleased to bring you the Sammi M’s Author Interview!!! She was a BrittanaCon attendee last year and is absolutely hysterical in person (she and Alice won the Dramatic Readings of JJs Tags, unbelievably hilarious), be sure to check out her stories! Thank you to Sammi for answering these questions and to everyone who sent them in! Enjoy!
1) What do you think are your particular strengths as a Brittana writer? What do you wish you did better? (Submitted by Lindsey via email)
-- To be honest, while I wrote Brittana, I didn't think I had a lot of writing strengths when it came to that ship. Mainly because I was still trying to embrace writing and focus on getting the hang of writing a popular ship. I guess if I tried to name one, a particular strength could be writing slices of real life, the everyday kind of stuff. But that's an answer that truly would have to be answered by the people who read my stories.
2) What's a short piece of your writing that shows your Brittany is Brittany and your Santana is Santana (even if the circumstances of your fic make them different from canon Brittana)? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
-- Oh wow, that's a great question. For me, Brittany has depth but she plays with the whimsical and is vibrant about life. Some people are literal rays of sunshine and I've always liked those parts about her than the "dumb and slutty" parts. As for Santana, I like that she, too, has depth and that the bite lacks the bark, so to speak.
3) Is there a particular scene in Glee that you draw you Brittana inspiration from? (Submitted by Gnome)
-- I'd have to say more along the lines of when the glee club sang Ride Wit' Me in the first season. That was a fountain of good energy even though a lot of the stuff I've written can darken. It's much easier to twist, I guess. But to be honest, Brittana angst has always been so readily available so those are easier to reach for.
4) When writing for Brittana do you have go-to Glee friends or enemies you tend to use for each girl and why? (Submitted by @sasodooda)
-- I guess Quinn was an easy choice for a lot of friendships because Quinn has repeatedly gotten shafted from canon itself that putting her in a better narrative was more than necessary. But overall I think because Glee was about a group, I wanted organic interactions with the rest of the club. How I was able to achieve that is debatable, but I really wanted them to have relationships with the other members outside of Quinn or even the bigger Faberrittana ship. I like even throwing out names here and there of the others just to remind myself that there are other people around them.
5) It's been a while since you wrote for Brittana but your headcanon for their relationship as kids and their families is pretty fantastic. Have you ever thought of writing a multi-chapter that explores more of these, especially using the adorable ring-pop engagement from "Forever Sounds Pretty Good"?
-- Well, thank you! I'm always cautious about setting them in past settings just because writing characters as children can either go really well or horribly wrong. But I think that inspiration strikes again, I wouldn't mind a multi-chapter focus on something like "Forever Sounds Pretty Good" just because I'm a sucker myself for such stories. As much as I love a good heartbreaking story, there's also something very nice about really fun and cute things. It would definitely be an interesting exploration to that kind of background and what kind of trajectory it could take knowing what I know now and what's transpired in the story overall. It's not a closed door, by any means, so who knows.
Today we feature the Author Interview from the writer of one of my favorite Brittana stories, Stoners. SaartjieBaumann absolutely nails all the characterizations and the format of the story featuring flashbacks is both unique and interesting. If you haven’t read it yet, definitely check it out! Thank you to all who sent questions and to SaartjieBaumann for answering them!
Q: What do you think are your particular strengths as a Brittana writer? What do you wish you did better? (Submitted by Lindsey via email)
A: Oh goodness, this is only the first question and I already have no idea of the answer! My first inclination would be to say that I have no idea, but if I had a gun to my head I would say that I think my biggest strength in writing Brittana is that I think (hope?) I do a pretty decent job of keeping the main characters in tact even though I’m not really writing canon. For myself, when reading fan fic, I hate when I cannot even recognise Brittany or Santana as themselves. But mostly I think my biggest strength is that, when I write smut, it makes anatomically sense. No enormous tongues or thumbs that go in all kinds of crazy directions.
There are so many things I wish I did better but mostly, above all of the thousands of over things, I wish I was more disciplined at writing and that I was one of those amazing writers who managed to get updates up like clockwork every week or two.
Q: What's a short piece of your writing that shows your Brittany is Brittany and your Santana is Santana (even if the circumstances of your fic make them different from canon Brittana)? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
A: I don’t know if a writer could ever truly know the answer to a question like this. I feel that once you have written something and put in into the public sphere, it’s sort of out of your hands and up to your readers to decide things like this for themselves. You become so involved with the characters that sometimes it’s hard to step away and view them with a sense of objectivity. Sometimes I think that a particular scene would work really well in terms of keeping the characters as close to canon as possible and then readers feel the opposite and vice versa.
I think that, in thinking about the way that I write Brittany and Santana, there are several characteristics that I try to constantly bring out in both characters to make them Brittany and Santana. There is a scene in the third chapter where Brittana get into a fight, right after they see each other for the first time in six or seven years, which I think captures a lot of Brittana. For Brittany, I think it’s that unique mixture of innocence and wisdom. The way that she turns her head and manages to see everything from a completely different perspective. When writing Brittany I draw strongly from the Brittany we saw in the second half of the second season of Glee, the one who was childlike and sincere and wise without being a childish idiot and who showed some very real insight into Santana’s character. Even when nothing else makes sense to Brittany Santana still makes sense to her and nothing upsets her more than the times when she can’t figure Santana out. So I think every time when I write Brittany to show these surprising insights into Santana, when she manages to know when Santana needs to talk and when to just let her rage, I come closest to Brittany as Brittany.
With regards to Santana I think that her guardedness, which Brittany manages to break down every now and then, makes her Santana. And I hope that when I write Santana, even a slightly more mature Santana who is a little better at dealing with her feelings and sharing the more vulnerable part of herself, I manage to keep some of that guardedness there. I don’t think Santana will ever be the type of person who is going to be overly emotional and will always struggle a bit in dealing with and expressing her emotions and I do my best to write her that way. And, of course, Santana wouldn’t be Santana if she didn’t have that snarky temper that jumps out every now and then. One of my favourite things to write is how Santana loves to hate and hates to love Rachel. I really enjoy writing that.
Q: I'd also like to ask the author from Stoners why/how she decided to do flashbacks instead of a chronological narrative. (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
A: Up until the very last moment before starting to write I actually hadn’t worked out exactly what I wanted to do with the format. I knew from the start that I wanted to write a story that spanned over a longish period of time but I also knew that I didn’t want to simply write a linear chronological narrative. I played around with the idea of alternating chapters between the past and the present for a while but I thought that probably wouldn’t work out because readers are likely to favour one of the two storylines and then just skip whole chapters instead of reading it together as a single narrative.
After thinking about it for some time I figured I could probably pull off putting everything in a single narrative. The idea was that the entire fic would be set in the present and then, because it’s written in the third person using Santana’s perspective, I would be able to reveal and unpack the past using Santana’s memories and thought process. However, I got feedback from readers saying that doing it in this way made reading more difficult. I didn’t think it was particularly hard to distinguish which was present day events and which was Santana’s thoughts but I figured it might just be easier to change it so that it’s clear which is which. When you thus read the parts of chapters that are written in italics, those are actually supposed to indicate Santana remembering stuff more than it’s a flashback-flashback.
Q: Most of the time I find the "my OTP isn't talking to each other about their feelings" thing very frustrating in fic but between the flashbacks and "real-time" tension, your fic developed more like a second courtship between Brittana. Was that the vibe you were going for all along? How did you determine the tipping point for when they'd actually talk and start to work things out again? (Submitted by Uvaack/Nayas-Sports-Bra)
A: Thank you, I think timing is so important when writing fic. Timing is, of course, important in all genres of fiction but I think that the format of fan fiction and the fact that readers mostly only have access to one chapter at a time, makes it so much more important in fic simply because – at least until the entire fic is finished - readers only get to read one chapter at a time. I think that means that if you somehow get the timing wrong you stand a big chance of losing some of your readers because there is no way for them to simply skip a few pages and get on with the story as you can do with a completed piece of fiction. As for how I determined exactly how many chapters I let tension built before letting them talk, I mostly went on my intuition and my own preferences when I read fan fic.
In terms of the development of the story and how I let the tension play out I think that I definitely had very strong ideas about how I would have liked for the tension to develop from very early on. One of the things that I try to do, and to a large extent the structure of the entire fic is worked out around this, is to balance out the tension between the two different times in which I write. So you might notice how, especially in the first chapters, the more tension there is in the present, the more I tried to highlight happier times for them.
One of my favourite films is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I always have these long arguments with people who interpret that film as saying that true love will always find its way back to each other even if they have no memories of each other. I think that it says the opposite. I think what that film tries to say is that if we don’t have memories, if we don’t remember the mistakes we made and we don’t keep that in mind, we’ll continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. And so, with this idea of the importance of memory in mind, I tried to write the beginnings of a second courtship between Brittana to reflect how some of the things that they experienced as teenagers might have influenced them and shaped who they became as young adults.
Having said that though, I really didn’t and still don’t want to write a fic where there used to be a lot of tension between Brittana and then they work it out and everything is good and well. I think that, while highlighting how much they have grown and how differently they are able to approach their relationship than the first time, it’s important to remember that, even in the present, they are still only in their early twenties and aren’t able to magically overcome all their previous faults and struggles. So I think it’s important to note how some tension and struggles will remain and/or return.
Q: Mind you I am not a writer asking the question, but as an author do you identify with one of the pair more than the other? Like do you realize you infuse your voice within theirs? Consciously or unconsciously. (Submitted by Whitney)
A: Additionally, it seems like an AU setting for Brittana would give you more opportunity to identify with or infuse your voice, did that contribute to your decision to set Stoners the way you did, almost like a post-canon AU?
This was such an interesting question for me to think about! I definitely think that you’re right in saying that the author’s voice is infused with that of their characters and that I sometimes, looking back at older chapters, I can see where my voice comes through. Simply in terms of personality, I am definitely further removed from Brittany than from Santana. I know a couple of people in the fandom talked about MBTi types a while ago and so to put it in those terms: I think that the character of Brittany is a very strong xNFP which isn’t like me at all and makes me really love writing Brittany. It is possibly the reason why I chose to write from Santana’s perspective but I don’t think it really had an impact on the fact that I set it up as a kind of post-canon AU. I simply felt dissatisfied with what was playing out in front of me in terms of canon and thought I’d give it a go and see what alternative I could come up with.
However, and I feel that this is a rather big however, one of the things that I enjoy most about writing fan fic and one of the biggest reasons I choose to write Brittana rather than original fiction, is that I love the fact that I get to work with characters that have already been established. One of my pet hates is when I read a piece of fan fiction and the author’s voice is so strong that it drowns out all of the characters and so I try to be careful not to do that. I really like the fact that I get to play around with Brittana, but also with Kurt and Rachel, and just let my imagination run wild in terms of what I think they would feel, how they’d react, and how they’re first couple of years in New York might have been like.
We’re nearing the end of our Author Interview posts and we’re excited to kick off this second to last week with Queenofthegreatescape! She attended BrittanaCon last year and was a great addition to our author Q & A panel, we hope to see her again this year! If you haven’t checked out her WIP cop!Brittana story, be sure to do so!
1) What do you think are your particular strengths as a Brittana writer? What do you wish you did better? (Submitted by Lindsey via email)
I don’t know that I have a particular strength other than a true love for the characters. I want them to be treated better in my stories than they ever were on screen other than a few fleeting episodes here and there at the beginning of their journey. And I want them to continue to live on in my world --- to grow together and love together – long after the canon is gone.
As for what I wish I did better – that’s easy…… I wish I could get it updated faster! It is so inspiring to me when I get responses from the readers when they offer a review or even favorite / follow the story. I really do it for others to be entertained – just as I have been over the years from the incredible stories that I have been fortunate enough to read and that have been an inspiration to me as well.
2) What's a short piece of your writing that shows your Brittany is Brittany and your Santana is Santana (even if the circumstances of your fic make them different from canon Brittana)? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
Since I am relatively new into the world of writing these characters – significantly more so than the scores of other incredible authors out there – this is a tough one to answer.
I would say that I try to have my Brittany character show her naïve side here and there and Santana show her guarded side. I always believed it was Brittany that pulled Santana outside herself in canon and I think I am trying to use that in this story as well. Not even trying really – it just comes naturally for me in the writing because it is how I see their dynamic in their relationship – when it was friendship and when it was more.
3) In Brittana AUs the placement of the supporting cast is just as important as casting Brittany and Santana, what was your thoughts behind placing Puck and Sam where they are within the story? Why did you choose for Brittany to be the detective instead of Santana? (Submitted by Gnome)
The story for me always has centered around Brittana – and will continue to do so as it progresses – so while my casting of the supporting characters is important to the story it is not imperative. As a reader, one will find some of them in limited roles and others will become more prevalent as time goes on. As for Puck, he will play an interesting role in the next chapter. Sam I chose to be Brittany’s partner because I like them…. I think they have a unique relationship in caring about one another. Rachel is not what she seems as well and from the last chapter you understand that Quinn is a friend of Brittany’s. That’s going to play more into the story as well.
I chose Brittany as the detective because Santana is better in my eyes as the more mysterious character. The one you don’t know much about …. but at least for me, I really want to.
4) What made you decide to write and publish this, your first story? What’s your fave thing about Brittana and about writing for Brittana? (Submitted by @sezcretgroove)
I have read some of these authors for years and years and flail over their updates every time! I wanted to contribute to this incredible fandom in any way I could and I just finally sat down and started writing it. I didn’t do as well at the beginning – it took me about 6 months between a few chapters but I am truly committed to continuing the story. I love the complexity of the characters – and yet that they are so damn simple. One look, one touch, one hesitation – it all matters, it all means something.
5) What made you decide/want to write from Britt’s POV? Her character is so under represented in canon, even when she was a regular cast member, that it seems like it would be more challenging to find her “voice.” (Submitted by Tumblr Anon)
That’s a very true statement. It has been difficult sometimes to find her voice as well as to feel like I am doing a good job representing her but I always thought that Brittany was a strong character – that when pushed she responded (Brittany / Britney episode). That when she wanted something, she went after it – in her own way. So I try to conjure up her character development from those places. Perhaps because she was so undervalued it is all the more believable that the way she is written is really who she is underneath it all. I can only hope I am doing her justice because she deserves it.
HAPPY FRIDAY!!! Due to some technical difficulties we had to skip one author so don’t be alarmed when we get out of order alphabetically as we near then last few weeks of posting these interviews. Today we are thrilled to bring you Oh-That’s-Wanky’s Author Interview! If you haven’t read her fantastic multi-chapter story Kunoichi WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?! Just kidding, but you should really do that and go and read everything else she’s ever written cause she’s pretty fab. Thank you so much for answering our questions and thank you to those who sent them in!
1) What do you think are your particular strengths as a Brittana writer? What do you wish you did better? (Submitted by Lindsey via email)
I can say a lot in very few words. This is something I take pride in because I'm always striving to write potent prose -- I want you to feel like you're right there in the action: talking, fucking, fighting, living and breathing inside the story.
Things I wish I did better? I wish I could write faster. I wish my dialogue was snappier. I wish I could paint beautiful descriptions with words. I think I'm slowly getting better at these things, but I'm also starting to accept that I'll always be more of a sculptor, slowly chipping stories out of solid blocks of words, creating by carving material away.
2) What's a short piece of your writing that shows your Brittany is Brittany and your Santana is Santana (even if the circumstances of your fic make them different from canon Brittana)? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
My story "First Gear" is probably the one that's most faithful to canon characterizations. But even that one has my own personal spin on Brittany's character, as I've never liked how Brittany has been portrayed in canon. I'm firmly in the "Brittany has a non-normative intelligence" camp and will always write her that way, no matter if the story's canon or AU.
3) Kuno is a truly distinct work amongst all the fics I've read. It feels sparse, or, rather, measured in its wording and structure in a way that perfectly suits the story and setting. Was it difficult to craft and work within that style? (Submitted by createdforogc tumblr)
Kunoichi's tone and mood are so heavily influenced by Britt (since she's the protagonist and point of view character) that once I had a strong sense of her character, I almost couldn't help but write in that style. I talk more about how Britt's point of view shapes the story in the next question.
I think it helps that I'm a bit of a stylistic chameleon and can slip into a variety of different voices. "The Gift of the Alumni" sounds much different than "Unearthed" which is much different than Kuno. So writing in a particular style wasn't as hard as figuring out what made Britt tick.
My biggest problem now is that I've been so focused on planning the sequel to Kuno that I'm having trouble writing unrelated fiction that doesn't sound like it. ninja!Britt's influence is very strong indeed.
4) Your use of visual imagery in Kunoichi is beautiful. You can feel the moment of the characters through the environment around them. What was your thought process when selecting the scenery and environments that Brittana interacted in? Also, in the times when Brittany had her own self-reflection throughout the story? (Submitted by Lindsey)
Kuno is written in third person limited point of view, and as such, everything in that story is filtered through Britt. Every observation, every description originates from her.
So my thought process while writing Kuno was all about getting inside Britt's head and mentally stepping through each scene as if I were her. What would Britt notice in this moment? What would Britt's response to X, or Y, or Z be? The story would be much different if Santana were the POV character even if I
followed the exact same plot. (For a fascinating look at how each of us observes the world in our own unique way, I highly recommend reading "On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes" by Alexandra Horowitz.)
Every scene in a story must have a purpose. Some scenes are all about the dialogue, or exposition, and the immediate setting isn't as important. In other scenes, the setting is almost another character. I chose the locations for most of the "big moments" based on their connection to nature. (I could talk a great deal about East Asian cultures and their affinity for nature, and how the concept of harmony in nature is a fundamental part of Britt's character, but for the sake of brevity I'll just say that nature is a recurring theme in Kuno.) I knew that Britt was going to take Santana to a formal garden in chapter five, but I didn't know which garden or what they'd do once they got there until I started writing it.
Many of the details came from research. As I researched the Koishikawa Kōrakuen garden, I saw a picture of the full moon bridge and knew it would be something that Santana would ask about. Armed with Google Maps and tons of tourist photos, I mentally walked through the garden while channeling Britt, almost as if I were shooting a film, replaying it over and over, tweaking an observation or line of dialogue each time until I was satisfied enough to write it all down.
5) How do you bring these characters to life in such a different setting while making them recognizable as Brittany and Santana? If possible can you be specific? (Submitted by Confused Anon on Tumblr)
In Kuno, it's not the setting that makes Britt and Santana feel strange to us -- it's the circumstances that bent these characters into unfamiliar shapes long before the story even begins.
I'm glad you asked about this because it gives me a chance to address one of the most common criticisms of Kuno: that Brittany and Santana are too out-of-character even for an AU.
I can certainly see where that comes from. Kuno begins with a Brittany who's an assassin, someone who's detached from her emotions and feelings, while Santana is the one who's got her shit together. These characterizations were completely intentional, because Kuno isn't about Britt protecting Santana, or Britt getting out of the assassination business -- it's about Britt finding her way back to being a fully-functioning human being, one who just so happens to be a Brittany who's closer to commonly accepted canon, the Brittany we all know and love.
I wanted the first half of Kuno to feel like looking into a funhouse mirror, giving off the sense that, while these characters have the same names and look like the characters we know, something's not right. I wanted there to be a sense of loss, of what would have been, a resonance between the Britt we see in Kuno and the Brittany we as fans expect her to be. Getting to play off reader expectations of character is something that I think is unique to fanfiction.
Even if this story was set in New York City or Paris, the characters still would have been stretched by circumstances into something nearly unrecognizable. But at its heart, Kuno is a Brittana story, and I drop hints of their canon origins throughout: Britt trolling Santana about the radish spirit and helping the little girl with the goldfish game, Santana showing flashes of temper.
The hints are subtle, but they're there, and as the story unfolds, Britt gradually nudges closer to the familiar. It's a long journey. All I can do is ask that you trust me to get her there.
We have a fantastic treat for you today with NovaForever’s Interview! She even made animations to include in each response because she is just that awesome :) Be sure to check out all of her 60 second fic animations if you haven’t done so already! Thanks for answering, and animating, these questions Alice and thanks especially createdforogc who submitted these!
What originally got you started making graphics for Brittana?
…when Glee first started I had just moved to a new city for graduate school and everything about it was kinda stressful. I was studying basically constantly just to keep up in my new program and the only break I really allowed myself was to watch glee once (or thrice) times a week. It was definitely an outlet for me. And my stress relief therapy somehow evolved into an outlet of creating ridiculous animations. And even when I finished my degree I just never really stopped.
Your 60 second re-enactment animations of fics are never anything short of THE BEST. What’s the process like for creating them?
Thank you! I will accept that praise with open arms~
First, I set aside about a billion hours to make one. No, I kid (but not really). I purposefully choose Brittana fics that I have read over and over and where I have basically memorized the entire story. And then I read it again anyway (boy let me tell you how hard that was when I did the OGC and TKTD ones cause those are longer than a Russian novel). I take notes on what I feel are the major defining moments of the story, either for story progression or just because that scene is so very memorable, and then I make a list. From there I have to narrow the list of events down. For each animation I really do aim for 60 seconds, which tends to be around 6+ scenes from the fic (again, REALLY hard to do for long epics like OGC and TKTD so those ended up being more than one part since you can’t narrow them down to 6 scenes). If I knew the beta for the story I would also contact that person so they could read over my list and see if they felt I was capturing the essence of the story. Once the scenes are selected I can move on to making my own parody or jokes based off recurring themes, ridiculous personalities, etc etc. These get storyboarded out so I know what dialogue and actions the characters will be performing in each mini clip.
From there I would move on to animating, which is its own painfully long process. My general process is to draw all the characters from the story out and then all the backgrounds out in photoshop (Right now I use CS5) and then put them in one folder. From there I can piece together each scene by dragging and dropping the characters and backdrops from my source folder I put together. Each scene of course needs to get tweeks on each character so that they are redrawn to perform whatever action is needed. This is pretty much the most time consuming process. Once they are all drawn I go into the animation panel and set up the order that the drawings need to run to make the animation through moving and hiding the drawn layers. (Can anyone even picture this? It’s hard to explain with just wordy words.)
After that it simply comes down to timing the animation so it plays in a manner that should be readable by most.
These are seriously labors of love for the authors who make such amazing fics for fandom. I wish I could do them for every story I adore as a way of saying thanks. But that would take me forever and a day. So.
Your fangirl animations are flawless representations of practically the entire Brittana speaking world. Do you see yourself as the cartoon stick figure face of this franchise? Did you wake up like this?
WOW. Saying I am the face of the franchise is a radical interpretation of the text haha.
I originally started with the stick figures because I wanted to make animations showing how ridiculous I felt being obsessed with Brittana (most of the conversations animated originally were based on actual ones between me and my old roommate) and apparently I wasn’t alone in that. So I couldn’t just draw me, that’s not very inclusive. So I went with the stick figure because anyone can insert themselves into the position of the Brittana addict, girls, guys, whomever! And then after a while it sort of just became my thing I guess! (I swear I can draw for real tho)
Today we bring you MojoMonkey’s Author Interview. Although slightly shorter than our previous ones, we still thank her for taking the time to answer our questions and we thank those who submitted questions. Enjoy!
It's been awhile since you've updated or written. Are you planning on getting back into it? Additionally, if you were to write another Brittana what would it be about and how do you imagine it to be different from your current stories? (Submitted by JJLives)
Although I initially had several ideas for expanding my one-shots, I believe it is best that they remain singular vignettes. I was very disappointed with myself for not having completed the multichapter fic ‘Bold As Love.’ In the middle of writing it there were several obstacles, roadblocks and priorities in my personal life that took precedent and became very time consuming. It got to a point where I spent so much time away from the story that if I tried to continue writing it, it would most likely turn out incredibly disjointed and inconsistent. Being a perfectionist and considering the already inconsistent and disjointed storylines on Glee, I was not willing to take that chance, haha.
At one point I had an idea to write a rather fluffy AU Brittana fic with Santana and Brittany as camp counselors, meeting and falling in love over the course of a summer. As for now, my writing interests have shifted away from Brittana, so I don’t plan on updating or publishing anything further on FF. However, I still think the Camp!Brittana story would be fun and I may develop it in the future.
What drew you to write for Heya and not just Brittana? You've said you were debating continuing your one Heya one shot 'The Morning After', are you still planning to? (Submitted by JJLives)
Unfortunately I am not planning to continue ‘The Morning After.’ That story came to me in a very singular and isolated burst of inspiration and I think it will only exist in that moment.
There were several reasons why I wrote for Heya and not just Brittana, and I believe all those reasons were very much out of my control. First of all, the Heya multichapter fic ‘Bold As Love’ hit me in one fell swoop like a lightning bolt, fully formed and demanding to be expressed. When I decided to write it I was very wary and nervous because of the understandable stigma some corners of the fandom have against reading Heya fics. But the thrust of energy and inspiration born in the conception of stories can be very stubborn sometimes, and truth be told, ‘Bold As Love’ would be a completely different story if I tried to manipulate it in any way to make it a Brittana fic. So I gave it the respect it deserved to just let it be the story that it is.
I think there are several reasons why that particular story came to me. I’ve spent a great deal of time on TV & Film sets. I’m certain that my environment effected my imagination in this respect. The chaotic, volatile and complicated nature of working in the industry fuels a great deal of the conflict in that story. ‘Bold As Love’ simply could not have existed in a setting outside the inner workings of the entertainment industry. Personally I don’t think Santana or Brittany would ever become actresses, let alone be in a television series about a high school glee club if they had already lived it, so it was natural that the main characters would be Heather and Naya, not Brittany and Santana.
Secondly, Santana and Brittany have incredibly distinct character traits, which stem from a very particular brand of experiences. Though I love both Brittany and Santana dearly, once it became clear this had to exist as a Heya story it gave me the opportunity to explore characters who may have similar traits but ones that stem from a totally different brand of experiences. While writing ‘Bold As Love’ I tended to view it as more of an AU rather than an RPF, which segues us into grappling with the fact that ‘Bold As Love’ is categorized as an RPF.
Obviously I don’t know Heather or Naya personally. I did not write ‘Bold As Love’ in an attempt to fantasize or speculate on their actual lives. One of the essential functions of an actor is to serve as a vessel for the storyteller and audience’s imagination. For all intents and purposes, that’s exactly what happened in the case of ‘Bold As Love.’ Every character’s name and likeness serves as a placeholder of sorts within the visual scope of the reader.
Lastly, ‘Bold As Love’ was a perfect breeding ground for me to explore issues of immense interest to me. I think the general public tends to view Hollywood as a very liberal environment, but when you get down to it Hollywood is run by people with deep pockets. In the interest of protecting their finances, the power players of Tinseltown tend to be incredibly conservative and don’t like to take risks or invest in something or someone that might be unfavorable to the vast majority of audiences. In short, though there are a lot of LGBT advocates in Hollywood, the people with the most financial leverage can be incredibly homophobic and this permeates every facet of the industry, especially its actors. It’s a common thread for LBGT stories to deal with keeping a relationship a secret. Add power, money, and reputation on a global scale to the mix and the ante for conflict goes from a single flame to a full-blown forest fire.
Another issue that interested me was that of the artistic and creative nature of actors. I think there is a somewhat unhealthy obsession with the lives of celebrities these days, but people rarely know the actual nature of what they do when they go to work and how that permeates other facets of their lives. I’ve always maintained that Acting is one of the most misunderstood art forms, and this story gave me a small platform to discuss and possibly clarify some of those misunderstandings. I was also able to play with and explore the blurred lines that exist between Actor and Character, attempting to answer the questions, “Where does the Actor end and the Character begin, and vice versa? What aspects of the actor’s emotional life could contribute to the fictional characters we see on the screen? How does the actor’s emotional life manifest and express itself within a character?”
You're imagery is completely captivating, how and where did you learn to use it? (Submitted by JJLives)
Would it be too vague of me to answer this by saying, that’s just how my mind works? Haha.
Outside of required high school and college English courses, I’ve had absolutely no formal education in creative writing. I honestly don’t think I learned it anywhere other than by reading, journaling, and trying to be completely present as much as possible throughout my life. I imagine that for many creative people the easiest and fastest way to express a feeling is through simile or metaphor, which provides a wealth of sensations and images to draw from because almost nothing is off limits. If you feel it, experience it, or even vaguely understand it, you can use it as a means of expression. After years of journaling, I guess I just got used to thinking and viewing the world through a lens of similes and metaphors in an attempt to make sense out of how I feel at any given moment.
Trying to express exactly how you feel, with precision and accuracy, is an incredibly challenging feat. Feelings are, by nature, irrational and uncontrollable. You feel before you think, oftentimes without understanding why or where the feeling comes from. I believe one of the main reasons anyone chooses to write creatively is to attempt to make sense out of the irrational happenings of the world and human existence. The great thing about creativity though, is when the rational and irrational collide in order to make what we call Art. It’s the nebulous and ethereal space where unbound imagination meets disciplined skill. So with enough practice, much like capturing a photo of the first ray of sunlight over the horizon, a metaphor for a feeling can be seamlessly woven into the emotional fabric of a story, both heightening and focusing the moment while seeming like a completely natural occurrence, and thus making the narrative that much more effective.
We’re excited to kick off this final week of May with Mad-Cow-Mama’s Author Interview. She specializes in drabbles and shorter stories so if that’s what you’re looking for, be sure to head over to her fic page and check them out! Thank you to all who submitted questions and to MCM for taking the time to answer them.
1) What do you think are your particular strengths as a Brittana writer? What do you wish you did better? (Submitted by Lindsey via email)
My favorite kind of piece to write is momentary, interstitial. Bits where time seems to spread out, slow down, or stop (With Gold). I like following where the sounds of words (FTL) take me and seeing what happens as a result. I do wish I had a better grip on Brittanyisms and Santana's trash-talking. This is probably why my dialogue-heavy stories (Trading) are so few :)
2) What's a short piece of your writing that shows your Brittany is Brittany and your Santana is Santana (even if the circumstances of your fic make them different from canon Brittana)? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
Here, let's see... pulling one out at random...
From Earlier
She's about twenty minutes into it when she's able to stop the nervous chittering in her head. Skin just rolls off as the lady scrubs and scrubs and scrubs. Layer after layer peels back. She begins to feel again. It's not all pleasant, but it feels safe here, strangely safer than—strangely safer than—no. She sinks into the sensation of the skin. Sloughing. Shucking the outer crust. So when she—when she—god, her skin is buzzing.
She's getting sleepy. Probably from so much sensation.
Everything goes as planned. Soak, scrub, massage, soak some more. How long since she's gazed into Brittany's eyes, good god, how long? (There's as much hurt there as there is in Santana's.) And there's no touching here, it's part of the challenge, part of the ease and safety, because when Brittany touches her—and she will—it will be a surprise, like the first time, a slow burning surprise, even if Santana touches her first.
Their eyes meet.
Volumes pour between them in the meeting of their eyes. Decades of wins, decades of losses. And this most recent. Santana's skin shining, polished, not raw, but— she is. Brittany sees the look cross through.
"Wanna go?"
Santana nods, then shakes her head. Then nods again. Some days she can't bear to leave the house; some days she can't bear to stay. One thing about being here, all the impersonal intimate attention, her skin and muscles feel more like who she used to be. Only flayed, vulnerable, utterly open.
Brittany's eyes tell her a story: she too is laid bare. What better time? When more precious than now, with nothing, no bulwark between them. If only they can brave the cab ride without hiding, or growing back their leathery hides.
This is from Earlier, one of my World on a String (gleerant's Sugar from the Future 'verse) fics. After Sugar, Brittana's daughter, has disappeared into Brittany's time machine, Santana and Brittany grieve in different ways, growing (temporarily) apart.
Third person limited, Santana's perspective. The nsfw part is after this part.
Santana knows she needs to reconnect with Brittany, and she knows she needs to strip away her tough outer hide in order to be present with Brittany.
Brittany is the world's foremost expert in Santana Lopez and knows Santana, knows what Santana needs, and knows how much space to give her.
For both of them, touch is key. Understanding each other innately and intuitively, standing by one another in times of stress defines their relationship. They need each other to survive the loss of their daughter.
3) Some authors craft elaborate, expansive fics over multiple chapters, taking readers on a sweeping journey through the land of Brittana. Some authors have the very special ability to create entire worlds, complete unto themselves, with just one. You seem to be most prolific in the latter. What is it about the challenge of writing single serving fics that you find so appealing? (createdforogc tumblr)
I love longfics and respect their writers beyond words, but I personally seem to be allergic to planning ahead (ask my kids, whose birthday parties can be a month or seven late) or writing character or plot outlines (two degrees, zero outlines). Longfics are kind of out of reach for me.
Most of my fics are 500-1000 words, and I have a couple dozen or so 100-word drabbles. I like the short formats because I can compose and edit one in the kind of times I have available (while waiting during kids' hockey or basketball or skateboarding, for example). The pieces I like best use rhythm, rhyme, and repetition to get where they're going, use powerful nouns and verbs, cataloguing, and spiralling amplification, if that’s a thing. (Oh! It is now.)
I love being able to keep one story in my head and working it over and over if need be to pack the most into something that can be read in five minutes or fifty depending on how the reader approaches it.
4) Do you write your ficlets/drabbles as they come to you (when the inspiration hits) or do you set aside time to write them? And of the ones you've written, do you prefer to write the more playful ones or the ones with just a little bit of angst to them? (Submitted by Tumblr Anon)
Bam, you got me. Yeah, I tend only to write when inspiration hits, just ask my beta, the exquisite youreterriblemuriel. I lack the time, focus, and discipline to be a set time kind of writer. If you want discipline, go talk to oh-thats-wanky, who has all sorts of self-control. Writing keeps my brain clean and firing well, so really I enjoy it, no matter what emotion or style is behind it. I hit a really dry time for fic last year, so I just started posting six-word-poems every day, good or awful, to keep my mind oiled. That said, I do enjoy imagining I’m shocking my readers with a wankyfic or amusing folks with my silly ones. And I do relish when people cop to getting the feels from my more angsty ones :) (did I just avoid stating a preference?)
5) Your short fics are a mix of stories - where one may incorporate more dialogue while the other uses just description to convey the story. Do you find one easier to write than the other or does it just depend on the kind of story you want to tell in that one shot? (Submitted by Tumblr Anon)
I really love exploring Brittany and Santana and Brittana from different perspectives and points of view, and in different settings and styles. Many of my stories are more inside the mind of one person, but some simply occur to me as dialogue (long ago I studied screenwriting). The interior pieces tend to bubble up when I’m in a more introspective mood. Usually the ones that are more dialogue hit me when the silliest part of my mind has taken over :)
Want to take a moment to thank everyone who submitted questions and to marry-me-naya and allthrumyribs and all the folks who are making Brittanacon a thing for including me! It's an honor! And lots of fun :D xo, mcm
Happy Memorial Day weekend! Kick it off with a look at LoneGambit’s Author Interview!!! Probably best known for her racer!Brittana multi-chapter, Faster, LoneGambit has a great selection of both canon and AU Brittana to choose from so be sure to check them all out today:) Thanks so much for answering our questions and thanks to all who sent them in!
1) What do you think are your particular strengths as a Brittana writer? What do you wish you did better? (Submitted by Lindsey via email)
I’m the first to admit that I still have a long way to go when it comes to writing in general, but I would like to think that I have some source of understanding when it comes to writing Brittana. Having said that, I honestly cannot pinpoint anything in particular that I think may be my particular strengths in said writing. I’ve been told more than once that I’m pretty decent at staying true to characterization despite writing AU. I’ve also been told that I have a penchant for writing smut, though I’m not entirely sure if that’s a strength or not! As far as what I wish I was better at, I’ve always wanted to be able to write alluring details and dialogue without running on or becoming too boring. It would also be nice to have some kind of grasp on humor. Fortunately, I still have time to learn!
2) What's a short piece of your writing that shows your Brittany is Brittany and your Santana is Santana (even if the circumstances of your fic make them different from canon Brittana)? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
I think the first segment of my story It Was Only Ever You, where Santana’s insecurities about Brittany’s sexuality come out, and the last few paragraphs, where Brittany reaffirms that she’s only ever loved Santana, might be the best examples of showing Brittana as Brittana. Though the story as a whole explores a somewhat cannon characterization of Brittana, despite being in a futuristic setting, I think those segments in general really grasp the fundamentals of their individual personalities and their relationship as a whole. Brittany is a secret genius whose patience has always been the thing that hard on the outside but soft and caring on the inside Santana needs. Brittany is the unicorn to Santana’s rainbow. In the end, Brittany and Santana always find their way back to each other because they’re meant to be together.
3) You've dabbled in both canon and AU with your writing and while at their heart, your Brittana is completely recognizable as extensions of the characters we love, they are all so different it's really amazing. What's your favorite verse to write for Brittana? Which manifestation of Brittany is your favorite? Which manifestation of Santana? (Submitted by Mama U/Nayas-Sports-Bra)
I think the thing that has always been the most fun when creating the different verses is creating the different personalities of Brittana in those verses. I love each different manifestation of Brittany and Santana. I love writing Faster Brittany because she’s assertive, badass, and completely gives no bucks about anything except Santana, loving her and keeping them both safe. BUT at the same time, writing bumbling, sweet, and sometimes shy Brittany in There’s No One Else Like Me lightens things up and gives me a couple good laughs. In the same sense, writing a sure of herself Santana in both Faster and TNOELM is fun as well, because I get to explore both the insecure side as well as the strong as hell, beat people down if they mess with Brittany side of Santana. When it comes down to it, each manifestation is in a way my favorite because they are all extensions of cannon Brittana and each have little parts of myself written into them.
4) The sheer amount of swag that both Brittany and Santana have in Faster is almost ridiculous, and I mean that in the best possible way. It lent such a fantastic tension to their initial interactions because it was impossible to tell who would eventually give in, which I found really enjoyable when compared to other fic. I also enjoyed how the action ramped up over the course of Faster, so I wonder if you always planned to have an "epilogue" for the fic? Was the holiday one-shot just a nice extra for us all? (Submitted by Mama U/Nayas-Sports-Bra)
I was kind of late to the amazing world of Brittana fanfiction, but I don’t fault my lateness too much because that just afforded me the ability to read a lot of really well written fics. Like I think most of us do, I got caught up in the possibilities one could put these two adorable quirky cheerleaders in, but one topic that I was such a huge fan of hadn’t made an appearance yet. That is, Brittany and Santana as swagtastic, tough, intelligent, and sexy street racers. Incredibly gorgeous women racing insanely hot cars and falling in love? Sign me up for that. So I set about creating that world. The very first thing I came up with was the last line in Chapter 32 when Brittany says, “I always knew we’d end up like this...but I did think it would happen a lot...faster.” That line provided me the bases of a story idea and a title, because I can’t ever write a story unless I have a really good title to go with it. It wasn’t until I was on about chapter 21, where I introduced Holly Holliday to the verse, that I started considering a sequel. I just loved writing the verse, the characters, the banter, the love, and the cars so much and I realized there was so much more of a story to tell about streetracing Brittana that if people were interested in reading more, I would be interested in writing more. Thus I began developing ideas for the sequel, which shaped how Faster would end and thus created the Epilogue for the story to show that there was much more to happen in that verse. The Faster one-shot was another look at the Brittana streetracing verse, and a way to give another glimpse into their future. As it stands now, the sequel to Faster (entitled ‘Cruise’) is still very much in progress so long as there are still people out there wanting to read it!
5) I've really enjoyed the characterizations you uncovered in "There's No One Else Like Me." I love the Kurt and Brittany friendship, what a wonderful support system for her, especially given her difficult family situation. Bumbling!Brittany is adorable and I love how patient you've made Santana as a balance for Brittany. We've seen them meet a parts of each other's families, as the fic goes forward, will we see their circles of friends collide or the introduction of any other familiar faces from the Glee verse as they continue to move forward in their relationship? (Submitted by Mama U/Nayas-Sports-Bra)
That’s honestly such an amazing compliment to receive. I absolutely love everything about TNOELM, including the friendships I’ve written that have developed between some of our favorite Glee characters. There will definitely be more glimpses of family members we haven’t seen, including the introduction of Santana’s parents at some point and a possible confrontation between someone from Brittany’s family and Santana herself. While the basis of the story revolves around how Santana and Brittany handle their own personal issues and being in a relationship with each other, the story would be a little lacking if I didn’t include different friends, family, and situations to keep things interesting. Eventually you’re going to see that Santana isn’t the only one who can be patient, and that Brittany, though bumbly, is an extremely strong hearted individual. I look forward to sharing that with everyone!
We are thrilled to bring you LittleOases’ Author Interview! Best known in our fandom for writing amazing canon Brittana stories, she’s gone on to write and publish her own YA novel (Her Name In the Sky) that already has a sequel (A Different Kind of Us) in the works. LUCKY FANDOM INDEED!!! Be sure to check out her stories, including her original works:) A big thank you to Kelly for answering these questions and for all who sent them in!
1) What do you think are your particular strengths as a Brittana writer? What do you wish you did better? (Submitted by Lindsey via email)
1) I do well with writing small, ordinary moments between canon Brittany & Santana. I take a certain point in narrative canon and open up that point to see what else is going on behind the scenes. I focus on small, specific things I'm curious about: What does Brittany & Santana's text message log look like during prom week in Season 3? What happened the first time Santana called Brittany her girlfriend? What happened immediately after Santana's abuela rejected her? Even when I write future!Brittana, I focus on the small details: How would they file their taxes when they're living together in their 20s? How would they spend Valentine's Day night a few years from now?
The thing about my Brittana stories is that I don't take on huge, overarching storylines. I've never examined the unfolding of Brittana's relationship on a long-term scale in the same way JJ, Lily, Beth, Cora, or countless others have. I'm not good at that. I could never write the panoramic, multi-chapter stories that these talented women write. I trade scope for focus. I'm good at the focus. I thrive on the zoomed-in, detailed view. So the funny thing is that my stories would be boring to a fandom outsider because they don't have a typical plot-driven structure that can stand on its own. My stuff is all about the nitty-gritty little details of Brittana's dynamic. Take my fic "Phones," for example. It's literally about the role cell phones play in Brittana's relationship. The pictures and videos they store on their phones, the voicemails they leave each other, the phone pranks they pull on each other. There is nothing inherently interesting in that. But that just goes to show you how goddamn interesting Brittany and Santana are as characters and how invested our fandom is in every little detail of their relationship. "Phones" remains one of my most referenced fics, and it's all because we as a fandom earnestly want to think about what Brittany would text Santana on any given day!
2) What's a short piece of your writing that shows your Brittany is Brittany and your Santana is Santana (even if the circumstances of your fic make them different from canon Brittana)? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
2) My first Brittana fic - "Figuring It Out." I wrote it at the outset of Season 3, before the girls confirmed they were dating in 3x04. My Brittany in this fic is patient and silly and gentle with Santana's feelings. She expresses her love for Santana but doesn't push Santana to act beyond her comfort level. My Santana in this fic is hesitant and burdened, and wields her snark to defend her insecurities, but she also insists on Brittany's particular genius. She supports and encourages Brittany in her campaign for the student body presidency even though she's still working out how to navigate her feelings for Brittany. Their push-and-pull in this fic is probably the best I've ever written: they have a source of tension in their uncertainty about their relationship, but they're delicate with each other and fiercely supportive of each other. Their best selves shine as they nudge each other toward growth: Santana nudges Brittany toward the presidency, even though Brittany doubts her abilities; Brittany nudges Santana toward expressing her authentic feelings, even though Santana wrestles deeply with this expression.
3) You’ve written and had published your own lesbian YA novel (huge congratulations, by the way, it’s a wonderful story), how did (if it did) writing for Brittana influence your decision to start writing your original novel? (Submitted by createdforogc tumblr)
3) I had always known I wanted to write original fiction, but it wasn't until I started writing about Brittany and Santana that I realized what I wanted to write about. Writing about Brittana unlocked a whole new world for me where nothing was more interesting than two best friends who fall in love. In my Brittana fics, I loved to explore the secret crevices that could exist in Brittany & Santana's relationship. What they cooked together, what they texted each other, what their sleepovers were like. It was so much fun to write about those moments, and it revealed so much to me about Brittana's relationship. (That's why there are scenes in Her Name in the Sky that depict Hannah & Baker cooking together, texting each other, falling asleep on Friday nights together. I learned their unique dynamic that way.) On a deeper level, writing about Brittana showed me how beautifully complicated the relationship between two queer best friends can be. Where is that line between friendship and romance? How do teenage girls navigate it? What sort of push-and-pull develops from their different needs and wants? I realized this was something I wanted to explore--and that the exploration could be endless. Hannah and Baker had already existed in my head for years--even before Glee appeared on television--but it wasn't until I started writing about Brittana that I finally understood who Hannah and Baker were and what they meant to each other.
On a totally different level, publishing my Brittana fics on Tumblr showed me that I could have an audience for my writing--that people were willing to fall into the little stories I wrote out of pure passion. So for the first time, I believed seriously that if I were to write a book, there would be an audience for it.
4) You spent a lot of time writing about canon Brittana, and doing it very well, for a fandom that seems to thrive on AU. Did you set out to “fix” what we were seeing? Or more to fill in the gaps and give us a more complete look? What is the one canon Glee decision for each girl you would change if you could? (Submitted by Uvaack/Nayas-sports-bra)
4) Honestly, writing canon Brittana was not a conscious or intentional decision. It's just that writing canon feels natural to me. Writing AU does not. I get excited about--as you describe it--filling in the gaps and providing a more complete look at these two girls. When I was in the Harry Potter fandom, we used to call these gap-filling stories "missing moments." I think that's what many of our writers have done with Brittana: we've sought to uncover the missing moments. And we have the framework to do so because we know so much about the Glee universe beyond Brittany & Santana, and we know where Brittany & Santana fit into it. When you know those parameters, it's much safer and easier to go beyond them. So as much as I detest Glee's writing team sometimes, I do have to acknowledge the narrative structure they put in place for us. We're able to write about Brittana's missing moments because we know what's going on in the larger picture. It's fun and safe and novel for us to zoom in on a fraction of the Glee story--to go beyond the episode to discover what didn't make it on camera. We started out watching two background cheerleaders, and over the years we constructed their houses and cars and even their alternate universes, and we collectively decided on many particular details of their relationship.
If I could change one canon Glee decision: for Brittany, she would graduate with the rest of her class; for Santana, she would have had a deeper and more comprehensive coming out storyline.
5) Given your canon Brittana focus and the serious lack in quantity and quality Brittana in the past two seasons, so you think you’ll continue to write for our girls after the show ends or will your inspiration dry up like Glee’s ratings? (Submitted by @sasodooda)
5) First off: props on that hilarious simile.
The honest answer is I don't know. Going into 2014, I thought I was completely through with Brittana and Glee. Not in a bitter way, just in an apathetic way. I felt, as you put it, that my inspiration had dried up. But then I wrote "Valentine's Day" and "Faithfully." And the crazy thing about "Faithfully" was that I put more passion into that fic than I had in a very long time with any Brittana writing. Maybe it was because I had been away from Brittany & Santana for so long after spending so much time writing about Hannah & Baker. Maybe it was because I was experiencing so much nostalgia for the way Glee used to be, especially after the huge disappointment of the last two seasons and the raw pain of Cory's death.
The thing about Brittana is that they've settled into me now like a layer of skin. Even if I'm away from them for months, or a year, I can still feel myself carrying them. Not just their individual characters or their joint story, but the collective effect of them. The fan fiction and the art and all the other fan passion projects. So it would not surprise me one bit if a year from now I find myself driven to the computer to write about them. They'll always be somewhere in my subconscious.
Happy Hump Day!!! We’re thrilled to bring you Lingeringlilies’ Author Interview to get you through the mid-point of the week. We are so very lucky to have a writer of her talent in our fandom, if you haven’t already read all her Brittana stories, be sure to do so, and be sure to check out her various works for her original characters as well! Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and for supporting us, and thank you to all who submitted questions!
Q: What do you think are your particular strengths as a Brittana writer? What do you wish you did better? (Submitted by Lindsey via email)
A: I write depth of emotion well. Fluff and humor are not my strengths, but I can write complex emotional situations without shying away from the discomfort of tension or discord. I also know my characters well; I know how they’d react to certain situations and challenges. I’m not fantastic at canon-compatible characterization, but I’m okay with that. Every writer makes Brittana their own.
Q: What's a short piece of your writing that shows your Brittany is Brittany and your Santana is Santana (even if the circumstances of your fic make them different from canon Brittana)? (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
A: I’m particularly fond of None of the Above as far as Santana characterization. It’s not a Brittana piece, but a Pezberry “frienemy” interaction. I’ve always struggled to balance Santana’s “bitch” defense with her genuine concern for the people around her — I always skew toward her concern and make her too nice — but I think I struck the perfect balance there.
Brittany is a complex character that very few people are able to write well. I always make Brittany too nice too. In canon, she usually hates people more than Santana does. She’s just sly about it. I was able to capture a little bit of her trickster side in a short little piece I wrote called “Emily,” though she’s being nice because she’s trolling Santana, who she actually cares about.
Q: Do you find that writing in another time period reduces the possibilities of various types of relationships? Both the fact that they are women and of different races make it practically impossible to stay true to the time period and be realistic. (Submitted by a Tumblr Anon)
A: I don’t think it’s impossible to stay true to the time period and be realistic; queer women have existed as long as women have existed, and interracial relationships have existed since race became a social construct. What is challenging about writing historical fiction is that women and ethnic minorities had fewer options in life overall, which in turn limited the types of relationships they could have long-term. Most women were dependent on men for survival. In the US, only highly educated, wealthy white women were afforded the luxury of being independent of male support.
As far as my characters in Lilies of the Bowery, they do have more limitations because of their gender, social class, immigration status, language barriers, and education. Their religion also plays a role in setting limitations, though not through direct condemnation of homosexual activity. That wasn’t a hot-button issue in 1914. The influence of the church had more to do with the practice of marrying young people between the ages of 16 and 18. But anyone who has read the few chapters that are up knows that both girls remain unmarried at age 18. There are reasons for this that are historically accurate.
Part of what makes writing historical fiction so fascinating to me is the puzzle-piecing I get to do. I always set out to write pieces that highlight hope, resilience, bravery, and perseverance. By choosing a setting with more structural limitations, I’m forced to figure out how queer women went about loving each other in ages past. I don’t believe limitations always lead to tragedy. In fact, some limitations provide unexpected ways for love to flourish.
Q: You’re pretty darn serious about, and committed to, the research you do for your writing. As a reader this is sensational. Not only does it enrich the stories you share, but it also supplies an extensive database of knowledge on often overlooked subjects for your audience. It’s wonderful. Thank you for all the hard work you put into the study of your stories, the insight you share has and continues to broaden my mind. What has been your favorite or most rewarding part of the research you’ve done for your stories? (Submitted by Createdforogc tumblr)
A: You are so welcome! The pleasure is all mine. Learning of any kind can be exciting, but genuine learning doesn’t happen often in classroom environments. The hands-on research I’ve done for my stories has been enjoyable in every sense. Everything from reading memoirs and how-to guides to taking pole dance classes to exploring New York City… Really getting to step into a character’s shoes and explore something I wouldn’t have otherwise has given me so much joy.
Q: If you had to choose one of your stories to turn into a movie starring Heather and Naya, which story would you choose? (Submitted by MisAtentionSpan tumblr)
A: I never picture their faces or bodies as the characters when I write them. In this sense, my characters are more original than some fix writers. But if I had to pick, I’d say Wherever the Dandelion Falls. The story lends itself well to a movie anyway, and I think Naya and Heather would do a kickass job with the more lighthearted and sweet moments between two characters who are around their ages and dealing with some of the issues of being a young adult. Plus, um, Heather stripping and pole dancing. #yesplease
Q: Most art requires a modest amount of research. What is the most interesting thing you have done (or found) for research of a story? Has there been anything you wish you could have put back into “Pandora’s box”? (Submitted by Whitney)
A: The fact that some species of monkeys effectively engage in prostitution by exchanging sugar cane for sex is pretty cool. I could live without knowing that often there are gurgling or squeaking noises in the days and weeks following a boob job. Also some of the things I learned about pregnancy and childbirth during TtLW and MaYaD were a little nauseating, but I would have learned those things by experiencing them eventually. Better to know ahead of time, no?
Q: Your LotB!Brittana are so stupidly sweet, I’m getting cavities in other people’s teeth. What is this black magic? (Submitted by Createdforogc tumblr)
A: Hey, I never considered researching Italian folk magic! Possibilities, possibilities...
A lot of the sweetness that exists between the characters in LotB is a result of their age and life phase. To date I’ve only delved into young adult relationships. I glossed over the high school and college years of TtLW because that wasn’t what I was focused on. It’s nice to come back to that phase as a more mature writer. It takes a steady hand to write gracefully about young love and not have it come across as trite or dramatic or foolish — even if love is in essence all three -- and I probably knew I wasn’t ready until now. Hopefully I can find the right balance of sweetness and depth.
Q: As an author, there are obviously numerous ways to create tension in a story. Is it always a conscious decision to choose a method (environment such as Heartwood, third party, power dynamic such as INaM, internal struggle/emotions, etc) or do you feel as a writer that there are times that something develops organically? For instance, Lily, did you know as you planned for TtLW that Britt would struggle with the challenges she did or did that develop as your Brittana came more to life? (Submitted by Mama U/Nayas-Sports-Bra)
A: It has always been my belief that if you know your characters well and let them have human reactions to everyday situations, tension will create itself. People complain about tropes such as love triangles, rape as character development, or any other dramatic external situation because they distract and detract from character-driven stories. No one cares about the plot if the characters are unrelatable or unrealistic. I encourage all aspiring writers to focus on their characters foremost rather than the plot. The most authentic and meaningful scenes and moments in a story happen without being orchestrated.
I began to explore tension actively in my stories by allowing my characters to make mistakes: for a lover to withhold information out of fear, for a child say something out of anger, for a friend to blame someone else for their misfortune. The more flawed and complex I allowed my characters to be, the less I had to focus on the events that would propel the emotional arc forward. In my ideal book, the events and happenings are secondary to the growth and humanity of a complex group of characters.
Brittany’s struggle with depression presented itself organically. I didn’t sit down and think “Okay how can I make this story more angsty?” It just existed as part of her. As solid as she is in her devotion to Santana, she is by nature inconsistent and unreliable. As humans we all are. I believe that, as in real life, when a character is given a struggle, they are also given a gift to go with it; TtLW Brittany struggles with depression, and the gifts of that are compassion and appreciation of emotional depth. LotB Brittany (Joan) has a physical disability that affects almost every part of her life; her gift is her talent for dressmaking and design. All my Santanas are plagued by insecurity; the gift of that is loyalty. If a writer allows struggles and gifts to coexist in any setting where characters enact their flaws and strengths regularly, tension is naturally created.
