Better Know An Author (#1): Caffinate-me
Hello, everyone! It’s the true doldrums as we wait, impatiently, for the next Castle season. With all the fandom drama over new cast additions, leaks, spoilers, etc, it’s become very clear that this fandom is definitely passionate about our show. One of the people on twitter calling for calm is our own beloved fanfic writer, Caffinate-me. When I came up with the idea of doing some author interviews, she was the first, and only (so far), that I contacted. Here is her interview. I’ll be asking the people she’s nominated to participate, and hopefully we’ll all get to know each other a little better, give some much needed support to the authors who make our lives richer, and pass away the remaining time with some good reading. Let me know if there are other questions you’d like to see (though they may not choose to answer them all--it is quite a list) or any other ideas to make this as interesting as possible. I’m not that great at tumblr, so forgive my inexperience/mistakes.
1). FanFiction Name: Caffinate-me
2). Twitter or other: aspen_musing (Twitter). aspenmusing (Tumblr)
3). Why did you pick the name(s) you are using? Caffinate-me for my love of coffee/caffeine and aspen_musing is a play on my name and for all the random thoughts in my head. You hear a lot of these if you follow me on Twitter. ;)
4). Place of birth: The Great Sunshine State itself. (Florida)
5). Where do you live now? Still The Great Sunshine State just further from the beach and closer to the swamps.
6). Anything you want to share about your life or family: I am happily married. My wife and I have been together for 8 years and were finally able to get LEGALLY married this past January. We are currently trying for a baby :) (drdit insert: Congratulations!)
7). Job: I work at a cross section of public health and the environment.
8). What do you like to do in your spare time, besides writing? I like to read, make jewelry, sew, experiment with new sinfully delicious gluten-free baking recipes, and we’ve recently taken up geocaching.
9). How did you become a fan of Castle? I caught an episode while visiting my parents. I’m pretty sure it was either Tick, Tick, Tick or Boom and thought it was pretty cool so I started watching it casually. Then summer 2011 (between seasons 3 & 4) I was feeling pretty down. My wife had gone to work at the overnight summer camp where she worked as a counselor almost every summer since we had met (we met as counselors at that same camp by the way). I was in grad school, working part-time and doing an internship. I was exhausted and pretty lonely since M was gone 6 days of the week, so I started watching Castle in my spare time, catching up on those first 2 seasons I had missed and the show made me laugh, so I started watching more. Then I started reading the fanfiction (OFI had me hooked). I started writing again, something I hadn’t done in 3 years. The rest is history.
10). Favorite episode(s): Oh geez. Is there a limit? Okay I’ll limit myself to 10, I feel like that’s fair. (These are in chronological order)
Flowers For Your Grave (it’s one of the only Pilots I can watch over and over)
Sucker Punch
Punked
Knockdown
Cops & Robbers
Kill Shot
The Lives of Others
In the Belly of the Beast
Once Upon a Time in the West
Hollander’s Woods
11). How did you discover fan fiction? Oh geez, I was a teenager (probably 15 or 16) poking around on the internet for the show I recently obsessed with (JAG). I came across a website with stories on it (yes, this was back when people had their own websites to house fanfic) and started to read. It was like the heavens had opened up and light was shining down on me. Not really, but it was then that I realized that I was definitely not the only person in the world that came up with alternate endings to episodes, etc. The only difference was I kept them in my head and these people WROTE THEM INTO STORIES!!! I never turned back.
12). When did you start writing? I’ve been writing since I was a kid, I had an old typewriter that I loved, and notebooks and binders full of half written stories and single pages with a story idea or line on it. I wrote an 85 page novella for my 8th grade writing project. It was a sci fi story involving government conspiracies and cover ups. Despite my inability to know how to use a comma, my teacher called it very unique and creative and gave me the highest marks (it was the first and only time I was graded higher than my friends on anything). I took a couple creative writing classes in college and then finally, about 4 years after I started to read fanfic decided I was ready to write some myself. I started on Livejournal.
13). Have you written anything for other fandoms? Yes, I wrote for Stargate and SVU before Castle. I read a lot of JAG and Buffy but I don’t believe I ever wrote any for it (other than in my head).
14). Favorite place to write? In my chair in the living room with a pile of dogs in my lap (they come included with the chair).
15). Do you have a particular writing process? Um lets see, normally I come up with an idea, generally they just hit me, or I see a prompt that jogs my imagination, I then write a scene. It could be a sentence or pages. It’s not necessarily the first scene. For instance, the first scene I wrote of State of the Union was the conversation between Kate and Alexis before the winter dance. No matter what it is it sets the tone for the story. I then normally come up with a general outline in my head, but there are normally still a lot of blanks. I then start writing and the rest kind of fills in as I go. I also definitely bounce ideas off my beta, she’s a good sounding board for letting me know if something will work or not or how to tweak an idea to make it feasible. She will also let me know if something is complete crap. ;)
16). How do you come up with your story ideas? I kind of touched on this with the last question, but it could be a number of things. For instance, I got the idea for Unwritten because of a prompt for a story I received about what happened to Castle to make him interest in writing murder novels (big leap I know but bear with me). What happened to Castle became what if that hadn’t of happened to Castle, to what would have happened to Beckett if she hadn’t of had Castle’s books to lean on after her mother died. Voila.
Others like Flashforward and State of the Union have come directly from prompts. Back to Where was a ‘what would have happened to Beckett if Johanna hadn’t died’. A new historical AU I’m working on is actually based on an article I read about the history of women in war.
17). Which is your favorite story that you’ve written and why? Unwritten. Hands down. I feel like it’s my most well rounded and planned out story. It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel like it’s a solid first draft, and with some tweaking it could hold it’s own as a novel. I also have some original characters in there that I love.
18). What have you learned or improved on in your writing? So freaking much. I don’t even know where to start. Just small things like punctuation and grammar. Based on the feedback I get from my beta, I don’t need nearly as much editing as I used to. I can sustain a storyline longer than a one shot or small multichapter story. I actually understand “show don’t tell”. Making sure I don’t repeat words or phrases too often. I’ve started to be able to focus on the smaller nuances of a story, rather than those based structural components. I’m nowhere near perfect yet and I know that. If I sent something to a publisher they would probably laugh me out of the building and down the block, but I feel like I’m getting closer to that end goal. I can build original characters that people seem to like and be able to relate to. This is something that is huge and that fanfic is an unfortunate crutch for. We have the characters already written for us, being able to stay true to them is a challenge in of itself, but we don’t need to create a 3 dimensional character that readers can become attached to.
This would be my challenge to any upcoming fanfic writers out there- create your own original character in your next story. Learn that skill.
19). What resources, if any, do you find helpful when writing? THESAURUS. And random websites to gain background. Google is your friend.
20). Is there something you wished you’d known when you first started? To not be afraid and to have confidence in myself. To listen to those people who said I was a good writer, but to be able to take feedback in stride. I’m not perfect, I don’t have to be, I just need to be willing to learn and grow.
21). How long does it take you to write a typical chapter? It depends on the chapter. Legitimately, if I’m in the zone and the words are flowing I can write about 1000 words in a hour. Does that normally happen? No. Does life allow that to happen? No. I normally get a couple hours on weekend mornings and maybe a little time on random weeknights. If I’m inspired I might jot down a couple words over lunch break.
22). Which of your fics has been the most popular? Unwritten is my most reviewed and Back to Where We Have Never Been is my most read, but State of the Union is coming up fast. ;)
I’m still blown away by all of this by the way. I still can’t believe people actually want to read what I write let alone are this passionate about it.
23). Which of your fics are you most proud of, and why? I am proud of everything I have written for different reasons. Some are very long and I had to push myself to write them, others have complex story (and time) lines, others are very experimental.
I am also especially proud of original characters I’ve come up with specifically Graham (Unwritten) and Grace (Chasing Nirvana). Grace isn’t a good person, and I think that’s why I like her so much. She’s selfish and petty and lost. She has lost her way so much that she just ends up hurting people (both intentionally and unintentionally) and by the time she realizes what she’s doing she doesn’t know how she can possibly fix it and just ends up hurting them more. She wants to redeem herself but she doesn’t know how.
24). Last story you wrote, or current if publishing? Currently working on State of the Union, and am planning to get back to writing Chasing Nirvana soon as well.
25). Who are some of your favorite authors in fanfic? (My fav authors and stories are all flagged on my fanfic profile. If I list them here I'm afraid I'll leave someone off or I'll be accused of favoring already "famous" fandom writers. Le sigh. )
26). Any stories that you feel deserve more attention? I think people need to start judging stories in their individual merit and not on the reputation of the writer or the number of reviews it has. Yes, writers get loyal followers and that's great but I think readers do themselves a disservice when they only read stories from writers they already have on alerts or only ones that have X number of reviews.
Yes, poking around FFnet unsupervised can lead to some not so great discoveries but it can also lead to some hidden gems. There are some awesome stories out there with very low review counts and some others with an exorbitant number of reviews that I personally just don't like. I guess in the end my advice would be not to judge a book by its cover (yes, I went there) ;)
27). Advice to new authors or people thinking about writing? Just do it. If you have a story you want to tell then tell it. Don't worry about review counts or if it's going to be perfect because it won't be. That's just how it is. Chances are you won't write your first fic and be a fanfic prodigy or instant chart topper. My first one-shot in this fandom garnered 7 reviews. 7. That's it. And I was ECSTATIC. You know why? Because I had zero expectations. I wasn't looking to be a fandom celebrity, I just wanted to tell the story that was spiraling in my head. That hasn't changed, I write because I want others to know the story and yes, of course I want them to enjoy it, but in the end my goal is to tell a compelling story. Not everyone will like it, and that's okay. Don't be afraid to tell the story you want to tell because a reader says they don't like the direction it's headed. It's your story, your brain child, tell it like you want to.
Be bold, be brave, be proud. You created something.
Also, have a beta that you trust and that will give you honest feedback, and take their constructive criticism in stride. You're not perfect, an outside perspective might see something you've missed.
28). Something you think will surprise most people about you? I actually hate coffee. Kidding. KIDDING. Got your attention though, didn't I? Eh, not much to be surprised about. I pretty much act the same online as I do in real life except I'm quieter and more socially awkward in real life and I fangirl less... ;)
29). Anything else you’d like people to know? I'm always around if people want advice or just to chat. I've met so many awesome people through this fandom and I always love to meet more.
30). Could you nominate another fanfic writer to be interviewed next? Oh geez, the usual suspects I guess: Kate Christie, Jenny (airbefore), nic (colie Mckenzie), Raina (bravevulnerability), Triny Everett (bunnyslipper), Bean (seallinor).
Any of them would probably be good. :)
End of interview
Thank you so much to Caffinate-me/aspen_musing for graciously being the first interviewee for this project. Look for upcoming interviews as soon as one of the above nominees slogs through all my questions!
