Writer’s Spotlight - Mhunter10
Be honest, y’all thought I had abandoned this series, didn’t you? But I hadn’t! In fact, this interview was done a long time ago, but posting was delayed for several reasons. It’s finally here though, and I’m very excited for you to read this one, because the writer we’re spotlighting today is a fandom veteran and one of our most prolific writers. Enter: Malenah, aka @mhunter10!
GT: Ok, first of all, I've got to say, I'm so happy you agreed to talk to me! I missed you! How have you been?
M: Been up and down and dealing with some stuff, but I think I'm okay. I definitely miss writing.
GT: And we miss your writing. Is that why you stopped for a while, life just got in the way?
M: Yes, but also the fandom and show wasn't fun anymore. Tumblr policies got annoying and people weren't finding my stuff....people actively stealing my work and reposting without asking.
GT: Oh, that sucks. 😔 When did you join the fandom? And what made you want to? What was it about Shameless (or Gallavich) that captivated you?
M: Oof maybe 2013ish? 2015ish? Whenever Shameless first season was on. I actually didn't even have Showtime, I would literally sit on Tumblr and wait for someone to recap the episode or link a bootleg clip. I've always been into good queer stories as a queer, and Cam and Noel's dynamic was interesting and the sort of cute that makes you squeal like a little girl.
GT: They've always had a lot of chemistry. Did you start writing fics right away? What made you want to start?
M: I was actually writing for another fandom/couple for a while way before Shameless. For Gallavich I was mainly just making headcanons that sometimes turned into drabbles. Eventually I wrote longer fics and started posting to AO3. I'd respond to someone else's headcanon or idea with a short fic.
GT: A lot of people still do that nowadays. That was one of my favorite things about your fics, actually, the fact that most of them were short and I could get my quick Gallavich fix without compromising my lack of a long attention span. 😅
M: Haha I was the queen of the drabble.
GT: What fandom were you writing for before, if you don't mind me asking? Was it the first you wrote fics for?
M: A soap opera called As the World Turns😅. I was writing fic when it was still airing new episodes in the middle of the day on CBS. I wrote for Luke and Noah and the fics are archived somewhere on the internet forever.
GT: Was it also the first fandom you read fics for?
M: I think so? Lol that sounds right. I also wrote some fics for Eyewitness, the US version.
GT: Let me backtrack, because we went straight into your experience with fandom, but I want to also know a bit about you. Please tell us a bit about yourself.
M: Oh Haha well I'm 30. Black, bi, live in Maryland. Have a bachelor's and currently getting my master's. Write, paint, sculpt, collect, read, work… mostly work. Work work work. Fall is my favorite season. Libra. Currently have 8 tattoos. Live with my partner, 3 years together. Umm...I've got arthritis and hip dysplasia so lol....anyone wanting to murder me now has everything they need to know and opportunity.
GT: Hahahaha That was very in-depth, indeed! What's your masters about?
M: Organizational Sciences.
GT: I don't know what that is, but it feels like something I should study. 😅 What is it? And do you already work in that field or are branching out?
M: It's akin to industrial psychology...basically, how workplaces work and how to improve the work environment. Definitely has a lot of intangible skills everyone should have an understanding of if you work. It's very meta sometimes lol. Leadership, communications, change management, negotiation, etc.
GT: Oh, that's interesting! You mention you also paint and sculpt? Talk about a well-rounded artist! What got you into those?
M: I've just always been artsy fartsy crafty.....schmafty. Fun fact: walked out of my pottery class first day cuz the professor rubbed me the wrong way....took ballet instead. I'm mostly a painter but I have a lot of little things I've made out of clay just for fun.
GT: Like what?
M: Mostly small food 😆. I paint whatever. I was an instructor for about 2 years.
GT: If you feel comfortable, could you maybe share a pic or two?
GT: They're all beautiful, but the one with the blue-haired woman is GORGEOUS! 😍
GT: Let's talk about Shameless. Do you have a favorite season and/or episode?
M: Yikes, I honestly don't remember much but definitely before the whole show went off the rails. I think 1-4 are standouts, maybe 5 or 6. I only really stayed for Gallavich.
GT: I feel you, I actually stopped watching after S5.
M: Trevor was the worst.
GT: Why do you say that?
M: Not the actor ,obviously, but the whole storyline was not done right at all, imo. The whole jesus stuff was stupid. Frank continuing to live was stupid. All the stupid and inconsistent decisions compounded into me not giving a shit anymore.
GT: Did you actually watch all the seasons? Because I myself skipped S6 to S9. What did you think of the ending?
M: The ending I saw was the wedding stuff, but I haven't watched anything after.
GT: Do you intend to or will you just consider the wedding the end and that's it? Either way, what did you think of the wedding? Or the fact that there was one. The early-seasons fan in me was in shock it even happened. Once Mickey came back for 9x06, I figured that was as good as it was going to ever get.
M: I knew they would do it. They baited us, kept us on the hook and reeled us back in with the Gallavich crap. I thought the wedding was fine, didn't understand half the people there. Oh wait I also watched some of the stuff with them in the apartment and trying to adjust to that which was actually pretty interesting. I didn't really keep up after that, just saw some gifs here and there. I think they had sex in an ambulance with a dead person? I don't really understand why they have to keep doing illegal stuff. I refuse to believe Fiona would not even show up or call or check in, but I understand why Emmy wanted to cut full ties with the show
GT: I agree, I never understood why not have Fiona keep in touch, or just have one of them mentioned she called. But it's the same thing they did with Mickey at the end of season 5. Instead of cutting Noel from the show, but still having Mickey be somewhat present through mentions, they decided he'd be arrested AND Ian would break up with him. And then they mentioned things about him that weren't true. That made no sense at all. How would you have written their ending if you got to choose?
M: I've written their ending lol; just a short fic reimagining the day after the wedding. I liked the apartment stuff. I would've written them trying to find Mandy eventually leaving the show due to a positive sign she wanted to reconnect. They need to leave the Southside. But during their search, Mickey goes to school. Maybe some shenanigans ensue, but ultimately he does well enough to graduate. I'd see Ian writing a book.
GT: Ian writing a book? That's something I never thought of. A biography or fiction?
M: Maybe a memoir.
GT: What about other moments of the show? If you could change one thing the show did with them, what would it be?
M: Everything. Anything I ever had an issue with, I usually turned into some sort of fic in retaliation. I did a fic rewriting their meeting at the docks, and also one where Ian finds Mickey in Mexico. I did one of when Ian came home from the hospital and Mickey is taking care of him, but ends up helping Fiona with some chores.
GT: Ok, but if you could only choose one? Sophie's choice, I know. Well, reverse Sophie's choice. 😅
M: Idk I'd redo all the stuff with Yevgeny and not make Mickey forget all about him.
GT: Great point. Just one more thing that doesn't make sense in this show. Ok, now let's talk fanfiction. What kind of fics do you write the most? I mean, I know you're the drabble queen, but what else?
M: My fics range from absolute crack fucking with the readers, to gut wrenching, to smut, to whatever passion project I think 2 people will read. I've written some lengthy stuff. Two wips I'm ashamed to admit I forgot where I was going with them as the reason I haven't updated them are White Coats and, by far my most popular fic, The Sugar Daddy. I also have several series going with trans Mickey, fratboy Mickey, geek Mickey, etc.
GT: I can relate, I also have a WIP I don't know how to continue. I have the plot planned, but... I don't quite know how to get there. Do you have a personal favorite among your fics, one that you were especially proud to write?
M: Definitely The Sugar Daddy, but they're all my babies to some extent, even the less popular and early ones. I liked writing pregnant Mickey. And I like some of my fantasy spins, like Mickey meeting Santa lol, and Ian in Oz.
GT: If you had to rewrite a fic you wrote, which one would you choose and how would you change it?
M: I have over 400 fics so I know I myself am forgetting a lot of them lol.
GT: I have way less and I forget mine too, so I can only imagine. 😁
M: When I come across an oldy it's always fun to read it with fresh eyes haha. I don't think I would rewrite any.
GT: No regrets, huh?
M: Pretty much.
GT: Fair enough. Now, you said it yourself, you have A LOT of fics out there. Where do you get your ideas from?
M: I tend to write in a zone so whatever I put out there is what I wanted out there in the moment. I have an idea and just go with it and see how it comes together
GT: You said you write in a zone. How do you get in that zone? (asking for a friend)
M: I've had somewhere I just could not figure out how to get it out of my head in a way that makes sense so those just never see the light of day or they find their way magically into something else. It's probably an undiagnosed adhd thing but I hit a groove and can keep going as long as I'm excited. That excitement is generated by how much I think what I've written is going to make people shit their pants. I have a fic titled Ian Snaps Mickey's Neck.
GT: Lol that sounds like a good motivator. So I'm assuming you don't plan your fics much?
M: Not like pages and pages of details before I even begin, but I know major points and how I want to lead up to some of them. That's not to say I'm not just winging it most of the time. Sometimes I'll come up with something better or different based on reactions if it's a multichap. Prompts are a little tricky sometimes cuz the person is expecting the thing so you need to do the thing.
GT: What about research? Do you do any before or during writing?
M: A little if I want to make sure I'm saying something correctly, either words or phrases. Places sometimes, or if I want to actually describe something specific. For example, in the Sugar Daddy I have a few links to items Ian gets Mickey just to add to the visuals but I'm not expecting everyone reading to care enough about the minutiae of how much it costs to take a bus in Chicago. I stick with what's relevant and if I think people will get the point without me turning in a research paper.
GT: Do you have a preference for writing from Ian's or Mickey's pov?
M: No preference just whatever the story calls for [whose pov do I write more, it's definitely Mickey].
GT: Do you write other characters aside from Ian and Mickey?
M: I've written a couple fics that include other Shameless characters and definitely some original characters.
GT: Which Shameless characters do you write more often? Do you write fics just about them or only include them in your Gallavich fics?
M: Ian and Mickey for sure, others as needed for the story but I know I've done a fic from Debbie's perspective a long time ago? Or Carl....
GT: You mentioned you sometimes include OCs. How do you create them? Do you base them on real people?
M: No, definitely not. I mean, if there is any originality in an original character anymore ie. typical archetypes. I at least try to make them their own character and not just an npc.
GT: You write a good deal of mpreg, a trope that a lot of people don't like. What attracts you to it?
M: Hahaha a good deal? I wrote 2 at the most. To me it's just another way of writing something. I've read some weird shit that I definitely would never write myself.
GT: Really? It was more in my mind. 😅 What are some tropes you enjoy writing?
M: I like writing scenarios that actually happen to me sometimes. Makes things feel more real. I guess I subscribe to the usual angsty stuff. But I genuinely like writing fun and sweet, sexy and loving, intimate.
GT: Is there anything you think you could never write?
M: Incest, child stuff, dom/sub, animals.
GT: Do your preferences apply when reading as well? What kind of things do you enjoy reading about?
M: Haha I've stumbled into some fics where I'm not sure if the subject or the writing turned me off more.
GT: Like what? What makes you quickly hit the back button?
M: If it's great writing, I might skip around some bits. Otherwise yeah, I'm not reading anything that I'd have to announce to a room at gunpoint. But that's for my own peace, some things just should not be written.
GT: One more thing, out of curiosity: where does your url come from? I get the M from your name, but why hunter10?
M: It's my last name and birth month and username for everything because I'm a basic and terrible person 😆.
GT: What are you currently reading?
M: The one where Ian is the reading tutor and has a cat, Paragraphs by @palepinkgoat. I also like their other stuff and am always extremely jealous, feel free to mention that haha. Jealous and supportive, but still… lol. And I really do want to finish The Sugar Daddy but for now I'm going to get back into writing slowly with updating some of my series. Before that I was reading Deaf Group by @thevioletjones, another fav. Unfortunately a lot of my list is orphaned, deleted or no updates since 2015.
GT: Yeah, a lot of people left the fandom around the time, which is sad, but understandable. I understand orphaning your fics, and of course shit happens, so abandoned WIPs are normal, but I don't get the reasoning behind just deleting something you created, unless you later realized it was in poor taste. But well, to each their own. Ok, so I was going to ask you about your plans for more, but you've already said you want to finish The Sugar Daddy. Any other plans?
M: No other plans really. I always think I'm going to write this idea I've had but I'm not skilled enough to do it
GT: And finally, leave a message for those reading this interview, please.
M: Ehh....hi,this is Malenah and you're watching Disney channel.
Idk. Be careful, be safe, be aware of your surroundings. I love you.
Drink some water and keep going.
