Anyway, getting back to the point. I finally got a reply from one of the writers I sent some questions to. I read her works at her LiveJournal page: http://showersuperstar.livejournal.com/ I have read almost all of her works and I really like them. If you have the time drop by and visit her page and leave a comment while you're at it.
Here's my Q&A with frostbittenlove:
1.
What do you write mostly about?
> Recently most of the things I write about tend to be romance between two (three, four, a group of) people (more often than not het in nature), but this is most likely because this is what I am currently into. I used to write all forms of literary pieces (poems, essays, limericks, haikus, etc.) with varying themes (both happy and depressing ones) but becoming an adult and joining the workforce has literally sucked the creativity out of my brain. D: I do try to write once in a while, though lately I've never been as satisfied with my works as I had been with the ones I've written when I was in university/fresh out of university.
2. Where do you get inspirations for your drabbles/fan fictions?
> I can't say there's much of a real 'source', so to speak, but anything and everything under the sun basically inspires me, depending on my mood -- from a quirky, interesting trinket to the most mundane and/or stressful day at work. Music/songs. Movies (though I rarely watch movies). Books I've read, shorts, all forms of literature and art (though I confess I'm not as nearly artistic as the others are). But yes -- anything and everything under the sun.
3. How many years have you been writing?
> It's very difficult to count back just how many years I've been writing (I've been writing since we've been required to write school compositions and improvised songs/yells/cheers for school competitions during Elementary) but I guess the period that made me aware that I have a knack for writing was when I was in sixth grade -- my contributions to the school paper had always taken up two pages of the broadsheet-sized school organ back then, and were much discussed by my teachers and my schoolmates for the content, topics/themes and style. That was also the same year I've written a short story for a national competition. My story won as the best short story and had been published in newspapers but unfortunately I wasn't able to save a copy of it, let alone have the copyright for it as it was submitted and became property of the bank that sponsored/held the national writing contest.
Too much info aside, I'd say I've been 'consciously' writing for around 12 years now I guess? Not so prolific-sounding, no? lol
4. Did you take any formal lessons for writing or did you self-study writing?
> I did, when I was in the university. It was only for a semestre though, and unluckily I never aced the subject. Funnily my professor (whose terrorizing reputation precedes her) had been honest with me and told me she wanted to but couldn't give me a flat 1/an A+ because I had always been sleeping in her class. lol XD
5. Have you ever done a writing collaboration with anyone? If not, are you open to the idea of collaborating with anyone?
> Yes I have -- back in high school when I had been writing for the Card Captor Sakura fandom, and recently for a private writing journal/community (which a couple of friends and I have never made public for fear of rejection a.k.a. being labelled as lulzy crazy.)
And I don't know if it counts as a writing collaboration (since it requires someone else's input) but I've also been an RPer/Roleplayer for around 5 years -- mostly for the Harry Potter and J-Entertainment fandoms. I liked playing female muses (Ginny Weasley, Pansy Parkinson, Horikita Maki, Aragaki Yui and Ishihara Satomi, to name a few) mostly because I'm better at it, but I've also RPed male characters (for instance, Ikuta Toma, Takizawa Hideaki, Chinen Yuuri, etc.) I've also been able to set up and run an RP community or two (or three) but hadn't been able to keep any of those afloat for more than a year because of real-life responsibilities.
6. Is there a particular writer you look up to?
> I don't have a writer I particularly look up to but I enjoy reading works of Murakami Haruki and Jostein Gaarder. They have this ability to make the mundane so magical (Murakami) and philosophical (Gaarder) without being highfaluting.
7. Out of all the pairings you have used in your fan fictions, which of them do you enjoy writing about the most?
> This might be a very biased, 'timely' answer but I'd have to say my current J-Ent biases are the ones I enjoy writing the most (Sakurai Sho/Horikita Maki, Aiba Masaki/Becky, Ohno Satoshi/Katase Nana, Arashi/Sweet Power Girls) but had the question been asked while I was still in a different fandom (Harry Potter, Gundam Wing, CCS/Tsubasa Chronicle, etc.), I'd probably have given a different answer. ;)
8. Give some tips to those who love to write as well:
> Read, research, reflect, then write. I am by no means an expert on writing, but I believe that for someone who likes to write, being able to read and gather information on topics/themes they are about to write/are writing about, process information as objectively as possible before writing what needs to be written/what they want to write and keeping their facts in check is the key. Also, write because you want to express, not to impress. I've always seen writing as cathartic -- our works are reflections of our current feelings, moods and mindsets -- so let the words and thoughts wash over you as you write, but always keep it real and don't go overboard or try too hard.
9. A message to your readers:
> I write to express -- never to impress -- and I'm honestly very thankful that people out there appreciate my work. I consider it a great honour that at least someone outside of my usual circle of friends took time out of their lives to read something I've written. Thank you all for your time and effort and your kind words and encouragement; please bear with my erratic and sporadic updates as I'm trying to squeeze this passion of mine in between my daytime and nighttime jobs, real-life responsibilities and personal obligations. 感謝しています。
> Recently most of the things I write about tend to be romance between two (three, four, a group of) people (more often than not het in nature), but this is most likely because this is what I am currently into. I used to write all forms of literary pieces (poems, essays, limericks, haikus, etc.) with varying themes (both happy and depressing ones) but becoming an adult and joining the workforce has literally sucked the creativity out of my brain. D: I do try to write once in a while, though lately I've never been as satisfied with my works as I had been with the ones I've written when I was in university/fresh out of university.
2. Where do you get inspirations for your drabbles/fan fictions?
> I can't say there's much of a real 'source', so to speak, but anything and everything under the sun basically inspires me, depending on my mood -- from a quirky, interesting trinket to the most mundane and/or stressful day at work. Music/songs. Movies (though I rarely watch movies). Books I've read, shorts, all forms of literature and art (though I confess I'm not as nearly artistic as the others are). But yes -- anything and everything under the sun.
3. How many years have you been writing?
> It's very difficult to count back just how many years I've been writing (I've been writing since we've been required to write school compositions and improvised songs/yells/cheers for school competitions during Elementary) but I guess the period that made me aware that I have a knack for writing was when I was in sixth grade -- my contributions to the school paper had always taken up two pages of the broadsheet-sized school organ back then, and were much discussed by my teachers and my schoolmates for the content, topics/themes and style. That was also the same year I've written a short story for a national competition. My story won as the best short story and had been published in newspapers but unfortunately I wasn't able to save a copy of it, let alone have the copyright for it as it was submitted and became property of the bank that sponsored/held the national writing contest.
Too much info aside, I'd say I've been 'consciously' writing for around 12 years now I guess? Not so prolific-sounding, no? lol
4. Did you take any formal lessons for writing or did you self-study writing?
> I did, when I was in the university. It was only for a semestre though, and unluckily I never aced the subject. Funnily my professor (whose terrorizing reputation precedes her) had been honest with me and told me she wanted to but couldn't give me a flat 1/an A+ because I had always been sleeping in her class. lol XD
5. Have you ever done a writing collaboration with anyone? If not, are you open to the idea of collaborating with anyone?
> Yes I have -- back in high school when I had been writing for the Card Captor Sakura fandom, and recently for a private writing journal/community (which a couple of friends and I have never made public for fear of rejection a.k.a. being labelled as lulzy crazy.)
And I don't know if it counts as a writing collaboration (since it requires someone else's input) but I've also been an RPer/Roleplayer for around 5 years -- mostly for the Harry Potter and J-Entertainment fandoms. I liked playing female muses (Ginny Weasley, Pansy Parkinson, Horikita Maki, Aragaki Yui and Ishihara Satomi, to name a few) mostly because I'm better at it, but I've also RPed male characters (for instance, Ikuta Toma, Takizawa Hideaki, Chinen Yuuri, etc.) I've also been able to set up and run an RP community or two (or three) but hadn't been able to keep any of those afloat for more than a year because of real-life responsibilities.
6. Is there a particular writer you look up to?
> I don't have a writer I particularly look up to but I enjoy reading works of Murakami Haruki and Jostein Gaarder. They have this ability to make the mundane so magical (Murakami) and philosophical (Gaarder) without being highfaluting.
I used to look up to JK Rowling but now I don't ~*~revere~*~ her as
much -- nothing to do with the HP franchise having ended, really, but perhaps
because I've grown to be more open-minded about books. I choose books to read
based on synopses and not on author credibility/popularity (though that's also
a factor at times) because otherwise I wouldn't be able to discover other
writers who are just as fabulous (if not even more fab) as the popular ones. My
(geek) guilty pleasure is reading stuff from political thinkers like Plato, St.
Augustine and Niccolo Machiavelli. :D
As for 'contemporaries' -- those that also write fic in the fandom
-- I generally like reading the works of melonpaan
(http://melonpaan.livejournal.com), dalampasigan (over at
http://cosmomachine.livejournal.com), novemberbaby (on
http://chasingpolaris.livejournal.com), astrangerenters (on
http://astrangestorm.livejournal.com) and __sine (on
http://bysine.livejournal.com). They don't always write about my preferred
pairings/biases, let alone my gender pairing preferences but I try to be
objective when reading fics -- something in the way they write gives me the
notion that they write their fics so effortlessly yet come up with
captivatingly beautiful works.
7. Out of all the pairings you have used in your fan fictions, which of them do you enjoy writing about the most?
> This might be a very biased, 'timely' answer but I'd have to say my current J-Ent biases are the ones I enjoy writing the most (Sakurai Sho/Horikita Maki, Aiba Masaki/Becky, Ohno Satoshi/Katase Nana, Arashi/Sweet Power Girls) but had the question been asked while I was still in a different fandom (Harry Potter, Gundam Wing, CCS/Tsubasa Chronicle, etc.), I'd probably have given a different answer. ;)
8. Give some tips to those who love to write as well:
> Read, research, reflect, then write. I am by no means an expert on writing, but I believe that for someone who likes to write, being able to read and gather information on topics/themes they are about to write/are writing about, process information as objectively as possible before writing what needs to be written/what they want to write and keeping their facts in check is the key. Also, write because you want to express, not to impress. I've always seen writing as cathartic -- our works are reflections of our current feelings, moods and mindsets -- so let the words and thoughts wash over you as you write, but always keep it real and don't go overboard or try too hard.
9. A message to your readers:
> I write to express -- never to impress -- and I'm honestly very thankful that people out there appreciate my work. I consider it a great honour that at least someone outside of my usual circle of friends took time out of their lives to read something I've written. Thank you all for your time and effort and your kind words and encouragement; please bear with my erratic and sporadic updates as I'm trying to squeeze this passion of mine in between my daytime and nighttime jobs, real-life responsibilities and personal obligations. 感謝しています。
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