I started writing fanfiction a
couple of years ago as mrstrentreznor. I thought it was a wonderful concept to
take existing characters and flesh them out a little more. Or to write the
scenes that didn’t get filmed or written in the original work. I have given
away more than a million words on fanfic; but I discovered that I had a million
more in my head. And they were my words, my characters and my stories.
A Few Autobiographical Words
I am Australian so that explains
the weird spelling - note: I would say correct spelling. I feel I should be
witty and informative about how many children and household pets I have, but
really the chickens lay eggs and I am yet to see what use the teenagers are. I
am not sure why the recent trend in writer biographies extends to number of pets.
Why I Write - The Philosophy Behind the Words
I am always watching people and
wondering why or what if? I love photo prompts for that. Writing is a kind of
power, I suppose. People do and say what you, the writer, want them to. Up to a
point, I swear sometimes my characters run off on their own agenda. Usually, I
let them go. They seem to know what they are doing. I get joy from people
telling me that I made them laugh or cry or rethink a viewpoint. That my words
did that? I find that powerful.
Indispensable Artistic Influences
Oddly I love action movies but
write mostly romances. Go figure… Witty banter will grab me every time, so I
love Joss Whedon for that.
Books… hmmm… I used to read
Tolkien, DH Lawrence, Norman Mailer, a lot of the classics. These days I tend
towards Neil Gaiman, Laurrel K Hamilton, Ilona Andrews, Richelle Mead, Jim
Butcher and escapist urban fantasies.
I love music of all sorts. I will
go to an opera and then play the Nine Inch Nails in the car on the way home.
Personal Writing Style
I am an aberration in the fanfic
world because I update my story every day. I, as a reader, get so irritated by
writers who start a great story and then leave you hanging. Should I be pleased
I got to read some of their words? Maybe, but if I have to wait nine months for
an update, as a reader, you have lost me. I think it works to my advantage to
update frequently; my readers know I will update at about the same time. I know
they are waiting for me. It makes me get out of bed in the morning.
I write in different ways,
depending on the story. I have started at the end and then written to that
point. I try to be organised. Nothing worse than spending ages trying to find
the link to the information you read last week and you can never find again.
Never delete anything. That piece of dialogue that doesn’t fit in that story, might
fit better in the mouth of another character in another story. It is easier to
edit than rewrite.
I seem to have a gift for writing
good sex. It’s an odd thing to discover, let me tell you.
I love doing fic challenges. I
have a listing on one site of all the challenges people have given me. Slowly working my way through them as the muse strikes.
Fanfiction.
With the current popularity of ’50
Shades of grey’ fanfiction has been under the spotlight. I truly see no
difference between writing original fiction and writing fanfiction. The only
difference I note is that fanfiction is easier;
the world within which you write is already made so you don't have to spend pages setting it up or thinking what it is in the first place. Readers know the world. In original fiction you have to
make up your own world & your own characters. For me that gets tricky as I
am Australian. Do I set my story in the US where I know most of my readers come
from? If so, I have to rethink which side of the road I am driving on. Does the
driver look left to talk to someone or right? Do people say ‘soda’ or ‘pop’ in
that state? That makes it harder.
Under the username mrstrentreznor,
I have 68 stories posted at fanfic.net. A total of 1,257,278 words posted since
June 2010. The stories themselves range from 500 words long to 225,000. I have
won a few awards and am on the favourite lists of over a thousand subscribers.
I know a lot of others read without registering. I average 5,000 hits a day and
I am not actually publishing any fanfic at the moment. I work really hard to reply to every review and to make a
connection with my readers. If they have taken the time to tell me they love
it, I can take the time to thank them.
There, I suppose that’s it about
me.
If you wish to contact me, I am on:
If you wish to contact me, I am on:
Twitter at @mtr_amg
View
and download my E-Books at Smashwords
I am also on Facebook
or email me at annemareegray@gmail.com
