Author Interview: Minerva-one

AngstGoddess003's Recommendation: Bittersweet Hurt By Minerva-One

Helloooo all! Smellyia here again to announce Author Rec Interviews! As I have alluded to recently, I am introducing some new bits to this blog...This post being my next venture. We will be doing follow up interviews with our Authors who have been recommended. This will be a way to get more in depth information on their fics, craft processes and the authors themselves...Enjoy! It is of note here that inspiration for the interviews came from acireamos, co-author of Love Amongst The Stacks and The Highwayman. Questions were either outright pilfered or bastardized from siDEADde, author of Luniere.

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1. What is it about the Twilight fandom that made you want to write fanfiction for it?

Edward

Honestly, it was the missing information on the back stories. I like Edward/Bella, but the thing that hooked me on the books was how all of the vampires got to where they were at in their lives. To me, the fact that Carlisle spent 300 years alone fighting his very nature was more intriguing than the main plot, and I wanted to know more.
I kept reading the series just to glean more information on their lives, but I never got enough to be satisfied, lol. I really think that Carlisle turning Edward was the biggest moment of each of their lives – for Carlisle to create another like him when he felt he was a monster, and for Edward to become what he is. I just thought there was so much potential that needed to be explored there – after all, it's the beginning on how each of them came to be how they are - and the birth of the Cullen coven. It started with just the two of them, yet the books never went into much detail.
I think it was the moment in New Moon when they were sitting around the table discussing Bella's mortality, and Carlisle says something to Edward in the effect of, “I will do whatever it takes to keep you here.” That was the AH-HA moment in my mind and started me down this unconventional road.
So all of that had been swimming around in my head, and then I came across a prompt challenge on LiveJournal that was simply “Carlisle/Edward, sexual frustration.” The plot of the story hit me all at once. It was like a gift from the writing gods, so I went for it. :)

2. Is writing a new venture for you and how are you finding your way through the process?

No, writing is not new to me. I've been writing in some form or fashion since grade school where I remember writing a bunch of little stories about this and that …. anyway, I got into music and art and theatre in high school and writing fell to the side until college where I started dating a guy who wrote a lot of poetry and then I picked it up again. Although it was really bad emo poetry at the time, lol.
I discovered and began writing fanfic about a year and a half ago, starting with the Inuyasha fandom, and I now write for three – Twilight, Inuyasha, and Saiunkoku Monogatari.
I write things that I want to know more about, like choices or reasons or living with decisions – the discrepancies between the facade characters show the world and what is underneath the mask of everyday life. I don't really write fluff well, since it generally doesn't help explain the behavior of the characters. There has to be a good reason I like something well enough to write for it and I generally find reflections of my own life in the characters I am drawn to.
I think the biggest lesson I have learned in the past year and a half of writing is to just get out of my own way and let the words that want to be written emerge as they will. I grew exponentially as a writer when I just learned to listed to instinct.

3. What made you choose the genre you write in versus the others?

Carlisle

Well, like I said earlier, this story was a gift from the gods. There was no other way for it to be written, really. Although it is faux-father/son slash, I didn't decide before hand to intentionally write Carlisle/Edward getting it on. It was simply the most rational explanation my mind came up with when I looked at their relationship and how they interact with each other. There is a hidden history between the two in the books that never gets delved into. And frankly, I don't think Carlisle made Edward a vampire just so he could have a son, lol.
I always feel like the resident pervert when I tell others I write Carlisle/Edward slash, but I felt it was an important story to tell and entirely plausible (which is why I try to keep it as canon as I can).
In general, I hate repeating my own work or story lines other's have already journeyed down. I like to think outside of the box, and frankly, Carlisle/Edward is about as far outside of the box as I could get, and still have relevance to the original story.

4. What do you do to avoid writer's block? If it's unavoidable, what do you do to surpass it?

I get writer's block when I try to force myself to just write something, rather than letting the story tell me what wants to be written. I have dealt with it long enough to know that I have to step back and let the story speak to me. I usually have to go off and deal with other things and get my mind off of it – usually reading or watching movies – and before you know it, the inspiration will hit from out of the blue and we're off again, lol.
It makes doing regular updates difficult, but I think the finished product is a better quality, and frankly I prefer to wait longer between updates if the chapters kick ass.

5. Do you find that any certain characters are more difficult to write than others?

Definitely. It's generally characters in the story that don't speak to me in any way, or that I don't identify with. In Twilight, it's the werewolves. I think they're alright, but they've never reached out and grabbed onto my heartstrings for whatever reason, so I don't put any thought into them and they will probably never make their way into my writing.

6. What do you like to see in a review?

I like to see someone just give me a glimpse of why they took the time to review. My own personal preference is that I have less of the “OMG UR AMAZN” and more of the ones that say in a brief sentence or two why they loved the story, how it touched them, or why it is important enough to them to leave a review in the first place. Oh, and correctly spelled reviews are a personal fave, lol. :)

7. What made you pick your pen name?

Ok, I confess, my pen name has nothing to do with Harry Potter or Minerva McGonagal. When I was writing bad emo poetry, I was part of a writing group and we were all bestowed names. I was given this name in reference to the Roman goddess Minerva, who rules over warriors, wisdom, crafts and poetry and is famous for being born of no mother - emerging directly from the head of Jupiter with an ax, lol. She kicks ass, and frankly I just like her.
So I will always be Minerva in pen name. The “one” part comes from the fact that someone had already taken my moniker on LiveJournal. (Booooo)

8. Tell us the guiltiest pleasure you indulge in.

Why, writing faux father/son slash, of course!! lololol. I like being the resident pervert. ;)