Readers Series: Melba87

Melba87

WHO I AM

Melba87
Wife of Rhage
Mother of FlysWithDragons and ChooChoo (aka Turbo)
US Navy Veteran
College Grad
Twilight FanFiction Addict

HOW I STARTED

How I became a Twilight FanFiction Addict is not an extraordinary tale. I was introduced to Twilight by my twelve year-old (at the time) daughter. At first, I completely dismissed her exuberance as soon as she said the word “vampire.”

Vampires? Really?? Sound familiar?? I finally broke down and read Twilight six months later when my fifty year-old neighborhood walking buddy, the most perfect woman I know, began raving about it. I then voraciously read New Moon and Eclipse. The movie was being filmed at that time, and I discovered TwilightMoms.

When I first discovered FanFiction, there were less than 11,000 stories under the Twilight thread, which I thought was a huge number—how was a girl to choose? But, now there are over 103,000 Twilight fics. I joined Twilighted in its first week when there were less than fifty members. Now Twilighted boasts 72,750 plus members. That blows me away. I can remember freaking out when membership broke 500. It has been amazing to watch our little community of die-hards grow exponentially.

WHY I READ

I read Twilight fanfiction because I love Edward Cullen. I don’t consider myself a very reliable reviewer. I think many of the authors I follow around the fandom would agree that Melba87 does drive-bys. I do drive-bys in the forums and drive-bys for reviews. I am the reviewer who says, “I loved the chapter! Thanks for the update.” Rarely, I will say why I loved the chapter or what I loved about a chapter. There are two reasons. First, I am not a writer. After reading a particularly awesome chapter, I have a gazillion thoughts running through my brain. I can never get those thoughts onto paper. Never. I think there must be missing road-signs in my brain that would properly direct those thoughts to the routes that would lead out my fingertips. Ninety percent of what I want to say gets completely lost. Therefore, I am never satisfied that what I write in a detailed review is an accurate reflection of what I think or feel. So, basically I would need a review for my review. This relates to the second reason I don’t leave long reviews.

Reading, I feel, is subjective. It is not math. There are no right or wrong answers. Reading is personal to me. What is significant in a chapter to me may not be significant to someone else. Not only that, the author may not have intended for it to be a significant part of the chapter at all. I regard writers as artists, and just because Melba87 misses the point, it doesn’t mean the point wasn’t more than adequately made to all of the other readers. Moreover, I don’t want my twisted inferences, or my life experiences to discolor or diminish the way a writer views her piece of work. I want to read a story where an author strings specific words together, because those are the words that can best represent her imagination. Plus, I’m a Libra. I can see value in E-VER-Y-THING. It can take me forever to decide. So, if I leave a review that says, “I loved it!” You can bet on it.

HOW I PICK MY FICS

I never dive into a story cold. I only read stories that I’ve heard about through the forums, chat, or twitter. I also pay close attention to the delicious banners attached to signatures. They make me wish some of my favorite fics could be turned into movies!!! Most recently, I’ve been relying on the Indie Awards as a resource for some great hidden gems. I also hit up my favorite authors’ Favorites Lists.

WHAT I READ

I currently have about 170 fics bookmarked on my browser. I estimate I’m reading about half of them. The other half are either complete, have not updated in a long time, or I haven’t started them yet. I suffered a hard drive crash and lost my original bookmarked list. I’m sure there are titles I was reading but couldn’t remember when I started tracking them down. It was then that I discovered the beauty of favorites and signing up for alerts. Heh. I have approx 110 stories that I get alerts for from Fanfiction, and 30 on Twilighted. I am certain that everything I’ve favorited was something that I enjoyed at the time. I only have time for Bella and Edward stories. They are what I enjoy. So, I rarely read anything else. I know I am probably denying myself real pleasure by limiting myself, but people who have time for butt secks say the same thing. I don’t have time for that, either. J

Here are a few completed favorites that I have loved while they were active, and even long after. Snippets and scenes from these fics have accompanied me in my real life, making me giggle, weep and swoon. I consider them “musts reads” in the fandom.

Cullen’s Island by jandco

Sin and Incivility by Pastiche Pen

She’s Royal by halojones

In the Blink of an Eye by thatwritr

A World Without Sound by The Romanticidal Edwardian

Restoration by texbelle

Stories that have kept me glued to my laptop more recently include:

No Trust in Tomorrow by algonquinrt Addictions and Angst

Failure to Thrive by Julesnerd My first Parka Fic — moving with humor

In the Land of Milk & Honey by jesus.is.magic Mysterious Edward, unpredictable.

A Little Crazy by LolaShoes and tby789One-shot. My second Parka Fic — I hope it’s continued.

Strange Days by jandco It’s jandco, need I say more? Bella in the 1960s. How’s that?

My favorites are here.

I would be remiss without mentioning my favorite story, Sanctuary by Jfly. It is by far the most beautifully crafted story I’ve ever read. It is poetry disguised as prose, or maybe prose disguised as poetry. I can’t decide. Regardless, the figurative language and sensory descriptions put you closer to the characters than you could ever imagine. It is an absolutely stunning and intimate experience that you won’t regret!

Happy reading and Salut!

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Author's Blurb by JFly (also here as Thallium81).

I was thrilled to be told that Melba had complimented me, and my story Sanctuary here in the Reader series. She is one of those readers who shows up on my forum thread after a chapter posts and always has thoughtful insight to offer with her jokes and anecdotes about her life, but she also shares real, deep emotion in a raw and eloquent way on the forums. She makes writing this story so much more rewarding for me than it would be if I were writing it all aloney on my owney in a cubby hole of solitude. When I saw her avatar pop up on A Different Forest, I got all giddy. She is so supportive of writers in the Twi-verse - she has never been involved in any tedious cliquey drama - she is a superstar in her own right. Her comments on my story always mean so much to me, so I am please to have the chance now to give a little back to her and say I LOVE MELBA87 right here for all to see!