glitteringconstellations interview
Before we get started with the interview, do you mind introducing yourself (whatever name you are comfortable with) and telling us a little about yourself?
Hi everyone! Iām glitteringconstellations, Glitter or GC for short. Iāve been writing fanfiction for well over 15 years now, though I only started sharing it around 2005. I minored in Creative Writing in college and I love writing in pretty much any capacity! When Iām not headcanoning one new story or another, though, Iām either adulting (ugh, adulting) or playing video games. These days itās mostly Skyrim. Iām fluent in Korean and passable in Japanese and Spanish. I drink way too much pop to be healthy and I hate most fruit (though, give me any kind of melon and Iāll be a happy girl). Oh, and Iām a fledgling figure skater! Iām just a hodgepodge of random hobbies haha!
Q1: What kind of fan fiction do you normally write? Have you ever written fan fiction for other fandoms other than your current one?
A1: I tend to gravitate toward angsty fics. Itās long been my outlet of frustration, to put the character I love in harmās way. The more pain, the better, haha! Though I do love the hurt/comfort aspect of it. Recently (as in, the last year lmao) Iāve been writing for the Voltron fandom almost exclusively (and sometimes YURI!!! On Ice), but before that I was in the k-pop ficdom (Super Junior, for the most part) for a looooong time, nearly 10 years. I wonāt be opening that particular can of worms, though--I have Feelings and Opinions lmao. Before that I jumped around from anime to anime.
Q2: I see in addition to fan fiction that you do commissioned fan art! Iām not an artist myself, so I find it really interesting and cool. Do you want to talk a bit about that? And, feel free to plug yourself!
A2: This is actually a common misconception--I canāt draw to save my life!! I took commissions for fan fiction back in late June as a last resort to pay my rent. Typically though Iām horrible on a deadline so I donāt like to do it too often because I feel terrible making my commissioners wait. The art youāre referring to is the comic spread for The Parting Glass, if Iām not mistaken? I actually commissioned another artist by the name of Cota (@ccooooostuff on tumblr, go check her out sheās amazing at what she does and super sweet!) for that comic with the money I got for my birthday this year.
Q3: Do you write anything outside of fan fiction?
A3: I do! I journal a lot, or I try to anyway. This year Iām hoping to tackle an original novel for Nanowrimo, but more than likely, that particular project will start as fanfiction and weāll see if I turn it into original fiction or not. I spend more time thinking about the things I want to write thanā¦ actuallyā¦ writing them lolsob. My notes will be this gigantic document but when it comes to putting things together in a cohesive manner? Haaaaaaā¦.hahaā¦. The blinking cursor mocks me, I swear.
Q4: I see on your profile that you are 26. I think when most people think of fan fiction writers they think of someone younger, usually a teenager. Do you encounter younger writers a lot? What do you think of this assumption?
A4: I do encounter younger writers a lot! Surprisingly, though, most writers I know are either in their late 20s or late late teens (say, 15~19). Most people tend to think Iām young anyway just because I look a lot younger than 26, but as far as fandom goes, it doesnāt really bother me if people think Iām younger than I am. Usually Iām pretty forward with how old I am on my profile anyway! But yeah, Iāve been around the fanfiction scene a while. The k-pop fandom in particular had a way of reminding me just how long on a pretty frequent basis lol.
Q5: Why did you begin writing fan fiction? If it was for a fandom, why did that particular thing make you begin writing? And, for your current fandoms?
A5: I used to tell myself stories to get to sleep or on long car trips as far back as I can remember, and most of the time they involved characters from my favorite shows of the day. Pokemon and Digimon were two big ones for me before I hit those fun preteen years. As far as what got me started actually putting those stories to paper, it was born of frustration with shows not going the way I wanted them to, so Iād write the ending I wanted to see. For Voltron in particular, itās just SUCH a fun sandbox to play in, be it by utilizing the incredible world-building or the plethora of interesting characters to play around with. So many possibilities! *3*
Q6: Do you ever want to be published in a professional capacity one day?
A6: Yes and no. I flip flop on this ALL the time. Iād LOVE to see my stories on shelves, but Iām actually very insecure and sometimes the thought of people reading my stories makes me want to die of embarrassment and sink to the center of the earth. That said, if I win Nano this year, I may run it by some publishers, even if only to get feedback. (Although if you want to get TECHNICAL I am officially a published journalist; I was an assistant editor for one of The Big 3 kpop news sites for a while. The one that starts with S. Also another can of worms.)
Q7: Has writing fan fiction taught you anything? About writing? Reading? The fandom? Etc.
A7: Oh absolutely. I definitely would not be the writer I am today without fan fiction. I wouldnāt say Iām super skilled, but the critique Iāve received over the years has helped me more than I have words for, honestly. Not even just in the capacity of writing fiction; my academic and professional writing has improved too. Also, just like reading anything in high volume, reading fanfic has helped me learn to read like a writer, how to pick out things that authors do that I admire and try to emulate that, and conversely what doesnāt work for me so I can avoid those things.
As far as fandom goes, fanfiction can be quite polarizing, as Iām sure youāre well aware. Just in my experience by and large it can be kind of toxic, to be quite honest. The particular issue Voltron faces that I experienced to some extent in other fandoms but not quite to this degree, is fandom policing. I find that certain members of the fandom (which, in my experience, tends to actually be mostly among those younger demographics, though not exclusively so) see certain topics as morally wrong and therefore anyone who writes those topics are 1) romanticizing said topic and 2) automatically a disgusting, horrible person and they have no problems telling you about all about it. The number one thing I try to put out there in my interactions is live and let live, ship and let ship. If it makes you uncomfortable, thatās okay! But that doesnāt necessarily mean itās wrong, and itās definitely not okay to go around purporting hate in the name of āmorality.ā Sorry, didnāt mean to go off on a tangent there haha...
Q8: What is a piece youāve written that youāre most proud of?
A8: Just in the Voltron fandom, Iād say the fic Iām most proud of is The Parting Glass, by far. Funny story about that one; Iād never heard the titular song before I came across a cover of it on Facebook one day around St. Patrickās Day, and let me tell you something. The reaction I had was almost a spiritual experience, it was so visceral. I was in tears when I heard it, and the story came so hard and so fast that I wrote it in 2 days. It stayed with me until I got it down in writing. It was an interesting challenge for me, exploring the grief part of a character death fic while almost entirely omitting the actual dying part. Itās been a very long time since Iāve had such a vivid vision of exactly how a fic is going to go from start to finish and Iām quite happy with the way it turned out. Which is why, when I had the money to do so, I commissioned Cota to illustrate what had to be the hardest and yet my favorite part to write. She brought the scene to life so beautifully too, Iām really happy with how it turned out. Months later I still go back and stare at it!
Q9: Do you notice any stigma surrounding fan fiction or fan fiction writers?
A9: Without a doubt. People hear āfanfictionā and they think one of two things: the pudgy neckbeard who lives in his parentsā basement, or the rabid tween/teenage fangirl. Itās a rather unfortunate stereotype, because some works of fanfiction are truly works of art, more masterfully crafted than some novels Iāve seen published. Yet they get dismissed simply on the basis of being fanworks and not āoriginalā (which, letās be real, nothing is truly original anymore). One such example that comes to mind of a beautiful fic is those glittering instruments in the EXO fandom, which was based on the real-life destruction of the Library of Alexandria. If you can find a copy of it floating around the interwebs I HIGHLY recommend giving it a chance no matter what fandom youāre in!
Q10: If so, how do you feel about this stigma?
A10: Like I said, itās really a shame. The thing, too, is that as young girls weāre often shamed for the things weāre passionate about, like boy bands and, well, fan fiction, while boys donāt get that kind of shame to such an intense degree (at least, not about the usual suspects, like sports and girls and such). Not to say that it doesnāt happen, but thereās something terribly sad about seeing more young people afraid to talk about a hobby that makes them happy because theyāre afraid of being perceived as weird or gross or something like that. Hell, even to this day I have very few friends from outside the fandom sphere that know I write fanfiction, because they still talk bad and make mean jokes about fic writers. Itās such a silly thing, because a lot of famous works are derivative fiction and people donāt even realize it! So I hope the day comes soon that we can get over this silly stigma and just enjoy what people share (for free!! Seriously!! FULL NOVEL LENGTH WORKS. For FREE.)
Q11: Is there anything youāve ever wanted to talk about or be asked that no one has asked you about or given you the opportunity to talk about? (And if so, feel free to answer/talk about it).
A11: I really had to think about this one! I couldnāt really pick one topic that Iāve really wanted to talk about that I havenāt already discussed, but no one has ever asked me if I was okay with having fanart of my work. Which I would answer with a resounding YES. I am more than okay with it QuQ
Oh, I guess I do have something!! Itās unrelated to writing (well, I guess it could be related, depending on how you look at it) but since I have your attention, if youāre an American citizen GO OUT AND VOTE. The midterm elections are one week from today in the USA and itās important you go vote!! I wonāt tell you who to vote for (a third can of worms Iām not opening up. WHY DO I HAVE SO MANY WORMS) but I assure you, your vote matters, now more than ever. I believe in you!! Go vote!!!
Q12: What is your prefered site for writing/posting fan fiction?
A12: These days I prefer to use AO3. Itās a work in progress, but itās far and away the superior fic platform of the time. Back in ye olden days (circa 2010~2012) Livejournal was my platform of choice, and FF.net before that. A surprising number of people prefer to post their fic on tumblr, to which I say, are you out of your flipping MIND?!?! Tumblr is soooo temperamental, I canāt tell you the number of times Iāve had to restart a post or go into the HTML editor because the rich text editor decided to be stupid. Noooooo thank you. Iāll stick to AO3 thanks ahaha!
Check out Glitterās Tumblr and AO3.
Interviewer Note: Glitter used her free question to encourage everyone to vote and I would just like to stress the importance of this, especially if live in the US. Young people are the demographic that votes the least, despite being the demographic that will have to live the longest with the outcome of the vote. If you are currently not registered, please register as it is important for all of our futures. And, remember the deadline for the upcoming US election is Nov. 6th, so make sure to get to those polls and/or turn/send in your ballot. If you need information on how to do any of these things, do not hesitate to reach out to my page and I will point you to trustworthy resources.Ā
