#interview6

How old were you when you discovered you were a writer?

Do you remember the first fanfiction you ever read?

What is your opinion on fanfiction being attached to “the fifty shades stigma” right now?

What was your most difficult piece to write and why?

Who your favorite character to write for and why?

If you could write for any of your fandoms...which one would it be?  

This interview was conducted over video chat on Facebook messenger. Bee is a 21 year old fanfiction author from Malta who writes wildly popular  SwanQueen(The non-canon, normally romantic pairing of Emma Swan and Regina Mills from the show Once Upon A Time) fics. She is a very active member of the LGBT side of the fiercely divided Once fandom and receives many comments from her readers on a daily basis.

http://archiveofourown.org/users/bernicevella64

  Lauren: So...standard question. How old were you when you discovered you were a writer?

Bee: I always had this imagination to make stories but I was 13 when I first put them on paper.

L: That’s awesome. Okay...do you remember the first fanfiction you’ve ever read?

B: I was 15. My friend from school and I were super into WWE and we talked about it through Twitter. I had a favorite wrestler that went by the viper or something snakelike. There was a community we were a part of on twitter and we found a fic that was about an oc by the name of Ivy having an affair with him.

L: Ivy, huh?

B: She was nothing like my character Ivy. (Rolls eyes)

L: (laughs) Noted...Anyway, this question is a bit of a doozy. What is your opinion on fanfiction being attached to the whole “fifty shades stigma” right now?

B: Oh boy…(sighs) Here’s the thing because I do believe this is important. You’re free to do whatever you want. In Magic Collides(Bee’s most popular work) I didn’t have the desire to research the birthing process for the scene when Regina has the baby. Before the chapter there’s a disclaimer that I know nothing about giving birth and it’s not accurate. You know it’s an inaccurate source. What happened with 50 shades...was that it began as a Twilight fanfiction. Which is already a red flag. I am on two fanfiction Facebook groups. And one for Swan Queen in general that posts fanfiction frequently. And one of the things we celebrate is when a fic becomes a novel. I can give you five right off the bat. It gives us all hope. But E.L. James got cocky. There’s no disclaimer in the novel that it is inaccurate information.

L: So you don’t care about the fanfiction stigma. You’re more worried about people getting hurt because of the misinformation?

B:Yes. Because it’s 2017. So what? People are gay and married. I don’t care about the fanfiction stigma because that’s just being prudish. BDSM going wrong is going to be more harmful than people thinking we’re writing sex scenes.

L: I love it. And completely agree.  Alrighty...Next question! What was your most difficult piece to write and why?

B: No piece is a walk in the park. Some scenes tear you to shreds. In relation to the story itself, I would say the piece Broken. The character going through the most of the pain is an original character that is very close to my heart. When I wrote for the Glee fandom...I was working on a faberry fic(The romantic pairing of Glee’s Rachel Berry and Quinn Fabray)and as you know, the faberry fandom had a tendency to “bash” Finn(Rachel’s main canonical love interest) to make it easier to put Quinn and Rachel together. Now mind you, this meant I had no lack of respect for the actor Cory Monteith. He was just doing his job. But before I could make Finn the villain...Cory died. I couldn’t find it in myself to bash Finn. I kept trying to ask myself: “What am I going to do with Finn?” I couldn’t kill him. So I had him move away but I never finished the piece. When I began writing When Magic Collides 2 years ago,  I was in school and had to repeat the year, my depression hit a high. Because of what I was going through I couldn’t write. Took me months to get past it. People left me comments asking me to update. And then a crazy thing happened, my writing pulled me out of my depression. I quit school but I kept writing. I just finished it last November.

  L: So right before you sent me that email? And we started talking again?

B: Yeah. I had almost forgotten that was in November.

L: It was. November 8th. I still have it. Anyway, I feel like I might know the answer to this question but I’m going to ask it...who is your favorite character to write for and why?

B: You don’t know the answer to this. I’m really bad at picking favorites. I’ve had three favorite colors throughout my life and I don’t have a favorite song. But I’ll have to with…(sighs) Regina Mills and Meg.

L: Mhmmm and why is that?

B: Meg is an extension of me. She started out as a reason to get close to Regina. She’s a part of me that won’t ever be me but she doesn’t need to be.

L: (smiles) And Regina?

Bee: (laughs) It’s hard to put it into words. With Regina I can’t voice it. She’s really beautiful and really gay. And Lana does an amazing job with her. (Lana Parilla portrays her on the show) She’s such an incredible, intense and passionate character. I connect with her because all she really wants is her freedom and to be in lovc. Tragedy happens and then she becomes(scoffs and uses air quotes) “evil”. It’s what made her go from sweet, happy, and innocent Regina to the Evil Queen. But there’s also Regina Mills the hero and mother. I loved her the second I saw her.

 L: I didn’t. Took me till season 2.

B: Not me. The moment I saw her, I was in love.

L: Now, for you final question...I’m pretty sure I know the answer to this too. If you could write for any of your fandoms, which one would it be?

B:(laughs) Once...But I’d need a time machine first.

This is the first male I interviewed and we met randomly on an app (NOT used for dating/hook-ups  -_-.)  I describe him as awkward, but intelligent. It was an interesting combination since he was extremely passionate, but did not hold eye-contact very well. 

                                                    Key Points

Campus

“I believe there is a culture of change occurring on campus and there are people that do not want to see this change occurring, which is creating a division” 

BSM

-“There are more black people who are concerned about their well-being on campus”

       Note: I was curious about why there weren’t more suborganizations under BSM to fit more needs and why they didn’t work together. Steve let me know that there has been a few collaborations between groups. BSM and Oasis have collaborated on an event, that’s great! 

-”I’m not an active member anymore and I’m not sure why. I used to be part of the freshman council.”

“Fullest potential has not been reached for this organization. I feel like there’s more than can be done on our end”

Issues:  (Note: This interview was done after the Charlotte,NC shooting)

-“Overall, there needs to be a change in mindset. It happened to them, but it can’t happen to me”

- “I would rather know all of the information and reach my own conclusion.”

-“Being more vocal”

           *“I dont like a lot of confrontation, but the way things are going there has                    been a lot of confrontation.”

-The unity amongst black student population can be strong, especially since the unity dies down after media coverage dies down. 

      “On campus, we are starting to come together and stand up for each other. My hope is that it will continue even after media coverage, after the verdict”

Final Thoughts: 

-Durham is a tale of two-cities, He’s from here and came from a predominately black area. 

“One of the deepest things in the black community is that we don’t invest in ourselves”

Note: Steve informed me to look at the diversity report found.. here’s a link and the numbers are crazzzyyyyyyy at the end of page 9.