#issabees

1- When did you start playing Choices? What's the first book you played? Let me check when I first downloaded the app…November 2016! I believe the first book was The Freshman as it was the default book to start with at the time.

2- When, and why, did you join Choices fandom? Pretty recently, around the end of March 2021! I wanted to join because I had just found out that there was a fandom in Tumblr and I had been meaning to become more active on the platform.

3- How did you pick your url name? issa is from my name while bees is from that time when I stumbled upon this really cute photo of a bee right as I was picking out my URL!

4- Go back to your archive and tell us about the first post on your Choices blog. Oooh…it’s a post where I introduce myself and what books I’ve read + what I was planning to make! Definitely need to pull through with those book-based playlists I promised myself 🙈

5- How long have you been writing fanfiction? Including other fandoms, I believe since 2011! I started writing for this Nickelodeon series House of Anubis, but stopped when the series ended. Then I picked up writing again when The Freshman Book 3 was released (though I never posted those anywhere).

6- What is your favorite Choices book to write about? As of right now, The Nanny Affair and Queen B (though I haven’t posted QB fics yet) because they’re the ones I really got to read properly as I don’t play that often anymore.

7- Share the first fanfic you wrote with us. Do you still like it or would you change anything about it? Ahaha, that would be 9:30 AM! I still love it because I really liked writing something that would constructively criticize TNA Book 2 and its direction at the time, but I would definitely add more to the story. Hopefully, I do in the future!

8- What is your favorite fic that you’ve written? Hmm, it has to be the Alone Together mini-series. I never really saw Robin Flores as a possible LI, but it was really fun to write fics where that would be the goal as I got to flesh out his character more!

9- Do you have a fic that you didn’t expect to be well received, but it was? What about one you expected to be, but it could use a little more love? I think the ones that I have made did go well when they were newly posted! Because I’m kind of new here (+ I don’t post very often and I think TNA’s overall reception here), I did expect that it wouldn’t really be recognized right away. But seeing the notes I have received, I was honestly surprised to find more than two or three people reacting to it! I am definitely still grateful for that, because I like being able to make someone happy (even for just a moment) with my writing.

10- What is your specialty as a fanfic writer? I’d like to think it’s angst! I really like writing about people confronting a harsh truth about their current reality, especially in TNA and QB (which I am planning to post hopefully soon!) where there are (or should be) plenty of opportunities for the main characters to introspect and wonder about the good and the bad of their actions.

11- If you could write only angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why? Hmm, it’s a tie between angst or fluff (even if my life depended on it, I just can never write smut)! I like how angst grounds you back to reality, while fluff celebrates even the simpler moments in life. But if I really had to pick, I think it’s angst! 🙈

12- Do you ever recognize yourself in any of your MC’s or in your writing? To some degree, yes! I still prioritize my MCs (or any character) staying faithful to what has already been established in the books they are from, but there are moments in the story when I feel like they need to break away from that. A lot of my writing also has the characters introspecting, so these two instances are where I try to kind of integrate some of my personal thoughts.

13- What element of writing do you struggle with most? Establishing subplots for sure. I have tons of notes on worldbuilding and character development littered everywhere (Notion, Bear, Google Docs and Sheets, notebook.ai, etc.) and I often have the general plot pinned down, but I’m stumped when it comes to forming what happens between Points A and B.

14- Do you have any neglected work you really want to finish? All of them…🙈 especially the Queen B fics! I really want to finish this one fic because it kind of serves as a guide for an even bigger project, but I get writer’s block every time I open the WIP.

15- If someone you know in real life (who isn’t involved in fandoms) asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first? Yes! I’m not quite sure which story to suggest but maybe 9:30 AM and/or I Wanna Love You (But I Don’t). They are my shorter fics so it won’t demand much of the person’s time, but I think they’re nice to give that person an idea of what I write about!

16- Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing? For published authors, I like to take notes from Emily Giffin (Something Borrowed), David Nicholls (One Day), and Alain de Botton (The Course of Love). They really influenced how I write and what to write about. For fanfic writers, there are so many to name but one for sure is Em (@txemrn)! Her fics were the first I have read when I joined the fandom, and they were what inspired me to write again this time!

17- Which one of your stories would you most like to see as a movie/series? Alone Together! Definitely would need to flesh the story out, though, but I’m super down for that! If anything, I think it might turn out to be something similar to the Before Sunrise film, but TNA (if that makes sense? hahaha)

18- Do you write original stories? I used to, but I stopped because I thought I didn’t know much at the time to write something meaningful. I do have one planned as of the moment, but I’m setting that aside first to write fanfics.

19 - What other hobbies do you have? Binge-watching TV shows, making edits for a side blog, baking, and sleeping!

20 - What’s your favorite emoji? It’s a tie between the see no evil monkey emoji (🙈) and the sparkling heart emoji (💖)!

21: BONUS - tell us anything you’d like (if you want to).

I am literally speechless... I don't even know what to say or how to react. I am beyond overjoyed and happy and excited and humbled to the point that I probably sound like a lunatic. lol

First and foremost, thank you. OMG I am always, always thrilled to hear from you, but to hear from you AND receive these gifts? I am tearing up! Thank you so much! These pics are so friggin cool! What a neat idea (and I'm tempted to play and see if I can create something half as cool as these). Of course, Ethan is delicious in ANY form, and my Brynny! OMG She is just stunning and she makes me just want to write about her breaking up with Sam all over again... and again... lol

Second, ugh! Writer's block is such a bitch! Not that I would be a guarantee help, but if you ever want to brainstorm and shoot ideas back and forth, SERIOUSLY, DM me. You know my obsession with TNA and everything Robin... I will happily talk with you about it.

Gosh, Issa... this message just doesn't seem like enough. Seriously, thank you so much for always being so positive and caring and loving. You always lift my spirits--whether they are down or not! Thank you for your encouragement!

Love you, sweetness!

Em

PS I have this feature on my phone where it will flash up random collections of pics on your locked screen (and I think the pics update ever 4 weeks). All I have to do is pick the category of pics, so naturally, I picked animals. Check out this little guy: