At one point I had an idea to write a rather fluffy AU Brittana fic with Santana and Brittany as camp counselors, meeting and falling in love over the course of a summer. As for now, my writing interests have shifted away from Brittana, so I don’t plan on updating or publishing anything further on FF. However, I still think the Camp!Brittana story would be fun and I may develop it in the future.

What drew you to write for Heya and not just Brittana? You've said you were debating continuing your one Heya one shot 'The Morning After', are you still planning to? (Submitted by JJLives)

Unfortunately I am not planning to continue ‘The Morning After.’ That story came to me in a very singular and isolated burst of inspiration and I think it will only exist in that moment.

There were several reasons why I wrote for Heya and not just Brittana, and I believe all those reasons were very much out of my control. First of all, the Heya multichapter fic ‘Bold As Love’ hit me in one fell swoop like a lightning bolt, fully formed and demanding to be expressed. When I decided to write it I was very wary and nervous because of the understandable stigma some corners of the fandom have against reading Heya fics. But the thrust of energy and inspiration born in the conception of stories can be very stubborn sometimes, and truth be told, ‘Bold As Love’ would be a completely different story if I tried to manipulate it in any way to make it a Brittana fic. So I gave it the respect it deserved to just let it be the story that it is.

I think there are several reasons why that particular story came to me. I’ve spent a great deal of time on TV & Film sets. I’m certain that my environment effected my imagination in this respect. The chaotic, volatile and complicated nature of working in the industry fuels a great deal of the conflict in that story. ‘Bold As Love’ simply could not have existed in a setting outside the inner workings of the entertainment industry. Personally I don’t think Santana or Brittany would ever become actresses, let alone be in a television series about a high school glee club if they had already lived it, so it was natural that the main characters would be Heather and Naya, not Brittany and Santana.

Secondly, Santana and Brittany have incredibly distinct character traits, which stem from a very particular brand of experiences. Though I love both Brittany and Santana dearly, once it became clear this had to exist as a Heya story it gave me the opportunity to explore characters who may have similar traits but ones that stem from a totally different brand of experiences. While writing ‘Bold As Love’ I tended to view it as more of an AU rather than an RPF, which segues us into grappling with the fact that ‘Bold As Love’ is categorized as an RPF.

Obviously I don’t know Heather or Naya personally. I did not write ‘Bold As Love’ in an attempt to fantasize or speculate on their actual lives. One of the essential functions of an actor is to serve as a vessel for the storyteller and audience’s imagination. For all intents and purposes, that’s exactly what happened in the case of ‘Bold As Love.’ Every character’s name and likeness serves as a placeholder of sorts within the visual scope of the reader.

Lastly, ‘Bold As Love’ was a perfect breeding ground for me to explore issues of immense interest to me. I think the general public tends to view Hollywood as a very liberal environment, but when you get down to it Hollywood is run by people with deep pockets. In the interest of protecting their finances, the power players of Tinseltown tend to be incredibly conservative and don’t like to take risks or invest in something or someone that might be unfavorable to the vast majority of audiences. In short, though there are a lot of LGBT advocates in Hollywood, the people with the most financial leverage can be incredibly homophobic and this permeates every facet of the industry, especially its actors. It’s a common thread for LBGT stories to deal with keeping a relationship a secret. Add power, money, and reputation on a global scale to the mix and the ante for conflict goes from a single flame to a full-blown forest fire.

Another issue that interested me was that of the artistic and creative nature of actors. I think there is a somewhat unhealthy obsession with the lives of celebrities these days, but people rarely know the actual nature of what they do when they go to work and how that permeates other facets of their lives. I’ve always maintained that Acting is one of the most misunderstood art forms, and this story gave me a small platform to discuss and possibly clarify some of those misunderstandings. I was also able to play with and explore the blurred lines that exist between Actor and Character, attempting to answer the questions, “Where does the Actor end and the Character begin, and vice versa? What aspects of the actor’s emotional life could contribute to the fictional characters we see on the screen? How does the actor’s emotional life manifest and express itself within a character?”

You're imagery is completely captivating, how and where did you learn to use it? (Submitted by JJLives)

Would it be too vague of me to answer this by saying, that’s just how my mind works? Haha.

Outside of required high school and college English courses, I’ve had absolutely no formal education in creative writing. I honestly don’t think I learned it anywhere other than by reading, journaling, and trying to be completely present as much as possible throughout my life. I imagine that for many creative people the easiest and fastest way to express a feeling is through simile or metaphor, which provides a wealth of sensations and images to draw from because almost nothing is off limits. If you feel it, experience it, or even vaguely understand it, you can use it as a means of expression. After years of journaling, I guess I just got used to thinking and viewing the world through a lens of similes and metaphors in an attempt to make sense out of how I feel at any given moment.