Sue's interview with Lalina about her fic Let's Get Physical

Lets Get Physical 

 The Goal: Lose 70lbs. The Prize: One steamy night with her personal trainer. When overweight Bella is left by her husband, she is determined to lose weight with the help of Edward Masen. What starts off as payback ends up as so much more.


Trying to come up with something witty as an intro for this post and I am failing badly so I will ramble.


Lalina was my first ever interview back over a year ago when we started this blog. If you have not read any of her stuff then I suggest you start now and the one you should start with is Let's Get Physical I think it is her best yet !
This fic is about a fat Bella with low self esteem her husband James who we meet in the first chapter is... well an ass they separate and Bella wants to makeover her life.


She was not always heavy but as many of us know time is not always kind to the body. Bella has some serious things she has to work through in this story
She has a perfect body image in mind and that sabotages her efforts to makeover her own life.


Now we are all (mostly) girls here and we know that there is always something you are not going to like about yourself: wrinkles, greying hai,r the pouch of a stomach after having kids, strech marks, thighs, teeth not white enough, arms not tone enough. We look in the mirror and we do not see the airbrushed perfect image of US that we want to see.


What I LOVE about this fic is that Bella is like that. She is very real in her self hatred. What I love even more is that as time goes on she is going to learn to love things about herself she has never thought to look at before


SO my preachy side is gonna come out now we as women are too hard on ourselves we see beauty in pictures and magazines an image of perfection that for many is unattainable.


I think the best quote from a beautiful woman fits here very well


"The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a w......oman is reflected in her soul. It's the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows & the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years. ~"
— Audrey Hepburn

Now, Edward in this fic. Oh golly how does he fit in.
Edward is a personal trainer. Yeah he gets paid to work out. Poor Bella goes into this gym HOPING to get a female trainer and finds the only one available is this young beautiful guy.
How humiliating!
The thing I like about this is that, AS Edward gets to know Bella, he sees the beauty in her it has nothing to do with her body or her looks. It is who she is.
No love at first site let me save you and make you mine kinda thing THIS one has a process and both characters have to grow into it


Alright enough of my babbling. We have here an interview that was done by me and Janis (who has not read anything of Lalinas yet) Oh and we have pics.


You know what to do: Read the interview, read the fic and leave the love!


The pics in here will be rated R ok and maybe one that is rated X towards the bottom so NSFW 


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Lalina: Ok, well the summary is basically Bella's husband (James) leaves her because she's gained too much weight

she hires a trainer to lose it (enter Edward Masen)

She learns to love herself again and he learns love doesn't always come in a size 2 package

me: teehee

Janis : Sounds verra interesting!

Lalina: thank you

me: I love it because most heavy women has those thoughts in their heads at one time or another

Janis: Lots of ladies can relate too

me: actually does not matter your size 

we all have physical flaws we do not like

Janis: amen

Lalina: that's what's really jazzing me right now, how many readers resonate w/ Bella, it's awesome... and sometimes sad

me: OK LALA you remember you were the first person I ever interviewed

Lalina: yes'm

Janis: Barbie complex?

me: LOL I just love to remind you of that

Lalina: heh You were my first interviewer too! heh

Janis: Wow , You guys have history

me: yes I think a lot of women have a barbie complex it does not help that we also have models who are a size 0 and the plus sized models are a sized 12 when the average sized woman in America is a size 16

This is how Lala sees Bella I think she's HOT

What was it that gave you the ‘spark’ for your story? Was it a picture? A moment or event? Can you remember the initial inspiration?

Lalina: GLEE... They had an episode with Olivia Newton John on it singing Let's Get Physical and I had that song stuck in my head for WEEKS so I was thinking of the video w/ all the fat guys and had an inspiration for Fatella and Trainerward

Lalina: I sent the idea to the 3 amigos and they all gave it thumbs up and I started writing it out

me: who are your 3amigos give them a HIYA

Janis: Anybody we know?

Lalina: my beta Beowulfgirl, and the 2 crazy aussies Yesyov and Sandyk199

me: SANDY AND LEIS I know them!

Lalina: yes'm you should! lol

Janis: Do you really like GLEE? I do.

Lalina: love it

Janis: Fatella is just too funny!

me: and trainerward is just too sexy

I love how his attitude changes in the fic as well as hers

Lalina: thanks

me: LALA you will be happy to know that these Qs are written well re written by Sandy

so if any of them annoy you you can blame her

I will let you

LOL

Lalina: Sandy did an interview w/ me a while back but I don't know what happened to it

me: I get twinges but they come and go

which fic?

I will get it outta her

Lalina: TLTJ I think??

i forget now! lol

me: lol

I will have to bug her she did say she had an interview for me she found on her puter

she just had to write it up

Janis: When did you first begin writing?

Lalina: ok, when did I start writing... it was Jan 10 09

I started reading fanfic, couldn't find a honeymoon story I liked so I decided to write my own

me: you wrote a honeymoon story?

I am a bad fangirl I did not know this

Janis: What was your first story?

Lalina: Ilse Esme: The Lost Chapters was my first foray into writing. It was just a fill in for all the fades to black that happened in the story. A Great Disturbance was my first official multi chap story.

Janis: And was it patterned after something specific or a dream? Thank you for the link! I like hot!

Lalina: AGD was written because when I read Eclipse, I thought for sure Bree would be adopted by the Cullens and fall for Edward... I couldn't lose the thought so I wrote a story around the premise. The story took kind of a darker turn than I expected, however.

Do you have a particular process when it comes to your writing, perhaps a certain mood, environment or music? Do you have any ‘triggers’ to get you in the writing mood?

Process: put the kids to bed, go in my room, lie on my bed, put my earbuds in, listen to music and write, baby, write

Janis: So do you listen to music when you read?

I only listen to music when I write... not sure how I don't find it distracting but its better than listening to hubby yell and scream at the TV all night! LOL

Janis: Do You have any FF authors that inspire you?

Lalina: This sounds odd but I didn't really have a lot of inspiration in regards to other writers...I was brand new to fanfic when I started writing and had no clue about the fandom. It wasn't until I joined Twilighted.net that I had much of an idea about how things worked and by then I was in the thick of it myself  :))

Now it's my 2 aussie gals I respect most

me: those two are a blast especially to get them in a chat together

it is NUTS

Lalina: I know... heh




Give us an elevator pitch. Say you’re in an elevator with a prospective reader for 2 minutes – what would you tell them about the story?

I think the story is a reflection of today's society and how we can view ourselves so critically. That we can overcome obstacles and find self-worth with the help of good friends and people who love us. It's also about a journey of two people who's paths converge along the way. She learns to love herself again and he learns love doesn't always come in a size 2 package 

Janis:  When you begin a story, do you always know the ending?

mostly... but as seen w/ TSL and it's sequel, things can change

Do you picture particular actors for your characters, or are they someone else entirely? If so, who?

For LGP I picture no actors, yet. My characters have never been Rob and Kristen in my head and I haven't really given much thought who I would choose for these roles. Mostly I have pictures in my head of what I think the characters look like.

Is the story all planned out or do you do it as a fly by the seat of your pants thing?

I do a combo of both... when I start a story I map out in my head the main characters, important scenes, plot lines and a rough ending. When it comes to actually writing the story I think of the chapter I'm working on, call up snippets of convos I've imagined and want to put in and then create the backdrop which makes them happen as well as explore the feelings of the characters before after and during the scenes I've imagined.

Do you have a Beta and would you like to give him/her a shoutout here?

Janis: And do you have pre-readers?

Beowulfgirl is my Beta, she's awesomeness. I have occasional pre-readers... if I want to bounce a scene of someone I'll ship to Leis and then there's Rockydulac who also looks over edited versions of chapters to catch any mistakes that have fallen through the cracks.

Have you got any other projects going on? Any planned for the future?

Nothing going on, I still have to write the SEX OFF for TLTJ... but my primary focus is LGP... I may write a o/s for a Halloween contest cause I have an idea for a Darkward fic but other than that, nothing

Janis: We all have regular lives, do you have a RL job that takes your time?

yes, I work full time in sales and then have 2 little boys as well that take up most of the rest of my time when they arent asleep! lol

What was it that brought you to Twilight fanfic? What is it that has kept you here (besides your own writing)

I belonged to a Mom's board when I was pregnant w/ my 2nd son and there was a Twilight thread for the obsessed

One of the ladies posted a link to a o/s on FFN and I clicked it

Then I started searching for stories and soon after writing my own

Really, what keeps me in the fandom is primarily the writing... I've never been very creative, and I've never written stories before. This all just came out of left field for me. Next thing you know I'm swamped with all these ideas! It's been really enlightening And of course friends I've made, and the readers who keep me entertained and who enjoy what I put out there. They buoy my spirits and keep my creative juices flowing.

Do you have a background in writing?

NONE at all

Janis: When did you first read Twilight?

Sep 2007

How about your creative self-confidence? By nature writers tend to be a notoriously insecure lot so how are you finding the online writing experience?

I go through phases... mostly I'm pretty secure in my ability to tell a tale and take criticism from those who don't like what I've written. If I need a sounding board BWG lets me vent but I think I handle things in stride for the most part.

me: Do you tell your friends and family that you’re an online author with a devoted following, or is this something that you tend to keep for yourself?

Only one of my friends and a handful of co-workers really know about my writing. My hubs knows cause it'd be really hard to hide it from him but none of the rest of my family knows. I keep it mostly under warps cause ppl view it as kind of creepy.

Janis: That sux. It's not creepy at all.

Janis: If you've ever gotten a "unkind" review, what happens? does your blood boil or do you think FU?

Umm... I've never really had a flame, per se. I've had ppl tell me they didn't like what a character did, or a turn in my story. Usually it's no skin off my nose. I'll bitch to my beta if I need to and then let it go.

Is there a particular character in your story that you identify with the most?

well in Let's Get Physical it would be Bella. As a *fluffier* mature women, I tend to do the humour to mask insecurities thing. I think a lot of us fall into that insecurity trap.

me: as do I

Which RL author(s) inspires you?

Diana Gabaldon, Stephen King... I don't know if inspire is the word but I've really gotten into JR Ward's stuff. she has an interesting style of writing. really I read anything tho

me: this was kinda asked before but here goes again

Did any FF authors inspire you? What was it that had you reading FF and thinking “I could do this”?

No FF writers inspired me, they didn't get a chance to! LOL
And I don't know... I was just tinkering around when I started writing Ilse Esme: TLC. One pet peeve of mine was the honeymoon fics I'd found didn't deal w/ the struggles Edward and Bella went through. The fear, the want, the danger, the bruising...how they eventually overcame it. I wanted to explore all of that and I like to think I did. When it was complete, I posted it and almost two years later it's been a steady stream of writing ever since! LOL

Janis: What was the last book (with paper pages) that you read?

last book w/ pages Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris (just finished it today actually!)

(the book that the show TrueBlood is based on)

me: What advice would you give to an aspiring fanfic writer?

Just do it don't worry about reviews, pay attention to your readers, get a beta

me: Give us a Random Fact about yourself?

Lalina: I took TaeKwon Do for 2yrs

Janis: What rank do you have?

Lalina: i made it up to blue stripe and then had to quit 

i loved it but my sister (and room mate) got married and I had to move back home w/ the rents they lived an hour away from my gym so i couldn't keep up anymore. i always wanted to go back but other things took up my time like salsa dancing

me: SWEET

I suck at dance I am  clumsier than Bella I sing

Lalina: love dancing... don't get to do it much anymore tho *sigh*

If you could have 15 minutes with anyone alive or dead real or fictional who would it be and what would you say to them?

Lalina: Rob... and I'd say DUMP KRISTEN

lol

me: meh IMO still no proof they are together

they said they are friends I believe them

Lalina: me either but I think he wastes too much time on her

me: I tend to take people at their word

as do I but his career is tied to hers till BS I mean BD is over

Lalina: HAH

me: after that I bet we do not see them together as much. I do not think she belongs in a fic discussion if the author does not see her as part of their fic. same with Rob. if someone does not see Rob as their Edward then why should people link him to that fic

Lalina: i never really see either of them as my primaries

i use the pics in my banners cause otherwise ppl think it's OCs

TSLward is Tatum Channing for me (mmmm)

oops

channing Tatum! LOL

me: lately a LOT of authors have started using other people as their E/B

Lalina: It's funny cause for the most part I have my own in head pics

me: or no one at all just an arm or a silhouette

Lalina: I don't think of actors unless asked who i can see playing the person in a movie

What is your FanFic Pet peeve?

Lalina: too many to mention

me: oh come gimme a few

strawberries?

Lalina: lol

me: priabistic peen

virgin sex

Lalina: nah I can handle strawberries

me: with orgasms

Lalina: i guess unrealistic lemons has to be a big one for me

me: REAL SEX

love real sex

the flopping around like your on a wrestling mat SO NOT SEXY

Lalina: i'm all for fantasy but there has to be realism

Janis: How about those lemons that that happen immediately in chpt 1.

Lalina: there have been some highly praised stories that have THE worst sex scenes and I shake my head

me: I can see sex in chapt 1 if they are both drunk

Lalina: I prefer UST *evil smirk*

me: but the they get introduced have instant connection and then fuck like rabbits and are in love from the moment they met

umm that does not happen

Lalina: OH! And jumping the shark is an irk too

Janis: Thank you!!!! lemons in chpt 1 ? Difficult to swallow. For the most part.

me: jumping the shark??

Lalina: an unrealistic plot twist that comes out of nowhere

me: OHHHHHHH

What is your Fandom Pet peeve?

Lalina: Too cliquey and too much drama.

me: that is why I talk to everyone

Lalina: i just try to keep to myself and chat w/ my readers but a lot of times I feel very on the outskirts because I don't do the posturing and back slapping

me: OK Last Q it's a biggie

you ready?

Lalina: kk

Anything else you would like to add?

I'd like to thank the readers who are following my stories. Really, I can't get over how supportive and wonderful everyone has been.

Sue's interview with Lalina about her fic Let's Get Physical