Sue's Interview with Melolabel about her fic 'A New Frontier'

 A New Frontier by Melolabel

A while back I did this interview. When I say a WHILE back I am not kidding. This interview was originally posted on our old blog and accidentally did not get moved - opps. Our fault, but HERE we bring it back to you.

It will come as NO surprise that SUE has a great affinity for period fics. I love historical drama AND THIS one, well, lets just say that it takes a different look at the side characters of the Twi stuff and it made me giggle like crazy.

Think about it. They live on a farm. Where would the side characters come into play in family life?

Well, here we have Alice and Jasper as horses, Rose and Emmett are a cow and a bull, the mean girls are chickens (as a former chicken farmer I LOVE THAT)

This is not say that this fic does not have it's drama and some angst. It does! It also has a great show of love and a terrific story that makes for a lovely rainy afternoon escape.

SO lets see what I learned about the author and her story. OH and you are going to want to check out her other stories because I love Melly and she writes some great fun stuff. Especially a fic she wrote with Belly (BellaMadonna1) called The Marksman.

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1.Where did you get the idea for this story? What was your inspiration?

The idea for a mail-order bride came from a novel I read in high school.  The setting is one that I'm somewhat familiar with.  The plot kind of just came to me.  My difficulty was that homesteads we're often lonely places.  Travel was hard, and you had to work from sun up to sun down.  So I couldn't have a happy little compound of Cullens all homesteading together.  I couldn't throw them all into a dorm or the same apartment building like modern age settings.  That's when I decided to turn Edward's vampire family into his farm family.  Jasper just seemed like he should be the trusty steed, making Alice the spirited filly.  So as I went with that thought, Emmett of course was the bull. Leaving nothing left for Rose but to be the Jersey cow. The spiteful chickens were also very fun to write.  Can't you just see Lauren, Jessica and Tanya, as nasty little birds that squawk and peck at Bella?  It really was a blast trying to incorporate as many of their human traits into their animal persona's. 

2. Is there anything you would want readers to know specifically?

I despise a Jacob/Bella/Edward love triangle!

Rose

3. Why should readers read your story?

Because I turned Rose into a Cow?  It's a classic love story, with enough drama to keep the interest, but without prolonged angst and heart-fail. It's great for the grown ups—there are mature situations not for tender eyes, but most of my other stories are appropriate for a younger audience.

4. So you do anything special while writing a chapter like listen to special music, need total silence, eat a bag of M&Ms, drink heavily, whatever…?

Jasper

Silence! HA! Usually when I write I try to block out what ever show my kids are watching on TV or the shrieking sounds of one child killing the other. I also like to intersperse my writing with bouts of refereeing the above mentioned disputes.  It's rare that I get to write in silence and music is too distracting for me, though I am inspired by songs, I don't usually listen to them when I write.


5. What do you do after you click the submit button for a chapter? 

It depends on what time it is when I submit. If it's late at night, I usually yawn and go to bed.  If it's daytime, I'll periodically check my mail and sometimes respond as reviews come in.  And then grin like an idiot at all the nice things people usually say.

Alice

6. Do you have a soundtrack to your stories?

No not really, though one person called the end notes of Tapas at Twilight an edible playlist, since they were all recipes.  But no not an official playlist.


7. What actor/actress do you picture as YOUR Edward and Bella?

I guess it's hard for me to see anyone other than Rpatz and Kstew.  Chris Pine would be an excellent choice for Frontier Edward, but for Bella, I don't know.  That happened to me with Harry Potter.  I saw the first movie before I read all the books and I can only see the characters in the books as the actors from the movies.

Jake

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

The main idea and key plot points are planned but I write chapter by chapter and often fly by the seat of my pants.  If I get stuck I bounce ideas and “talk story” with my sister, who is also my beta, or with one of my close on-line authoress buddies.(Since this interview this story has been completed)

9. Do you have a posting Schedule ? If so what is it ? 

Posting schedule? What's that? he he.  I used to be able to get something out once a week, or week and a half, but since we had baby #4, life just seems to have exploded into complete chaos.  I do try and write as fast as I can and my beta is excellent at getting things back to me quickly.  So I try not to go too long in between postings.  I do promise that I will never abandon a story.

10. Do you believe in HEA?

Yes! Absolutely. I think we all read these stories as a means to escape into a different world for a while, and if the story I'm reading doesn't come to a satisfying conclusion, it feels like I've wasted my time. That's not to say every story has to end all sunshine and roses, but I like to feel like the ending was a happy wrap up to the plot of the story.

11. Give me a list of your current projects AND do you have any more fic plans in the future?

Current project: The Marksman(Also complete now)

I am co-writing this with BellaMadonna, and Sweetthunder is also making heavy input on the beta end.  Our Hero is a loose conglomeration of Matthew Quigley, High Plains Drifter/Clint Eastwood.  He's a gruff, handsome, gunslinger. Isabella is the town kook, with a handy knack for being able to find gold.  Here's the quick summary: Can love blossom in the blistering heat of Devil's Fork, AZ? When Ed Cullen, a gunslinger on the run, meets up with unusual beauty, Izzy Swan, the two join forces to take down the evil Valentine brothers. The Wild West has never been hotter! AU/AH, E/B.

I finished Tapas at Twilight  and the M rated companion to that Honeymoon at Twilight, just before we started posting The Marksman.

I do have some ideas for future projects—a short story, romance that will have a happy ending but will probably be a little more angsty than I usually write.  We'll see how that one turns out.  It will most likely be a much shorter story as well. 

gratuitous Rob pic

I also have another idea that I'm keeping top secret since I think someone might try to jack it.  It's an original concept that I've never seen done in the twific fandom, so I'm hoping that it will be well received.

I probably won't be posting anything until after The Marksman is finished, and even then I may take a little break.  I've been writing almost non stop for almost a year and a half.

12. What brought you to fanfic? To Twilight?

My sister read the books, and gushed about how good they were.  I put it off and then like everyone else, started reading and was hooked.  I re-read Twilight probably 3 or 4 times before I had to return it to the library.  My husband would look at me and ask, “are you reading that AGAIN?”  and I'd just look at him and say, “yes, now shush.” 

I got sucked into the Fanfic after reading Eclipse, waiting for Breaking Dawn to come out. I just wanted more Edward and Bella.  I stumbled across the Denali Coven awards site and read several of the winners out of that contest and then just lurked through people favorites picking out stories that sounded interesting.

13. What is your background in writing?

I wrote the regular stuff in high school, the required stuff in college, but I was a science girl.  I only took enough lit and writing classes to satisfy the bare minimum requirements.  So really, A New Frontier, was my first foray into creative writing.

14 OK FANTASY TIME
If you could have 15 minutes with any Edward, FF or SMs, which one would you choose and would you do?  If you do not LIKE any of the Edwards feel to substitute an actor here. Rob, Kellan, PFach or Jackson

I think that I would choose to spend fifteen minutes with my Edward from Tapas at Twilight—gosh talk about dream boat—and would play the piano with him.  Boring I know, but I've got all my fantasies taken care of by my real-life Edward (love you hon).

15 What is your FF pet peeve?

Can I have more than one? My biggest is this-not finishing a story for a lame reason.
I understand everyone has loads of stuff going on, so I understand when someone has to put a story on hiatus.  But it is one of my pet peeves is when I'm reading a good story and in the middle the author puts up a note that says, something like, “oh sorry. I just kind of lost inspiration so I'm quitting this story.”

Emmett

My second biggest is using the wrong homonym (that's a word that sounds like the one you want to use but is spelled differently) It's hard when it's a word that is spelled correctly but used incorrectly because the spell check won't pick up on it. For example: I hear the music vs. I here the music. Use the dictionary, pay attention to the spell checker, have someone else (who's a decent reader/writer) take a look at your stuff before you post.  

16 What is your Fandom PetPeeve?

The over-usuage of angst in place of drama and how much simple miscommunication is used as the entire means of inserting conflict into a story.

17. Which character do you Identify with the most?

Over all probably Esme or Renee.  In A New Frontier most definitely Esme. If I had been born in that time, I'd probably do okay as a pioneer woman. Though childbirth would totally suck without drugs. Srsly.

Any character who would you like to see yourself with? Either as buddies or more?

I would love for Carlisle to be my real doctor. And could totally do lunch with Renee.

18. Which RL author inspires you?

I can't say that I have a RL inspiration.  I enjoy reading Mary Balogh's books, as well as Kathleen Woodiwiss. 

Did any FF authors inspire you?
The first thing I ever wrote for Fanfic was Chapter 4 of A New Frontier, for the Sexy Edward Contest.  I hadn't come across and cowboy-wards, at least not period cowboy-wards, so I decided to write my own.  I was so surprised when I had many reviews encourage me to expand the one-shot into a full story.  So all of those author/readers who first read the one-shot, inspired me to write.  I'm also impressed with young authors who write with intelligence and correct execution of the english language.

19. Any recs for us?

I beta for BellaMadonna, so all of her stuff. 

Controlled Burn by staceygirl aka jackbauer

Guarding Edward by katmom

La Canzone de bella Cigna by philadelphic

Deadalus in Exile by EZRocksangel

20. If you could ask any Twilight Cast member a Question who would you ask and what would your Question be?  

I would ask Rob—how much of the abs were you and how much was make up.

21. Anything else you would like to add?

Thank you so much for this opportunity to chat with you!  I guess my last little soap box is read what you enjoy and enjoy what you read.  If you don't like the story, stop reading and try to be respectful in any review you leave for an author.  They've worked hard to provide something that is free for you to read.  To go along with that, be true to who you are when you write.  Don't write graphic, if that's not what you're comfortable with, just because it seems that only the graphic M rated stories get all the reviews.  Write because you enjoy it, not because you're looking for accolades. 

Sue's Interview with Melolabel about her fic 'A New Frontier'