Sue's Interview with RtGrl about her fic Just a Kiss

Just a Kiss

by

rtgirl

  NOW this review has been a LONG time coming. So, I am hopeful that everyone that reads this will go read her fic. Also, leave her some love because she deserves it !

   I do not remember why I started reading this fic, but I just re read it for the post. I can tell you this,
this is a feel good fic. No real big time drama and no massive moodiness going on here. It is a normal shy girl who meets a normal shy boy.
The way they meet is sweet.The way they start dating is sweet. If you are in the mood for an adorable feel good romance, THIS is the fic for you.BTW, the epilogue will make you gush with joy.

Everyone get ready to say:

AWWWWWWW!!

I mean this all in the best way possible. It is just too sweet for my limited vocabulary!!!

So if you are looking for a story to make you be all mushy and lovey dovey give this one a go! This makes an awesome read for an afternoon I hope you like it as much as I did !

remember the drill?
Read the interview
read the fic
leave the love

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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?

A friend, Sarah-AKA twimom22580-had playfully suggested on FB that she wanted someone to write a fic/one-shot inspired from Lady Antebellum’s song Just A Kiss.  I told her I would, as long as she was fine with it being pure fluff as that’s what I felt the song lent itself to.  Just forward several months later.  I still hadn’t written a single word for that, but another story I was working on had just endured several chapters of pure heartache and I just couldn’t get past the transition part of that one.  I needed inspiration.  Enter daily emails from Fictionista Workshop’s witfit prompts.  I’d been receiving them every day for months and never done a thing with them.  So, needing to put my mind on something other than the sadness in the one story I was working on, I just wrote down a brief idea, the first few hundred words of Just A Kiss, and emailed it to Erin-AKA-les 16- to see what she thought.  She knows me and my writing and I know if she hesitates even a little, it’s not going to be worth it.
In my mind I could just see some kids in college who were maybe not so shy with their friends, but were around the opposite sex.  That’s kind of how my own husband and I were and the age we were when we met, so I just went with that.


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?

Usually I’m inspired by music.  Sometimes pictures.  Those are typically my “triggers”.  And sometimes I just need a creative outlet and being a true southern girl, I like to tell stories.  I’m in love with love and fanfiction is a great outlet for that as the basis. 
As far as a process goes…I’m usually sitting on my couch with my computer in my lap and my three year old is occupied with something on television or she’s napping.  Just A Kiss is different from anything else I’ve written in that I’ve been incorporating the prompts given by FW.  And I’ve been updating every day to every other day, not taking a week to build a scene.
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?

This is a story about a boy and a girl who while they’re still trying to figure out who they are individually, they know exactly who they are together.  It’s about a boy whose confidence is out on the baseball field and in his school work, not with girls.  It’s about a girl whose confidence lies in books and quick wit, not in boys.  It’s about the excitement and butterflies and anticipation we all feel at the beginning of a new relationship.  It’s about letting down walls and allowing the people in that you least expected you would.  It’s about falling in love…honest and pure, plain and simple.

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

I always picture Rob for Edward and Kristen for Bella.  You just can’t deny their chemistry.  But I usually imagine other actors for the other characters.  And they change depending on what I’m writing.  In Just A Kiss, I do see Emmett as Kellan.  Everyone else is pretty vague.

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

I get certain scenes in my head and know a direction of how I want it to go and certain personality traits I want my characters to have, but to plan out chapter by chapter things that are going to happen…no.  I don’t think I could do my stories any justice at all if I did that.  I never “know” what my characters are going to say.  It just happens as I write, and sometimes that can take me for a turn that I wasn’t expecting and I like to be able to just go along with it.

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

Not a beta per se, but maybe more of a “pre-reader”, although she is sooooo very much more!  Erin (les 16) is my number one go-to when I get an idea.  She’s always there and always answers me with complete honesty.  She doesn’t get on board if she’s not “feeling it” from me, whether it’s because of the content or because she can sense that just because I have an idea doesn’t mean I need to write it (because of real life commitments or lack of true enthusiasm.)  She reads me like a book and knows when to encourage me (shut up about it and just do it already!) and when to redirect me and when to reel me in completely.

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

I was working on another story that was an Original Fic (that I wanted to enter in the TWCS Original Fic Contest) but as I said, I got stuck…and then sidetracked.  I’d like to go back to that and finish it.  I have no desire as far as having it or something else published; I just wanted to see if I could create my own characters and my own world.  Just another burst of creativity that needed to be channeled somewhere!

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

I honestly don’t remember.  I don’t even know who suggested it because I don’t have any “real life” friends who are as into it as I am…and fanfic is really my dirty little secret.  Only a very select few know.
What’s kept me here are the people I’ve met (through their own fics or fellow fans of the same ones) and the stories themselves.  There is an enormous amount of talent in this small world and I love getting to read it for free!

Do you have a background in writing? 

Ha!  Not even close.  I have a background in reading! 

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’m confident in the stories I want to tell and in staying true to the characters.  Reviewers are the ones who make me feel safe enough to come back time and again.  It’s fun to write just for my own creative outlet, but I love the feedback.  It’s exciting to get instant reactions and yes, even constructive criticisms. 


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?

My husband knows and believe it or not, my mom knows.  She even read my first story!  And maybe three friends.  Otherwise…it’s my thing.  No one else I know is really into the Twi-world like I am…and I honestly only think I’m as invested as I am because of fanfiction and the wonderful writers and stories who made it all so much better!

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

Actually Bella.  Her inner monologue is all me.  It’s what I would think, do and say.  And I was always the friend growing up, so my confidence when it came to boys was in my intellect and personality.  I feel like this Bella is a lot like that.  But also, when she knows what she wants…and maybe gets a little nudge, she goes after it and stands up for herself when she needs to.

Which RL author(s) inspires you?

I wish I had a bookish smart girl answer for this, but I don’t.  I read so much and have especially been introduced to so many new genres in the last few years…I’d just say that I’m inspired by anything that is creative (style of writing or fantasy genre or different time period), a little mysterious, a lot exciting and most importantly honest and from the heart.  I like all of those qualities in my books.  And let’s be honest…a little romance never hurt anyone. 

What advice would you give to an aspiring fanfic writer?

Just do it.  I was lucky in that I was a regular reviewer for Erin’s first story, The Path We Choose.  We developed a friendship that way.  And one day when I had an idea, I just sat down and wrote…wrote three chapters and then asked Erin if she would just read it and see if she even thought that the idea was worth continuing.  If you can develop some kind of rapport with an already established author, it’s a little easier when you get brave enough to stick your tiny toe into the gigantic pool.


Give us a Random Fact about yourself?

I once stayed up until five a.m. reading a fic and when my husband found me asleep on the couch the next morning I totally lied about how long I had stayed up.  (I think it was The Lost Boys—now Grave Refrain)  Oh, and I found Master of the Universe (now the Fifty Shades Trilogy) when it was up to eighty-something chapters and I didn’t have a laptop yet…so I sat in front of my computer in an uncomfortable chair for hours and hours.  But I won’t lie…so worth it!

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?

My Meemaw.  She is the reason I am insane for books.  She passed the love on to my mom, and then to me, and now my son is just like the rest of us in that he will even read a cereal box if that’s all there is in front of him!
She was the best and I miss her all the time!  I’d love to have a “book club” chat with her.

What is your FanFic Pet peeve?

Popping the ‘P’, Coming on command, too much chatter during sex.

What is your Fandom Pet peeve?

I don’t understand why when an author pulls their fics to be published, people can’t just be supportive.  Instead of being mad about it, be glad for them.  I always think of it as, “How cool am I?  I basically got to be a pre-reader for this wonderful book.”

Anything else you would like to add?

If it weren’t for some super sweet ladies chatting this up on Twitter and Facebook , I’m sure I wouldn’t have the opportunity for this interview, so I’m super thankful for new friends and word of mouth and sweet words that leave me smiling for days on end.  For anyone who read, reviewed, tweeted or rec’d…thank you.  I don’t even have enough words to be adequate.

Sue's Interview with RtGrl about her fic Just a Kiss