Hello everyone, and welcome to our third Featured Author interview! We try to do these at least once a month: if you have someone you would like to nominate for our consideration, please let us know!

This month, by popular request, we have informantxgirl! She has been a writer on AFF since Fall of 2012, writing mainly Infinite stories and focusing on darker themes. She agreed to be our featured author for July, and sat down with us to answer a few questions! Read along to learn more about her, the stories she writes, and where she gets her motivation from!

Some of informantxgirl's stories are on friend's only status, due to trouble with horrible people plagiarizing. Send her a friend request to read her full collection and she is happy to accept!

Librarian: How and when did you get into writing Kpop fanfiction?

informantxgirl: The when is easy to answer-that would be around 2012, when I published my first Kpop fanfic Sweetest Vengeance. I've been writing fanfic in general for years, though, and my first foray into K-fanfic was actually a Boys Over Flowers fic (that I migrated over to AFF) called Always Meant to Be. As to how...it just kind of happened. I'd really been into Infinite for a bit, and I was working on a story (I forgot for which fandom), and it wasn't quite gelling, and for some reason, I thought, "Hmm, I bet Myungsoo would work in this lead role." And he did. Like really, really did. The fic just took off, and the ideas just flowed. Afterwards, my muse seemed to really take to the idea of K-pop fanfic, and I've been writing it ever since.

Librarian: That sounds pretty cool! So do you have anything/anyone who really inspires your writing/ keeps your motivation up?

informantxgirl: I'd say my biggest motivator is just the need to always challenge myself and improve my own writing. I like pushing myself out of my own comfort zone and seeing how I fare. The drive to better my writing means I always need to keep writing. As for inspiration...well, the boys of Infinite are very inspiring! (Especially my ultimate bias, Kim Sunggyu, although strangely enough, I think I've written more stories about Nam Woohyun.) I just really like their energy and their music really helps me to get into certain writing moods.

In terms of inspiration beyond K-pop, I have a number of literary influences, way too many to name. I wouldn't call it my absolute favorite novel (I have so many of those!) but the one that really opened my eyes to different possibilities is Kitty Thomas's Comfort Food. That was the first book I read and went, "Okay, so I can do this?!?"

Now, just to lay it out, I'm a writer; I write about , and for awhile, maybe there was a kind of shame attached to that. Up until that point, I'd been reading those pre-1990s Harlequin/Mills & Boon novels, Regency romances, and so-called "bodice rippers", where and aggression were always tied, but ultimately, the hero and heroine were in love or said they were. I guess I kind of got this idea that even if you're writing , there still has to be that unspoken idea that these people love each other and that's why they're doing this, or it's somehow not okay. There's nothing wrong with that idea, of course, people who love each other DO have (it's one of our basic drives, after all), but I started to maybe wonder if there could be a different way of looking at it. Thomas's novel showed me that, indeed, there *can* be a different way of looking at relationships, and that "love" or whatever is a lot messier and nastier than most of those cheesy romances were depicting it as and I was just floored. I finally felt that I could write on the darker side and not have to apologize for it.

Librarian: Wow, it seems like you have had a really interesting journey in your writing. So you like to push yourself! What is, in your opinion, your absolute best piece of work at this time?

informantxgirl: I'm not sure I would even want to put that label on any of my fics; my best fic will always be the next one, I hope, but if you're asking which I'm the most pleased by, I guess it would be my very first K-pop fanfic Sweetest Vengeance. I kind of touched on this a bit already, but it was not only my first K-pop fanfic, it was also the first chaptered fic I ever finished. I wrote it at a blistering pace, and it literally felt like the words were just racing out of me, even though I deliberated over every word, every scene, every character. I cried writing the penultimate chapter, specifically over the scene where the original character lead chains her psychotic stepbrother Myungsoo to the bed and leaves him, and he pleads for her to stay in the midst of a psychotic breakdown. Yes, that scene made me cry, even though it only happened in my own head. That has never, ever happened to me before; I don't usually cry over fiction normally, and certainly never over anything I myself wrote! If anyone had told me that would happen, I would have laughed. The characters became living, breathing people to me, to the point where it felt like they were people I personally know. Thankfully, I don't know anyone like the majority of characters in that fic in real life! I really invested everything I had into that fic, and though it is not perfect by any means, and it's very rough around the edges, it's the one that I know I will never go back to and try to "fix" or write a sequel to, because it is done. To me, that story is whole and complete, and I am happy where it ended up.

Librarian: It seems you're quite happy and confident with your own writing. That is a great thing for writers! So tell us, do you have any advice for aspiring fanfiction authors on how to go about not only writing, but becoming more comfortable and confident in their own writing?

informantxgirl: Yes, I'm quite happy and confident with my writing, but I try never to be complacent. I think that would be my major piece of advice for anyone who writes or engages in any form of creativity. You will always be the primary audience for any of your own work. You will be the first and most important reader/listener/consumer, so if you're not pleased, why expect anyone else to be pleased with it? And I think when writers read their own work, they’re never quite satisfied, and I think that’s a good thing! That will help push you to greater heights, into different genres, new ways of looking at things. So definitely, never be complacent! Always read, always look for that “freshness”.

Librarian: What have been your biggest struggles as an author? How have you overcome them?

informantxgirl: My biggest struggle used to be finding a way to just write what I really wanted to write. I used to be worried about offending people, or unnerving myself, but I finally realized, and I see its truth more and more, that I should adhere to the “if I like it, I like it and don’t have to apologize” camp of writing. So, I’d say my biggest struggle at the moment would be just finding the time to write, to continue writing, when real life bogs you down. I do try to write each and every day, but it’s not easy, with all the things going on in my life and the fact that I have to switch gears between fiction and academic writing. Sometimes, it’s hard to make that shift!

Librarian: So you're a student/writer. Mad props for that, it is never an easy thing to pull off! What are the things (genres/pairings/themes) that you really enjoy reading/writing in fanfiction?

informantxgirl: Thank you! Well, technically, at one point, I was a student/writer/basketcase, hahaha, but now it’s whittled down to just writer/basketcase.

I suppose the themes I most like writing are the dark ones; I really like exploring the scarier/grittier aspects of the human psyche. I like digging deep into twisted characters, trying to figure out what would make them tick, trying to show they have some kind of warped logic of their own. Woohyun’s character in None But Those I Grant You I think is a pretty good example of the kind of thing I’m going for. I mean, he’s kind of sick in the head, but *he* thinks he’s fine. On the other extreme, I actually quite like writing what I call “fluffy ”. It’s like…romance with a kick, hahaha. My whole (Lack of) Professional Integrity series is of this genre. Each of the stories in the series centers on a member of Infinite (except Dongwoo and Sungjong, since those guys are hard to write!) being in a certain profession and not acting quite so appropriately for their particular jobs, but it’s not smarmy or anything like that (at least, I hope not!), just people who genuinely like each other getting it on. I think you can even see where I'm going with them in the titles: Love's Masterpiece, Love's Cure, Love's Victory, Love's Enforcement, and Love's Contract. Definitely not dark!

So, I guess you’d say I enjoy writing at both ends of the spectrum—very dark and uncomfortable, all the way to candy and rainbows sweet.

Librarian: So you like to have a big spectrum in your writing. What stories and/or projects are you currently working on?

informantxgirl: I always have too any stories and projects going on, to be honest! The ones that are really receiving the most attention from me at the moment, though, are two chaptered dark Sunggyu fics Punished with Pleasure and Payment in Kind, a couple Sunggyu oneshots that haven't really gotten as far off the ground as I'd like, and a fluffier Hoya/Eunji oneshot that has stalled about midway through. 

Librarian: Thanks so much for agreeing to do this interview! Do you have anything you'd like to add?

informantxgirl: This was fun, and I had a good time doing it! I think I’ve revealed just how verbose and nuts I am, but I suppose if anyone’s read my fics, they would’ve figured that out already! I’d say the only thing I’d like to add is that for anyone reading this who hasn’t taken the plunge into writing or has written some but feels discouraged, don’t be. It’s such a cliché, but it’s true: write for yourself. Share with others, if you like, but always, always write what you like for yourself to enjoy. Don’t kowtow to anyone. Not saying you should break laws or offend anyone, but if you’re content with what you’ve written, truly content, then stand by it. That in itself is the best and most important reward of writing or any creative endeavor.