Interview with StarboarderWrites aka MissCurrerBell
____
LH
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat to me about your fanfiction writing. I think After the Cliffs was the first thing I found when I started reading Sanditon fanfiction, and I read it on fanfiction.net - I have to confess that I find the reading experience on that site horrible so I was glad to swap to AO3 and find your story there as well. Tell us how your love of Sanditon began?
SB
My journey from casual viewer to Sanditon fan may be a bit unusual. I watched Season 1 when it aired on PBS but was very put off by its un-Austenlike feel. I didn’t like the dynamics of the central relationship and was not particularly upset when I learned the show had not been renewed for another season, though the lack of closure was annoying. I more or less forgot about the show, but was mildly interested when I learned it had secured another season and I watched Season 2 when it aired out of sheer curiosity. The storyline and new couple captured my interest much more than Season 1 had, but I was so jaded and gun-shy after the way the first season had wrapped up that I was very much on my guard through all 6 episodes, and didn’t really let myself get as invested as I might have otherwise. Still, I literally shouted in frustration at the cliffhanger in episode 6 and then castigated myself for letting the writers get me AGAIN. Fool me twice…
But I must be a glutton for punishment, because I watched Season 3 when it dropped on PBS passport the following year, again feeling very cynical and sceptical, and found myself drawn in. I binged the season in 2 days, felt reasonably satisfied by the ending, mentally rated it about a 3 out of 5, and then thought myself done with Sanditon. But Sanditon was not done with me!
In the weeks that followed, that “fathomless” declaration on the cliffs kept popping into my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about it! The best comparison I can draw is water slowly eroding a rock: drip, drip, drip! That beautiful language was the water and I was the rock.
Conveniently, in mid-April 2023 I caught a bad cold and while I was laid up on the couch I decided to rewatch all of Sanditon, starting at the beginning. While I hadn’t changed my mind about the Season 1 relationship, I found a lot more to like about the season as a whole this time around, because I knew how Charlotte’s story would end.
And when I made it to Season 2 and the introduction of Heybourne, I was all in. I couldn’t believe how personal their whole dynamic felt—it was like their story had been tailored to perfectly appeal to me. (To give you a sense of why I felt this way, my favourite book of all time is Jane Eyre. My favourite Austen novel is Pride and Prejudice. My favourite children’s book is The Secret Garden. My favourite movie is The Sound of Music. My favourite Disney movie is Beauty and the Beast. And I found elements from all of these stories in Heybourne. Crazy, right?)
By the time I’d finished Season 3 for the second time, something just clicked. The love, the obsession with the characters, the fandom fanaticism… I got it. I still find a lot of imperfections with the show—some out of the creators’ control, some oversights, some creative decisions that I personally disagree with—but I am a fan. No two ways about it!
But I must be a glutton for punishment, because I watched Season 3 when it dropped on PBS passport the following year, again feeling very cynical and sceptical, and found myself drawn in. I binged the season in 2 days, felt reasonably satisfied by the ending, mentally rated it about a 3 out of 5, and then thought myself done with Sanditon. But Sanditon was not done with me!
In the weeks that followed, that “fathomless” declaration on the cliffs kept popping into my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about it! The best comparison I can draw is water slowly eroding a rock: drip, drip, drip! That beautiful language was the water and I was the rock.
Conveniently, in mid-April 2023 I caught a bad cold and while I was laid up on the couch I decided to rewatch all of Sanditon, starting at the beginning. While I hadn’t changed my mind about the Season 1 relationship, I found a lot more to like about the season as a whole this time around, because I knew how Charlotte’s story would end.
By the time I’d finished Season 3 for the second time, something just clicked. The love, the obsession with the characters, the fandom fanaticism… I got it. I still find a lot of imperfections with the show—some out of the creators’ control, some oversights, some creative decisions that I personally disagree with—but I am a fan. No two ways about it!
LH
In some ways our stories of becoming a fan are spookily similar - I was off sick and rewatched it having never been captured before. I agree it’s flawed, but Heybourne got under my skin and I haven’t been able to let it go!SB
That’s so interesting! Maybe we both needed our defences to be down to fully let Heybourne into our hearts… or under our skin, as you say! They certainly got under mine, and I found that only by writing about them could I scratch that itch.
I write Heybourne for the same reason I’ve always written fan fiction: because I want to spend more time with characters I love. In an alternate reality, Sanditon the show would have been Charlotte’s story, the way Pride and Prejudice is Elizabeth Bennet’s and Emma is Emma Woodhouse’s, and we would have had a much greater focus on her and her relationships. I admire the vision of the writers to make Sanditon an ensemble production, but I confess I wanted more of Charlotte, and by extension, more of Charlotte and Alexander. Writing Heybourne fanfic was the logical way for me to address the dearth of Heybourne in the show, and I dove in without a second thought!
LH
I completely agree. I’m a big fan of Pride and Prejudice and love Lizzy, and would have loved the show to give Charlotte that same space.
So what is the easiest part of writing for you? The hardest?
SB
For me, writing is easy when I have a very strong sense of the characters and their voices are very clear in my head. Add in an idea for a scene / confrontation / conflict and presto, the words flow! The thing I struggle most with is writing the connective tissue between scenes. I usually start a story with a clear beginning and ending in mind, and often with some pivotal scenes already sketched out, but figuring out how we’re going to get from A to B is something I find challenging.
LH
How do you go about planning your stories?
SB
I confess to being much more of a pantser than a plotter, but I usually start with a central premise, sometimes even just a single scene, and expand out from there. I can’t really explain my approach other than by saying that things just come to me: snippets of dialogue, a visual image that I want to incorporate, a thought that a character ruminates on. It’s not the most efficient way to write, but I haven’t had much success with sticking to an outline and have never been able to write in a linear fashion. I do take notes, but a lot of the time I don’t end up following them. The story evolves organically and then I go back and try to make it cohesive!
LH
A pantser not a plotter, I love that expression! I’m loving hearing the responses to that question, as everyone so far has been a non-linear writer whereas I am completely a planner and write in order - well, so far anyway, maybe I need to branch out!
SB
If I’ve learned one thing about writing over the years, it’s that there’s no one right way to go about it. You’re doing what works for you and that’s wonderful! I’m actually envious of outliners and plotters because the process of writing is so much more straightforward and simple. Not easy, but definitely more logical than my approach!
LH
How do the characters form in your mind? Do you hear them telling you what to do or what they want to say?!
SB
I usually need to feel a strong sense for characters in order to write about them. Since the fanfic I tend to write is canon-compliant, it’s very important to me to understand the people whose stories I’m telling and what drives their behaviour. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time rewatching (or re-reading) scenes from the original work and analysing them to death! Then when I’m writing and get into a flow state, I can hear dialogue in my head. It’s not so much that the characters are telling me what they want to say, they’re just saying it and I’m writing it down like taking dictation!
LH
Yes I phrased that poorly, you said it much better! And I do really enjoy your threads on twitter when you do a deep dive, I can see the thought and analysis you’ve put into it. What’s the scene from the show that you go back to again and again?
SB I usually need to feel a strong sense for characters in order to write about them. Since the fanfic I tend to write is canon-compliant, it’s very important to me to understand the people whose stories I’m telling and what drives their behaviour. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time rewatching (or re-reading) scenes from the original work and analysing them to death! Then when I’m writing and get into a flow state, I can hear dialogue in my head. It’s not so much that the characters are telling me what they want to say, they’re just saying it and I’m writing it down like taking dictation!
LH
Yes I phrased that poorly, you said it much better! And I do really enjoy your threads on twitter when you do a deep dive, I can see the thought and analysis you’ve put into it. What’s the scene from the show that you go back to again and again?
Oof, this is a tough one! There are so many scenes from the show that I watch over and over, but one that I think deserves more attention is the scene in S3 Ep2 where Charlotte runs into Alexander and the girls in the tea rooms. I think the thing that appeals to me most about it is how flustered Charlotte is and how seemingly at ease Alexander is. It’s a total reversal from Season 2 where he was so discomfited in public and she was confident. I love it because it shows how both of their characters are evolving.
LH
Other than rewatching and analysing, do you do other research?
SB
In the past, my “research” for writing period fiction has mostly just involved deep-dives into classic literature and watching lots of period dramas, but more recently I’ve tried to bolster my knowledge around specific customs and historical events from the era. Even if they don’t explicitly make it into my stories, I find having a broader understanding of the time period helps with creating a feeling of authenticity, which is very important to me. Fortunately, the Regency period is very popular with historical and cultural scholars, so there is a wealth of information out there.
LH
What are you most proud of having written?
SB
I wrote the manuscript for an original dystopian fiction novel many years ago that I’m still quite proud of because I learned so much from the process, but more recently I must admit I’m very proud of the 3-part Heybourne series that I’ve dubbed “The After Series,” which I started in April 2023 and completed in June 2024. I put everything I had into that series and fell back in love with writing while working on it. When I began the first story, I hadn’t written in 5 or 6 years, so it felt like recovering a part of myself.
LH
That’s beautiful. My mantra is “Hope through creativity” as I’ve found lots of healing and growth through reconnecting with writing.
SB
Absolutely. I think for those of us that have the “writing bug” or really the need to create in any form, staying connected to that side of us is so essential to living our best, most fully-realised life. When I’m writing, I feel like my truest self.
LH
Do you write in other fandoms? If so, what are they and why are you drawn to them?
Other than rewatching and analysing, do you do other research?
SB
In the past, my “research” for writing period fiction has mostly just involved deep-dives into classic literature and watching lots of period dramas, but more recently I’ve tried to bolster my knowledge around specific customs and historical events from the era. Even if they don’t explicitly make it into my stories, I find having a broader understanding of the time period helps with creating a feeling of authenticity, which is very important to me. Fortunately, the Regency period is very popular with historical and cultural scholars, so there is a wealth of information out there.
LH
What are you most proud of having written?
SB
I wrote the manuscript for an original dystopian fiction novel many years ago that I’m still quite proud of because I learned so much from the process, but more recently I must admit I’m very proud of the 3-part Heybourne series that I’ve dubbed “The After Series,” which I started in April 2023 and completed in June 2024. I put everything I had into that series and fell back in love with writing while working on it. When I began the first story, I hadn’t written in 5 or 6 years, so it felt like recovering a part of myself.
LH
That’s beautiful. My mantra is “Hope through creativity” as I’ve found lots of healing and growth through reconnecting with writing.
SB
Absolutely. I think for those of us that have the “writing bug” or really the need to create in any form, staying connected to that side of us is so essential to living our best, most fully-realised life. When I’m writing, I feel like my truest self.
LH
Do you write in other fandoms? If so, what are they and why are you drawn to them?
SB
I’m not actively writing in any other fandom at the moment, but the first fanfic I ever wrote was for Jane Eyre, shortly after finishing the novel at age 14. This was quite a while ago, before I even knew fan fiction was a thing, but I had to write because I needed more time with Jane and Rochester. There was (and still is) something very poignant about their dynamic to me, which I see echoes of in Heybourne. I guess I have a thing for headstrong, intelligent women who transform the lives of troubled men! (In fiction though, not in real life! I don’t need that drama!) I’ve actually written quite a few stories in the Jane Eyre fandom, but none on the scale of my Heybourne stories.
LH
This is making me want to go back to Jane Eyre, which I haven’t read since I studied it at college - full confession I wasn’t a fan as I could never get past Rochester lying to Jane. But I totally see the resonances with Sanditon and your enthusiasm is making me think I should put my prejudices aside and go back to it!
SB
If you do end up going back to it, please let me know what you think! I completely understand the dislike of Rochester, and I suspect if I had first read the novel at a slightly older age I would have been more put off, but as a young teenager I was completely swept away by the romance and that sentiment has stuck with me. I think the things that impress upon us deeply as teenagers tend to get ingrained, for better or worse, and Jane Eyre is a part of my DNA by this point.
LH
What scene by another writer (fanfic, screenwriter, or any writer actually!) are you most jealous of and wish you’d written?
This is an incredibly hard question to answer! I’ve read and watched some stellar stuff over the years, but since I’ve got Jane Eyre on the brain, a scene that stands out is the post-wedding confession scene in the 2011 film adaptation by Moira Buffini. I’m pretty critical when it comes to literary adaptations (it’s the English major/lit snob in me!) but Buffini did an excellent job condensing a very long and emotional part of the book into a poignant, effective and heartbreaking scene. I think it’s the best scene in the entire movie and, in my opinion, an essential scene for the story. (The 2006 Sandy Welch adaptation for the BBC did well with several aspects of the story, but it failed abysmally in this scene, in my opinion, which is such a shame. Fellow Eyreheads, back me up!) I guess it’s not so much that I wish I’d written this scene, but that it stands out to me as a shining example of accessible period writing that I can aspire to.
LH
What is the essence of good writing, for you? What do you always hope people experience in yours?
SB
Good fiction writing, for me, is writing that effectively conveys the emotional experience of a character or characters. For a story to be good, it must have characters that I can care about and connect with on an emotional level. They don’t necessarily have to be likeable, but I need to find them compelling. Ideally, there would also be an interesting plot and a confident and fluent use of language, but in the end it all comes back to character.
When I write I try to put myself in the characters’ position as much as possible so their experiences come across as authentic, and when people read my writing I hope this comes through. I want readers to come away from my stories feeling like they’ve been in another world for a while, living another life. I want my writing to feel immersive and escapist in the best possible way.
LH
What is the essence of good writing, for you? What do you always hope people experience in yours?
SB
Good fiction writing, for me, is writing that effectively conveys the emotional experience of a character or characters. For a story to be good, it must have characters that I can care about and connect with on an emotional level. They don’t necessarily have to be likeable, but I need to find them compelling. Ideally, there would also be an interesting plot and a confident and fluent use of language, but in the end it all comes back to character.
When I write I try to put myself in the characters’ position as much as possible so their experiences come across as authentic, and when people read my writing I hope this comes through. I want readers to come away from my stories feeling like they’ve been in another world for a while, living another life. I want my writing to feel immersive and escapist in the best possible way.
LH
I completely agree and have loved chatting to you - I hope you’ll be able to be around to respond to comments and thanks for taking the time, I appreciate it!
SB
This has been so much fun! I could talk about Heybourne and writing all day, so I’ll definitely look forward to seeing what others have to say!
Comments
Post a Comment