Interview: Flynn White

As I'm sure that you know by know, I don't accept suggestions of authors to interview on here. If you want to suggest an author, please do it here. If you want to see a list of authors who have already been interviewed, you can do that here.

This time around, I interviewed the wonderful Flynn White. Couple of his stories are Schoolboy Slut and Sin in My Heart. Both of the stories are something that I highly recommend, so go read them.

Now, let's get to the fun stuff! Here is the interview. I hope that you enjoy it. :)

1. What's the meaning behind your username?
-I just changed it from semolina (which I got from the song I Am the Walrus) to Flynn White. Flynn White (aka Walt Jr.) is a character on Breaking Bad.

2. How long have you been on Mibba?
-Since April 9, 2009, I think.

3. Have you ever used any other website(s)?
-I started out on Quizilla and I've posted my stories on tumblr, figment, quotev, and wattpad. I still use some of those, but Mibba is the only site that I post all of my writing on.

4. When did you start writing? Why?
-I always wrote short stories when I was a child and I was always making up stories in my head and with my barbies. I first started posting my writing online when I was 12, when I wrote a Beatles fanfiction and posted it on Quizilla. I guess the reason is because I've always had a hectic life and writing is the perfect escape. It's the only outlet that allows you to create a whole different world where anything you want can happen. I never felt like I had control over anything that happened to me, so maybe writing is a way for me to feel like I have some control. It's just something that comes naturally to me. Probably the only thing. It just feels right, like its what I'm supposed to be doing. And that was my attempt at psychoanalyzing myself.

5. What are some of your stories and what are they about?
-Most of the stories I have posted are fanfictions, and those are mainly just pure smut. And the reason I write smut a lot isn't because I'm horny and just want to write something sexy, but its because I actually find sex really intriguing. It's really strange and interesting if you think about it, how two people can trust one another to do something so intimate. The only fanfic I have posted that's not super smutty is called Sin in My Heart, which is about Jimmy Page using witchcraft to get a girl to fall in love with him. It's actually the story I update most frequently, because if i don't I will get harrassed incessantly on tumblr.

Besides that, I have a story called No Direction Home, which is probably the best story I have posted. It's a story set during the depression that revolves around a rich girl and a poor girl that fall in love. There's also Hum, which is about a blind boy that has a shitty home life falling for a black girl that his racist parents don't approve of. I guess I'm into that whole Romeo/Juliet thing lately. I also have a few more original stories that I plan on writing in the future as well, including one for NaNoWriMo that should be very interesting...

6. What's your inspiration for writing?
-What inspired me to write in the first place was music. I started listening to The Beatles and Pink Floyd and stuff, and it was like I just naturally fell into writing because of them somehow. You know how you have soulmates? Well it was like I found my soul bands and they led me to find what I'm meant to be doing. If that makes any sense. They made me realize that being creative can be cool, I guess, and not just something that they try to force you to do in school. Also, finding bands that I could relate to so much, gave me the confidence to putting the ideas I'd had in my head for so long into action.

But if you mean what inspires each individual story, its usually the product of fantasizing. I'll fantasize about the perfect person and then a story that revolves around them eventually comes. I used to get inspired by movies a lot, and I still do sometimes. I'll be watching a movie and halfway through I'll think, "Well what if this happened instead of that?" and it'll be a really cool idea so I'll have to write it out. Songs inspire me, famous people, random people I see on the street, things that my family or friends say. Anything can spark inspiration really.

7. Do you like writing original fiction more? Or do you like to write fan fiction?
-I like both for different reasons. I like original fiction because its more serious and its something that I can actually be proud of and show to my family and stuff; plus its also eligible to get published. Besides, I have complete creative control over original stories and literally anything I want to happen can happen, and the characters can be completely my own. Now that I think of it, I guess I like writing original fiction better, its just that fanfiction can be a really fun distraction from life and an outlet for fantasy.

Luckily for me, at least in the past, people have seemed to show equal interest (if not more interest in my original stories) in both my fanfictions and original fictions.

8. What's your favorite fandom to write about? (Is fandom the correct term I'm looking for?)
-I personally don't like the word fandom. In my opinion, it turns a band's/actor's/writer's work into some exclusive 'club' that's almost a joke, rather than a serious, beautiful piece of art. Maybe that's dramatic, but that's just my personal opinion. But if I must put it into those terms, I guess my favorite to write about is the 'classic rock fandom'? I hate the term 'classic rock' too, but that's what everyone else calls it. I've also written many, many things outside of that fandom, though.

9. Do you have any rituals when you write? If you listen to music, what do you listen to?
-I don't really have any rituals, to be honest. I used to always listen to music when I write, but I think that because I love music so much that I end up turning most of my attention to the music so my writing suffers. So in the past year or so, I've tried to write in silence. I find that my writing comes out a lot better when I don't listen to music. But a lot of the time, I do end up listening to music anyway because its just a lot more fun. I'll listen to anything when I write, whatever I'm into at the moment. Whether its Nirvana or TLC.

10. When starting a story, what do you do? Do you use an outline? Or do you just kind of write as you go?
-I'm the type of person who hates routine and planning and all that shit. I find it quite boring to just make an outline and then write it out. I would never be able to finish a story that way. I would get too bored knowing exactly what was going to happen next. I just daydream about the plot/characters and I always have a general idea of the big picture of what's going to happen.

11. What is your favorite genre to write about?
-Most of my stories are set in the past, so I guess that would be considered historical fiction. All of my stories include some element of romance. A lot of them are sort of horror/paranormal related. I honestly don't think about the genre of what I'm writing, so I have no idea.

12. What's your least favorite genre to write about?
-I would hate to write anything that's too action-oriented because I suck at that. I suck at describing dramatic events and that kind of thing. Also, I'd never even attempt to write comedy because my jokes... don't exactly convey in writing (I have a really stupid sense of humor).

13. What's your favorite story to read on here?
-Most of my favorite stories on here are old and their authors haven't logged on in years, so it wouldn't make much sense to mention them. Two that I really like that are still being updated are Bits of Earth and Rose Dust, which is about Tate Langdon, and Dark and Dirty Like You've Never Seen, which is about Frank Iero.

14. Which of your stories are the most fun to write?
-My Jimmy Page story is actually a lot of fun to write. It's the farthest I've gotten in a story in years, and it just comes really easy to me for some reason.

15. Which of your stories are the hardest to write?
-Hum is actually hard to write because I want it to be perfect, so I keep procrastinating updating it.

16. Do you ever run into writer's block? What do you do to get over it?
-I can't exactly say that I ever run out of ideas (I usually have too many), its just that sometimes I get lazy or depressed and I have no motivation to write. My advice for that would be to turn back to whatever got you into writing in the first place, and it will probably inspire you just like it did the first time.

17. Is there any authors on here that inspire you to write?
-witch (we always talk about our ideas together), BaconTommyVicious (she encouraged me to write one of my stories), La Notte Dei Demoni. (I love her stories and their layouts), LoVe Is ReAl (has encouraged me), Charity M. Lewis (gives me feedback), vaduva (great writer), Join the Masquerade (I love her stories), and a lot more.

18. Do you research what you write?
-Yes, and I'm always paranoid that I've gotten something wrong.

19. Do you like to experiment with your writing?
-Pretty much every story of mine is an experiment. I never write what I'm comfortable with. Probably because I'm not comfortable with anything.

20. Are there any authors that inspire you? (novels, books, etc.)
-Of course. I love J.D. Salinger, Stephen King, Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen, and a shit ton more I can't think of off the top of my head.

21. Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers?
-I don't think I have any consistent readers, unfortunately. I used to, at least.

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Thank you so much for doing this. It really does mean a lot to me that you took the time to answer all of my questions.