Mibbian of the Week: joelkanitz

Eve (known as joelkanitz) is a long time Mibbian who, while mainly being active within the fanfiction areas of the site, has dabbled in a little bit of everything. In this week’s edition of Mibbian of the Week, we get to learn a little bit more about her!

How long have you been on Mibba?

I think I first joined Mibba in 2010 or so to read an NC-17 story, but I forgot all about it and never verified my account! I think I tried again in 2012/2013, but forgetting I had an account at all gave me a whole lot of issues. Luckily a very nice moderator for the site helped me out (I think it was Katie) and I've been using the site ever since!

How often do you log on? How long would you say you spend on the site when you do log on?

I log on a good few times a week, if not every day! Sometimes it's just to check something but I usually like to stay logged in on a tab on my laptop for several hours if I'm writing; having the site open and ready to post something seems to motivate me a bit better.

Which part of the site are you most active in?

I've only ever posted fanfiction to this website in terms of stories, but I've also posted a few poems, some reviews, some books, a couple of blog posts, I started up a contest in the forums, and I've published a few story layouts in the past... trying to dabble in a little bit of everything! But I'm definitely most active in writing fanfiction stories.

How often do you read stories and poems? How often do you comment or recommend the things you read?

I don't have as much time to read things as I would like to these days, but I'm trying my best to make more time for it. As I said, I write fanfiction, so I read it too! I've only ever read fanfiction on here rather than original stories, and I've only ever looked at a handful of poems, but I'm thinking I might try to branch out a bit more. Fanfiction stories are still my main interest though—I see a lot of them because I help to run a Tumblr blog that promotes fanfiction for the band All Time Low, and we get a lot of Mibba submissions. When it comes to recommending stories, I try to reserve that for the ones that I really loved and would definitely read again, but I comment 99% of the time. Even if a story wasn't to my taste, I try my hardest to comment even something nice and simple, because an author still put work into it and they deserve a comment.

What do you like about fanfiction opposed to original fiction in terms of reading and writing it?

I guess I've always been exposed to fanfiction when it comes to online reading more than original fiction—I associate original fiction with books, whereas when I was a pre-teen, I accidentally stumbled into the world of fanfiction for a band I enjoyed, and I got hooked on it. Since my time for reading is also now limited, I feel like it's easiest to divide that time by keeping original fiction in the 'real world' (books) and fanfiction in the online world. I have read smatterings of original fiction online though! I just usually find what I'm looking for better in a bookstore, and I can sometimes find it difficult to relate to an original character, too, so it takes me longer to get into the story. Whereas with fanfiction, I already sort of 'know' the characters—I'm familiar with them, I like them, I want to know them.

What draws you to the that things you read?

A captivating summary is always the thing that can pull a reader in, so if I see that, I'm definitely intrigued. A catchy or unusual title could also do the same thing, and in terms of fanfiction, sometimes an unusual pairing or 'crack!ship' (a ship never normally seen) can do the trick. When it comes to Mibba, I'm far more inclined to read a story with a really nice layout too.

Tell us about a few of your favourite stories/works by other Mibbians

I have a handful of favourites on Mibba! One I really enjoy is user kickthepj who writes All Time Low fanfiction. Her name is Emily and she's an amazing writer, even if she doesn't think so. I can honestly say every single thing she's ever written has been thoroughly enjoyed by me. I'm also a big fan of user Forever Young. who also writes All Time Low fanfiction, sometimes with unusual pairings from other bands. Her story The Devil Wears Prada (based on the film starring Anne Hathaway) is excellent, but I haven't even caught up with the last few chapters yet! I have no doubts it'll be great though. She's just started another story called Don't You Go which I'm really enjoying. I think those two writers are my top favourites on Mibba but there's definitely sprinklings of others I like a lot.

Are you working on anything on Mibba right now?

I am working on things for Mibba! I have a bunch of stories on the go, all of which I intend to publish to Mibba, and I entered a bunch of contests so I'll be writing mostly for those!

What has been your favourite Mibba experience (something that has happened to you on the site)?

I'm not sure if I have a favourite Mibba experience... Sometimes getting a really lovely comment on something I wrote is enough to brighten my entire day, and I would count that as a great experience on the site. People putting in the time and effort to form a good comment when they really enjoyed something you wrote is so lovely, and I'm forever grateful for that; especially if it's a writer you already really admire. I also remember a couple of years ago a moderator told me they wanted to feature a chaptered story of mine as story of the week but it never came to anything, they never got back to me, haha. It was a compliment nonetheless.

All of the food on Earth has disappeared and you're stuck eating your current favourite meal forever! What meal is that?

Oh no! My favourite meal changes so often. I think a solid favourite for years now, however, has been sweet and sour chicken stir-fry with vegetables, so I'll go with that! Fingers crossed I don't get sick of it any time soon.

Lastly, anything you want to say to your fellow Mibbians?

I guess I'd like to say to Mibbians to spread the word of the website and bring in even more active members! Seeing new faces comment on my stories or post the type of fanfiction I read or comment in the forums is lovely. And just remember to be kind and respectful to everyone, whether they're a new member or old.

You can also find Eve on Twitter, Instagram and AO3.

Special thanks to lily hughes. and cleopatra. for editing!