Featured Story of the Week: The Thrill is Gone
Overflowing Ashtray is very passionate about her writing on Mibba. When I asked her about her original fiction, The Thrill is Gone, she was more than happy to answer my questions!
Give us a brief summary of The Thrill is Gone.
It started off with a punch. Not a figurative punch to the heart that was the result of locking eyes from across the room at just the right moment, but a literal punch to the nose that left him with a nasty bruise and injured ego. Had Paulina known who he was, things probably would’ve gone differently, but when the American Rhodes Scholar first met him, she hadn’t a clue that he was third in line to the throne, all she knew was that he was a stranger that had snuck up on her in the early hours of the morning. It wasn’t until later that she realized she’d physically assaulted Prince Harry. Mortified by the discovery, she hoped never to cross paths with him again, but fate had other plans. It threw them together at a polo match, at a market, at a club, and after so many run ins and conversations, Harry grew so interested in her that he asked her out on a proper date. And that spiraled into a full on love affair. Now, in a serious relationship, they find themselves forced to navigate through his role as a member of the British Royal Family, the press that seems determined to follow their every waking moment, and the fact that when her time as a Rhodes Scholar is up, she’ll be forced to return to America.
How did you choose the title for 'The Thrill is Gone'?
Whenever I choose a title, I try to find a song that’ll tie in with what I want to accomplish in a story, with where the plot is going to go. So, I picked B.B. King’s, The Thrill is Gone, and while it hasn’t tied in just yet, it will when I get close to finishing the story. Hah. I guess I may have just given some spoilers, but I don’t feel too bad about that since I'm turning this story into a trilogy. But if you don’t want to have an idea of what’s going to go down, then try not to give the song a listen.
What inspired you to write this story?
Hmm, well I’ve been writing this story for a little over a year now, and while I can’t precisely say what inspired me to start writing it, I can say that I’ve always had a bit of a crush on Prince Harry. There’s something about gingers that I just adore and the fact that he’s royalty only made my crush even more massive, but I guess I felt that there weren’t enough Prince Harry stories out when I first started and I just wanted to contribute my own piece of fanfiction to the royal fandom on Mibba.
How long have you been working on The Thrill is Gone?
According to my information page, I have been working on for fourteen months.
On average, how much time do you spend writing this story each week?
I’ve never actually given this much thought, but I suppose that I spend about three or so hours on it a week. And then, I sometimes get struck with ideas for it throughout the day and I’ll scribble down in a notebook or make a note on my blackberry, but actually sit down time for writing is three or so hours.
What is your favorite thing about writing The Thrill is Gone?
My favorite thing about writing this story is writing the formal dialogue. I know some people might think it stuff, but I'm a sucker for Jane Austenesque dialogue, and being able to slip in that style of speaking, and throwing in a few insults worded in that manner, and very polite flirting is just fun. I just realized how boring that makes me sound, but I'm a sucker for it. Another thing that I love is the character. I love working with Paulina, and bringing her to life, she’s very strong, but at the same time there’s vulnerability to her. She has her flaws, and she’s trying to fit in with this crowd that expects perfection and she’s just . . . she’s rad. I love her, and my readers seem to have taken well to her, so I'm really pleased and humbled by that.
What is the most challenging thing about writing it?
The most challenging thing is trying to keep it somewhat in line with Prince Harry’s life. While I am taking creative freedoms with his timeline, I suppose I’d call it, I still want to hit important dates for him. And while early on that hasn’t been too much of an issue, later on, as the story progresses, I’ll have to work around his training to become a pilot and royal duties. But as much of a pain as that sometimes is, its also fun to find new ways of placing Paulina within the context of his life.
Have you ever experienced writer's block with The Thrill is Gone? If so, how did you overcome it?
I have experienced writer’s block plenty of times. Sometimes I’ll have a free morning or night, and I’ll sit down planning on completing a chapter, but then I’ll find myself completely uninspired to do so. What I do when that happens is move onto another story. I have a lot of currently active stories, so it’s easy to distract myself with writing other characters, and then I’ll forget that I was freaking out about not having inspiration for Harry, and the inspiration will strangely enough just come back.
Do you write with an outline, or just wing it?
I don’t have a very detailed outline, but I do have a few events scribbled down and the dates that accompany them. But most chapters I just wing it.
Do you have any pre/post writing rituals?
I love to drink coffee. So my pre writing ritual is to drink a cup of decaf while I go through the Prince Harry tag on Tumblr and listen to some Ella Fitzgerald, BB King, Pink Floyd, and Dean Martin. I know you didn’t ask for rituals that I do while I write, but I’ll just add that to this. My only actual ritual is to listen to classical music. I can’t write while I hear songs with words, something about that just throws me off, so I have my classical music going on Itunes, and I just slip into the writing. I believe my only post writing ritual is going to bed. I go to university and work, so I only really write late at night, I usually have a chance to properly get on the computer and do some writing after ten at night, so by the time I'm done with a chapter its two or three in the morning and my eyes are begging to be closed. So that’s my post writing ritual.
Is there anything you would like to say to your readers?
I make it a habit to tell my readers that I love and appreciate them. In almost every update I thank them for taking the time to read my story and to go on this fanfiction journey with Prince Harry and Paulina. There are a lot of stories there, there’s a grip of Prince Harry stories on mibba, and they’re great, they’re enjoyable, and transport readers into a new world. So to know that my readers take the time to read my story, to leave comments and subscribe when they have all those other options out there, is truly humbling, while at the same time it’s a pretty huge ego boost. But yeah, I’d just want to tell them that I love them very much, and that if they ever want to see something happen in the story, that they should leave a comment or message me directly, and maybe I can weave that into the story.
