Writing With: o'callaghan

o’callaghan is a great writer majoring in fan fictions. The stories featured in this week’s article are Every Lonely Place, featuring Harry Styles of One Direction, and On the Brightside, featuring Christofer Drew of Never Shout Never.

Every Lonely Place

“I was actually getting into One Direction at the time I was writing this. I always heard about Harry Styles being in different relationships in media and being portrayed as a womanizer was why I decided to write something that was completely different from what everyone made him out to be.”

The story revolves around Harry and the love of his life. However, the harder you rise in love, the higher is your fall. A major plot twist can be found which will catch every reader by surprise. “I had fun thinking of all the ideas, asking myself, ‘Would people get this?,’ ‘Woah, is anyone gonna think Harry is __?,’ or ‘Will anyone be mind blown by this ending?’”

“There aren’t many characters in this and it’s mostly just Harry throughout the story, but I do love Louis the most. I like that although he’s not in every single paragraph or every other paragraph, when you do see (in this case read) him, you can see how much he cares about Harry’s well being and wants to be there for his friend. He’s like the type of friend we all want, someone who cares about how we’re feeling and all. That despite how much you push them away like Harry or don’t talk to them as often as you’d or they’d like to, they’re always gonna be there for you.”

On the Brightside

“I don’t see a lot of fics of Christofer Drew and I always write romantic stories so I decided, why not try writing something new and different for once? This is one of the few non-romantic fics I’ve written, and it was definitely one I had fun with. I also wanted to address certain topics that I don’t see very often but also incorporate a part of what I usually write.”

The certain topics addressed were parenthood, and the difficulties and victories in raising a child as a single parent, and sexuality. “I appreciate Christofer being accepting of his son’s (Rockwell) gender and sexual orientation and being there for him as much as he can despite being a musician having to tour constantly. I respect him as a single father, as I have been growing up with a single mother. And Rockwell, he’s just the really nice guy who gets hate, but at the end of the day he’s still gonna be him and he’s not going to change.”

With this story, Mariela went out of her comfort zone and did something different. “I never really write with OCs. It’s nice creating someone, putting a little piece of yourself but also someone you would want to be.”

“When dealing with writer’s block on a story, I always just leave it and move to different stories until I eventually have the energy to write that chapter, [laughs]. The way I start a story is to get comfortable, have a drink nearby or a snack, and listen to some music or have something playing on TV (because I can’t stand working in silence).”

Since she joined Mibba three years ago, she says, “I love being able to write and share my writing with everyone, seeing all the feedback that makes me feel more confident and a better writer, meeting new people whether they have the same interests as myself or not, being apart of different fandoms and joining new ones, and all the stories here. There are so many amazing writers on here, I just enjoy reading everything since we’re all so different when it comes to our writing.”

Not exploring her stories is a fool’s errand. Mariela has beautiful plots that seem simple at first glance yet only deepens and keeps you more captive the more you read them.

Special thanks to cleopatra. and silent hearts. for editing!