Coffee with whatcatydidnext :
When finally Caty appeared on Wattpad I was very pleased, I had read her Ricky Deeming story two years ago on livejournal ; a character from George Gently first episode. Fanfiction is for me a way to explore a character that is least shown and developed on screen, Ricky is where I started.
I’m too sexy for my gloves, too sexy for my bike, too sexy for the screen by far!
I had previously asked and explained the technically benefits which straight away went over her head. Of course was I tickled pink reading her commentary when she discovered she could be downloading a story via the application on her phone instead of the mobile browser!
LOL Kudos to Wattpad, recently a pop-up appears on your mobile screen with the option to open the story in the app, it can’t get anymore easy (sometimes it doesn’t link the first time)
What that means is that one doesn’t need internet access beyond the initial download of the story. And for those unfamiliar with how Wattpad works. Once you make an account and fan an author you will get notified when a new chapter has been posted. All that is needed is hit the update button on top of your library list and WOOSH you watch a new chapter streaming into your story. That singular moment one needs internet access.
When I contact her for a little chat she checked out my blog posts from last year, I almost forgot the most important question and discover some surprises!
whatcatydidnext: Hello sweetie, just been laughing at the vids. At the mo I’m sort of caught up in work stuff and quite exhausted by RL. I had an accident about six months ago and broke a couple of vertebra, still causing a bit of a problem. I can’t sit for very long, stupid really. And I don’t mind having a chat, but remember I do talk far too much.
Fanny: hope laughing is not painful with your injury đŚ I’m guilty of talking too much myself so no fear! Maybe we need to spike our coffee! How DO you like your coffee?
whatcatydidnext: Itâs my firm belief that laughter cures ills, brings down tyrants, and if you’re really lucky, makes not winning the lottery easier to live with. Itâs included in my physio therapyâŚ
Ooooh, spiked coffee, delicious. At this point I should prob say clever things about âArabica beansâ, âslow roastingâ and the like, but in all honesty itâs two teaspoons of whatever instant youâve got, a dash of milk, no sugar, thank you. Oh, have we started? I can do ‘sensible’?
Fanny: We have! And please leave sensible at the door & keep your madcap on!
whatcatydidnext: Good, because sensible can be a bit of a strain…
Fanny: LOL good thing me and sensible don’t get along very well either! Perhaps that’s why I loved The Road so much? If my memory doesn’t fail me (which it does often these days) it was my first fanfic .
WhatCatydidnext: Really, oooh, sorry. It was a wee bit umm…rude.
Fanny: LOL I’d call it straightforward đ
whatcatydidnext: Ricky is possibly my favourite RA character. We actually see so very little of him, but his personality is writ large, thereâs just a feast of possibilities with him. I did go a bit OTT with the Russian thing, but it was meant to be a lot longer. Hari, Ricky, and Piri were supposed to go into a Cold War spy thing. Complete with daring escape over the Berlin Wall. But it became obvious that it was really a dysfunctional love story.
Fanny: I certainly wouldn’t mind reading a follow up on Ricky’s adventures LOL what a tease you are! I’m so glad you finally figured the app out on your phone! Can I feature you as my techy guinea pig? That was my main motivation for spreading the news in the RA fanfic world ; Wattpad’s mobile’s reading convenience .. meanwhile you have found your way around the community on Wattpad.
whatcatydidnext: Wattpad, what can I say? Interesting.
I do think they need to sort out their categories; the historical one is more hysterical than historical!
It’s my bugbear with this site, maybe I’m just too anal, but I do like things where they ought to be. Itâs not history just because the women wear long frocks and all the men are knights. I think âThe Tudorsâ has a lot to answer for!
There is some excellent work on Dreamer fiction, so many really good stories that you don’t see anywhere else, it’s a shame. I can never fathom out how it works. Some writers are so good, professional quality in fact, but they don’t get mentioned in the blogs. Bookishy for instance, brilliant stuff…
Fanny: I remember the historical fiction category was created fall 2010 not long after Charlotte and other RA fic writers started posting. But as you say it’s not strictly monitored – not enough Wattpad ambassadors for that. How do other sites monitor those things?
whatcatydidnext: Lots of people put in stuff on willy-nilly though. It worries me, anything thatâs as unregulated as it seems to be, is heading for something unfortunate. Copyright laws have ignored fanfics because no money is made, but once people are getting paid, however little, accountants will come out of the woodwork. Could spell the end of a very pleasurable activity.
Fanny: Anyway to get back on topic you choose to write RA characters with a dark slant versus a soft romantic one – particularly John Thornton in “Master of the Mill” was shocking! *note the hysteria in my voice* LOL
WhatCatydidnext: Oh, yes, John. I heard recently that it upset a few people. I’m so sorry about that, I just saw him as a man of the world. He kept his family inviolate, didn’t use his factory girls as a sexual resource, as some did. John was an honourable man, but he was very much a man. I just gave him an ongoing and fairly commitment free affair with the more than willing Ann. I possibly loosened him up a wee bit, in the book, heâs proud of his self discipline, but not self-righteous. I reasoned that it meant he had an outlet. I also thought a 30 plus male virgin living with his mum, with the weight of the world on his shoulders, would be more a candidate for a breakdown, than a romantic hero. As I remember Mrs G didnât specifically make him a virgin, nor did the writers of the TV version. And darling do you think an inexperienced man could have kissed Margaret that wayâŚHmmm?
Fanny: LOL no that was not just a peck!!
whatcatydidnext: It was not! Took a lot of work to get just right if the interview was anything to go by.
Fanny: Yes! “that was a bit of fun” if I recall well, is what Danielle said đ Actually I liked how you fleshed out Ann a bit – made her a perfect opposite of Margaret.
WhatCatydidnext: From the look on her face at the meeting on the street, the party, and then clinging to John’s arm outside the church? I just thought, she likes to be seen. Fanny with more umph! (If you’ll pardon the comparison dear?)
its whats under those pettycoats that matters
Fanny: btw I embarasingly discovered she’s not in the book while at a bookclub meeting – I obviously hadn’t made it to the end of the book then – though I had finished the book a year before – typical confusion between book & adaptation .. Anyway you’ve been writing a long time now I think and have been hoping to get yourself published. Best of luck for the future!
whatcatydidnext: An embarrassingly long time actually, I might get good sometime soon…Might have another go at the publishing thing. Might try Kindle, I do have a completed contemporary romance sitting in my dump file. Funnily, it’s not at all dark, rather fluffy in fact, and it ends happily. Now thereâs a thing!
Fanny: self-publishing is the thing these days and with social media at your hand you would be iressistable not to buy đ FLUFFY and funny you say? I don’t believe it!! LOL
I have 2 more questions I’m asking everyone: what’s your preferred mode of writing: Pen & Paper or wordprocessing
What’s your preferred time of writing?
whatcatydidnext: Ummm, well, I write longhand in little notebooks first, then type it up, about four or five times till it sounds right. As I work early, late and night shifts, there really isnât a preferred time, itâs just a matter of my head and the time being in conjunction.
Fanny: Sure! In hindsight I almost forgot one important question : what got you started with writing and is RA based characters your first foray into fan fiction ?
whatcatydidnext: I was talking to my sister about this a while ago; she said she could remember me writing a story for âThe legend Jesse Jamesâ. It was a TV series starring Christopher Jones, in the early 1960âs I think. As Iâm 59 now, I would have been in my early teens then. Took my time with that fanfic!
So, Christopher Jones actually started it, but itâs RAâs interpretation of the characters he plays that has fuelled my imagination. It wasnât North and South that got me hooked, I had seen Robin Hood, thought his double act with Keith Allan was the most interesting thing in it.
GiZ, you’re gonna pay for that tooth!
Then I was off work with a cold and stuck being miserable in front of afternoon telly. âMoving Onâ came on, and that last speech was a stunner. That was it, watched everything I could find. Then I came across Bookishyâs âFalloutâ on the net and discovered fanfics, it was all downhill from thereâŚ
take me with you
Romana55: John Mulligan : You’re heart is as black as night
Fanny: Wow! I had to sit on that info for awhile .. Mulligan was the drop that spilled your literary bucket .. again! Have to say that twinkle in his eye that completely died at that last scene … stunned me too. Would it be fair to say you are very skilled honing in to the dark side of things?
Have to say I’m not holding my breath for my youngest sister who entertained us with pages of storyboard about princes Gwendoline đ
whatcatydidnext: Keep your eyes on Princess Gwendoline, she might turn into something else!!! Don’t know about skilled, but Iâm fascinated by what draws people together. Sometimes itâs not pretty, but these people fit, they donât make each other happy, they make each other whole. And no bad boy is going to become a ânew manâ for the love of a good woman. Thatâs a concept that has kept women marrying the wrong men for centuries. You canât change a person, but they can grow. New experiences bring new insights, new understanding. I like to think my characters grow up as their story goes on. And I donât think you can have a happy ending, as nothing actually ends. Personally, I want to know theyâll go on loving, having fun, building their lives, fighting fortune for their little bit of heaven, thatâs not an end. I want to look through their eyes and see a future.
For some reason Harry Kennedy and John Standring, although they are utterly charming men, donât ring my bells, too nice I suspect. I can remember someone once asking why Harry left London when he did, was he an accountant for a crime boss or something???? Sorry got carried away againâŚ
Liked the vid, there’s a Nine Inch Nails one that I think says it all about Guy.
warning: explicit lyrics
Principessa55: Guy of Gisborne Closer Season 3 (Robin Hood BBC)
Fanny: Amen to that! I’ve heard some speculating about that too though in VoD he was still working in London on the weekends. The kindle project could easily get started after fanstRA – but what tickled me pink is witnessing when you discovered the use of the Wattpad app! LOL Finally the reason why I invited you and others before – how long have you been reading on your phone now?
whatcatydidnext: Seem like forever now. I remember you trying to explain it to me…I am such a technophobe. when I got the smartphone my son laughed and posted photos on Facebook of me using it! Mind you he did that when I shaved my head. I think they may have a book running on what MrsT will do next, where the pen. name comes from ;))
Fanny: Thanks for a great chat, look forward to spreading the news about your publication whether its wicked OR fluffy! I”m usually very sweet and nice but I can’t resist ending with a wicked fanvid đ
Kitsunify: No Regrets – Guy of Gisborne
Sunday, March 18th
Last, but definitely not least! Freeform: Agzyshares with us her favorite Armitage paper doll â˘Ana Cris examines Lucas North’s tattoos through Maori tattoo culture ⢠Jas Rangoon premieres her new John Bateman fanvid ⢠In fandom, jazzbaby1thinks RA fandom is just groovy! ⢠C.S. Winchester asks “naughty or nice?” in a picspam ⢠Mrs. E.B. Darcy thinks about Armitage’s future after TH to wrap up the Hobbit chain ⢠Jo Ann offers the last King Richard Armitage post, on Richard III and the Tudors ⢠Infanfic, Maria Grazia reviews and compares works by the authors she’s interviewed ⢠Gratiana Lovelace wraps up the event with a guest post by Melissa the Mouse! ⢠Links to all FanstRA 3 posts appear here at the end of each day
DistRActed in ReAlity 