Author Spotlight: Gleena

Posted by Saluki in Author Spotlight | 7 comments

by Saluki

 SarahBella recently recommended a great fic called The Cold War by an amazing author, Gleena.  If you haven’t read it yet, TCW is a fantastic canon, post-BD fic that involves the Cullen family realizing that Aro wants Edward in order to use him as part of a barbaric experiment. The Cullen’s are forced to face the idea that they might have to face the Volturi in battle if they have any hope of retaining their way of life. Gleena weaves the usual band of characters with a couple of original characters and creates a very believable picture of what the Cullen’s lives look like in the year 2026.  The plot is unique and the action is fast paced throughout the story; it really kept me on my toes.

 I found TCW while perusing stories that were nominated in the last round of the Indie TwiFic Awards (it was nominated in the Best Action or Drama category).  I was sucked in from the first and read the entire story in a matter of days.  It had been a long time since I had been so sucked in to a canon, post BD fic that knew that I wanted to interview Gleena for MVF.  We sat down recently for an internet chat that spanned reading, writing, and of course, fan fiction.

After the interview, don’t forget to check out The Cold War.

Saluki: Hey there!

Gleena: Hey!  Sorry I’m late.

Saluki: No problem.  I’ve just been passing the time reading.

Gleena: Good way to go!

Saluki: Definitely – it seems like my pile of books is never ending, so I read every chance I get.

Gleena: It’s definitely my preferred activity.

Saluki: Same here – what are you reading? I guess I should start out by saying thank you for agreeing to this interview!

Gleena: No problem! What am I reading? I have a few things I plan to start soon but which I have not begun as my final grades are due tomorrow.

Saluki: So you’re a teacher?

Gleena: Yes.  The first book I’m currently reading is The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.  The second is The Host.

Saluki:  The Host is excellent! So, how did you discover Twilight?

Gleena: I had heard of it — seen articles in Newsweek, for example, about moms reading it with their teen daughters, but I hadn’t made that leap since I’m definitely not a teen girl or a mom. My mom came back from a trip where my cousin had pushed it on her, so she made me read it over Christmas Break 2008.

Saluki: *lol* SusanAshlea pushed me into reading the books kicking and screaming.  Of course, I then devoured them in a matter of days.

Gleena: I had planned to read it because I wanted to see the movie, but I wasn’t planning to like it! Needless to say, I decided to buy the rest of the saga. My mother said “There’s more books!”  She was ecstatic, and the family didn’t get to talk to either of us for the rest of break.

Saluki: I got my mom and my aunt reading the books. 

Gleena: I left the books with my mom, but ended up buying the ebooks for my phone. My sister then got caught up; my dad was sucked in, then I ended up buying the audio books so dear husband could listen in.

Saluki: Oh, what a trooper!                       

Gleena: And then my brother bit the bullet.

Saluki: My husband has talked about reading them to see what all the hype is about, but I don’t think he’s ready to make the jump.

Gleena: We’re a certifiable twi-family. My husband would never have read them, I think, so I went with the audio books.

 Saluki: As a teacher, have you seen an increase in reading because of the Twi phenomenon?

Gleena: Actually, I teach at a school which is mostly minority students, and they haven’t been that interested in Twilight. A few of them have seen the movie.

 Saluki: I’ve heard mixed reviews from teachers about the impact of Twilight on students. I think anything that gets kids reading and sparks their imagination is a good thing. But, I’ve been a voracious reader since I learned to read.

Gleena: I applaud anything that makes someone read more.  My sister is not a big reader, but she loved the saga.

 Saluki: That is how my brother was with Harry Potter.

Gleena: Back in the old days, I got my brother interested in reading with Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton.

Saluki: So, tell us about your journey into writing fan fiction.

Gleena: I always liked writing, and I have partial manuscripts of original work which are pretty old at this point.  I was stuck in a hotel in Minneapolis for a week in January 2009, and I stumbled across a canon Twilight fanfiction archive. I couldn’t believe the quality of the writing and how amazing some of the stories were. The ones I particularly recall from that week were Dark Side of the Moon by Blondie AKA Robin and 58 nights by eowyn77.  I also read a bunch of stories by sillybella, then I found fanfiction dot net. And I thought, huh, I could probably write a story. But what would I write about?

Saluki: There are so many extremely talented writers out there. I feel so humbled to be among them. I had never written creatively at all until about a year ago.

Gleena: I had heard of fanfiction in the context of Star Trek, but it had a bad connotation.

Saluki: Then, my friend and fellow MFV co-owner SusanAshlea wrote SuperNova, which I helped beta. She inspired me to try writing something of my own. It opened up a whole new world to me.

Gleena: I think the most amazing thing about fanfiction is the community. Second most is the originality of the storylines.

Saluki: I agree – I’ve read some amazing work and met some great friends. Speaking of, I love A Cold War. How did you come up with the idea?

Gleena: I had been thinking about what would or should happen next.  I really wanted to read another book, but all the stories I had read to that point were either AU or missing moments. Nothing forged on ahead, so I took a bunch of storylines which were left unresolved at the end of BD and tried to figure out what might happen next. Specifically, when would the Volturi recover from the shock of “losing” to the Cullens. How and when would they go after Joham? And would anyone figure out that Alice can be confounded by hybrids and werewolves?

Saluki: I really loved that aspect of the story. What happens when Alice is blind?

Gleena: Exactly! Everyone relies on her power so much, it was necessary to blind her for an actual conflict to take place.

Saluki: And it’s not surprising the Volturi would figure that out eventually and use it to their advantage.

Gleena: I figured it would take a while for the information to percolate through Aro’s head, and then he would take action.

Saluki: Because no matter the happy ending of BD, in my opinion, there is no way the Volturi would let the Cullens live happily ever after.

Gleena: And Stephanie Meyer left that door open with a few statements towards the end. After the Volturi leave, the remaining allies speculate about how long it will be before the Volturi recover and what will happen after they do. Edward thinks they’ll pick the allies off, one by one, and Siobhan says when it happens, Alice will warn everyone.

Saluki: I particularly like how you pulled in the characters that we only glimpse in the saga and expound on their relationship with the Cullens.

Gleena: I’m really fascinated with side characters and their potentials.  Don’t get me wrong, my favorite will always be Edward and his relationship with Bella, but the others are very interesting.

Saluki: SusanAshlea is writing Finding Forever, which is based around the Volturi, and it’s wonderful because she has so much creative license.

Gleena: Even a major character like Jasper is barely touched on in the saga. He could really have his own saga — and I think a number of people have done that.

Saluki: Besides Edward and Bella, who are your favorite characters to write? I really love your portrayal of Jacob. I have always been fascinated with his relationship with Edward.

Gleena: Yes! Jake and his antagonistic friendship with Edward is hilarious. I want to write an Odd Couple one-shot with them.

Saluki: Oh, that would be awesome! It is just too easy for him to rile up Edward.

Gleena: After Jake, I think I have really gotten into Jasper a lot, and to a lesser extent Carlisle. And then there’s Tanya.

Saluki: I noticed that you have written all T rated fics – was that a conscious decision on your part?

Gleena: It is in the sense that I think I would combust if I tried to write anything higher rated. I don’t think that’s my particular gift.  I wanted to stay, especially with TCW and Acts of Aggression (the sequel to TCW), in the spirit of the original series. I have tried to confine myself to the same level of “ratedness”.

Saluki: In a fandom so dominated by smut, do you feel like your fics don’t get the reads they might get if they were rated higher?

Gleena: I think that’s definitely true, but the fandom is also dominated by ExB romances (with smut added in), and I haven’t really written any romances. If you’re looking for primarily a romance, an ExB centric story, I haven’t written that, and I’m not sure I will because it isn’t the story popping into my head.

Saluki: That is one thing I really have enjoyed about TCW and AoA – they are very fast paced and plot driven. Sometimes, I think there is too much smut for smut’s sake and the plot is secondary.

Gleena: I like fluff as much as the next reader, but I really want a reason to read a story. The books I read outside of fanfic are mysteries, fantasies, and science fiction.

Saluki: Exactly – and I’ve read so much ff at this point, I need an engaging story to catch my attention.

Gleena: Although, sometimes some ExB fluff is exactly what I want to read for a few minutes.

Saluki: I am a total ExB shipper, so I do enjoy my share of fluff! What fics would you recommend to someone new to the Twilight ff community?

Gleena: That’s a hard question because the fandom is split into so many genres now, but I would recommend canon fics first.

Saluki: What are some of your faves?

 Gleena: I would go with the authors I mentioned earlier along with my pals edward-bella-harry-ginny, Justine Lark, The Singing Girl, Elise Shaw, and Persephone’s Folly. Even though most of the stories are short, I have really loved the canon stories by those authors. A Coming of Age and No Longer Alone are not short, but they are so amazing that I use them to fill in canon when I I’m writing (those are both by Elise Shaw).

Saluki: I’ll definitely have to check them out. I’m in a canon phase right now.

Gleena: I think those are all on my faves list. I have to confess, I like to see the public faves list on ff and miss it on the other sites. I also really like the AH stories by Staceygirl AKA Jackbauer.

Saluki: I agree – I’ve found so many great stories by checking out the fave list of different authors.

 Gleena: It’s nice to know what your favorite authors think is a good read. One thing I enjoyed at first, but now it’s hard to find a new idea in the genre is the AU New Moon story.  Edward left, but Bella was pregnant. Edward left and never came back. Edward left and came back sooner, etc. One thing I think it indicates is that, while everyone (I’m generalizing) complains about NM and the absence of Edward, a lot of people feel the immense drama of that storyline.

Saluki: I think it was my favorite book to be honest.

Gleena: It was a very daring story, IMO. And the effects of that book make the rest of the series happen, in a way.

Saluki: It really does. What did you think about the movie?

Gleena: Even though a lot of the story leaves you a little uncomfortable.

Saluki: Did you think Chris Weitz did the book justice?

Gleena: I enjoyed the movie a lot. I didn’t think the fight between Felix and Edward was canon-realistic (Edward is too fast for that).   I thought the reveal that he still loved Bella came too fast. .But otherwise, I was pretty satisfied, and even those two complaints are nit-picky.

Saluki: *lol*  I think she forgave him too quickly, but that was a book complaint too.

Gleena: Well, canon-Bella does forgive. I think if you take vampire mating for eternity seriously, it makes more sense.

Saluki: And, she is 17 and at that age, we tend not to be as jaded.

Gleena: Also, in the book, she is with him for over 24 hours before the reveal occurs. She has time to realize how he still makes her feel. And he was just saved from death, which tends to make you less angry at the individual.

Saluki: Right.

Gleena: I think she forgives him, but she stands her ground with him by bringing up the vote.  That’s a new development, in a way.

 Saluki: True – she doesn’t let him off the hook without a bit of groveling. Bringing this conversation back around to fan fic, how long do you anticipate Acts of Aggression will be when completed?

 Gleena: Oh, my that’s a good question.

Saluki:  Do you plan out your story chapter by chapter or, do you just kind of go with the flow of your writing?

Gleena: I have an outline, and I’m on track with the plot of the outline but not the original planned length. I have a tendency to get into a lot of details when I’m writing.  I see the action in sort of movie-format in my head, and I try to convey that, but it makes it hard to jump time.

Saluki: I’ve never done an outline. The characters just tend to talk to me and I go where they tell me.

Gleena: My outline is very sparse, but I need to have a good idea where I’m going with a story like this — I need certain developments to happen at certain points.  I don’t know how obvious the details are, but I try to build them in as I go along. The actual dialog and minute-by-minute action is definitely a go-with-the-flow type of thing.

Saluki: I’m really looking forward to seeing the drama in AoA unfold.

Gleena: Oh, me too! I hope it evolves on “paper” the same way it has in my head! As an example, I had planned the Egypt trip sometime during TCW (is that too much of a spoiler?).

Saluki: *lol*  I don’t think so.

Gleena: I had planned for the confrontation with Alec and Felix before I started writing Ch.1 — and I had parts of that written out ahead of time, Bella “reaching out” for Edward was planned long ago, but some of Benjamin’s actions occurred to me only while I was writing the chapter. The anniversary and the trip coinciding was also a happy accident I discovered while I was checking my timelines.

me: Again, I really enjoyed TCW and can’t wait to read your next chapter of AoA! It was a pleasure chatting with you. Thanks for sharing with us!

Gleena: No problem!  It was really fun!

I love chatting with fellow authors.  It’s great to share our writing styles and swap favorite fan fics.  If there is an author you think deserves to be in the spotlight, send your suggestion to admin@myvampfiction.com. 

The girls at MVF are creating a list of books we’ve read on Shelfari – if you want to see my list, go to http://www.shelfari.com/saluki.