Meet Jackie! Known as ‘j_writes,’ she is a 30-year-old fanfiction author and fandom member from Alabama, U.S.A.
What is your favorite thing you have written?
This would have to be ‘The Way It Should Be’ and my collab with Lecrit, ‘Love Is Not a Victory March.’ I know the topics are not everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s okay, but these stories have helped me a lot. They’ve helped me grow, and I’ve put so much of myself into those two stories that I can’t help but be proud of them. It’s my most honest work.
What was the one thing that inspired you to write fic?
Malec. Maybe that’s too obvious an answer, but I don’t have a better one. Their love and the way they complement each other so well has inspired me to want to write them in hundreds of different ways. I had never written anything before [I became a Shadowhunters fan], but I’m a big reader and I had this idea – ‘Take Me to Church’ – I just had to get out. I was encouraged by a friend and now, here I am.
When you sit down to write a new story, do you plan it all out in advance with an ending in mind? Or do you go with the flow and let the story lead you?
A little bit of both. Although, I’m trying to be better about planning them all out in advance. For most of them, I knew how I wanted them to start, what I wanted to happen in the middle, and how they end. For some, I let the story kind of guide me to fill in the gaps to tell the story how I needed it to be told and others, I planned as I went. Sometimes I have little moments I want to happen and then try to fit them in my narrative, which doesn’t always work, and sadly, I end up killing my darlings.
With my collab fic with Lecrit, ‘LINAVM,’ it’s been planned out completely and I find that’s been extremely helpful in keeping the focus. But then again, when two people are writing together, things have to be planned if you want them to work out smoothly.
I have a couple stories I’m writing and have plotted out completely. So hopefully it all goes according to plan.
As a writer, do you have a special trick for balancing the integrity and details of the original characters with your own plot?
I don’t think I have any special ‘trick’ in making sure they stay in character. I really just go with my gut and ask myself a million times, ‘Would they say/do this?’ If something doesn’t feel right during my read through, then I will go back and adjust it accordingly. There are certain characters I struggle with more than others and then there are characters, like Alec, for example, who I rarely ever struggle with. In the end, a good beta is always the secret trick to everything. It always helps to have someone read behind you and tell you if they feel your characters are OOC.
If you could write any couple you have never written about, who would it be?
I keep telling myself that I’m going to write a Sizzy fanfic. I have already written a story arc for them in ‘Take Me to Church,’ but I need more Sizzy in my life, so I will one day dedicate an entire fic to them.
What is your favorite fic to read more than once?
This is an incredibly difficult question and you’re asking the most indecisive person in the world. There are a few that I have read more than once. More often than not, I go with one-shots. A one-shot that I love and have read on multiple occasions is ‘Lead the Way’ by clockworkswan. I absolutely adore this story. I don’t know what I can say about it other than, it brings me joy. I cannot recommend it enough.
If someone learned something from reading any one of your stories, what would you hope it was?
That life is complex and difficult for all of us. That nothing in this life is black and white; it’s full of grays and it’s beautiful. That it’s okay to be confused and afraid about where you are in life and where you’re going, but above all, know that you deserve to be happy and live the life you want. Have strength and start over if you have to. Never settle and always have hope.
What is it about Malec that inspires you the most?
Honestly, everything about them is nothing short of an inspiration. But the way they fight for each other. They have their differences and they have had their setbacks that would threaten to tear any couple apart, but they, thankfully, are both stubborn. And while that sometimes can cause fights, they show that they’re willing to bend for the other because they love each other so much and they are willing to do whatever it takes to not lose each other, and that’s pretty inspirational.
Like what you see? You can read all of Jackie’s works on Archive of Our Own, or follow her on Twitter.
