December 29, 2008

This is the first in a series of interviews by Chris Tejeda, author of The Lifting of the Veil, with various Web Fiction Guide authors.  This week, he interviews MeiLin Miranda. 

by Chris Tajeda:

MeiLin Miranda is the author of An Intimate History of the Greater Kingdom, a serialized fantasy story, and one of the highest rated serials on WFG.

She describes herself as “an overly-round, bespectacled, dumpy, little lady who is old enough to be most of my readers’ mom.”  She has a house full of yarn, and her favorite Christmas song is the Singing Dogs performing “Jingle Bells.”

Her pen name, MeiLin Miranda, was her “Firefly name”—the name she used when she hung out on various Browncoat boards.  When she first logged into Second Life, she was looking for a last name she could use that went with MeiLin, and Miranda was available.  She advises she rarely logs into SL any more.

MeiLin Miranda lives in Portland, Oregon.

 

Chris Tejeda: Why the web fiction format?

MeiLin Miranda: I started writing fanfiction in late 2007, the first even semi-successful fiction attempt I’d made in 40 years of trying.  So it wasn’t too great of a leap from that to publishing original fiction on the web.  And the story I was telling seemed to want to be a serial; the web is made for stuff like that.  Also I’m a web developer of long standing—15 years, so throwing a website up seemed like the natural thing to do.  I make them in my sleep.

Chris Tejeda: Which of your characters is most like you and why?

MeiLin Miranda: All of my characters are part of me, which is pretty much what most writers say, isn’t it? 

The ones most like me are probably Sedra and Temmin; Sedra has the broody intellectual thing going, over-thinking and over-researching everything, but she is much more practical and self-possessed than I am/was.  Temmin is a big oblivious goon, which pretty much sums me up at that age, though he is a much happier person than I was.  Of the siblings, Ellika is least like me.  I wish I were more like her!  Physically and emotionally, really, I’m probably the most like Anda, though I’m more hung up than she is.

Chris Tejeda: Is your writing motivated by a need to write, your loyal fans, or potential hard publishing?

MeiLin Miranda: A need to write and a need to be read; they’re both about the same.

If somehow I land a publisher, that’s great, it just means more people who will read me.  It’s about getting the story out there.  That’s the most important thing, getting the story out there.  I don’t really care how.

Chris Tejeda: Why the Fantasy/Romance/Erotic genre?  And do you write any other type of fiction?

MeiLin Miranda: I’m laughing a little, because there’s a quick and easy answer: In fantasy you can create your own reality!  There’s no one hanging over your shoulder going, but that’s not the way a senator would have draped a toga, you brainless twit!  Or, it’s impossible for a chemical reaction of the kind you describe to do what you say it will do, you dolt!  You just wave your little wand and say, it’s magic! 

That’s the easy answer.

The more thoughtful answer is that my favorite kind of reading has always been the stuff that taps into the deep undercurrents of the human over-soul, to put it all in high-falutin’ terms.

I have always loved fairy tales and myths, which are equal parts beauty and ugliness.

The erotic component to the History is harder to explain.  I think the heavy erotic content of book one is me going “Bwah! I’m free! I’m going to write whatever the f**k I want and you can’t stop me!”  Because for years I’ve self-censored—it’s what kept me from writing in part for so long, that and, you know, sucking!

I often seem to start with, who are these people and what do they want in bed?  What’s their sexual motivation?  Perhaps I’m just a hapless victim of Freudian over-think—I tend to be Jungian if anything—but the relationships among my characters almost always start there.

I’m working on a more science fiction-y story that may become a serial once the History is further along.  It began as a really poor Firefly fanfic and has turned into a not-bad original piece.  And I’m being encouraged to try writing some more purely prurient erotic fantasy—more smut, not so much story.

Chris Tejeda: Which book(s) are on your night-table for tonight?

MeiLin Miranda: You know, I’m between books!  I’ve been chipping away half-heartedly at “Cryptonomicon” since forever, but can’t really muster the gumption to finish it.  I have a nonfiction book on marketing that I’m picking at.  I need a good paperback read, actually.

Chris Tejeda: If you could go back in time, what advice would you give a young MeiLin Miranda starting out in web fiction?

MeiLin Miranda: Well, I only started posting fiction in February, so I wouldn’t be all that much younger!

Chris Tejeda: Answer the damn question . . . 

MeiLin Miranda: Consistency is the key when you’re doing anything of a serial nature, whether it’s a comic, a blog or a serial novel.  If you say you’re going to put something up on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, dammit, you better put something up, even if it’s a placeholder saying, “Whoops, bear with me.”

If I could go back in time and talk to me at age 20 when I first started trying to write fiction as an adult (way way pre-internet), I’d say, “IGNORE LITERARY FICTION.  Write the genre fiction you’ve always loved.”

Chris Tejeda: How did you end up at WFG?

MeiLin Miranda: I think I came to WFG from the announcement in the Novelr forums.  That sounds right.

Chris Tejeda: Who is your favorite WFG author?  And kissing ass won’t win you points . . . 

MeiLin Miranda: Ha!

Of all the stories I currently read, the ones I wait for most anxiously are Wysteria’s “Tapestry” and Chris Poirier’s “Winter Rain.”  Call me an ass-kisser, I’ve been called worse!

Chris Tejeda: Ass kisser.  How do you help other new web fiction authors?

MeiLin Miranda: Snort!

Well, lessee.  I do the DigitalNovelists.com website, which I suppose might be construed as helping newbies.  But then, I gain financially from it, so not so altruistic, really.

I try to hang out in the forums a little at WFG mostly and talk with folks there.  I’ve done some beta reading for people—I’m always happy to do that for folks, by the way, though you have to really want my opinion—because you’ll get it, unvarnished.

I tend not to review works publicly; I don’t want to discourage people.  So I wait until I’m asked, and then I try to be as constructive as I can without pulling punches.

And I encourage folks to talk about their work at MeiLinMiranda.com.  It’s good publicity for them, and I like to see my readers give writing a bash.

Chris Tejeda: What one question would you ask yourself if you were the interviewer?  Would the answer surprise people?  Why?

MeiLin Miranda: Boy, that’s a toughie!  The obvious question is “who are you really?”  Which is a question I can’t answer yet.  Soon, I think.  The answer would be a tiny bit surprising, but it’s not like I’m really Martha Stewart or something like that!  I’m just a mom.

Chris Tejeda: Thank you, MeiLin.

MeiLin Miranda: Thank you.