I’m happy to introduce you to @BoosBabyCakes28 AKA Morgane this month. She has a wealth of fics in a wide variety of lengths and genres. I was honored to have a chance to discuss her process.
This is a regular installment of No Stunts Magazine, so if you’re excited about authors and peeking behind the curtain in their brains, I encourage you to look at the last few issues for profiles of BananaHeathen, ItsMotivatingCara, CuckooTrooke, LilyBlue28, and Green_Feelings.
If you like this feature, want to chat, or give me suggestions for future profiles, please hit me up on Twitter. @Rosann_1986 (formally @FlyWishing).
Without further ado, I introduce you to Morgane!
Handle: @BoosBabycakes28
Pronouns: she/her
Works: 14
Rosann: What do you like people to call you?
Morgane: Morgane is fine 🙂
Rosann: Thanks for being here! How did you decide to get started writing fanfic for the 1D/Larry fandom?
Morgane: Oh this is a funny story. Well for me it is haha. I was having a discussion with my best friend, who I met in the fandom by the way, about one particular 1D show. It was the one where Harry received a shoe in the nuts. We were wondering what might have happened backstage between Harry and Louis after the show, given how Louis acted on stage when it happened. So my best friend (@LarryABOWorld) said to me : “Oh! You should write what happened after!” And at first I said to her : “Haha, very funny. There is no way I can write a fic.” I had never written a story in English like this in my life. Then she insisted a bit and of course I ended up writing my first small one shot for her, to make her happy. So you have to blame my best friend for all of it haha. I guess this answers the second question here as well, I wasn’t writing before I started to do so for the fandom.
Rosann: That’s a cute origin story! What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written and where did the idea come from?
Morgane: I’m sorry but I have to pick two fics for this question so I hope it’s okay. The first one I’m going to talk about is “They Say That Time’s A Healer, How Long Is This Burn Supposed To Last”. This fic is very personal to me and based on events that happened in my real life. It’s an equestrian fic, and the horse owned by Harry was mine. Since I started writing, I always had the idea of putting into words what happened, and I finally did it. I started writing it in November 2020 and published it in April 2021. It was a hard fic to write, but at the same time it was also very cathartic for me. I just needed to do it. The second fic I will talk about is “Invisible String”. This fic was a “love at first sight for the prompt” kind of thing haha. In 2021, I wrote a fic for the bottom Louis fic fest and one particular prompt caught my eye as I was going through the list, but I wasn’t confident enough I guess at the time to choose it. But the next year, when I was again looking for a prompt, the one for “Invisible String” was still there. I ended up choosing another one that I loved, which is “Satellite”, but the “Invisible String” prompt was stuck in my mind. Eventually, I decided to ask the moderators of the fest if I could write it outside of the fest because I just couldn’t let it go. They accepted and while I was writing “Satellite” the whole plot for “Invisible String” came to my mind and I wrote the majority of the plan for it on my phone during my summer holidays. After I was done with “Satellite”, I started writing “Invisible String” in October 2022 and published it in January 2023. This story is very special to me, as I absolutely loved planning it, finding the plot twists and adding a bit of supernatural elements in it. It was so much fun and I’m simply in love with this story.
Rosann: Never apologize for giving a thorough answer! I don’t want you to out your anonymity, but can you tell us if you’ve written under other names, or if you’re perhaps traditionally published? Are you professionally trained?
Morgane: I haven’t written anything other than fics for the fandom, and I am definitely not a professional. I’m also French, so english isn’t my first language and maybe it can be sensed in my writing. I know that sometimes my brain thinks in french and the way I organize a sentence is not always how it would be done in english. For example I would put a word in plural because it is that way in french, but in english it won’t be the same. Thank God for my wonderful betas though!
Rosann: It’s true that betas are godsends! What’s your favorite trope (if any) to write?
Morgane: I can’t say that I have one. I like to write different tropes and genres. I’ve done A/B/O (traditional and non-traditional), bit of supernatural, MPreg, Kid fic, hate to love, strangers to lovers, established relationship, canon, equestrian, royalty, and the one I’m currently writing will be childhood friends to lovers. Writing diverse tropes and themes allows me to challenge myself a bit.
Rosann: I love that you write in so many different genres. Do you read other things while you’re writing? Why or why not?
Morgane: I usually don’t read anything while I write. Or if I do, I don’t read a lot. I don’t know why, but I like being in my bubble and not being influenced by anything. If I read something, I will avoid the stories that are in the same line or trope as what I’m in the process of writing.
Rosann: A lot of times, the “real world” frowns on fanfic in general. Have you had this experience? Do your friends and family know what you write–and how do you deal with questions about it?
Morgane: The only people who know about my writing are in the fandom. My family has no idea of what I do and I don’t know if I’ll ever tell them. I don’t really know how to slip this into a conversation hahaha “Mom, Dad, how are you? By the way, I write gay fanfictions.” But maybe I will, who knows hehehe.
Rosann: I’ve noticed that a lot of writers include people from the boys’ real lives/situations. What are your thoughts for including personal things like that or not?
Morgane: I like to include things from the boys’ lives, like people around them or events that happened to them. But I also like to choose original characters, because sometimes it can be hard for the readers to detach themselves from the “real person” and the way they see them in real life. I think it can keep them from enjoying a particular character because they will have that image of them in their mind, whilst in the story it will be completely different.
Rosann: What are the hardest scenes/tropes for you to write?
Morgane: For me, the hardest scenes are the smut scenes. I won’t get into details about why I feel that way, but I feel very insecure when I write those. I hope I do a decent job though and that my insecurities don’t come through in my writing. I’m always scared these scenes won’t be good enough, so it was a real challenge when I wrote my latest work “War Of Hearts”. It’s an enemies with benefits story, therefore including a LOT of smut haha. But I’m glad people are appreciating it, it’s comforting.
Rosann: Smut is hard for many people to write, I think. You do just fine! Lately there has been some discussion on stan Twitter about what authors of fanfic “must” do (for example, provide trigger warnings). What do you think a writer has responsibility for to their readers?
Morgane: Oh yes this has been a recurring theme. I do think that as a writer, I have a responsibility in tagging my story the right way. Some of my friends have had experiences in their lives that made some topics quite triggering for them, and I wouldn’t want to be responsible for causing them, or any other person, distress while reading a story that I wouldn’t have tagged properly. For a lot of people, fanfics are a safe place or a way to escape their day to day life, so they should be able to check a story which is appealing to them by reading the tags, and then make the decision to read it or not. If it’s properly tagged, it is then their responsibility if they choose to go further and read it.
Rosann: Conversely, do you think readers have any responsibility to writers (for example, leaving kudos or comments)?
Morgane: As a writer, all positive feedback, whether it’s on twitter or ao3, is always so welcomed and gratifying. But I wouldn’t say that leaving kudos or comments is a requirement for the readers. Of course it always feels nice to see what they think of your work, feel the love and appreciation for your stories, but they are free to do so or not. I do think though that some readers should be more careful about how rude some of their comments can be. Fanfic writers do this for free and in their own time, and seeing harsh comments or opinions about their works can sometimes be very difficult to handle.
Rosann: Can you give other burgeoning writers some writing tips–for writing or publishing?
Morgane: Oh I don’t think I’m in any position to give advice. I’m still so shocked I was even asked to do this interview. But the one thing I could say, and that I desperately try to remind myself as well, is to try and write for you. Write what you want to write and what you love, and don’t pay attention to the number of kudos your stories get. Don’t let that affect your mood or make you even more insecure. I know it’s easier said than done, but like I said, it is something that I constantly try to keep on my mind.
Rosann: That’s great advice! Do you have favorite fics that have inspired you?
Morgane: “Take Me To Church” by my friend wickedarcher_08 and “Cold Little Heart” by seducedbycurls are my all time favorites. But I have a long list of favorite fics and I don’t really have a rating or an order for them, I just really love them.
Rosann: Anything else you want to answer that I haven’t asked?
Morgane: Just thank you so much for asking me to be a part of this. I don’t think I could find the words to say how much it means to me. So many great writers have already done this, and I never thought I would ever do this too. Thank you.
Rosann: You are very welcome! Thanks for agreeing to do this and Keep writing!
If you haven’t followed her yet, please follow Morgane on her social media:
@BoosBabycakes28 on Twitter and BoosBabyCakes on AO3
