I am so excited to introduce you to KingsOfEverything this month. She is an amazing writer and extremely prolific as well as a super talented, self-taught author. I’m a huge fan of her podcast (Rose and Dagger) with LouAndHazAF, as well. She took time out of her day to answer some of my questions.
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, Green_Feelings, and BoosBabyCakes.
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 Lauren.
Handle: @KingsofThings on Twitter, @KingsOfEverything on Tumblr and AO3
Pronouns: she/her
Works: 113 and counting archiveofourown.org/users/kingsofeverything/works
Rosann: What do you like people to call you?
Lauren: Lauren
Rosann: How did you decide to get started writing fanfic for the 1D/Larry fandom?
Lauren: It was like a dare to myself. I just wanted to see if I could do it. This October will be the 7th anniversary of my first fic.
Rosann: That’s amazing. You’re so prolific! How long did you write before you published for the fandom?
Lauren: I didn’t! I never wrote prior to writing 1D fic.
Rosann: I’m so impressed! Do you write in any other fandoms?
Lauren: I don’t, I’ve written people outside our fandom paired with people from 1D, like I wrote Maggie Rogers pegging Niall.
Rosann: I love that. I love being surprised by unusual characters in a fic. What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written and where did the idea come from? How long did it take you from first idea to publication?
Lauren: I’m honestly not sure which of my fics is my favorite. I’ve written a wide range, from short and silly (Have a Nice Trip where they take shrooms and Harry can’t stop thinking about Louis’ bum) to long and complicated, and they’re all my favorites in one way or another.
Right now I’m leaning towards The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. The idea originally was just to write something where they both make terrible decisions that hurt other people, but to write them in a way that seemed real and almost sympathetic. And I wanted to write a fic where the beach was like its own character. I knew going into it that a lot of people wouldn’t read it because of the cheating, but that never bothered me, and then it turned out that there were people willing to give it a chance because they trusted me to handle it well.
I had to check, but I started it in mid-September 2020, and posted it a couple of chapters a week from mid-November to mid-December. So it took me about 6 weeks, maybe, to write 110k.
On the other end of the fic spectrum, I love Have Love, Will Travel. It’s a road trip/camper fic. Friends to lovers. Adventure and hiking and forced proximity and sexual tension, etc. but it’s not angsty at all. And I love that one so much. I revisit it often. It took me probably a month to write? And it’s about 100k. When I’m writing I have a one track mind, so I was pretty obsessed with these fics as I was writing them.
Rosann: Those are two of my favorites. I particularly like The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea because you succeeded in making them both feel so three dimensional–even though they make bad choices, the reader can totally relate to their motivations.
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?
Lauren: I haven’t and I’m not!
Rosann: Are you professionally trained?
Lauren: Nope. Not at all.
Rosann: I love that you’re completely self-taught. What’s your favorite trope (if any) to write?
Lauren: I don’t think I have one unless you count my tiny penis series. I tend towards realistic stories most of the time, so I don’t usually set out to write a trope, and when/if I do, it doesn’t typically go well. My first a/b/o is probably an exception to that.
Rosann: (Rosann runs to look up The Tiny Penis series). How do you handle writer’s block (if you experience it)?
Lauren: I try writing other things (if I’m in the middle of writing something long and serious, I’ll try writing something silly and short), I go for walks, listen to music, crochet, watch TV/movies, play board games, do puzzles, I read (but not fic). I try to refill the creative well, so to speak. And I always, always, always talk things through with my bff/beta Nic. Without him, I’d literally never write a word! (@louandhazaf on tumblr @Lou_and_Haz_AF on twitter)
Rosann: Those are really good suggestions. And having a beta reader/pal to bounce ideas off of is brilliant. Do you read other things while you’re writing? Why or why not?
Lauren: Not often. Especially not fic unless it’s completely different from what I’m writing. Like I said, when I’m writing I have a one track mind and that mind says “why read when you could be 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?
Lauren: Some of my family members know and are 10000% supportive. But there are certain people I know would look down on fic, so I don’t share with them.
Rosann: I’m glad you have a supportive family! If you write a serialized fic, do you plot/outline before you write or do you just fly by the seat of your pants?
Lauren: I’m a pantser by nature, but I’ve gotten better about planning. I don’t write serialized fics though. Any WIPs I’ve posted have been complete or mostly complete before I started posting, then I post as the fic is betaed and I edit it.
Rosann: I’m a pantser myself, and I totally relate to feeling like I want to be better at planning. How do you feel when people ask questions on Twitter about your progress?
Lauren: I’m on Tumblr more than Twitter, but I don’t mind questions.
Rosann: What are your thoughts on writing/consuming smutty smut for people not in that same community and (assuming) they haven’t been in those situations? i.e. Can non-queer authors write smut?
Lauren: I am very strongly of the opinion that anyone can write anything. Write what you want!
Rosann: I love that! 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?
Lauren: Not to repeat myself, but write what you want. In this fandom, we’re all writing RPF (Real People Fiction), so I find it interesting that people would draw a line. It’s like saying something is ‘too real’ for RPF.
Rosann: What are the hardest scenes/tropes for you to write?
Lauren: Smut scenes are a pain, but not because it’s smut, because it’s so much physical action all at once. I tend to include inner monologue and emotions in my smut scenes because I can’t just keep writing physical movement. As far as tropes, I don’t know, but I have a hard time writing certain characterizations. I tried to write Louis being a dick to a pregnant Harry once, and just couldn’t do it.
Rosann: You do a great job at pacing your scenes–they always read very realistically to me. You balance the inner dialogue and the movement well.
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? Conversely, do you think readers have any responsibility to writers (for example, leaving kudos or comments)?
Lauren: AO3 has an excellent tagging system. As long as authors use the correct archive warnings (violence, MCD, rape/noncon) or if they select “Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings” that’s your signal for ‘dead dove, do not eat’. I don’t think authors have a responsibility to their readers. I think it’s a personal choice some authors make. I tend to overtag and overwarn because that’s my choice, but I don’t think it’s my responsibility.
I could go on about this for hours tbh, but it’s the reader’s responsibility to check tags and warnings, and proceed with caution. However, if an author selects “no archive warnings apply” and then there’s MCD or noncon, then that can be reported to AO3 and AO3 will (I think?) ask the author to change the tag/warning or change it themselves (I’m not 100% sure what their protocol is for that).
As far as kudos and comments, I love them. I wish more people in our fandom left them! I encourage everyone to comment and kudos! But it’s not a responsibility.
Rosann: Can you give other burgeoning writers some writing tips–for writing or publishing?
Lauren: Listen to Rose & Dagger Podcast! Nic and I talk about fic writing and we’re into our fourth season. We try to support and encourage authors while providing as much info as we can. We don’t talk about other people’s fics, we discuss the writing side of things. We have over 50 episodes and have had some of the best authors on to talk about subjects ranging from BDSM to writing in English when it’s not your first language.
https://roseanddaggerpodcast.tumblr.com
https://open.spotify.com/show/7HHl6vRVcztNIdn0TVzBAV
https://twitter.com/daggerpodcast
Rosann: I can personally attest to the quality of Nic and Lauren’s podcast. If you want to write fics, check it out.
Do you have favorite fics that have inspired you?
Lauren: The fic that made me decide to try to write longer fics with more emotional depth is called Feels Like Coming Home by phdmama. It deals with substance abuse, it’s exes to lovers, it’s real and raw and I just love it.
Rosann: Sounds like a great suggestion–I just added it to my personal list. Do you do anything to promote your fics? Mood boards or something else?
Lauren: I always do moodboards/fic posts on Tumblr and usually I share them on Twitter as well. I also send them in each month to the 1d monthly fic roundup blog.
Rosann: Anything else you want to answer that I haven’t asked?
Lauren: Nope. But thanks for asking me to do this. It was fun!
Rosann: You are very welcome! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Lauren!
If you haven’t followed her yet, please follow Lauren on her social media:
@KingsofThings on Twitter, @KingsOfEverything on Tumblr and AO3
it. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
