March, 2009   

 
Interview with Melissa, author of Against All Odds, Love Story, and so many more.

Melissa, when you first started writing for the boards, you were single. What was your husband reaction to your hobby?

 

He thought it was interesting that I wrote. He said that it was cool and hopes that one day maybe I’d publish something. He’s very supportive that way. I run a lot of ideas by him. He’s such a great sounding board. Of course he loves the different “research” that I do for my love scenes….he gets all the benefits.

Does he ever read anything you write for the board?

Believe it or not my husband’s never read any of my stories. (Although he knows all the characters from B&B….but Y&R is his favorite soap). He’s been a sounding board to some of my ideas so he knows what’s going on and has been supportive in my writing.

Any other family members ever read and comment on your stories?

No, none of my family members have ever written. I guess in a way I’m not sure what their reaction would be. So it’s basically my husband and my best friend who really knows about my stories.

How much time do you devote to writing?

I like to write at least two chapters a month if I can. Sometimes I can sit down and have the whole chapter written in a couple of hours, other times it takes weeks because I can only sit down for twenty minutes at a time. It’s all about having time to sit down and write. Most of the time I already know what’s going to happen and what characters are going to say because I’ve planned the scenes out in my head. The hardest part is jumping from one story to the next. I’ve found it’s easier to write  at least two chapters of the same story so I don’t mess up the flow. Truthfully I’d like to devote more time to writing but my full time job as an IST, my part time job as consultant and being a wife gets in the way. LOL

Does what is happening on the show affect your wiliness to write?

At first it did. I used to get frustrated with how the things are going on the show. Against All Odds started when Bell started messing with Brooke and Thorne. I needed an outlet for my disappointment. There was even a time that I considered quitting writing because of the show and how badly Brad wrote Brooke but Dot convinced me not to and I’m glad.  Now, the show doesn’t affect me so much since I gave it up until just recently (the last couple of months) I started watching again but now I don’t let the show influence me too much.

 

Sometimes I get ideas from the show like in Against All Odds when Ridge broke up with Taylor after she confessed about James ( I took some of that from the show but tweaked it) other times I think that the show is stealing from me. (LOL….at least three actors from my cast list ended up on the show after I picked their photos) Most of the time, I don’t watch the show because I have an outline for what I’d like to happen.

Have you ever started in one direction with a storyline and changed your mind only to go in another direction?

OMG…yes! In AAO, Caspian was supposed to be a fling nothing more. This story was originally about Brooke and Thorne and their love, but it was something about his character that kept calling to me. I couldn’t let him go.  Isabelle was supposed to be an old lover, a confident of his, but somehow I didn’t like the feeling and I thought that it would be better if they were siblings with a complicated relationship with a little of insane dependency. Sometimes I go back and see where it all started…a lot has changed.

You write some of the most well defined characters on the board. Do you know how your character is going to react at every given situation that you put them in?

 

Thanks for the compliment. Most of the time I have a gauge on how certain characters will react to situations and other characters. Most of the B&B characters are easy to write because I’ve had “years” of research. I know how Stephanie, Brooke and Ridge are going to react. As for my other characters I have an idea about what they are going to wear and what they will say in specific situations. The hardest character for me to write is Bella…she’s so complicated. I don’t want to make her too evil, because she’s really a tortured character who has gone through so much pain. But I can’t make her sweet or nice because that simply isn’t her. I know what she’ll never back down when confronted. She’s calm, cool and very dangerous in her own right, yet when she shares scenes with Pierce, you get the feeling she very much loves him and there might be a vulnerable side to her that nobody gets to see but her brother.


Your signature story has to be Against All Odds. I recall reading it when you first put it on Scott’s board so many years ago. Where do you see this story heading? Do you have an ending in mind?

WOW! This is such a hard question to answer. Out of all my stories, AAO is the most difficult for me to write because it truly had a life of it’s own but at the same time I love it because I can truly see the growth. I never intended the story to be as long as it is but so many ideas have come to me about where the story is going because there are so many rich characters. Right now the story is heading to its most difficult time. There is a lot of darkness, pain and loss that is coming up. I’ve got lots of surprises in store along with a huge natural disaster. However I do have an endpoint in sight and I know where the story will end. There is an ending and it’s a dozzy!

I love all your work, but my favorite has to be Faces of Forrester’s. I know you are a Ridge fan, and I want to know how hard was it to kill him off right at the start in this story?

Surprisingly, it wasn’t hard for me to kill Ridge off. It’s funny because most of my stories ideas come during a break in work, either Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter Break. I had some time off and started thinking of what B&B would be like in the future. What would the characters be like? How would they relate to each other? I will admit that Hope was the first character I saw. But I needed something different…..this story was about everyone. I saw Brooke but…then suddenly I felt what would happen to such a strong proud woman if she lost the love in the life. I do love Brooke and Ridge together, I adore their love story but I wanted to try something different. Ridge is such a huge character and his death would affect every character in different ways. So I said why not? How would Brooke react? How would he family and friend? How would it affect the company? I will admit that I do miss Ridge in this story but I can be creative and have an idea that will help you get Ridge’s perspective on what’s going on. Still, it opened the door to Christian who I think is an interesting character and will bring a lot to the story.

I think the B&B Fan Fiction Board has a wealth of talented writers. Can you imagine yourself writing a novel based on your own original characters?

 

Oh…I would LOVE to do that one day. I’m a huge fan of reading romance novels of all kind. Soaps are a lot like romance novels in a way, a lot of drama, intrigue and not to mention sex. I wouldn’t mind writing a wonderful book one day with characters similar to the ones that I’m creating right now.


I have a friend who lives in Texas and I think she has to be one of your biggest fans. She loves AAO's. How does it make you feel to know that your stories are read and appreciated by people you don't even know?

It really makes me feel so wonderful and so touched in so many ways. (Actually it brings tears to my eyes.) I love to read. Books have always been a source of great pleasure to me so to know that others are enjoying what I’m writing fills me with joy that words cannot express. I’m always reading right now I’m reading Sherryln Kenyon’s Acheron. But to write…it touches me in ways that reading can’t. I never thought about writing although I had stories in my head, this outlet allows me to creative, not just B&B characters but my own characters. I love the feedback, I want to know what others think and feel. I respond well to feedback. It fills me with such pride to know that people from all over from different backgrounds and cultures could be reading my words. I appreciate so much that people enjoy my stories, it gives me such pride. ( BTW…I’d love to e-mail your friend who likes AAO if she wouldn’t mind.)

Thank you, Missy.  I’ll let my friend know.