71tenseventeen
71tenseventeen
“An anonymous place for my fic and drabbles.”
Member since October 20, 2017
PROFILE
Though relatively new to hockey and this fandom in general, writing fanfic is nothing new for 71tenseventeen. Without realizing it, she was actually already handwriting fanfic in the 7th or 8th grade; from there she read a great deal of fic from many different fandoms before publishing her first fic, “Shelter” in the Hockey RPF fandom.
Hockey became a passion for 71tenseventeen near the end of the 2015 - 2016 season and at the beginning of the 2016 - 2017 season. The reading of the online comic Check, Please! helped her get comfortable in her knowledge of the game. She ships Sid/Geno (Captain and Alternate Captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins, respectively) pretty much exclusively, both in terms of her reading and her writing.
Like every author I’ve spoken to, 71tenseventeen would like to be able to devote more time to her reading and writing, but real life sometimes prevents that. She is actively writing several WIPs, using a two beta support system. Each beta brings unique skills to assist her (i.e. seedling idea development verses grammar help), but she relies on both for story and character development as well as structural help.
She has cultivated a small group of online friends who share her passion for both hockey in real life. As with most other authors I’ve spoken to, her fanfic and writing habits remain something private and untainted from her offline life. She prefers to work anonymously in order to protect that very personal space she has created for herself in this online community. That said, she has a group of friends - both in the Hockey RPF fandom as well as other fandoms - that she has built over time through group chats, direct chats, blog posts and comments She’s even been able to meet some her friends in “real life” at Penguins’ games, describing it as “pretty normal...just an extension of our friendship, really.”
71tenseventeen is open to inspiration, taking it from a pictures, songs or even from other fics. Her process involves taking the seed of the idea and writing it out with some details before sharing it with one of her betas for further discussion and development. There is back and forth with her beta that culminates in either the storing of notes in a document to officially become a WIP (Work in Progress) or it is immediately developed into a story.
There are certain topics that are entirely off limits in both her reading and writing - child abuse, torture, pedophilia and the like - but she approaches difficult topics with a strong work ethic. 71tenseventeen values the characters she writes and the experiences of her readers; she tries to not write about things she has little experience with and does research to support the development her characters and plots. In certain instances, she has opted to write in less detail on subjects to which she feels she cannot bring an appropriate level of experience and knowledge. She described it by saying, “That's also why I'm very careful with things I have very little experience with. If I can't relate to those feelings very deeply then I probably won't be able to write it well.” This type of caution manifests into excellent writing that demonstrates care for characters and subjects. 71tenseventeen’s readers are always in good hands!
Perhaps some of that is the result of what 71tenseventeen describes as “agonizing over each sentence.” Craftsmanship is a major priority for 71tenseventeen and she needs to connect with her characters and their experiences in order to write a piece. In her stories, all her writing focuses ultimately around Sid and Geno’s love story; this is likely why she prefers angst to fluff. Well, angst with a happy ending, as she pointed out to me.
Like every fandom, there is drama within Hockey RPF and 71tenseventeen does her absolute best to just stay out of it all. She describes it as a “charged subject,” and explained that there are people who feel that RPF should not even be considered a fandom as it crosses certain boundaries. 71tenseventeen told me that there are some subjects she feels she needs to stay away from because of the sensitive nature of RPF. Even so, some individuals are unfairly targeted with nasty comments and what amounts to bullying until these authors take their works down and disappear from the fandom. I understood this to be a major problem within the fandom, especially because 71tenseventeen explained that she has seen this happen on many occasions.
71tenseventeen keeps a large distance between herself and this kind of drama and the people wrapped up in it. In interviewing her, I could truly feel her intense love of writing. The passion she shows for her characters and readers helps her to set and maintain a high standard of writing. Positive feedback pushes her to grow as an author. 71tenseventeen seems to have found so much joy in writing fanfic - she described the publication of “Shelter” (her first published fanfic) as something of a high. It is clear that the safe space she has carved out on the internet allows her to express herself in a meaningful way and is dear to her.
Mae C.
Sunday, March 25th