IndianSummer13
IndianSummer13
“Betty Cooper,” Veronica announces. “The new intern.”
As her new boss stands, a sweep of dark, wavy hair falls across his eyes in a way that makes Betty realise he’s much younger than she’d initially assumed.
“Welcome to The New York Times Magazine,” he say.
Or, Betty Cooper interns at her dream newspaper and finds herself falling for more than just the job.
And Jughead Jones? Well, he’s not prepared for anything when it comes to his newest features writer.
There are tears in her eyes and her lip is quivering and all he wants to do is still it with his thumb. He balls his hands into tight fists instead. “It’s just a book?” she chokes.
Jughead hears in her words the unvoiced statement: Those characters are us. He swallows, hard, and steps to the side. “Come in.”
Or, as part of her job, Betty has to interview author Jughead Jones on his new book. She hasn’t seen him since the day before she left for Columbia, when he told her she had to make a fresh start away from Riverdale and the Serpents - including him. Now, the words on the page take her back to the town and the boy she thought she’d managed to leave behind, but with the turn of each leaf she finds that’s not the case at all.
In which aspiring writer Betty Cooper, in need of money to pay her share of the rent, takes a job at a diner with a boss who knows very little about good food - and even less about good women.
It just so happens that she knows a lot about both.
And then there’s Veronica Lodge, ever the supportive best friend, who doesn’t expect to be willingly served greasy hash browns by a taller-than-tall, darker-than-dark, neck-tattooed waiter. Except, it happens.
And she likes it.
Or, FP goes to jail and leaves Jughead in charge of the diner he’d worked so hard to make a success. It’s a magnet for the life he’d tried to leave behind, and he’s floundering when he finds salvation in the form of his new, inherently good waitress.
Bughead. Varchie. SweetVee. Sprousehart.
AO3: IndianSummer13
Fanfiction.net: Brookebynature
Member since February 25th, 2017.
I don't have as much time to write as I used to and I hate it because I have too many ideas wanting to come out on paper (or virtual paper at least). I'm a teacher and sometimes need to escape my life.
IndianSummer13
Profile
There are so many ships in the online world and IndianSummer13 has room in her heart for all of them. Her fanfic journey started with The OC and then transferred to One Tree Hill, then Gossip Girl followed closely by The Vampire Diaries and Chicago PD before landing in Riverdale. She’s traveled far and written much in that time; perhaps this lengthy experience explains the incredible quality of writing that she produces.
Like so many authors I’ve spoken to, IndianSummer13 carefully carves out time to write each evening, but still wishes there was more time in the day to read and to write. She protects her online life, saying that she doesn’t think people in her offline life would understand it (a feeling I can definitely relate to!). I get the impression that IndianSummer13 tries to live life to the fullest; she shared that she tries to go on one “holiday of a lifetime” each year. It seems like she tries to live with joy and no regret (and I envy her that).
IndianSummer13’s goal in her writing is to produce pieces that she’s proud of, explaining that she only ever posts when she is happy with the product. She doesn’t worry about what the readers want to happen, but, rather, writes the things that are true to her storylines and to her characters. And this system undoubtedly works as she produces carefully crafted pieces with sensitive character on journeys that fit together beautifully. IndianSummer13’s readers (myself included) certainly aren’t complaining! In point of fact, she’s never received any negative feedback on her bughead fiction.
IndianSummer13’s process is very fluid - ideas occur to her randomly, are jotted down and may be returned to later. Her process is entirely singular, having never relied on a beta to hone her writing or on other sounding boards to bounce her ideas off of. Again, she writes for herself and so what we, the readers get to enjoy, are what she chooses to produce.
IndianSummer13 starts with an idea and then generally moves to an outline (particularly in the case of multi-chapter fics). Later ideas are placed into the appropriate sections in the outline. This is a relatively new system for her as she used to simply write whatever came into her head (she described her first fanfc as having zero planning with some truy constructive feedback to help her become a better author). Outlining has helped her to plan better, particularly when it comes to making adjustments to her storylines.
When it comes to topics, IndianSummer13 writes what she knows. While she didn’t outright say any topic was off limits, she did make the point that she doesn’t want to write about something that would require huge amounts of research (i.e. something medical). She doesn’t have the time to do justice to those topics. IndianSummer13 prefers to write about things she has some experience with - whether direct or indirect. She is open to writing about sensitive subjects she has no experience with, but noted that it would be a cautious process as she tried to bring the appropriate reality to the situation.
IndianSummer13 did state that she is firm remaining true to the characters she’s writing, never having them behave in totally unrealistic ways. I connected this back to her emphatic love of the universes that she creates in. She told me she has no desire to adapt any of her existing fanfiction for publication. As she explained, part of people’s love of fanfiction is actually their love of these characters. Why would anyone want to see them behave in any way other than themselves?
That said, IndianSummer13 did tell me that, if ever she created her own universe with her own characters, she would be open to pursuing publication.
IndianSummer13 maintains a relatively small online social circle, citing her offline busy life as the primary reason. For her, there simply isn’t enough time to spend chatting on Tumblr and that, while she would like to be able to interact with others more closely, her online priorities are less social and more writing/reading. She used to be very active on fanfiction.net, but made the change to AO3 at the same time she moved to the bughead fandom. IndianSummer13 has bonded with other authors and readers, but says she remains mostly on the periphery of the community side of fanfiction.
The truth is that IndianSummer13 is an exceptionally talented writer. She told me that she is so happy in her life, and I think that joy comes through in her writing. Even when handling intensely sad moments, there is a hope to her writing that makes me excited to keep reading. I know something good will come. I already loved bughead, but I think her writing has made me love them more.
Mae C.
Monday, April 16th