Meet Bri! Known as ‘Carmenlire,’ she is a 24-year-old fandom member and writer from Ohio, U.S.A.
What is your favorite thing you have written?
I think that most people would assume that I’d pick ’Higher than the Big Trees,’ but while I’m extremely proud of that fic, I’m choosing ’Tell Me that It’s Okay.’ It was the first multi-chaptered story I ever wrote and I poured a lot of myself into that piece. Alec’s mental health is a niche writing interest of mine and ‘TMTIO’ was my exploration of how Alec, who has a great capacity for love and softness, could become that cold, bitter, closed-off man we see in Season 1. Plus, I got to implement one of my favorite tropes: the 5+1! [Editor’s note: fanfics following the structure of “Five times (event happens) and one time (event doesn’t happen)]
What was the one thing that inspired you to write fic?
I really never had any intention to write fic believe it or not! I was a voracious reader on AO3 from a previous fandom, and when I got into Shadowhunters, I lost myself in reading so many wonderful, amazing stories. I’d been in the fandom for several months before I first thought about trying my own hand at it, but I was deeply unsure. Everyone already seemed to know each other and I had never written fiction before that was unrelated to school.
I have to give an unending thank you to Lydia (@royaltybane on Tumblr) because she was a huge supporter and encouraged me to try for months before I finally gave in and wrote my first story. From there, I fell in love with the hobby and found an outlet that I had sorely needed!
I suppose that the one thing that inspired me to start writing was the connection I felt to the show and these characters. That sounds corny and cliche, but it’s true. Alec means a lot to me, and when I started this show last August, I’d been a fervent book fan since high school, almost 10 years ago. It was at a time when I was going through a very big personal crisis. I saw a lot of myself and my fears realized in Alec’s character and journey, and his relationship with Magnus and [his] professional achievements are unending motivation for me.
If you could write any couple you have never written about, who would it be?
I’ve only written Malec and Clizzy, so I think I’d have to go with other w/w couples. I definitely see potential with Claiabelle or Claia.
What is your favorite fic to read more than once?
Okay, I can’t pick just one, so I’m giving my top three! ’The Strength of (un)Broken Bonds’ and its sequels by Blue is my favorite chaptered fic to read. I love everything about it. It’s tightly plotted, the writing is impeccable, and the characterization is amazing. I will never stop recommending this fic to anyone who wants to read a story where the Parabatai bond is done right.
Secondly, ’With Bones Unbuttoned’ by ohfreckle is a favorite of mine to revisit. It’s written extraordinarily well and the sheer emotion is enough to make my own heart ache. I think it’s amazingly well done.
Lastly, I have to mention ’It’s a Kind of Magic’ by thealmostrhetoricalquestion. I love anything by this author, but this is a comfort read for me. It’s funny and a little zany, but so, so good!
If someone learned something from reading any one of your stories, what would you hope they learned?
I’d hope that they’d see that happy endings are always attainable and that sometimes the happiest moments in life are the quietest. I’m probably known for my overwhelming fluff, and a lot of that might be my enduring passion for the romance industry, but particularly with Malec and Shadowhunters, it could be so incredibly easy for these characters to give in to their circumstances. I love that – for my writing purposes – Magnus and Alec consistently get back up and try to be the best people they can be. They try again even when it hurts, even when they don’t see a way out.
Their happy ending means so much because you take these two damaged characters and they find solace in each other. That happy ending can be the two of them relaxing on the couch together after a hard day or living their best lives as the immortal power couple soulmates they are, but what’s important is that they always maintain that kernel of hope that as long as they have each other, everything will always work out. That never gets old to me and I hope that anyone reading my stories can find that same silver lining and transfer it to their own lives.
What is it about Malec that inspires you the most?
Malec is a couple made up of two very strong men who shouldn’t work together but they just do. Like I said before, I see a lot of myself in Alec, and taking his issues with his sexuality and mental health and a system that seems irredeemably flawed, and letting him be happy? He’s successful professionally and personally, and that success means the world for someone watching who struggles with some of those same issues.
Then, take Magnus, who has been burned one too many times and lived long enough to grow jaded yet is never unkind, and put them together? That’s poetry for me. I want to see more LGBTQ couples have that happy ending and go through those struggles and always come out on top. Malec, even if they’re fictional, are an example of what media and life, in general, should be one day.
When you sit down to write a new story, do you plan it all out in advance, with an ending in mind? Or do you go with the flow and let the story lead you?
It depends. For my shorter stories, I always fly by the seat of my pants. I like to go where the story takes me and I almost always like the end result. However, if I’m working on a chaptered fic or a story for someone, then I like to build an outline so I know exactly what I’m getting into.
‘Higher than the Big Trees’ was my first attempt at a real, chaptered AU. I knew it was going to be long and I was unbelievably nervous when I first started, making sure that I built Malec’s relationship up realistically. Before that, I had focused on oneshots where they were already together and there was nothing to pace. With ‘HTTBT,’ I started a pretty detailed outline and am still following it, even if it has grown much longer than originally planned.
Writing has one of the steepest learning curves and ‘HTTBT’ has been an education like none other. Still, I find myself going with the flow to make sure the story and world I’m building is fleshed out and that’s translated into my other pieces as well.
As a writer, do you have a special trick for balancing integrity and details of the original characters with your own plot?
Obviously, this isn’t so much a problem for canon-compliant fics but for AUs: I love AUs so much because you take the characters and strip them to their core, only to build an entirely different world and set of circumstances for them to navigate. It’s magic every time.
As a writer, though, I really struggled with that in ‘Higher than the Big Trees.’ In that story, Alec is out and proud and a celebrity. On the surface, that’s pretty contrary to Show!Alec. However, as I built this world, I kept those traits that are fundamental to who Alec is as a person: loyal to a fault; hard-working; a born leader with a scathing sense of sarcasm, who always loses his head over Magnus. While incredibly nerve-wracking, it’s also really fun and rewarding to look back and see how you put your own spin on a character that’s so well-known and loved by a fandom.
List your social medias and websites so fans can find you.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/carmenlire?lang=en
Tumblr: http://carmenlire.tumblr.com/
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carmenlire/pseuds/Carmenlire
