Guest Post with Leisa Rayven - How Fanfiction Changed My Life

To celebrate the release of Broken Juliet, the second book in the Starcrossed series, I wanted to ask Australian author Leisa Rayven about her journey between writing Twilight fan fiction, to becoming a published author. Please welcome Leisa to Diva Booknerd.

Bad Romeo and Broken Juliet are published by Pan Macmillan and are available to purchase now.
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HOW FANFICTION CHANGED MY LIFE

A few years ago, I was meandering around the internet when I stumbled upon Twilight fanfiction while googling pretty-boy British actor, Robert Pattinson. My first reaction was, "What the hell is this?" At the time, I didn't know much about Twilight, but I did know that Edward was a vampire and Bella was human; and yet, here were all these stories where Edward was human, and not only that, he was a CEO / veterinarian / tattoo artist / hockey player / billionaire playboy. Color me intrigued. That day, I read fanfiction for the better part of the day. To say I was hooked was an understatement. I soon came to realize that a lot of Twilight fanfiction writers didn't give a hoot about sparkly vampires and buff werewolves. The thing that hooked them about these books was the love story; a seemingly destined-to-be couple overcoming the odds to be together. 

Upon closer inspection, I found out these stories were being written by (mostly) women from all walks of life – housewives, doctors, lawyers, actors, microbiologists. The simple but powerful concept of epic love had inspired all of these ladies to express their own creative visions, and let me tell you, a lot of the stories were amazing. Far better than some of the published books I'd read. Their courage and creativity inspired me, and so, one day, I decided to write my own version of epic love. It was tale about a rockstar and street kid, and it was the sort of Cinderella tale I loved to read. Apparently, a lot of other people liked those stories too, because it got a lot of positive attention. Buoyed by the response, I kept writing. Chapter by chapter. Story after story. I wrote every day, sometimes seven days a week. Hundreds of hours turned into millions of words, and eventually, I developed an extremely passionate and loyal fanbase who started yelling at me to publish a book that they could cuddle and add to their shelves. Until that point, I'd never considered writing as a profession. I was a classically trained actor and singer, and had a satisfying, if sporadic career. But my fans kept begging me, and so I put on my big girl panties and strode forth into the terrifying world of professional publishing. I spit-polished my manuscript and threw it at agents willy nilly, hoping against hope one of them would catch it.

Well, one did.

The day I got an email from a New York literary agent telling me she wanted to represent me, I screamed so loudly, the neighbors thought I was being murdered. A couple of months later when my agent told me Macmillan New York had offered me a three book publishing deal, I actually fell off my chair. No lie.

Now, my first two books, Bad Romeo and Broken Juliet, have been published all over the world, and have even been translated into eight foreign languages. Every day I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming.

I know that I owe my current success to that random Google search years ago. If I hadn't stumbled upon fanfiction, I would never have had the courage to find my own literary voice. And without my amazing fans' support and encouragement, I'd never have considered writing as anything but a very satisfying hobby.

These days, best-seller lists everywhere are peppered with dozens of former fanfiction authors, and I'm honored to be counted among their ranks.

Talk about a Cinderella story, right?
ABOUT LEISA RAYVEN
Writing has always been a passion for Leisa, and even though she originally intended to be an actress, it wasn’t long into her time at drama school that she began writing plays.

Those plays were bad. Very bad. Well, her friends thought they were good, but that’s because they were always cast in them and any opportunity to be on stage was met with an obnoxious amount of enthusiasm. Since then, she’s honed her craft, and several of her plays have been produced and toured throughout Australia.

Facebook     Twitter     Goodreads     Pinterest     Leisa's Blog     Tumblr
Thank you to Leisa and the fabulous Lara at Pan Macmillan Australia

22 comments

  1. How exciting! I used to write Harry Potter fanfiction, but just for myself. I never posted it online. I still think it helped keep me writing for a bit. It's always great to hear how authors got to where they are now. :)

    -Lauren

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    1. I'd love to read it Lauren, have you thought about posting it up on your blog? Even small snippets. Might be the encouragement other budding authors need to take the plunge and put their work out there.

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  2. Aw, it's super sweet how the author wasn't even expecting to get published but she did! I preferred Broken Juliet over Bad Romeo though, Leisa sounds like an amazing person though, thank you for sharing Kelly <3 Benish | Feminist Reflections

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    1. I absolutely love her publishing story, it really is so incredibly fairytale like isn't it. I'm glad to see you've enjoyed the series Benish, she's such a humble and really lovely author who is so well deserving of her success.

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  3. This is so inspiring! I found my love for the written word in fanfiction, too. Back in the early 2005 when I was so in love with the games I played on my Playstation that I wrote stories about them. I have a crossover between two animes right now on FF.Net that is still incomplete but has people screaming at me to continue XDDD

    Faye at The Social Potato

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    1. I can't even begin to imagine how many authors got their start the same way Faye, it's an awesome stepping stone to writing and being published isn't it. And I suppose with fan fiction, you have more reader interaction too, which can also inspire which direction the storyline is taking as well.

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  4. OMG, that's so awesome! I'm definitely a huge fan of fanfiction (that sounded less weird in your head), and I'm so happy for you that you managed to make a writing career out of your passion! I'm pretty sure I started out writing fanfiction too, but mainly in my head, and with no concept of plagiarism XD But we all stand on the shoulders of giants, no?

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    1. Beautifully said Alyssa. Even if the storyline of a much loved favourite encourages anyone to write, I'm all in favour of it. I've actually read so many posts with budding authors who started out the same, taking their favourite reads and creating a fresh storyline. Leisa is a complete success story of how fan fiction is such an important part of the author community.

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  5. Fanfiction is cool, isn't it! I really need to read some, it's one of the fandom things I haven't been doing these days. Sigh. :D

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    1. Totally Mawa. I wish I had more time to read it too. I must try to hunt down some Percy Jackson fan fiction actually, before I start reading his spin off series. I think Leisa has renewed my love of stories.

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  6. I've read fanfiction but i've never found it in myself to actually write fan fiction. I'm a reader at heart, not a writer but i'm always so inspired when i hear about other authors starting out with fan fiction and than broadening out. I love this so much!

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    1. I'm a reader too and have no aspirations to write either Lily. I've read so many books that I highly doubt my imagination could produce anything that anyone else would want to read. I think budding authors can learn a lot from Leisa's story, that starting small can lead to much, much bigger things. She's really an inspiration.

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  7. I never knew Leisa Rayven is Australian! The way self-publishing on the internet (especially through social media sites that encourage direct audience engagement) expands paths to traditional publishing is so interesting! There are so many stories like this from young women in particular, especially in the new adult category (I'm thinking of Christina Lauren too). Great guest post Kel!

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    1. It's awesome the span of Aussie author talent we have here isn't it. I think anyone looking at becoming a writer, take a leaf out of Leisa's book and give fanfiction a try. But even with fanfiction, having that reader input would mean you would still need to be incredibly thick skinned.

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  8. I love these books so I was curious after finding they were originally fan fiction how these books went from fan fiction to traditionally published books. Great guest topic Kelly and thanks Lesia for answering writting a great post about this

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    1. Yes, a big thank you to Leisa. I had no idea they begun as fan fiction either until another blogger mentioned it. I find the process fascinating actually, the journey from fan fiction to being published. It's a real inspiration for budding authors and those who want to begin writing.

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  9. This is incredible!! I love hearing stories of fanfiction having such a positive impact and response. WOOT FOR THIS AUTHOR! So amazing that agents were seeking her out too!!

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    1. I know right! I can imagine that's every authors dream! To be chased down, that's an amazing compliment considering how many budding authors there are out there. I love hearing about Aussie's making it big and Leisa's really is a successful and inspirational story.

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  10. Ahh this was so fabulous, Kelly! I'm pretty sure it was fanfiction that made me start to love writing, too. :) I totally get what she meant about not giving a rat's ass about vampires and werewolves--people just wanted another story where their favorite characters went on another amazing journey. :)

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    1. And thank goodness for fanfiction as well. Sometimes it's too difficult to say goodbye to those characters and I love that writers are taking up where the original author left off and writing for the love of being a fan. I think coming from those type of humbling beginnings really allows an author to connect to their audience as well.

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  11. This is truly a Cinderella story! I really enjoyed this wonderful story! Can I just say however, how incredibly stunning the cover art is on these books!?

    Have you read them by chance?

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  12. Oh, goodness, what a lovely story! Fanfiction holds such a dear place in my heart - it's something that I feel gets an unnecessarily bad rap when, in most circumstances, it does nothing but good (and in fact I've written more than one blog post defending it!). A Cinderella story indeed - and so many congratulations to Leisa for her success! Here's to many, many more books on the horizon. <3

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