That interview thing
I'm a bit late, but here's that interview thing, with questions by hibernate. Anyone who wants to be interviewed, leave a comment. Don't be alarmed if I don't answer right away - my time with the Internet will be limited this week.
Questions from hibernate
1. How did you first discover fanfiction, and what made you start to write?
I first discovered fanfiction as a phenomenon when I came down to the computer room in school with a friend who was member of the computer club (I became one too, later). Since she was busy MUD-ing I started browsing Altavista for all sorts of things, and when I browsed for "Road to Avonlea" I found my very first fanfiction site. The stories weren't all that good, but I was mesmerised, having made up stories about other people's characters since I was seven and only now realising other people did it as well, and it was okay.
The first story I put online was for "Quest for Camelot" - there were a couple of stories on my favourite website for that film, and I wrote another one on a school computer. It was put up unbetaed and uncorrected, so it didn't look all that great, but it wasn't that bad a story.
Of course, my next story after that was a Mary Sue - not a bad one, but definitely a Mary Sue. It's also noticeable that my first few fandoms were "fringe", so that I wasn't aware of such things as Mary Sues and other conventions of fandom until I'd been around for nearly two years...
2. You write fanfic for the Birthdayverse. What do you find so interesting about this alternate universe?
Well, any alternate universe is interesting to me. :-) As for the Birthdayverse, despite the not-so-greatness of the episode it has a couple of things going for it. One thing is the slashiness - what with Wesley calling Gunn his "partner" and Angel being shown having the visions after Skip points out that Cordy got them because Doyle loved her, it's the slashiest thing ever. As Tammy puts it in her icon, "That was when Cordelia realised that bastard Skip had just transported her to the Gayverse for a lark." (It's truer than even she realised, I think, what with my insane wish to do Anne/Alonna...)
Another thing is that it's sad, but it's not too sad. When you write Wishverse, you don't have much of a chance to write anything but angst, but the Birthdayverse is still functioning. Just pretty crappy on a personal basis - and not necessarily always that, I mean, hey, Skip and selective information were definitely best pals. :-) It's funny, I've had people call my series very angsty, but I'm not trying to be and I don't think I am. It's sad, and then it's not sad, and then it's sad again. Like life.
It's also interesting to go through the seasons the way I've been doing, ep by ep, and warp things just a little bit (okay, sometimes more than a little bit) to fit it into the universe. Actually work through how different things would be, and in what way. I'm a bit amazed that Tammy and I are the only ones doing this so far, but then, the Birthdayverse in general hasn't gotten the attention it requires at all. (Btw, I very nearly *didn't* start writing after I found out Tammy was doing it too, but she told me not to be silly and that there was enough room for both of us in the sandbox.)
And yeah, okay, a pretty important reason was probably that I got the chance to take off Wesley's arm and see what happened. I think it's a particularly fascinating concept because it's him - he's always whined about the little things only to be surprisingly brave about the big ones.
3. You play Marrow in an RPG. What fascinates you about this character?
I made a post once speaking about it, but I guess I can say it again, and maybe with more insight now that I've played her for nearly a year.
First of all, the Marrow I'm playing is my Marrow, no one else's. I've read her bios all over the place, but I'm not a comic fan. So I've made some of her up myself. But still, she had some characteristics to start with that I found very interesting.
Her mutation sucks, for one thing. I suppose it could be argued that Jono and Rogue have it about as bad, what with Rogue killing everyone she touches and Jono slowly killing himself. But still, it's ugly, it's painful, it's lethal without even being impressively destructive, it prevents her from intimate contact nearly as effective as Rogue's does... it's bad. And for at least some time she was an uglyfied X-woman, which is rare.
Then there's the fact that her background is fucked up even for a mutant's. First having to hide under the city. Then the massacre. Then training to be an assassin by a psychopath in a hell dimension. Then having her heart ripped out. And after all that, she goes hero.
From what I understand, in the comics her characterisation was pretty inconsistent, but going just by the facts and thus expecting consistency - the girl has got to have some amazing strength. To find it in her not to be a victim after all that... it'd have been the easiest thing in the world to just whine and give up. But instead she fought for one side or another, smart and resourceful enough for both terrorism and heroism, keeping enough love for both Callisto and Sam (it was Sam, wasn't it? Well, you get my point).
She doesn't have to be a complex and interesting character. She can be flat and "woe is me" or sociopathic. But she can be, and I love trying to make her one.
4. If you were a superhero, what kind of power would you have?
Flying would be nice. Either with wings or levitating. I've never dared try that Douglas Adams method of forgetting the ground. :-)
Four arms would also be nice, especially around Christmas time. I made a (dead) NPC with four arms just because I think it's such a nice power...
5. Of all the fanfics you have written, which one is your favourite?
I could always go with minisinoo's traditional answer and say my next one, but that's not always true, although I do love playing in the Birthdayverse and will probably continue for as long as I still love it. The truth is, half of my stories are favourites one way or another, but for different things.
A few examples: "Part of the Equation" has the hottest sex, but "Spiked Blood" has the hottest plot (dreams are gold, I tell you!). "What They Deserve" is the most thought-provoking (and is also written with only four senses in use, which gives it bonus points). "Guess Who's Coming to Manchester" is the most romantic. "My Gift from God" and "The Tale of Myra and Merrilil" have the best original characters. And the Birthdayverse series I love because I'm currently writing them, and because I can keep creating and creating and create new things every time... it's as rich as life.
I find now that apart from "What They Deserve", these aren't among my most popular stories. I'd say the ones that are - "By the Last Stage of Lycanthropy", "Grief and the Lack of it", "The Incurable Loneliness" and "This is My Beloved Son" strike me as feedback-getters - are definitely among my better half of stories, but they haven't stayed with me in quite the way the stories I mentioned above have. It could be because some of them were written fairly fast and so the plots and characters didn't have a chance to remain in my heart.
Questions from hibernate
1. How did you first discover fanfiction, and what made you start to write?
I first discovered fanfiction as a phenomenon when I came down to the computer room in school with a friend who was member of the computer club (I became one too, later). Since she was busy MUD-ing I started browsing Altavista for all sorts of things, and when I browsed for "Road to Avonlea" I found my very first fanfiction site. The stories weren't all that good, but I was mesmerised, having made up stories about other people's characters since I was seven and only now realising other people did it as well, and it was okay.
The first story I put online was for "Quest for Camelot" - there were a couple of stories on my favourite website for that film, and I wrote another one on a school computer. It was put up unbetaed and uncorrected, so it didn't look all that great, but it wasn't that bad a story.
Of course, my next story after that was a Mary Sue - not a bad one, but definitely a Mary Sue. It's also noticeable that my first few fandoms were "fringe", so that I wasn't aware of such things as Mary Sues and other conventions of fandom until I'd been around for nearly two years...
2. You write fanfic for the Birthdayverse. What do you find so interesting about this alternate universe?
Well, any alternate universe is interesting to me. :-) As for the Birthdayverse, despite the not-so-greatness of the episode it has a couple of things going for it. One thing is the slashiness - what with Wesley calling Gunn his "partner" and Angel being shown having the visions after Skip points out that Cordy got them because Doyle loved her, it's the slashiest thing ever. As Tammy puts it in her icon, "That was when Cordelia realised that bastard Skip had just transported her to the Gayverse for a lark." (It's truer than even she realised, I think, what with my insane wish to do Anne/Alonna...)
Another thing is that it's sad, but it's not too sad. When you write Wishverse, you don't have much of a chance to write anything but angst, but the Birthdayverse is still functioning. Just pretty crappy on a personal basis - and not necessarily always that, I mean, hey, Skip and selective information were definitely best pals. :-) It's funny, I've had people call my series very angsty, but I'm not trying to be and I don't think I am. It's sad, and then it's not sad, and then it's sad again. Like life.
It's also interesting to go through the seasons the way I've been doing, ep by ep, and warp things just a little bit (okay, sometimes more than a little bit) to fit it into the universe. Actually work through how different things would be, and in what way. I'm a bit amazed that Tammy and I are the only ones doing this so far, but then, the Birthdayverse in general hasn't gotten the attention it requires at all. (Btw, I very nearly *didn't* start writing after I found out Tammy was doing it too, but she told me not to be silly and that there was enough room for both of us in the sandbox.)
And yeah, okay, a pretty important reason was probably that I got the chance to take off Wesley's arm and see what happened. I think it's a particularly fascinating concept because it's him - he's always whined about the little things only to be surprisingly brave about the big ones.
3. You play Marrow in an RPG. What fascinates you about this character?
I made a post once speaking about it, but I guess I can say it again, and maybe with more insight now that I've played her for nearly a year.
First of all, the Marrow I'm playing is my Marrow, no one else's. I've read her bios all over the place, but I'm not a comic fan. So I've made some of her up myself. But still, she had some characteristics to start with that I found very interesting.
Her mutation sucks, for one thing. I suppose it could be argued that Jono and Rogue have it about as bad, what with Rogue killing everyone she touches and Jono slowly killing himself. But still, it's ugly, it's painful, it's lethal without even being impressively destructive, it prevents her from intimate contact nearly as effective as Rogue's does... it's bad. And for at least some time she was an uglyfied X-woman, which is rare.
Then there's the fact that her background is fucked up even for a mutant's. First having to hide under the city. Then the massacre. Then training to be an assassin by a psychopath in a hell dimension. Then having her heart ripped out. And after all that, she goes hero.
From what I understand, in the comics her characterisation was pretty inconsistent, but going just by the facts and thus expecting consistency - the girl has got to have some amazing strength. To find it in her not to be a victim after all that... it'd have been the easiest thing in the world to just whine and give up. But instead she fought for one side or another, smart and resourceful enough for both terrorism and heroism, keeping enough love for both Callisto and Sam (it was Sam, wasn't it? Well, you get my point).
She doesn't have to be a complex and interesting character. She can be flat and "woe is me" or sociopathic. But she can be, and I love trying to make her one.
4. If you were a superhero, what kind of power would you have?
Flying would be nice. Either with wings or levitating. I've never dared try that Douglas Adams method of forgetting the ground. :-)
Four arms would also be nice, especially around Christmas time. I made a (dead) NPC with four arms just because I think it's such a nice power...
5. Of all the fanfics you have written, which one is your favourite?
I could always go with minisinoo's traditional answer and say my next one, but that's not always true, although I do love playing in the Birthdayverse and will probably continue for as long as I still love it. The truth is, half of my stories are favourites one way or another, but for different things.
A few examples: "Part of the Equation" has the hottest sex, but "Spiked Blood" has the hottest plot (dreams are gold, I tell you!). "What They Deserve" is the most thought-provoking (and is also written with only four senses in use, which gives it bonus points). "Guess Who's Coming to Manchester" is the most romantic. "My Gift from God" and "The Tale of Myra and Merrilil" have the best original characters. And the Birthdayverse series I love because I'm currently writing them, and because I can keep creating and creating and create new things every time... it's as rich as life.
I find now that apart from "What They Deserve", these aren't among my most popular stories. I'd say the ones that are - "By the Last Stage of Lycanthropy", "Grief and the Lack of it", "The Incurable Loneliness" and "This is My Beloved Son" strike me as feedback-getters - are definitely among my better half of stories, but they haven't stayed with me in quite the way the stories I mentioned above have. It could be because some of them were written fairly fast and so the plots and characters didn't have a chance to remain in my heart.