Who the F**K Are You? Interview with Teanna
Who the Fuck Are You?
Interview No. 2: gatefiction
Otherwise known as: Teanna
Found online at: Road Kill or at gatefiction
Has written in: Jane Austen, West Wing, X-Files, Buffy/ Angel, Harry Potter, Smallville, Star Trek, Nsync, and 24.
Currently Writing: Whatever takes her fancy.
Teanna talks about: Writing for writing's sake and that age old idea of writing for the self.
Just cut to interview:
Tell us about the first time you posted a story online? How did you feel before and after you posted?
Well, of course I was nervous before posting - mostly because, at that time, my computer didn't have any kind of English spell check. And then I think I was just really happy for a long while after that, because the replies made me stop lurking and start chatting and interacting with people.
I wrote fiction long before I fell into fanfic, so I wasn't that surprised that people read it. But I liked that I could have readers in a new language, and I liked the insta-feedback. And I really liked to find friends that were writers, too. That was big!
Do you think your non-English/ bi-lingual background has an influence on your writing? How? And if you don’t think it does, why is that?
Of course my background influences my writing - that's true about any writer. Some times, you're really just projecting your own hopes/fears/addictions onto a character. The trick is to make it interesting enough so that the reader buys it. And fandom is pretty generous when it comes to characterisation, thank god. But this question had to do with me not being a native English speaker, so: I think I tend to use fewer words than a native English speaker. My native language has about a third as many words as English, and I'm just not used to sitting around thinking "oh, but another word for raw liquor is... ah, rotgut!" This leads to a pretty sparse style, and cuts down on the purple prose, I think. I hope!
Do you find it at all frustrating not having the same vocabulary in English as you do in Swedish? Do you think there are times when you want to say something or say something in a certain way and it’s fine in Swedish but the English is not coming out right? (I ask as a mono-lingual person who wants to know what it’s like to be able to express one’s self in two languages).
That happens when I'm speaking English out loud, sure - it gets muddled up, I think mostly due to nerves. But when I write a story in English, that's the only language I use to work on the story. There is no translation going on at any stage. If I plan bits out in my head, I plan them in English. If I think about a character, I think about her in English. When I'm writing a story - and I've atually done this in four different languages, when I think about it - I need to use the tools I already possess, or it won't be a very interesting story. Or to put it another way, if I had to do translations while writing, I'd be bored real quick and probably not finish the story.
I call your writing “freestyling” - which is strange because it’s not really freestyle at all, it’s actually very structured and organized, but you are able to write long sentences that are rhythmic and balanced rather than stuffed and awkward, which is what usually happens when novice writers try to write with a kind of rambling flow. I tried to write like this when I remixed your story Two Step and found it difficult - I just couldn’t hear the narrative in my head as I wrote. What is the secret to getting a flow? Do you hear a voice in your head/ see the words on the page? Are you aware of the choices you make with regard to sentence structure or do you just write to a beat in your head?
This was the hardest question to answer. To be honest, I've basically never spent any time thinking about how I write. It's not something that interests me. I've just always put pen to paper and written - I rarely plan a story, but sometimes I'll work from a line, or a scene that popped into my head. If there is a beat, I don't usually discover it until after the story's written. I guess I write like I talk - you don't plan out everything you're going to say, or you go bananas.
Whenever the topic is "the mechanics of writing" I mostly just listen to other people talking about how they do it. I've taken some writing classes, and found the excercises good and encouraging, but I've never met anyone who could teach me how to write - I already know that one. I'm not saying I can't improve - I often, especially when writing fic, pick the easy way out just because I'm a lazy sod - but the nuts and bolts of writing? Just never interested me.
I've noticed you don’t write a lot of sex. Why is that?
I'm not very interested in writing it. For me, the actual sex is not that interesting, unless maybe if it's really bad sex. The interesting thing is to discover why on earth character X sleeps with character Y. Or stops sleeping with her, or can't do it unless he gets to call her a whore first... It's not about the fucking, it's all about the fucking up. My characters all have sex, but it's who they do, not how they do it.
The great secret to having fun writing is to just write the bits that you want to write. This is also how you become known for your "writing style" - it's not that you've got such a great style, it's just that your readers only gets to read the really nice bits of your writing.
Interesting. And what bits do you like to write?
What do I like to write... Oh boy. I like to work inside a pretty narrow frame and then add that one little detail that goes against tradition, so to speak. In a fairy tale, the hero does his thing and then he gets killed anyway, in a romance, let the hero and heroine live happily ever after but without having those kids... Lately I've had a lot of fun writing about characters that have a problem, know they have this problem, and basically does noting about it. I like to put several people in a room and give them a topic and run with it. I like families, because a family is basically people locked in a room with people they don't like, don't understand and aren't afraid to say so.
I like writing about death and addiction and funny pets. And crazy people, I love writing crazy people.
You’ve written minor characters and turned them into people with epic stories. Mandy, of course, but Andy (both West Wing) as well and, as you know, I’m particularly taken with what you did with Monica Reyes who wasn’t a minor character, but who we knew little about before her story was finished. I liked the choices you made for her character in "Two Step" - all here dead brothers and sisters and their graves; how do you make a choice about a character’s background? Where do the ideas come from?
Almost every time I write about a minor character it comes from me feeling like "this character just gets ALL the hate in fandom right now! Let's make it up to her!" or something like that. It's almost always a female character, too, haha. I just can't stand ye olde misogyny in fandom...
Mandy, Andi and Reyes just got a lot of crap at the time I was writing them - the XF newsgroups were just horrid when it came to Doggett and Reyes, really disturbing. It's not about reforming them - Mandy can still be a bitch, but most bitches are bitches for a reason. Some writers in fandom are just Female character X=Adolf HitlerBunnykiller for all sorts of reasons (ie. they are misogynists! all of them are! really!)
The inspiration for a character's background grows out of what I know of her from canon, and, honestly, from what I want her to do in the story. But mostly it all just comes to me as I'm writing. And then it piles up. I realise my answers to these questions are probably not going to inspire anyone to write, because my basic answer to everything is that it just comes to me.
I will say that the more you read, the more you are encouraged to make your characters different. Reading a lot of different stories - books, news, history class, whatever - makes you open to the many, many ways a person can react to just about anything. It's very tempting to pick a knee-jerk reaction and then have all the characters you put in similar situations react the same way. But after a while that just gets boring to write.
When we caught up in Stockholm and we talked about writing, it was illuminating because I can not write without imagining an audience, and it turned out you were the opposite. Have you ever imagined an audience while you write? Was there a difference in the end result? Do you find yourself thinking, “people would probably prefer the story if I wrote it this way…” and have to switch off, or are you generally isolated and in your own little world when you write, and are even a little surprised when you get feedback?
I know who's going to read the different stories I post. But when it comes down to the actual writing, the way I do it, audience doesn't come into it. The story is what it is. I mean, I make up stories because have to, I've done it my whole life, and if I stopped making up stories it would mean I was dead or might as well be dead.
Feedback isn't about surprise - it's the cherry on the cake. It's validation, and if there is something we all need more of, it's validation.
It's really hard for me to imagine an audience while I'm writing a story - I know it works for you, but it sounds so schizophrenic to me (It really is - yes). I don't know where I'd squeeze in an audience, and if this imaginary audience suddenly didn't like what I was writing? Then what would I do? I also have a fear of writing for the lowest common denominator - not everything has to be so fucking clear. If I read a book and find something I don't understand, I'll either just ignore it or I'll look it up. This is not about making the reader feel stupid - it's about trusting the reader to figure it out. Or, trusting the reader to figure out *something*. The readers are much better at finding layers in a story than the person who wrote it, because that person is way too involved with the story.
Given that you write for your self first and foremost, what prompts you to post a story? And do you find you don’t post a lot of your work just because you are uninterested in the response?
If I finish a fic, then I post it. And I love getting feedback, I really do. But I don't have the time to post in different places and since it's likely to be a short one-off in a new fandom, I'm not looking to make a place for me in that fandom.
What’s something you wish someone had told you before you entered fanfiction land? Is there something you learned that you would have liked to have known from the start?
No, because I'm a lurker by nature, until I have a story to contribute. So I knew what not to do by the time I started posting.
Do you feel like you’ve learned anything? About writing? About life?
Yes. I'm certainly much more aware of what tools I have at my disposal when it comes to writing. And people in fandom have opened my eyes a lot about personal stuff that I won't go into here.
Tools? Care to be specific?
Ten years ago, I could read something I'd written and see that it worked, somehow. These days I know why it works - I know starting in medias res is a great way to catch people's attention, I know why repeating something three times works so well, things like that. It doesn't matter much as I write it, because of how I write - but it enhances my experience as a reader, to be sure.
Sometimes I think there are two kinds of readers - those who aren't the least surprised Aragorn ups and marries Arwen at the end of Return of the King, and those who are. I'm in the first camp. But then I remember that there are two kinds of people - those who say there are two kinds of people, and those... *slinks away grinning*
Are you working on anything now? If so, tell us about it. If not, what’s something you think you’d like to write, but haven’t had the time, energy, balls etc?
Oh I'm always working on something. But I don't talk about stuff before it's finished, mostly.
Really? Why is that?
I don't want to know too much about a story before I write it down, or I'll get bored and not finish it. Talking about a story out loud would reveal far too much. Going back to the whole "I write for myself" thing - I need to be able to surprise myself while writing. If I have the whole story in my head, I don't need to write it down, I'll just play it in my head.
Pick a story of yours and recommend it. Tell us why you think we should read that one over the others.
I'll pick something that's a pretty good example of Teanna's style... Whereas the Body (Buffy). If you like that one, I'm sure you'll like some of my other things too. Or maybe you won't. But "Whereas the Body" was written in one or two sessions, with minor editing, and it does have that elusive beat going for it. I think it has a great title, too, which is unusual for me as I suck at titles.
I think I suck at titles too. I get to the end of the story and think, oh shit, I have to title this thing. And that process can take ages. Does this happen to you? Why do you think we’re not good with titles?
Yeah, I know! That's the sucky part of finishing a story, that you have to find a title for it. I guess I don't really think the title matters much. It's just the thing at the top of the page. Maybe we suck at titles because we only do them after we've finished the story, ie the important stuff? I suppose I can't really take it very seriously - a good story is a good story even if it has no title.
Get to know gatefiction better! Check out:
Two Step (one of my favourite stories in fanfiction. Also, a good example of Teanna's style) and Winter of Discontent (both X-Files).
Whatever Happened to Baby Mandy (The West Wing) which contains one of my favourite lines ever ("Bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Yeah, whatever") and started a crusade which ended in my LJ name and the Wing Swing 2002 (West Wing girlslash. Also held in 2004 and 2006 thanks to babylil).
And I don't think you can go past gatefiction's website without checking out Toby Angst: A West Wing Drama.
Once again, thank you all for coming. After last week's food poisoning scare, the mock fish is off the menu. Try the veal, or if you're vegan, try the canned nutmeat. It only looks like pet-food. If the mood takes you, feel free to comment or ask the author a question. I'll make sure she answers them.
Interview No. 2: gatefiction
Otherwise known as: Teanna
Found online at: Road Kill or at gatefiction
Has written in: Jane Austen, West Wing, X-Files, Buffy/ Angel, Harry Potter, Smallville, Star Trek, Nsync, and 24.
Currently Writing: Whatever takes her fancy.
Teanna talks about: Writing for writing's sake and that age old idea of writing for the self.
Just cut to interview:
Tell us about the first time you posted a story online? How did you feel before and after you posted?
Well, of course I was nervous before posting - mostly because, at that time, my computer didn't have any kind of English spell check. And then I think I was just really happy for a long while after that, because the replies made me stop lurking and start chatting and interacting with people.
I wrote fiction long before I fell into fanfic, so I wasn't that surprised that people read it. But I liked that I could have readers in a new language, and I liked the insta-feedback. And I really liked to find friends that were writers, too. That was big!
Do you think your non-English/ bi-lingual background has an influence on your writing? How? And if you don’t think it does, why is that?
Of course my background influences my writing - that's true about any writer. Some times, you're really just projecting your own hopes/fears/addictions onto a character. The trick is to make it interesting enough so that the reader buys it. And fandom is pretty generous when it comes to characterisation, thank god. But this question had to do with me not being a native English speaker, so: I think I tend to use fewer words than a native English speaker. My native language has about a third as many words as English, and I'm just not used to sitting around thinking "oh, but another word for raw liquor is... ah, rotgut!" This leads to a pretty sparse style, and cuts down on the purple prose, I think. I hope!
Do you find it at all frustrating not having the same vocabulary in English as you do in Swedish? Do you think there are times when you want to say something or say something in a certain way and it’s fine in Swedish but the English is not coming out right? (I ask as a mono-lingual person who wants to know what it’s like to be able to express one’s self in two languages).
That happens when I'm speaking English out loud, sure - it gets muddled up, I think mostly due to nerves. But when I write a story in English, that's the only language I use to work on the story. There is no translation going on at any stage. If I plan bits out in my head, I plan them in English. If I think about a character, I think about her in English. When I'm writing a story - and I've atually done this in four different languages, when I think about it - I need to use the tools I already possess, or it won't be a very interesting story. Or to put it another way, if I had to do translations while writing, I'd be bored real quick and probably not finish the story.
I call your writing “freestyling” - which is strange because it’s not really freestyle at all, it’s actually very structured and organized, but you are able to write long sentences that are rhythmic and balanced rather than stuffed and awkward, which is what usually happens when novice writers try to write with a kind of rambling flow. I tried to write like this when I remixed your story Two Step and found it difficult - I just couldn’t hear the narrative in my head as I wrote. What is the secret to getting a flow? Do you hear a voice in your head/ see the words on the page? Are you aware of the choices you make with regard to sentence structure or do you just write to a beat in your head?
This was the hardest question to answer. To be honest, I've basically never spent any time thinking about how I write. It's not something that interests me. I've just always put pen to paper and written - I rarely plan a story, but sometimes I'll work from a line, or a scene that popped into my head. If there is a beat, I don't usually discover it until after the story's written. I guess I write like I talk - you don't plan out everything you're going to say, or you go bananas.
Whenever the topic is "the mechanics of writing" I mostly just listen to other people talking about how they do it. I've taken some writing classes, and found the excercises good and encouraging, but I've never met anyone who could teach me how to write - I already know that one. I'm not saying I can't improve - I often, especially when writing fic, pick the easy way out just because I'm a lazy sod - but the nuts and bolts of writing? Just never interested me.
I've noticed you don’t write a lot of sex. Why is that?
I'm not very interested in writing it. For me, the actual sex is not that interesting, unless maybe if it's really bad sex. The interesting thing is to discover why on earth character X sleeps with character Y. Or stops sleeping with her, or can't do it unless he gets to call her a whore first... It's not about the fucking, it's all about the fucking up. My characters all have sex, but it's who they do, not how they do it.
The great secret to having fun writing is to just write the bits that you want to write. This is also how you become known for your "writing style" - it's not that you've got such a great style, it's just that your readers only gets to read the really nice bits of your writing.
Interesting. And what bits do you like to write?
What do I like to write... Oh boy. I like to work inside a pretty narrow frame and then add that one little detail that goes against tradition, so to speak. In a fairy tale, the hero does his thing and then he gets killed anyway, in a romance, let the hero and heroine live happily ever after but without having those kids... Lately I've had a lot of fun writing about characters that have a problem, know they have this problem, and basically does noting about it. I like to put several people in a room and give them a topic and run with it. I like families, because a family is basically people locked in a room with people they don't like, don't understand and aren't afraid to say so.
I like writing about death and addiction and funny pets. And crazy people, I love writing crazy people.
You’ve written minor characters and turned them into people with epic stories. Mandy, of course, but Andy (both West Wing) as well and, as you know, I’m particularly taken with what you did with Monica Reyes who wasn’t a minor character, but who we knew little about before her story was finished. I liked the choices you made for her character in "Two Step" - all here dead brothers and sisters and their graves; how do you make a choice about a character’s background? Where do the ideas come from?
Almost every time I write about a minor character it comes from me feeling like "this character just gets ALL the hate in fandom right now! Let's make it up to her!" or something like that. It's almost always a female character, too, haha. I just can't stand ye olde misogyny in fandom...
Mandy, Andi and Reyes just got a lot of crap at the time I was writing them - the XF newsgroups were just horrid when it came to Doggett and Reyes, really disturbing. It's not about reforming them - Mandy can still be a bitch, but most bitches are bitches for a reason. Some writers in fandom are just Female character X=Adolf HitlerBunnykiller for all sorts of reasons (ie. they are misogynists! all of them are! really!)
The inspiration for a character's background grows out of what I know of her from canon, and, honestly, from what I want her to do in the story. But mostly it all just comes to me as I'm writing. And then it piles up. I realise my answers to these questions are probably not going to inspire anyone to write, because my basic answer to everything is that it just comes to me.
I will say that the more you read, the more you are encouraged to make your characters different. Reading a lot of different stories - books, news, history class, whatever - makes you open to the many, many ways a person can react to just about anything. It's very tempting to pick a knee-jerk reaction and then have all the characters you put in similar situations react the same way. But after a while that just gets boring to write.
When we caught up in Stockholm and we talked about writing, it was illuminating because I can not write without imagining an audience, and it turned out you were the opposite. Have you ever imagined an audience while you write? Was there a difference in the end result? Do you find yourself thinking, “people would probably prefer the story if I wrote it this way…” and have to switch off, or are you generally isolated and in your own little world when you write, and are even a little surprised when you get feedback?
I know who's going to read the different stories I post. But when it comes down to the actual writing, the way I do it, audience doesn't come into it. The story is what it is. I mean, I make up stories because have to, I've done it my whole life, and if I stopped making up stories it would mean I was dead or might as well be dead.
Feedback isn't about surprise - it's the cherry on the cake. It's validation, and if there is something we all need more of, it's validation.
It's really hard for me to imagine an audience while I'm writing a story - I know it works for you, but it sounds so schizophrenic to me (It really is - yes). I don't know where I'd squeeze in an audience, and if this imaginary audience suddenly didn't like what I was writing? Then what would I do? I also have a fear of writing for the lowest common denominator - not everything has to be so fucking clear. If I read a book and find something I don't understand, I'll either just ignore it or I'll look it up. This is not about making the reader feel stupid - it's about trusting the reader to figure it out. Or, trusting the reader to figure out *something*. The readers are much better at finding layers in a story than the person who wrote it, because that person is way too involved with the story.
Given that you write for your self first and foremost, what prompts you to post a story? And do you find you don’t post a lot of your work just because you are uninterested in the response?
If I finish a fic, then I post it. And I love getting feedback, I really do. But I don't have the time to post in different places and since it's likely to be a short one-off in a new fandom, I'm not looking to make a place for me in that fandom.
What’s something you wish someone had told you before you entered fanfiction land? Is there something you learned that you would have liked to have known from the start?
No, because I'm a lurker by nature, until I have a story to contribute. So I knew what not to do by the time I started posting.
Do you feel like you’ve learned anything? About writing? About life?
Yes. I'm certainly much more aware of what tools I have at my disposal when it comes to writing. And people in fandom have opened my eyes a lot about personal stuff that I won't go into here.
Tools? Care to be specific?
Ten years ago, I could read something I'd written and see that it worked, somehow. These days I know why it works - I know starting in medias res is a great way to catch people's attention, I know why repeating something three times works so well, things like that. It doesn't matter much as I write it, because of how I write - but it enhances my experience as a reader, to be sure.
Sometimes I think there are two kinds of readers - those who aren't the least surprised Aragorn ups and marries Arwen at the end of Return of the King, and those who are. I'm in the first camp. But then I remember that there are two kinds of people - those who say there are two kinds of people, and those... *slinks away grinning*
Are you working on anything now? If so, tell us about it. If not, what’s something you think you’d like to write, but haven’t had the time, energy, balls etc?
Oh I'm always working on something. But I don't talk about stuff before it's finished, mostly.
Really? Why is that?
I don't want to know too much about a story before I write it down, or I'll get bored and not finish it. Talking about a story out loud would reveal far too much. Going back to the whole "I write for myself" thing - I need to be able to surprise myself while writing. If I have the whole story in my head, I don't need to write it down, I'll just play it in my head.
Pick a story of yours and recommend it. Tell us why you think we should read that one over the others.
I'll pick something that's a pretty good example of Teanna's style... Whereas the Body (Buffy). If you like that one, I'm sure you'll like some of my other things too. Or maybe you won't. But "Whereas the Body" was written in one or two sessions, with minor editing, and it does have that elusive beat going for it. I think it has a great title, too, which is unusual for me as I suck at titles.
I think I suck at titles too. I get to the end of the story and think, oh shit, I have to title this thing. And that process can take ages. Does this happen to you? Why do you think we’re not good with titles?
Yeah, I know! That's the sucky part of finishing a story, that you have to find a title for it. I guess I don't really think the title matters much. It's just the thing at the top of the page. Maybe we suck at titles because we only do them after we've finished the story, ie the important stuff? I suppose I can't really take it very seriously - a good story is a good story even if it has no title.
Get to know gatefiction better! Check out:
Two Step (one of my favourite stories in fanfiction. Also, a good example of Teanna's style) and Winter of Discontent (both X-Files).
Whatever Happened to Baby Mandy (The West Wing) which contains one of my favourite lines ever ("Bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Yeah, whatever") and started a crusade which ended in my LJ name and the Wing Swing 2002 (West Wing girlslash. Also held in 2004 and 2006 thanks to babylil).
And I don't think you can go past gatefiction's website without checking out Toby Angst: A West Wing Drama.
Once again, thank you all for coming. After last week's food poisoning scare, the mock fish is off the menu. Try the veal, or if you're vegan, try the canned nutmeat. It only looks like pet-food. If the mood takes you, feel free to comment or ask the author a question. I'll make sure she answers them.