Interview
Name: emeraldsword, also known as Black Goddess
Team: War!
Let's talk about: emeraldsword!
1. How long have you been writing fan fiction and/or making fan art and/or whatever else (vids, knitted goods, pornographic gingerbread cookies)?
My sister and I discovered the heady world of fanfic somewhere around the year 2000. We used to get two chairs and read each fic together, and at the beginning we shared an account on ff.net as well. Buffy/Spike shippers several years before it became canon, we discovered slash when an archive (anyone remember those?) mentioned a Spike/Xander fic. The link was down but we found some Spike/Angel and that was that. We co-wrote and posted some Buffy fic around that time, and it's still up on ff.net. I created my own account in March 2001 because my sister and I wanted to post under different pen names.
2. Have you participated or are you participating in any other fandoms?
Yes, lots! I tend to be serially monogamous though - I may stray into other fandoms occasionally but there's always one fandom which has my heart...for about two years, then we have a cooling off period and then I move on. First I was into Buffy and Angel the Series, then Harry Potter, then Digimon, then Formula 1 RPS. I read a HUGE amount of *NSync RPS, which was odd as I didn't know who they were before I started reading the fic, but all I wrote for that was a couple of drabbles because I never felt confident of my source material. Now I'm in SGA, where I read a lot more than I write but I do write.
3. What fanwork are you most proud of? Or, what is your favourite of your fanworks? (links, please!)
I've got lots of old stuff up at ff.net (I started posting fic when I was 17 and somehow can't make myself take the old stuff down), but I'm prouder of my new stuff. The one I like best at the moment is Photographic Memories which isn't actually McShep but can be read that way. The fic of mine which was most popular was When It Rains which is either gen or pre-slash, depending.
4. As far as creative processes go, what type of writer/artist are you? Do you create an outline/find photo references/make maps, etc., or do you jump in and go with the flow?
I'm a very linear writer and I tend to work one scene at a time. I can have a vague idea in my head but I'm never really certain what's happening next until I've written it. Sometimes I find that I have to stop and make character lists etc if I'm writing something big but not usually for fanfic.
5. Where can interested readers/viewers find more of your work? (homepage, LJ fic index, etc.)
I started making a list of my stuff in this LJ post but then I got worried about how bad some of the older stuff is so stopped doing it! There is a link in that post to my profile on fanfiction.net on that post for those who want to test out the older things. I have an sga fic tag which brings up fic I wrote and a fic tag which brings up my recs list as well as all the stuff I've written.
6. Do you write original fiction (poetry, screenplays)? Do you create original art (comics, photographs, quilts, wedding cakes)? Care to share?
I've written one novel which I'm currently revising and hope to submit to publishers if I ever have it revised to my satisfaction! I tend to write poems on trains, for which I blame the rhythm, and I do cross-stitch while watching the Formula 1. It does sometimes mean I miss bits, but they usually repeat them *g*
7. How are you so awesome?
I put it down, or rather up, to my height. I'm 6 feet tall - the air is thinner up here, you know!
Let's talk about: SGA!
8. What do you enjoy most about SGA and/or SGA fandom?
I like the range of stories - not just the McShep ones but the other pairings too. I love the mixture of crack, fluff and darkfic as well - I can usually find whatever I'm in the mood for, which is most pleasing. One of the things I like best in SGA fic is when the characters are aware that they are in a ludicrous situation but have to get on with things anyway, and SGA authors are good at making the characters aware that they're in a sci-fi story (or a porn film) while at the same time taking the situation seriously.
9. Why do you ship McKay/Sheppard? What draws you to the pairing, what do you like and dislike? Favourite scenes or episodes? Quotes? Screencaps? What other SGA pairings do you ship?
They had me when John pushed Rodney over that balcony. I particularly love the bickering, and the way that they turn to each other first whether or not they realise that that's what they do. I think that the show got a bit less slashy as it went on, but then they have an episode like 'The Shrine' or include something like the remote control cars. John and Rodney canonically play together on a regular basis - how cool is that?
10. Why did you choose to join Team War?
I originally had a story idea which seemed to fit. Once I'd signed up, the story idea fell apart but I'd still have chosen War in any case because war is about conflict and McShep is very much about the arguing.
11. C'mon, you know you wanna! Just a bit of squee about your Match fic?
Banter *g*
12. What are your 'tells'? How can a fic of yours be spotted in the wild?
Very British - I'm trying to get more of an American, or at least international feel for my SGA fic but apart from not using the really obviously British words, I'm not getting very far. I also struggle to resist including one-liners and/or puns, even if they're perhaps not appropriate.
and from busaikko, Your SGA fic has a lot of gentle (as opposed to cracky) humour. How do you write humour? What are your influences? In RL, are you a humourous person?
Two main influences, I think - Discworld novels and Kate Atkinson's 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum'. I had trouble getting my sister to read that because when you start trying to summarise the plot it gets very depressing, but the POV character is so sharp that she makes the most awful events sound quite amusing. One of the things I like best in Pratchett is the way he takes things like phrenology to their logical conclusion. What both of these authors have in common (apart from my being exposed to both at a formative age) is seeing the absurdity in everyday life and pointing it out with a certain degree of affection - yes, it's crazy, stupid and pointless but we do it anyway so we might as well laugh about it. In real life I like telling stories and I tend to exaggerate - when I'm talking, no one has ever said something once, they've said something eighty millions times. I also think puns and double-entendres are the funniest things ever. I'm not sure I'd call myself a humourous person - I was never the class clown or anything, but I'd like to think that I'm relatively amusing!
Team: War!
Let's talk about: emeraldsword!
1. How long have you been writing fan fiction and/or making fan art and/or whatever else (vids, knitted goods, pornographic gingerbread cookies)?
My sister and I discovered the heady world of fanfic somewhere around the year 2000. We used to get two chairs and read each fic together, and at the beginning we shared an account on ff.net as well. Buffy/Spike shippers several years before it became canon, we discovered slash when an archive (anyone remember those?) mentioned a Spike/Xander fic. The link was down but we found some Spike/Angel and that was that. We co-wrote and posted some Buffy fic around that time, and it's still up on ff.net. I created my own account in March 2001 because my sister and I wanted to post under different pen names.
2. Have you participated or are you participating in any other fandoms?
Yes, lots! I tend to be serially monogamous though - I may stray into other fandoms occasionally but there's always one fandom which has my heart...for about two years, then we have a cooling off period and then I move on. First I was into Buffy and Angel the Series, then Harry Potter, then Digimon, then Formula 1 RPS. I read a HUGE amount of *NSync RPS, which was odd as I didn't know who they were before I started reading the fic, but all I wrote for that was a couple of drabbles because I never felt confident of my source material. Now I'm in SGA, where I read a lot more than I write but I do write.
3. What fanwork are you most proud of? Or, what is your favourite of your fanworks? (links, please!)
I've got lots of old stuff up at ff.net (I started posting fic when I was 17 and somehow can't make myself take the old stuff down), but I'm prouder of my new stuff. The one I like best at the moment is Photographic Memories which isn't actually McShep but can be read that way. The fic of mine which was most popular was When It Rains which is either gen or pre-slash, depending.
4. As far as creative processes go, what type of writer/artist are you? Do you create an outline/find photo references/make maps, etc., or do you jump in and go with the flow?
I'm a very linear writer and I tend to work one scene at a time. I can have a vague idea in my head but I'm never really certain what's happening next until I've written it. Sometimes I find that I have to stop and make character lists etc if I'm writing something big but not usually for fanfic.
5. Where can interested readers/viewers find more of your work? (homepage, LJ fic index, etc.)
I started making a list of my stuff in this LJ post but then I got worried about how bad some of the older stuff is so stopped doing it! There is a link in that post to my profile on fanfiction.net on that post for those who want to test out the older things. I have an sga fic tag which brings up fic I wrote and a fic tag which brings up my recs list as well as all the stuff I've written.
6. Do you write original fiction (poetry, screenplays)? Do you create original art (comics, photographs, quilts, wedding cakes)? Care to share?
I've written one novel which I'm currently revising and hope to submit to publishers if I ever have it revised to my satisfaction! I tend to write poems on trains, for which I blame the rhythm, and I do cross-stitch while watching the Formula 1. It does sometimes mean I miss bits, but they usually repeat them *g*
7. How are you so awesome?
I put it down, or rather up, to my height. I'm 6 feet tall - the air is thinner up here, you know!
Let's talk about: SGA!
8. What do you enjoy most about SGA and/or SGA fandom?
I like the range of stories - not just the McShep ones but the other pairings too. I love the mixture of crack, fluff and darkfic as well - I can usually find whatever I'm in the mood for, which is most pleasing. One of the things I like best in SGA fic is when the characters are aware that they are in a ludicrous situation but have to get on with things anyway, and SGA authors are good at making the characters aware that they're in a sci-fi story (or a porn film) while at the same time taking the situation seriously.
9. Why do you ship McKay/Sheppard? What draws you to the pairing, what do you like and dislike? Favourite scenes or episodes? Quotes? Screencaps? What other SGA pairings do you ship?
They had me when John pushed Rodney over that balcony. I particularly love the bickering, and the way that they turn to each other first whether or not they realise that that's what they do. I think that the show got a bit less slashy as it went on, but then they have an episode like 'The Shrine' or include something like the remote control cars. John and Rodney canonically play together on a regular basis - how cool is that?
10. Why did you choose to join Team War?
I originally had a story idea which seemed to fit. Once I'd signed up, the story idea fell apart but I'd still have chosen War in any case because war is about conflict and McShep is very much about the arguing.
11. C'mon, you know you wanna! Just a bit of squee about your Match fic?
Banter *g*
12. What are your 'tells'? How can a fic of yours be spotted in the wild?
Very British - I'm trying to get more of an American, or at least international feel for my SGA fic but apart from not using the really obviously British words, I'm not getting very far. I also struggle to resist including one-liners and/or puns, even if they're perhaps not appropriate.
and from busaikko, Your SGA fic has a lot of gentle (as opposed to cracky) humour. How do you write humour? What are your influences? In RL, are you a humourous person?
Two main influences, I think - Discworld novels and Kate Atkinson's 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum'. I had trouble getting my sister to read that because when you start trying to summarise the plot it gets very depressing, but the POV character is so sharp that she makes the most awful events sound quite amusing. One of the things I like best in Pratchett is the way he takes things like phrenology to their logical conclusion. What both of these authors have in common (apart from my being exposed to both at a formative age) is seeing the absurdity in everyday life and pointing it out with a certain degree of affection - yes, it's crazy, stupid and pointless but we do it anyway so we might as well laugh about it. In real life I like telling stories and I tend to exaggerate - when I'm talking, no one has ever said something once, they've said something eighty millions times. I also think puns and double-entendres are the funniest things ever. I'm not sure I'd call myself a humourous person - I was never the class clown or anything, but I'd like to think that I'm relatively amusing!