interview!
Name: busaikko, also known as marysuefanfic
Team: War!
Let's talk about: busaikko!
1. How long have you been writing fan fiction and/or making fan art and/or whatever else (vids, knitted goods, pornographic gingerbread cookies)?
2. Have you participated or are you participating in any other fandoms?
I started watching Star Trek when I was in kindergarten, and got into anime in elementary school (I wrote an epic fanfic in elementary school back before I even knew that people *did* that.). In junior high I transcripted A-Team episodes, in high school I was involved with local SFF groups, when I moved to Japan I had one suitcase of clothes -- and all the Valdemar and CJ Cherryh books I could carry. I discovered online fandom in 2005 when searching, as one does, for Discworld Vetinari/Vimes stories, which led to copperbadge and his Harry Potter stories. I was in HP fandom writing Remus/Sirius and Remus/Severus for years. . . until Book 7 *curses Book 7*. Then I got mixed up in TV fandoms, reading in dueSouth, SG1, SGA, The Sentinel, Starsky & Hutch, Supernatural, etc. I currently write in SGA, though I've started on SPN, and I have vids for SGA, SG1, dueSouth, Twitch City, SPN, and Hard Core Logo. So. . . I started fannish behaviour about 34 years ago; fanwriting, 29 or so years ago; and online fandom about 4 years ago.
3. What fanwork are you most proud of? Or, what is your favourite of your fanworks? (links, please!)
Maybe my favourite HP story is Here, Where the World Is Quiet, (Remus/Severus) (which has been translated into German and also credited as the inspiration for a Real Person tennis slash fic *is awed by the weirdness of fandom*). I also have two novels in which Voldemort is defeated by love *glares at Book 7*; The Maddest House and Ten Aprils.
In SGA, I like By Whirlwind Scattered, and I have a soft spot in my heart for Building Bombs, which is my SGA AU spin on John Hughes 80s films. War Stories is completely self-indulgent feel-good fic with kids and love, and A Hundred Happy Things is my best-known fic, where Sheppard is trans and Rodney's raising Madison.
My favourite SGA vids are Bird Girl (streaming; for A Hundred Happy Things) and The Great Escape (streaming; POV of John's mum re her boy's brushes with death). My warped sense of humour came out for McShep's Theme: fandom! Why were there not a *million* Arthur's Theme videos after The Shrine? *shakes head sadly*
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 an overwriter. I am *always writing*: I have a notebook with me from breakfast until I go to bed. On the bus, on the train, in a box, in the rain. . . . I throw away at least half of everything I write. My father-in-law is a painter, and he does the same thing with sketching, so I guess it's a legitimate process. I'm really bad at making things up if they can be researched, so I always have pictures, maps, articles, books, etc. so that I *know* what I'm writing about. Amazon.co.jp loves me.
5. Where can interested readers/viewers find more of your work?
My fanfic website. Also, my Delicious account has a 'busaikko' tag. Um. I write so much I lose a lot of it online, between this comm. and that comm. . . .
6. Do you write original fiction (poetry, screenplays)? Do you create original art (comics, photographs, quilts, wedding cakes)? Care to share?
I sew (current project: felt bag with fish and shark). I cook (I love challenges, like making a non-dairy, non-wheat, no egg bouche noel Christmas cake). I like to build furniture from kits. My spawn and I just finished making a model fishing boat. I'm a home ec, DIY kind of gal who usually forgets to pack lipstick but goes nowhere without screwdrivers.
7. How are you so awesome?
I have awesome friends, and hope someday to be half as awesome as they are.
Let's talk about: SGA!
8. What do you enjoy most about SGA and/or SGA fandom?
The weirdness. The madness. The incredible depth and breadth of the fannish creativity.
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?
The main pairing I wrote before this was antagonistic (shipping canon enemies) so writing people who are good friends in canon was an interesting change. I like that right from the beginning McKay and Sheppard slotted together, bonding with geekery and glee. I love that they play games together. My favourite scenes tend to involve McKay looking stricken and Sheppard either angry or dead (The Siege, Common Ground, Midway, The Last Man) but I agree that Echoes was the ultimate date episode ('Hey, wanna go for a drive and whale watch?'). . . and the opening of Tracker, with Sheppard watching McKay primp for his date in the mirror, made my heart break.
I usually write from the POV of the character I understand better (generally McKay); I have trouble writing John's POV. But I'm kind of fascinated by Sheppard, and I ship him with Woolsey and Parrish as well. I've written McKay/Keller: it's a pairing with potential that got screwed over by canon.
10. Why did you choose to join Team War?
I was afraid Team Peace would reject me *coughs nervously* In general, I can always write seriously (I'm not going to say angst here, y'all), but humour and fluff have to come to me, so I couldn't guarantee that my McShep Match fic would be light and bright. (Which it turned out to be, oddly enough! Muses work in mysterious ways. . . .)
11. C'mon, you know you wanna! Just a bit of squee about your Match fic?
The framing device makes me happy. The giddy, joyous romance of it makes me happy. The balance between the plot and the relationship and the worldbuilding and great grand overarching ideas and ideals makes me happy. [two of those three sentences are true.]
12. What are your 'tells'? How can a fic of yours be spotted in the wild?
John Sheppard eats Fritos. Or Cheetos. He hoards snack foods. (I was trying to create fanon. . . and I think it's starting to take root.) My stories tend to have three main parts: the narrative/plot, the theme, and some dorky self-challenge (for example, writing a novel-length romance without using the phrase 'I love you' (HP); or writing a story without using pronouns (SPN) to describe a character; or turning a fanon cliché like 'they know instinctively what each other needs' on its head (SGA); and so on). I don't like war or find it romantic; I don't write gratuitous violence; even in my darker stories I like to have hope left (I have a very hard time writing stories with no hope). Oh, and my OCs aren't Caucasian: they tend to be African or Asian (I've been doing this for ages, and no one's caught on yet *shrugs*).
Questions from the studio audience
from taste_is_sweet
We've had a few conversations about your penchant for vampire kittens--among other things--where you've expressed how your writing very often takes you to dark places, but that you won't actually post anything unless you feel that it offers the readers hope, if not a true 'happy ending'. So, my questions:
--Why do your stories so often center on sad subjects?
--What do you consider a hopeful outcome?
In SGA, I'm more tempted to write stories that are sad (or shall we say, complicated) because of all the hand-waving in canon. Horrible injuries are gone by the next episode; good friends die but are rarely mentioned afterwards; no one seems traumatised by having been tortured, or by having tortured anyone. I don't accept that: just like I see twenty people in renfaire outfits onscreen and think 'they represent several hundred villagers', I see Sheppard interacting with Todd and every time wonder what he must be thinking.
Also? Real life is... I won't say sad, but difficult. It's messy, a lot of times there's not enough money or not enough time, people get sick or have accidents, people lie to each other and cheat on each other and hurt each other. Hope is getting though all that and still being able to believe that there's something better. Hope is being able to hold onto your self, even if you have to redefine who you are. So -- theoretically, of course -- you can lose someone you love, but still have a hopeful ending because of the changes having that love made in you.
from neevebrody
I'm kind of interested in the 'dark' thing myself, but I won't delve too personally. Just, I find that the dark side of a story is sometimes the most interesting part. The dirty or the ugly is where the emotion lies and what punches you in the gut. So... what's your take on the dark? Do you find that it comes easier to you... and does that depend or not on your main character?
The thing is... I don't consider myself a darkfic writer. To me, darkfic is where there is no hope: even if a situation can be survived, it will to some degree destroy or warp the characters ever after (an example of well-done darkfic, off the top of my head, Exigencies by rivier). Often 'darkfic' is -- wrongly, I think -- used to describe any story where a character dies, or is tortured, or does something horrible. But a lot of that, in SGA, is *canon* (see yevgenie's fantastic video Open Secrets of the Pegasus Galaxy). . . or would be the logical result of canon events in real life. *coughs* That said, please to be reading my recent post on Deathfic and Me, in which it turns out I have killed John a few too many times. *segue to next question*
from telesilla
You've done some really interesting things with the characters and gender, so I'm curious, what do you like about writing those kinds of fic?
I love exploring identity, what it means to be a character: what's essential, and what's mutable. One of the main comments I've read from people who dislike genderfuck is that by making a character male/female/trans/intersex 'you might as well be writing an OC'; that it somehow changes the character so much to have a dick or clit or both or neither that they lose their essential nature. I express my disagreement with fic. I want my readers not to think of characters' genders as their destiny, but rather that gender can be part of how a character evolves into his/herself (or doesn't...). *expresses thoughts badly: please refer to last question re my weakness in writing*
from kyuuketsukirui
Do you tend to have a favourite character in each fandom whom you like to hurt or are you pretty equal opportunity that way?
I don't think of it as 'hurting' *g* I think of it as 'taking apart', to see what makes that character tick. I generally have two objectives: to learn more about a character who I don't have a good handle on (in SGA, John Sheppard), and to subvert fanon (I generally come into a fandom late, and want to do something different *shrugs*). For example, Rodney is very talkative; there are a lot of stories about him losing language, and how he copes. So I think: well, what if it were Sheppard who were aphasic?
from sticktothestory
Do you outline?
Do you consciously use themes or do they sneak into your stories? If you use them consciously, how do you interweave them with the plot?
What do you feel your strongest point and your weakest point as a writer are?
I do outline my longer stories (in a very freeform way) but I'm bad about sticking to outlines. If I figure out all the plot points in an outline or in my head, I just don't get that excited about actually writing them.
Sometimes I start with a theme, other times I find it after I finish a story.
My strongest point as a writer would be the way I use words. In RL I'm a very inarticulate speaker, and even in comments and meta I get tongue-tied and lost; but in writing stories, I've learnt how to convey characters and scenes in ways that other people get (usually). It makes me happy.
My weakest point as a writer would be that I'm used to writing for an audience of one (myself), and I leave out a lot of things that other readers need, which comes across as coy (like an injoke) and annoying. I'm learning to write more clearly (one of the best pieces of advice I ever got from a beta was that when the action gets fast, the writing needs to slow down: that is, it requires *more* description, more detail, more clarity, more words. I pass this advice on *g*).
Team: War!
Let's talk about: busaikko!
1. How long have you been writing fan fiction and/or making fan art and/or whatever else (vids, knitted goods, pornographic gingerbread cookies)?
2. Have you participated or are you participating in any other fandoms?
I started watching Star Trek when I was in kindergarten, and got into anime in elementary school (I wrote an epic fanfic in elementary school back before I even knew that people *did* that.). In junior high I transcripted A-Team episodes, in high school I was involved with local SFF groups, when I moved to Japan I had one suitcase of clothes -- and all the Valdemar and CJ Cherryh books I could carry. I discovered online fandom in 2005 when searching, as one does, for Discworld Vetinari/Vimes stories, which led to copperbadge and his Harry Potter stories. I was in HP fandom writing Remus/Sirius and Remus/Severus for years. . . until Book 7 *curses Book 7*. Then I got mixed up in TV fandoms, reading in dueSouth, SG1, SGA, The Sentinel, Starsky & Hutch, Supernatural, etc. I currently write in SGA, though I've started on SPN, and I have vids for SGA, SG1, dueSouth, Twitch City, SPN, and Hard Core Logo. So. . . I started fannish behaviour about 34 years ago; fanwriting, 29 or so years ago; and online fandom about 4 years ago.
3. What fanwork are you most proud of? Or, what is your favourite of your fanworks? (links, please!)
Maybe my favourite HP story is Here, Where the World Is Quiet, (Remus/Severus) (which has been translated into German and also credited as the inspiration for a Real Person tennis slash fic *is awed by the weirdness of fandom*). I also have two novels in which Voldemort is defeated by love *glares at Book 7*; The Maddest House and Ten Aprils.
In SGA, I like By Whirlwind Scattered, and I have a soft spot in my heart for Building Bombs, which is my SGA AU spin on John Hughes 80s films. War Stories is completely self-indulgent feel-good fic with kids and love, and A Hundred Happy Things is my best-known fic, where Sheppard is trans and Rodney's raising Madison.
My favourite SGA vids are Bird Girl (streaming; for A Hundred Happy Things) and The Great Escape (streaming; POV of John's mum re her boy's brushes with death). My warped sense of humour came out for McShep's Theme: fandom! Why were there not a *million* Arthur's Theme videos after The Shrine? *shakes head sadly*
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 an overwriter. I am *always writing*: I have a notebook with me from breakfast until I go to bed. On the bus, on the train, in a box, in the rain. . . . I throw away at least half of everything I write. My father-in-law is a painter, and he does the same thing with sketching, so I guess it's a legitimate process. I'm really bad at making things up if they can be researched, so I always have pictures, maps, articles, books, etc. so that I *know* what I'm writing about. Amazon.co.jp loves me.
5. Where can interested readers/viewers find more of your work?
My fanfic website. Also, my Delicious account has a 'busaikko' tag. Um. I write so much I lose a lot of it online, between this comm. and that comm. . . .
6. Do you write original fiction (poetry, screenplays)? Do you create original art (comics, photographs, quilts, wedding cakes)? Care to share?
I sew (current project: felt bag with fish and shark). I cook (I love challenges, like making a non-dairy, non-wheat, no egg bouche noel Christmas cake). I like to build furniture from kits. My spawn and I just finished making a model fishing boat. I'm a home ec, DIY kind of gal who usually forgets to pack lipstick but goes nowhere without screwdrivers.
7. How are you so awesome?
I have awesome friends, and hope someday to be half as awesome as they are.
Let's talk about: SGA!
8. What do you enjoy most about SGA and/or SGA fandom?
The weirdness. The madness. The incredible depth and breadth of the fannish creativity.
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?
The main pairing I wrote before this was antagonistic (shipping canon enemies) so writing people who are good friends in canon was an interesting change. I like that right from the beginning McKay and Sheppard slotted together, bonding with geekery and glee. I love that they play games together. My favourite scenes tend to involve McKay looking stricken and Sheppard either angry or dead (The Siege, Common Ground, Midway, The Last Man) but I agree that Echoes was the ultimate date episode ('Hey, wanna go for a drive and whale watch?'). . . and the opening of Tracker, with Sheppard watching McKay primp for his date in the mirror, made my heart break.
I usually write from the POV of the character I understand better (generally McKay); I have trouble writing John's POV. But I'm kind of fascinated by Sheppard, and I ship him with Woolsey and Parrish as well. I've written McKay/Keller: it's a pairing with potential that got screwed over by canon.
10. Why did you choose to join Team War?
I was afraid Team Peace would reject me *coughs nervously* In general, I can always write seriously (I'm not going to say angst here, y'all), but humour and fluff have to come to me, so I couldn't guarantee that my McShep Match fic would be light and bright. (Which it turned out to be, oddly enough! Muses work in mysterious ways. . . .)
11. C'mon, you know you wanna! Just a bit of squee about your Match fic?
The framing device makes me happy. The giddy, joyous romance of it makes me happy. The balance between the plot and the relationship and the worldbuilding and great grand overarching ideas and ideals makes me happy. [two of those three sentences are true.]
12. What are your 'tells'? How can a fic of yours be spotted in the wild?
John Sheppard eats Fritos. Or Cheetos. He hoards snack foods. (I was trying to create fanon. . . and I think it's starting to take root.) My stories tend to have three main parts: the narrative/plot, the theme, and some dorky self-challenge (for example, writing a novel-length romance without using the phrase 'I love you' (HP); or writing a story without using pronouns (SPN) to describe a character; or turning a fanon cliché like 'they know instinctively what each other needs' on its head (SGA); and so on). I don't like war or find it romantic; I don't write gratuitous violence; even in my darker stories I like to have hope left (I have a very hard time writing stories with no hope). Oh, and my OCs aren't Caucasian: they tend to be African or Asian (I've been doing this for ages, and no one's caught on yet *shrugs*).
Questions from the studio audience
from taste_is_sweet
We've had a few conversations about your penchant for vampire kittens--among other things--where you've expressed how your writing very often takes you to dark places, but that you won't actually post anything unless you feel that it offers the readers hope, if not a true 'happy ending'. So, my questions:
--Why do your stories so often center on sad subjects?
--What do you consider a hopeful outcome?
In SGA, I'm more tempted to write stories that are sad (or shall we say, complicated) because of all the hand-waving in canon. Horrible injuries are gone by the next episode; good friends die but are rarely mentioned afterwards; no one seems traumatised by having been tortured, or by having tortured anyone. I don't accept that: just like I see twenty people in renfaire outfits onscreen and think 'they represent several hundred villagers', I see Sheppard interacting with Todd and every time wonder what he must be thinking.
Also? Real life is... I won't say sad, but difficult. It's messy, a lot of times there's not enough money or not enough time, people get sick or have accidents, people lie to each other and cheat on each other and hurt each other. Hope is getting though all that and still being able to believe that there's something better. Hope is being able to hold onto your self, even if you have to redefine who you are. So -- theoretically, of course -- you can lose someone you love, but still have a hopeful ending because of the changes having that love made in you.
from neevebrody
I'm kind of interested in the 'dark' thing myself, but I won't delve too personally. Just, I find that the dark side of a story is sometimes the most interesting part. The dirty or the ugly is where the emotion lies and what punches you in the gut. So... what's your take on the dark? Do you find that it comes easier to you... and does that depend or not on your main character?
The thing is... I don't consider myself a darkfic writer. To me, darkfic is where there is no hope: even if a situation can be survived, it will to some degree destroy or warp the characters ever after (an example of well-done darkfic, off the top of my head, Exigencies by rivier). Often 'darkfic' is -- wrongly, I think -- used to describe any story where a character dies, or is tortured, or does something horrible. But a lot of that, in SGA, is *canon* (see yevgenie's fantastic video Open Secrets of the Pegasus Galaxy). . . or would be the logical result of canon events in real life. *coughs* That said, please to be reading my recent post on Deathfic and Me, in which it turns out I have killed John a few too many times. *segue to next question*
from telesilla
You've done some really interesting things with the characters and gender, so I'm curious, what do you like about writing those kinds of fic?
I love exploring identity, what it means to be a character: what's essential, and what's mutable. One of the main comments I've read from people who dislike genderfuck is that by making a character male/female/trans/intersex 'you might as well be writing an OC'; that it somehow changes the character so much to have a dick or clit or both or neither that they lose their essential nature. I express my disagreement with fic. I want my readers not to think of characters' genders as their destiny, but rather that gender can be part of how a character evolves into his/herself (or doesn't...). *expresses thoughts badly: please refer to last question re my weakness in writing*
from kyuuketsukirui
Do you tend to have a favourite character in each fandom whom you like to hurt or are you pretty equal opportunity that way?
I don't think of it as 'hurting' *g* I think of it as 'taking apart', to see what makes that character tick. I generally have two objectives: to learn more about a character who I don't have a good handle on (in SGA, John Sheppard), and to subvert fanon (I generally come into a fandom late, and want to do something different *shrugs*). For example, Rodney is very talkative; there are a lot of stories about him losing language, and how he copes. So I think: well, what if it were Sheppard who were aphasic?
from sticktothestory
Do you outline?
Do you consciously use themes or do they sneak into your stories? If you use them consciously, how do you interweave them with the plot?
What do you feel your strongest point and your weakest point as a writer are?
I do outline my longer stories (in a very freeform way) but I'm bad about sticking to outlines. If I figure out all the plot points in an outline or in my head, I just don't get that excited about actually writing them.
Sometimes I start with a theme, other times I find it after I finish a story.
My strongest point as a writer would be the way I use words. In RL I'm a very inarticulate speaker, and even in comments and meta I get tongue-tied and lost; but in writing stories, I've learnt how to convey characters and scenes in ways that other people get (usually). It makes me happy.
My weakest point as a writer would be that I'm used to writing for an audience of one (myself), and I leave out a lot of things that other readers need, which comes across as coy (like an injoke) and annoying. I'm learning to write more clearly (one of the best pieces of advice I ever got from a beta was that when the action gets fast, the writing needs to slow down: that is, it requires *more* description, more detail, more clarity, more words. I pass this advice on *g*).