busaikko in her native habitat
Name: busaikko, also known as marysuefanfic
Team: Work!
Warning: longest interview in the history of long interviews /o\ BUT There are Madonna songs to DL *bribes*
Ummm. So I did the interview last year for Team War, and I'm going to try not to repeat myself. But I do have lots of questions from the flist, so this ended up being... long. Real long.
How long have you been creating fan art or writing fan fiction?
My first epic was created in elementary school. Online, I started posting fic on LJ in 2005.
What drew you into fandom in the first place?
My earliest memories were of watching Star Trek and Emergency! down in the basement, and I had all the Disney movies on record (the way things were done in the 70s!) and memorized all the songs and dialog. I love stories, I love thinking "what-if", and I love the excitement and energy of fandom.
Best thing about SGA fandom: go!
The fic has a tremendous range and the people are nice. \o/ As well, I really like closed canon. *hums Paint a Vulgar Picture*
Are you a fandom monogamist or do you participate in other fandoms? Which ones?
Right now, I mostly write in SGA, but I watch and write for White Collar, dueSouth, Supernatural.... I watch SGU; I don't love it*. I read a wide range of fic fandoms.
* But if anyone made me the SGU everyone/everyone "I'm Fucking Matt Damon (Disaster Movie version)" vid that I dream of, I'd fangirl them forever
Best thing about McKay/Sheppard: go!
I'm an introvert, but like most introverts I know I have blending-in skills that allow me to get by. That's how I see John Sheppard, as someone who has been trying to fake it most of his life, and then finds himself in a place where he fits in. In the recent video series by Martin Firrell, Joe Flanigan says of Sheppard, "He hides... he hides." But I think on Atlantis he has to hide who he is a little less... can maybe reveal a little more of himself than he thought he ever would want to.
And Rodney, of course, gets to be more than he ever dreamed. He gets to be the hero, and the savior, and one of the "cool kids", and a best friend. I don't project myself as much into the character of Rodney, which is why he's my default POV character (I find John's POV very hard to write).
So coming around to McShep.... John and Rodney are making these journeys together. They have such a great friendship, that can survive so much because they trust each other and respect each other fundamentally (the snark and bickering is just the crunchy chocolate coating, really).
Why did you decide to participate in McShep Match?
I participated for the past two years. It was fun!
And how did you choose Team Work?
Peer pressure! No, no. I said this last year, but I find it hard to *plan* to write something fun; it's either there or... it's forced. Angst and heartbreak, I have on tap.
Best thing about your contribution to this year's Match: go! (Remember to keep your answer vague, please!)
It may not require four hankies! ...um.
Where can interested readers/viewers find more of your work?
I write so much that a lot of the time I lose stuff, don't crosspost or post to AO3, or forget that I wrote stuff. The best way to find fic is my delicious account (includes recs, fic-searches, rants, &c.), or check my webpage or Archive of Our Own. Or just ask me. I'm friendly (^-^)
A word to our sponsors?
Thank you for running the Match this year!
Questions from stasia:
1. How do you pronounce your name? It's 5 syllables, bu-sa-i-(little pause!)-ko. The 'bu' sounds like boo!, and the 'sai' sounds like sigh, and the '(small pause)-ko' is like the second part of 'cocoa' if you are singing it in a very 'ha-ha, I have cooo-cooooa and you don't!' way.
2. How do you come up with so many interesting ideas and get so much done all at once? Writing is my nervous tic. Everywhere I go I have pen and paper; I am always writing, and thinking about things I'd like to write. I have this terrible drowning-like feeling that I never get *anything* done, that I am barely able to run to stand still... which I am kind of starting to realize is a lie. But I want to do so much more! /tl;dr Short answer: panic.
3. Do you have preferred pairings or are you pan-pairing? I generally have preferred *characters*. In Harry Potter, it was Lupin (which was why I could ship both Remus/Sirius and Remus/Severus). In SGA, it's John Sheppard (McShep, but also Shepaprd/Woolsey, Sheppard/Parrish, Sheppard/Dex, Sheppard/Mitchell, Sheppard/Carter, Sheppard/McKay/Keller...).
4. Do you ever write anything that's non-fandom based? Besides lesson plans and curriculums? Nope. I do have original fic ideas that live in my head, but I'm not at a place where I want to bring them to life.
5. Do you find that you can use your experiences in fandom to benefit you in nonfandom situations? All the time. Besides all the research I do, which is always fun to bring up, fanwriting and communicating online has made me much more able to express emotions and empathy. Fandom has really demonstrated the value of respect for each other and of politeness, and I like to pass that on.
Questions from skaredykat
1. What are your secrets to, in your fic, making me like various characters I did not have a great love for in canon (e.g., Keller and Mitchell), yet doing so without making them seem OOC/completely incompatible with their canon portrayals? I think it's a matter of "believing that people are really good at heart"? Or at least, looking for that good and then extrapolating outwards. People tend to forgive the people they like (Rodney really did call Carter a dumb blonde to her face, and ask her to flash her tits), but it's harder when you don't like them (Cam with the lemon, or Keller in The Shrine), but in fic I can level the playing field (forgive or call out, equally; show their humanity, equally). (Also, with a TV show, it's a lot easier to blame the major characterization fail on certain writers and, um, creatively just fix it *looks shifty*). Someday, I will write the Chayya/John friendship fic that lives in my head, and then you will fear me!
2. Writing the other: what are your tips for not failing at it? I self-identify as an outsider, and I think I bring a lot of that with me. Writing Harry Potter fic, it was a lot easier for me to imagine how Remus Lupin got by (not so very well) than to be interested at all in, say, the Malfoys. At the most basic level, it's understanding who the characters are as people, and how other-ness shapes/affects them, and how it is perceived by the people around them. As a writer, I do research on the internet, I ask my flist/family/real-life friends/little_details, and I try to have stories beta-read by people who will call me on fail (and let me just say, my Match fic betas *rocked* so hard and gave me a great workout).
3. Apocafic, domestific, or domestic apocafic? Fluffy domestic apocafic. Or, you know, cute teen romance apocafic.
4. Favorite 80s pop song? There are so many! *weeps* (In fact, I just realized the other day that my Match fic could have a perfect soundtrack from Madonna's Immaculate Collection: Open Your Heart! Like a Virgin! Live to Tell! Crazy for You! Express Yourself!) [That sound you just heard was John Sheppard collapsing in embarrassment after being caught lip-synching Come on girls, do you believe in love? Cause I got something to say about it!*] [There's another very appropriate Madonna song, but it would give the fic away, sorry.]
* Also? This is a vid I would love to see. Just saying.
5. Beer or sake? I can't drink carbonation, so sake all the way *g* (Though my annual consumption of alcohol is, um, maybe 4 glasses? I was born to teetotalers, it rubbed off.)
6. Chocolate-dipped potato chips or honey barbecue pretzels? *eyes those choices* *winces* *gives them all to Rodney McKay* busaikko's major snack weaknesses are sourdough bread and NutterButters.
Questions from marginaliana
1. You've written some really moving fic about disabilities. What draws you to that theme? Two things, I think. One is that I know so many people (friends and family) who live with illness and disability -- it tends to be on my mind, I guess? And fanfic has that wish-fulfilment element where things can be made right (or at least better).... The other is that I am kind of put off by disability as H/C trope or as metaphor (a story about a vision-impaired character with the subtle title, say, "Light a Single Candle"; vision restored in the last 500 words). Two, on the Fanlore Disability Fic page, there's a quote from Jadelennox, "What I haven't seen much of... is stories where the disability is just there." And that's what I would like to be writing.
2. And I don't want to assume anything about you, but I'd imagine you haven't directly experienced everything you've written about. What kind of research do you generally do for something like that? (Some of this is covered above) I do research (Amazon.co.jp loves me; YouTube is fantastic for first-hand accounts of almost everything), I ask people. I do RL things for the sake of fic ("Hey, kids, we're going to the botanical gardens, mama needs to know about tropical plants!").
Question from kisa_hawklin
1. Where do you get your ideas from? Let me tell you a story by way of example! busaikko and her spawn one night were watching a feature on the TV news about how the octopus ferry was being driven out of business by a new inter-island bridge. The busaikko-brain instantly said, "But, wouldn't John Sheppard make a great octopus ferry driver?" (Right? Right?) So I had those ideas in the head, and then I got really angry at Glee for making jokes about torture, plus I was kind of homesick so I was reading a book about Henry Hargraves and John Henry Bias, who opened Hargraves Beach, an African-American beach on the Outer Banks in the 1930s. I generally have some kind of personal challenge in a fic as well, so I figured this should be the fic where there is no anal sex because John doesn't like it, but that's not a big deal. Toss ideas in blender, frappe, 50,000 words later, Big Bang fic (a sadly octopus-free fic).
So ideas... just connect to each other, I guess? I prefer to write stories where the themes (what it's about) aren't parallel to the plot (what is happening); that makes it interesting for me.
Question from perspi
Do you have a favorite 'moment' in the story process? As in--do you love that little bit at the beginning, when the inspiration creeps up on you or zaps you out of the blue? Do you love the worldbuilding, storybuilding phase when you ponder over the background information and find the beats of the plot? Or maybe you love the revision, the back-and-forth with your betas? Or maybe the very last breath before posting? The comments, seeing how your story gets received? I know some people who can't bear to reread their own fic, but I edit the hell out of things if I can. I love when I have an idea that doesn't work so well at first, but I polish it, and then on the third or fourth pass all of a sudden I figure out how to make it work. That's very satisfying. Worldbuilding is always fun, especially if I am figuring out how to translate canon into an AU. I adore naming characters. (And at the risk of sounding very fatheaded, I absolutely love when someone either reads a fic and comments on something I didn't think anyone would notice... or finds something that *I* didn't notice (symbolism, or Deeper Meaning *head swells*). There was one of those moments with the beta for my Match fic, and I got all warm and fuzzy.
Team: Work!
Warning: longest interview in the history of long interviews /o\ BUT There are Madonna songs to DL *bribes*
Ummm. So I did the interview last year for Team War, and I'm going to try not to repeat myself. But I do have lots of questions from the flist, so this ended up being... long. Real long.
How long have you been creating fan art or writing fan fiction?
My first epic was created in elementary school. Online, I started posting fic on LJ in 2005.
What drew you into fandom in the first place?
My earliest memories were of watching Star Trek and Emergency! down in the basement, and I had all the Disney movies on record (the way things were done in the 70s!) and memorized all the songs and dialog. I love stories, I love thinking "what-if", and I love the excitement and energy of fandom.
Best thing about SGA fandom: go!
The fic has a tremendous range and the people are nice. \o/ As well, I really like closed canon. *hums Paint a Vulgar Picture*
Are you a fandom monogamist or do you participate in other fandoms? Which ones?
Right now, I mostly write in SGA, but I watch and write for White Collar, dueSouth, Supernatural.... I watch SGU; I don't love it*. I read a wide range of fic fandoms.
* But if anyone made me the SGU everyone/everyone "I'm Fucking Matt Damon (Disaster Movie version)" vid that I dream of, I'd fangirl them forever
Best thing about McKay/Sheppard: go!
I'm an introvert, but like most introverts I know I have blending-in skills that allow me to get by. That's how I see John Sheppard, as someone who has been trying to fake it most of his life, and then finds himself in a place where he fits in. In the recent video series by Martin Firrell, Joe Flanigan says of Sheppard, "He hides... he hides." But I think on Atlantis he has to hide who he is a little less... can maybe reveal a little more of himself than he thought he ever would want to.
And Rodney, of course, gets to be more than he ever dreamed. He gets to be the hero, and the savior, and one of the "cool kids", and a best friend. I don't project myself as much into the character of Rodney, which is why he's my default POV character (I find John's POV very hard to write).
So coming around to McShep.... John and Rodney are making these journeys together. They have such a great friendship, that can survive so much because they trust each other and respect each other fundamentally (the snark and bickering is just the crunchy chocolate coating, really).
Why did you decide to participate in McShep Match?
I participated for the past two years. It was fun!
And how did you choose Team Work?
Peer pressure! No, no. I said this last year, but I find it hard to *plan* to write something fun; it's either there or... it's forced. Angst and heartbreak, I have on tap.
Best thing about your contribution to this year's Match: go! (Remember to keep your answer vague, please!)
It may not require four hankies! ...um.
Where can interested readers/viewers find more of your work?
I write so much that a lot of the time I lose stuff, don't crosspost or post to AO3, or forget that I wrote stuff. The best way to find fic is my delicious account (includes recs, fic-searches, rants, &c.), or check my webpage or Archive of Our Own. Or just ask me. I'm friendly (^-^)
A word to our sponsors?
Thank you for running the Match this year!
Questions from stasia:
1. How do you pronounce your name? It's 5 syllables, bu-sa-i-(little pause!)-ko. The 'bu' sounds like boo!, and the 'sai' sounds like sigh, and the '(small pause)-ko' is like the second part of 'cocoa' if you are singing it in a very 'ha-ha, I have cooo-cooooa and you don't!' way.
2. How do you come up with so many interesting ideas and get so much done all at once? Writing is my nervous tic. Everywhere I go I have pen and paper; I am always writing, and thinking about things I'd like to write. I have this terrible drowning-like feeling that I never get *anything* done, that I am barely able to run to stand still... which I am kind of starting to realize is a lie. But I want to do so much more! /tl;dr Short answer: panic.
3. Do you have preferred pairings or are you pan-pairing? I generally have preferred *characters*. In Harry Potter, it was Lupin (which was why I could ship both Remus/Sirius and Remus/Severus). In SGA, it's John Sheppard (McShep, but also Shepaprd/Woolsey, Sheppard/Parrish, Sheppard/Dex, Sheppard/Mitchell, Sheppard/Carter, Sheppard/McKay/Keller...).
4. Do you ever write anything that's non-fandom based? Besides lesson plans and curriculums? Nope. I do have original fic ideas that live in my head, but I'm not at a place where I want to bring them to life.
5. Do you find that you can use your experiences in fandom to benefit you in nonfandom situations? All the time. Besides all the research I do, which is always fun to bring up, fanwriting and communicating online has made me much more able to express emotions and empathy. Fandom has really demonstrated the value of respect for each other and of politeness, and I like to pass that on.
Questions from skaredykat
1. What are your secrets to, in your fic, making me like various characters I did not have a great love for in canon (e.g., Keller and Mitchell), yet doing so without making them seem OOC/completely incompatible with their canon portrayals? I think it's a matter of "believing that people are really good at heart"? Or at least, looking for that good and then extrapolating outwards. People tend to forgive the people they like (Rodney really did call Carter a dumb blonde to her face, and ask her to flash her tits), but it's harder when you don't like them (Cam with the lemon, or Keller in The Shrine), but in fic I can level the playing field (forgive or call out, equally; show their humanity, equally). (Also, with a TV show, it's a lot easier to blame the major characterization fail on certain writers and, um, creatively just fix it *looks shifty*). Someday, I will write the Chayya/John friendship fic that lives in my head, and then you will fear me!
2. Writing the other: what are your tips for not failing at it? I self-identify as an outsider, and I think I bring a lot of that with me. Writing Harry Potter fic, it was a lot easier for me to imagine how Remus Lupin got by (not so very well) than to be interested at all in, say, the Malfoys. At the most basic level, it's understanding who the characters are as people, and how other-ness shapes/affects them, and how it is perceived by the people around them. As a writer, I do research on the internet, I ask my flist/family/real-life friends/little_details, and I try to have stories beta-read by people who will call me on fail (and let me just say, my Match fic betas *rocked* so hard and gave me a great workout).
3. Apocafic, domestific, or domestic apocafic? Fluffy domestic apocafic. Or, you know, cute teen romance apocafic.
4. Favorite 80s pop song? There are so many! *weeps* (In fact, I just realized the other day that my Match fic could have a perfect soundtrack from Madonna's Immaculate Collection: Open Your Heart! Like a Virgin! Live to Tell! Crazy for You! Express Yourself!) [That sound you just heard was John Sheppard collapsing in embarrassment after being caught lip-synching Come on girls, do you believe in love? Cause I got something to say about it!*] [There's another very appropriate Madonna song, but it would give the fic away, sorry.]
* Also? This is a vid I would love to see. Just saying.
5. Beer or sake? I can't drink carbonation, so sake all the way *g* (Though my annual consumption of alcohol is, um, maybe 4 glasses? I was born to teetotalers, it rubbed off.)
6. Chocolate-dipped potato chips or honey barbecue pretzels? *eyes those choices* *winces* *gives them all to Rodney McKay* busaikko's major snack weaknesses are sourdough bread and NutterButters.
Questions from marginaliana
1. You've written some really moving fic about disabilities. What draws you to that theme? Two things, I think. One is that I know so many people (friends and family) who live with illness and disability -- it tends to be on my mind, I guess? And fanfic has that wish-fulfilment element where things can be made right (or at least better).... The other is that I am kind of put off by disability as H/C trope or as metaphor (a story about a vision-impaired character with the subtle title, say, "Light a Single Candle"; vision restored in the last 500 words). Two, on the Fanlore Disability Fic page, there's a quote from Jadelennox, "What I haven't seen much of... is stories where the disability is just there." And that's what I would like to be writing.
2. And I don't want to assume anything about you, but I'd imagine you haven't directly experienced everything you've written about. What kind of research do you generally do for something like that? (Some of this is covered above) I do research (Amazon.co.jp loves me; YouTube is fantastic for first-hand accounts of almost everything), I ask people. I do RL things for the sake of fic ("Hey, kids, we're going to the botanical gardens, mama needs to know about tropical plants!").
Question from kisa_hawklin
1. Where do you get your ideas from? Let me tell you a story by way of example! busaikko and her spawn one night were watching a feature on the TV news about how the octopus ferry was being driven out of business by a new inter-island bridge. The busaikko-brain instantly said, "But, wouldn't John Sheppard make a great octopus ferry driver?" (Right? Right?) So I had those ideas in the head, and then I got really angry at Glee for making jokes about torture, plus I was kind of homesick so I was reading a book about Henry Hargraves and John Henry Bias, who opened Hargraves Beach, an African-American beach on the Outer Banks in the 1930s. I generally have some kind of personal challenge in a fic as well, so I figured this should be the fic where there is no anal sex because John doesn't like it, but that's not a big deal. Toss ideas in blender, frappe, 50,000 words later, Big Bang fic (a sadly octopus-free fic).
So ideas... just connect to each other, I guess? I prefer to write stories where the themes (what it's about) aren't parallel to the plot (what is happening); that makes it interesting for me.
Question from perspi
Do you have a favorite 'moment' in the story process? As in--do you love that little bit at the beginning, when the inspiration creeps up on you or zaps you out of the blue? Do you love the worldbuilding, storybuilding phase when you ponder over the background information and find the beats of the plot? Or maybe you love the revision, the back-and-forth with your betas? Or maybe the very last breath before posting? The comments, seeing how your story gets received? I know some people who can't bear to reread their own fic, but I edit the hell out of things if I can. I love when I have an idea that doesn't work so well at first, but I polish it, and then on the third or fourth pass all of a sudden I figure out how to make it work. That's very satisfying. Worldbuilding is always fun, especially if I am figuring out how to translate canon into an AU. I adore naming characters. (And at the risk of sounding very fatheaded, I absolutely love when someone either reads a fic and comments on something I didn't think anyone would notice... or finds something that *I* didn't notice (symbolism, or Deeper Meaning *head swells*). There was one of those moments with the beta for my Match fic, and I got all warm and fuzzy.