Interview!
1. What was your first fandom?
First fandom as a fan? That I was aware of: probably Star Trek: The Next Generation. I actually remember getting to stay up late with my parents to watch the series premiere. I would have been four, probably? I grew up in a geek household, where this sort of thing was a family event.
First fandom as a fanficcer: ReBoot. Certainly the first fandom where I showed anyone anything I wrote. :)
2. How did you get into writing fanfic/creating fanart?
See above, re: geek household. Genre fiction was my bread and butter when it came to consuming popular culture; it was what was around to read and what was always on TV. My dad was a writer and my parents were geeks, and we had the Internet early, with an encouraging lack of parental supervision. I stumbled into Internet fandom when I was probably ten or eleven, at first lurking in Sailor Moon and ReBoot chatrooms, and then message boards and mailing lists and web rings, and then likewise stumbling into comics fandom and Subreality. I was sort of dragged sideways into writing fanfic by my cousin, with whom I co-wrote for many years. There followed many many years and a dozen or so fandoms, and here I am. (Wow, I'm old. In fandom years I'm like 275.)
3. Is SGA your main squeeze, or are you poly-fandom-ous?
SGA remains first in my heart, but we... have an open relationship? Occasionally I step out with Hawaii Five-0.
4. What makes John and Rodney such an inspiring couple for you?
Hmm. I think the fact that they're such layered, complicated people to read and write. Neither is what he seems, and half the fun is seeing different writers peel back all those layers and show me what's beneath especially when everyone's opinions of those layers differ, especially when they're genuine and convincing. Plus: you can cross anything with a McShep story, put John and Rodney in a room with any character from any fandom, and somehow, it works. This fandom has John/Rodney fic where they are Girl Scout cookies and still in-character. They were the first characters to convince me that AU fic wasn't the most ridiculous thing ever. Believe it or not, I used to avoid stories where the story couldn't have happened given canon events. (Yes, I know: I'm the one who wrote the crossover with Murder, She Wrote. Do you see what I mean?)
5. Who's your favorite, John or Rodney (or both)? How come?
I... must admit: Rodney. Probably because I feel like we have a lot in common (mostly the love of complaining). Also because we're both Canadian, and I'm therefore honour-bound.
Seriously, though: I liked Rodney from the first time we met him back in SG1, which was unusual for me, because usually I don't like characters who are jerks. Maybe it was David Hewlett's portrayal (probably it was), but you always got a very clear sense that Rodney was more than just his bad attitude, and as it turned out, all he really needed to be a good person was the right friends and the right place. He's truly one of my favourite fictional characters, and one of my greatest regrets about the end of SGA was no more Rodney (and no, I don't count his stint on SGU) on TV.
6. Where can people find more of your work (McShep or otherwise)?
I've got my fic up in lots of places, because I am paranoid. The main places are either in the Fandom section of my site, here, or on my AO3 page, here, but I think I've also got most of it up on my LJ (or linked to the comms where they were originally posted), here.
7. Pick a piece/story of yours that stands out for you. Give us links and tell us why!
One of my favourites is probably In This Era of Liberty, if only because it's one of only a few pieces of mine that I always genuinely enjoy re-reading and don't spend all my time mentally editing as I go.
Now, if this question were about the most cracktastically self-indulgent of my SGA stories, I'd have to say it would be a tie between Now The People Will Know We Were Here and Casting On, with a few bonus points to the former if only because it's the first time I have ever been able to justify going window-shopping as research for a story.
8. Finish this sentence: John and Rodney walk into a bar...
...and it doesn't go the way John expects. It's the first time he and Rodney have been on Earth together at the same time without any serious, planetary-threat-level demands on their time, and John decided yesterday that a bar would be a great place to spend an evening. Not that he hasnt' been in lots of bars with Rodney, but usually they're bars on alien planets where the drinks are unrecognizable and they stand a good chance of causing an interplanetary diplomatic incident if they get a little tipsy.
John figures a nice, normal corner bar should be pretty safe, so he takes Rodney to a place he remembers from his last time in Colorado Springs. A faux-Irish faux-pub that isn't too over-earnest or cheesy. It has good beer and great whisky and edible food and doesn't mind special orders, which is important when your date is Rodney McKay, Man of A Thousand Special Requests.
And... shit. Somehow while planning this it totally managed to escape his notice that this is totally a date.
Worse, it doesn't seem to have escaped Rodney's notice.
John starts to panic.
9. What question do you wish we'd asked?
Oh, crap. You want me to think more?
...nope, sorry, all out of brain. I'm open to questions in the comments, I guess? Fire away!
First fandom as a fan? That I was aware of: probably Star Trek: The Next Generation. I actually remember getting to stay up late with my parents to watch the series premiere. I would have been four, probably? I grew up in a geek household, where this sort of thing was a family event.
First fandom as a fanficcer: ReBoot. Certainly the first fandom where I showed anyone anything I wrote. :)
2. How did you get into writing fanfic/creating fanart?
See above, re: geek household. Genre fiction was my bread and butter when it came to consuming popular culture; it was what was around to read and what was always on TV. My dad was a writer and my parents were geeks, and we had the Internet early, with an encouraging lack of parental supervision. I stumbled into Internet fandom when I was probably ten or eleven, at first lurking in Sailor Moon and ReBoot chatrooms, and then message boards and mailing lists and web rings, and then likewise stumbling into comics fandom and Subreality. I was sort of dragged sideways into writing fanfic by my cousin, with whom I co-wrote for many years. There followed many many years and a dozen or so fandoms, and here I am. (Wow, I'm old. In fandom years I'm like 275.)
3. Is SGA your main squeeze, or are you poly-fandom-ous?
SGA remains first in my heart, but we... have an open relationship? Occasionally I step out with Hawaii Five-0.
4. What makes John and Rodney such an inspiring couple for you?
Hmm. I think the fact that they're such layered, complicated people to read and write. Neither is what he seems, and half the fun is seeing different writers peel back all those layers and show me what's beneath especially when everyone's opinions of those layers differ, especially when they're genuine and convincing. Plus: you can cross anything with a McShep story, put John and Rodney in a room with any character from any fandom, and somehow, it works. This fandom has John/Rodney fic where they are Girl Scout cookies and still in-character. They were the first characters to convince me that AU fic wasn't the most ridiculous thing ever. Believe it or not, I used to avoid stories where the story couldn't have happened given canon events. (Yes, I know: I'm the one who wrote the crossover with Murder, She Wrote. Do you see what I mean?)
5. Who's your favorite, John or Rodney (or both)? How come?
I... must admit: Rodney. Probably because I feel like we have a lot in common (mostly the love of complaining). Also because we're both Canadian, and I'm therefore honour-bound.
Seriously, though: I liked Rodney from the first time we met him back in SG1, which was unusual for me, because usually I don't like characters who are jerks. Maybe it was David Hewlett's portrayal (probably it was), but you always got a very clear sense that Rodney was more than just his bad attitude, and as it turned out, all he really needed to be a good person was the right friends and the right place. He's truly one of my favourite fictional characters, and one of my greatest regrets about the end of SGA was no more Rodney (and no, I don't count his stint on SGU) on TV.
6. Where can people find more of your work (McShep or otherwise)?
I've got my fic up in lots of places, because I am paranoid. The main places are either in the Fandom section of my site, here, or on my AO3 page, here, but I think I've also got most of it up on my LJ (or linked to the comms where they were originally posted), here.
7. Pick a piece/story of yours that stands out for you. Give us links and tell us why!
One of my favourites is probably In This Era of Liberty, if only because it's one of only a few pieces of mine that I always genuinely enjoy re-reading and don't spend all my time mentally editing as I go.
Now, if this question were about the most cracktastically self-indulgent of my SGA stories, I'd have to say it would be a tie between Now The People Will Know We Were Here and Casting On, with a few bonus points to the former if only because it's the first time I have ever been able to justify going window-shopping as research for a story.
8. Finish this sentence: John and Rodney walk into a bar...
...and it doesn't go the way John expects. It's the first time he and Rodney have been on Earth together at the same time without any serious, planetary-threat-level demands on their time, and John decided yesterday that a bar would be a great place to spend an evening. Not that he hasnt' been in lots of bars with Rodney, but usually they're bars on alien planets where the drinks are unrecognizable and they stand a good chance of causing an interplanetary diplomatic incident if they get a little tipsy.
John figures a nice, normal corner bar should be pretty safe, so he takes Rodney to a place he remembers from his last time in Colorado Springs. A faux-Irish faux-pub that isn't too over-earnest or cheesy. It has good beer and great whisky and edible food and doesn't mind special orders, which is important when your date is Rodney McKay, Man of A Thousand Special Requests.
And... shit. Somehow while planning this it totally managed to escape his notice that this is totally a date.
Worse, it doesn't seem to have escaped Rodney's notice.
John starts to panic.
9. What question do you wish we'd asked?
Oh, crap. You want me to think more?
...nope, sorry, all out of brain. I'm open to questions in the comments, I guess? Fire away!