Do you remember your first introduction to fan fiction?
Not really. But I think it must've been in the Xena fandom. However, bizarrely enough, I didn't read Xena femslash. (Or Alt. as they liked to call it) I read mostly Xena humour fic, episode based fic and fic with Ares and/or Callisto. It wasn't until years later that I read any Alt Xena fic.
My first intro to femslash was in the Buffy fandom and it was a Buffy/Willow story. I had always avoided stories which had 'slash' written next to them as I believed them to contain scenes of gory violence, as in 'slasher' movies. Obviously I was a bit thick back then.
What main character that you've written femslash for, would you most like to hit upside the head?
Buffy. But then, I watched an old Buffy episode the other day and Buffy was lovely and sweet in it. I tend to think it's Fic!Buffy that I don't like. As Fic!Buffy can be bitter and jealous and horrible to Cordelia. And that is a cardinal sin.
Is your fan fiction writing limited to femslash or do you also write gen, het or male slash? If so, is there a difference in style or content (besides the obvious) between them?
The vast majority of what I write is femslash. But I have dabbled in all three of the others at one point or another. I quite like doing short gen pieces as there's no stress about 'how are my characters going to get together'. However, with gen I tend to find it difficult to have a 'point'.
My adventures in boyslash tend to be very porny and almost invariably unposted because of my embarrassment over this fact.
The reason I started writing femslash, way back in the day, was because I couldn't write men. I couldn't get a handle on male characters at all. All of my male characters came across as girly. And I didn't like writing Girly!Angel. Then I discovered femslash and voila! No need for male characters!
I am slightly less trepidatious at writing men these days. But some of them still escape me completely.
Have you ever been tempted to write a Mary Sue?
A lot of my fics contain a degree of Mary-Sueism. Not in that I invent characters based on me and shove them into relationships with fic!characters. More in that the characters I use can tend to develop tastes like me (my Alex Cabot is a fan of country music, for example) or I'll use a personal experience and make a character experience it, generally reacting in the way I did.
I very, very rarely introduce original characters, both in the fear that I'd be Mary-Sueing, and also because I have no imagination whatsoever and can't be bothered to think up new characters and have to describe them and everything when there are plenty of brilliant characters already there to be used and abused!
Are there certain genres you find easier to write for?
I don't think so. None of my fics are very 'plot' heavy. They tend to be character or relationship based and contain a lot of dialogue. So it doesn't really matter the genre. I also tend to write light/humorous fics and steer clear of angst for the most part.
Someone once told me that it was far easier to write angst than to write humour because the things that make us sad are universal whereas the things that make us laugh are very subjective. But I find it hard to come up with angst that isn't just 'Oh, woe is me [insert relevant character name here] has left me and I am very sad' or 'I really fancy [character] but I don't think they'd go out with me and I'm afraid to bring it up'. As previously mentioned, I have no imagination so I tend to go for light situations.
That said, I love to read angst.
Do you research subjects before you write them and, if so, in how much detail?
As above, I don't really do plot so I very rarely need to 'research' as such. I'll sometimes ask the odd question of a community or my friends list, either to clarify a character/fandom point or to ask about e.g. police procedure. But not often.
What's your preferred length of story to write and read?
To write, I'd say my stories would probably average at around 1000 words.
To read, the longer the better. However, I have seen some perfect little 100 word drabbles which really capture a moment or a person.
Can you touch the tip of your nose with your tongue?
No, but I can wiggle my ears if that's of any interest.
Are you, yourself, a fan of other fan fic writers and, if so, who are they and what is it about them that appeals to you?
I am definitely a fan of fanfic. I'm probably more of a reader than I am a writer. My favourite fanfic writers are probably Janine (BTVS, Popular, DEBS etc) and faithinthepoor (Desperate Housewives, Murder in Suburbia etc). What appeals to me is their ability to capture a character. I love to read a line and think 'That's exactly how he/she would think/say that/do that/etc'. If someone can make me believe that what they've written could be part of the canon of a series, that's what impresses me.
Ever wanted to head butt another fan for dissing your pairing?
Frequently. I am very protective of my fanfic pairings. I've nearly come to (virtual) blows with quite a number of Buffy/Faith shippers. They're a weird lot.
Do you have a favourite cliché, one that you'll read with joy even though it's been done to death?
I love most clichés. If well written, I'd read clichéd fic until the cows came home.
Would you lend me twenty pence if we were stuck at Charing Cross station and I was dying for the loo?
If I had twenty pence to give, I would give it.
If you've written real person slash how does it differ from writing about fictional characters?
I have written RPS and I find it completely different from writing fictional characters. The main difference is that you don't really know the people you're writing about. You don't know how they act in real life, how they speak, what their tastes are etc Whereas with a character, there's generally a wealth of accepted knowledge about them. By the same token, it's difficult to read RPS and think 'Yeah, that's how they'd be', because you just don't know!!!
Do you find you're more inspired by subtext, maintext or barely there text shows?
Definitely subtext and barely there text. Maintext doesn't interest me much at all. I think I've only written for maintext characters a couple of times and found it rather difficult. This is another reason I don't really write het couples, because when I see a canon couple/storyline on something, I find it really hard to deviate from it. And generally, I like canon couples and how they're presented, so I don't want to change stuff.
Where do you get your inspiration for specific stories; missing or extended scenes from the show, ideas from other shows or real life situations?
All of the above. Inspiration is a constant wonder to me. I get frustrated when I don't have it. I get frustrated when I do have it but can't formulate it into something solid.
Do you like cheese?
Only some cheeses. Not the squidgy ones. And absolutely nothing that could be considered 'blue'.
Every read over one of your stories months or years later and thought 'What the hell was I thinking!'
Pretty much all of them.
Why do you write fan fiction?
For fun. For enjoyment. To play around with characters that I love.
No other reason. The moment that it got hard or I didn't enjoy it, I would stop.