Tell us a bit about yourself. Are you one of these people who was born with the innate desire to write or is it something that you just fancied having a go at?
I was one of those people who wrote stories in my head. You know, what would have been, had they been written, ff.net Mary Sue fodder. I didn't start writing until the Stargate fandom, and that was mostly snarky little stuff and humor fic about donuts. My WR is pretty rough in some places, as I was on my learning curve.


How did you discover fan fiction?
I knew about it for a long time, knew about 'zine culture. I started reading online back in 1995 with a show called Space: Above and Beyond. I knew a number of writers in Stargate, but WR was the first fandom I saw the movie and immediately went to the computer and did a websearch for wolverine/rogue fanfiction. It's one of the fandom's great blessings that the WRFA has managed to live (and thanks to Devil Doll, prosper) so long.


What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?
Having a good read on the characters, and realizing that while you can make them do what you want, good writing will try as much as possible to keep to characterization. What characters grow into in our fic needs to be based in what they were in the canon we're using.

Realizing that it's not just words, there needs to be more to it to make it good writing, it does take work.

And for the love of all that is holy, if you're writing in a fandom, write about those characters, not the actor or other characters the actor has portrayed. The foundation of bad writing is built upon the land of actor obsession.


Lots of things can bug those of us who read fan fiction. As a writer, what are some of your pet peeves?
Generally, not making any attempt at cleaning up a fic, spellchecking, read-throughs, getting a beta, and then telling people in the author's notes that you didn't? If you can't be bothered, why should the readers?

Specifically to WR...

- Rouge. I can see it getting by once if it's a long story. But more than that?

- Evil!Jean. Demonizing another character without cause makes shippers look stupid. If someone says, 'she's a bitch because she touched Logan in X-Men' during an examination she was making as a doctor? Run away. The argument isn't just stupid, it's not only misogynistic and ignorant, it's weak.

- The idea that Rogue's all sassy and spanky from the get go. If you're starting from X-Men, the girl almost killed the first boy she ever kissed, was either so guilt-ridden she left home or was thrown out of her home, traveled cross-country, and finally found someone she knew in someway she could connect with, and was brutalized by Magneto et al. If you don't have some of that in your characterization, you might be writing about Rogue-Sue.

- Writing about the actors and not the characters. Hugh Jackman and Wolverine are not interchangeable, know where the lines are.


Why write about Logan and Rogue…what do you find compelling about them as individuals and as a potential couple?
They're just so screwed up, but there's a connection there that just totally pings for me. When he stops the truck, even though he's completely capable of leaving her out in the middle of nowhere, and that he continues to risk all for Rogue... it's a perfect ship set-up. He's totally willing to touch her, even at risk of death. And with her powers, you know she's inside his head, it's fabulous.


In the story, “Another Turning Point” Logan buys Rogue earrings and bracelets, but never a necklace to replace his tags around her neck. What are your thoughts on the significance of those dogtags for both Logan and Rogue?
I think the fanon we as a fandom built up around the dogtags is better than what the movie gave us. *g* I think for us, the dogtags were an obvious expression of the connection we saw between the characters, promise given form. It was also a great out for a fandom working against the perceived age issue, that it was a promise that could last.


You’ve credited Jenn for plot bunnies that led to a couple of different stories. Do people often suggest plot ideas, or is she just particularly influential? :)
Jenn was the first person in W/R that I'd ever had contact with, and we've chatted most every night since somewhere around late 2000. Most of my plot ideas are things that I try to get other people to write, because I'm lazy, and Jenn, like Victoria P, just won't write crazy things for me. Kinda sad, that. *g*


Have you ever begun a story only to get mid-way through and feel like it just wasn’t working? If so, how have you dealt with that?
Hmm. I just haven't written enough to get there yet. I have a bunch of stories sitting because I just lack time or energy after real life.


Probably my favorite story of yours is, “In Between.” I enjoyed Logan’s POV as he thought back over ordinary, but important, events in his life with Marie. You really seemed to capture his ‘voice’ well. Which character and/or POV do you feel most comfortable writing from and why?
In WR, I tend to be more comfortable in Logan's voice, I think because he tends to be the rougher character, but at the same time he's very vulnerable.


What’s the most viewpoints you’ve ever used in a story? Are there characters whose viewpoint you would never consider writing? Why or why not?
I think Living Unto Morning would have to be the most, since that was full team, and had like six POVs in it. As to never consider... never say never. If the story was there, I'd probably try anything.


You’ve written a variety of story types—humor, AU, shipper, dark, etc.—but they’ve all been consistently NC-17. You even made mention once of your seeming ‘inability to do anything without a NC17 rating’. Why is that? Do you consider this to be your specialty?
I think it has the most to do with the fact that fanfic is where we write the story we'll never ever see. Since we'll never get the porn, it's pretty natural to write and share it. We'll never see our ship living together in the day to day, having comfy morning sex, or after the battle sex, so we have to do it ourselves. As to being a 'specialty' - no, I don't think of anything beyond humorously offbeat to be my forte.


Is it possible to be *too* detailed in smut? How do avoid becoming dry and clinical when you're paying attention to detail?
It's easy to go overboard on anything. I've found the key to good smut is to concentrate on the feelings, the sensations, you don't need to chronicle every single motion to make it good, but the emotions, you miss out on those, you've blown it. Readers for the most part know what goes where, what we want to know is how this is making the character feel. Is it just sex? Is it guilty sex? Is it learning a new lover? Reuniting with an old lover? All of those have different emotional weight, and that's what the reader needs to know to make it fulfilling.


You’ve written a variety of sex scenes…kinky sex (Lessons Before Bedtime), phone sex (Page 42), first-time sex (Another Turning Point), etc. What’s your favorite sex scene that you’ve written and why?
Hee. I've been told to say the whole of XXX Mansion. *g* I think Page 42, despite it's roughness will always hold a warm spot in my heart since it was the first fic I did for X-Men, and the first really explicit smut I've written.


What, if anything, do you feel your responsibilities are as a fanfic writer in this electronic environment, where it's nearly impossible to police who reads your work?
As a writer, the responsibility is to create the best story possible. Policing browsing habits is the responsibility of the person browsing, or if they are minors, their parents.


I’ve read quite a few AUs in this fandom, but I have to say the concept of the X-Men as porn stars in “XXX Mansion” blew my mind! How did you come up with it? What was the starting point and how did you get from there to a finished story?
Donna and I were chatting one night and I made some joke about all the smut fics, maybe it was in conjunction with the Never Have I Ever... series. The next day I had an idea to start the story and it just went from there. It went on to shadow the movie to become a real AU, and if you look, you'll find Romance Novel cliches everywhere. I kept saving the story, going back, changing huge chunks, and saving again. Counting all of those saves it was like fourteen drafts of story, ending at about 150 pages.

It was also the first story I demanded a hard, hard beta on, realizing that I had been accepting of a soft beta before. It's a much stronger story than anything I'd done up to that point for just that reason. It really drove home the lesson that there's always room for improvement, which can be a humbling, but very necessary thing.


I have to ask, did you have to do any research either before or during the writing of this? If so, what type of research? :)
Bwaha!

I did do some research on the porn industry, as much as I could online, which honestly didn't get great results. The mechanics of the industry are rather unglamorous. I ended up just making my own universe, since it wasn't like there were mutant porn houses in RL. In the flame I got for XXXM, I was accused of having been a fluffer in the porn industry, which will always be surreal.

As to other research, neveryoumind. *g*


Water Torture” was written as part of the “Never Have I Ever…Every Damned Time” series. How did this round robin series come about and how did you get involved?
I honestly have no idea where Never Have I came from, it was up on the WRFA by the time I entered the fandom, and it was just something we added to.


You noted that “Lessons Before Bedtime” was ‘kind of a sequel to Jenn's Bedtime Stories... Kind of because she made me write it and she wanted the same... psycho thing going’. Was it hard writing a story to fit into someone else's tone, style, plotline?
Well, it was never that formal a decision, so I think we were just playing with it. The difficulties implied in the question are really why it's a 'sorta' sequel, instead of a definite one.


From the feedback you've received for your various stories, were you surprised by anything that readers commented on...or didn't comment on?
The thing about writing mostly smut is your feedback is generally short and more about the hotness of the story. Of course there's always the TMI fb, the ones that tell you too much about masturbation or other sexual habits, which I have gotten. *g*

XXX Mansion probably had the most surprising comments, especially for a story that got so little feedback -- though maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. After I released the first part I got a very long email denoting exactly where I had 'plagiarized' the story from. I have a feeling it was due to a fandom grudge, since I don't think lipstick and dresses are interchangeable if they fall on the floor. Reading 80 pages of fic just to find concepts in common was pretty surprising to me.


Devil Doll recommended your story, “XXX Mansion” for the 30 Days of the WRFA’s A Story With Porn *and* Plot category. How do you feel when people or sites recommend one of your stories? Do you look at it as another form of feedback?
I love to be recced, I don't know any fanfic writer who doesn't love it. I do think that it's important to feedback as well as rec, since there's very good odds that the person you're reccing won't *know* about the rec. Fandom is very fast paced these days, it's easy to miss things, and it'd be a shame for an author *not* to know about that positive reaction. Recs and feedback really should go hand in hand.


Which of your stories is *your* favorite and why? Least favorite?
In WR, I think In Between is my favorite story, because it's a concept I really wanted to get through, a real reason Rogue could control the mutation, and trying to humanize Carol, who at that time was becoming a demon of Evil!Jean proportion in the fandom. If I have to have a least favorite, probably Cleaning Up, it could have been wackier.


Do you think that fanfic writers can survive without good betas or a similar support network?
I think they can survive, I don't know that they can *grow* without a critical audience of some kind. A lot of fic resonates because the pairing is beloved, but that's not the same thing as a well-written or even a *good* story. And a support network, as some may think of it, and a beta aren't always the same thing. To accept a real beta is to accept the basic truth that not everything you've written is gold; a good beta will help you to shape the fic into something better. Cheering sections are great things, but wouldn't you rather know that you've just spelled Rogue Rouge and change it before hundreds of people see it? Then they can have something better to cheer about.


Can you give us any insights into how *you* use beta readers in your work?
No real insights. I write, they read, they tell me what's wrong. Sometimes we disagree and find a middle ground. Every story will be a different situation, and every beta has a different style.


We haven’t seen any new stories in a while. Have you stopped writing all together, or are you just writing in other fandoms?
've been writing Clark/Lex slash over in the Smallville fandom, but my RL has been kind of frantic so I'm on a hiatus. I have one story I'd really like to do in WR, one I had planned out called Karma, but we'll see if life settles down.


When you’re not writing fan fiction, are you reading it? Are there particular fanfic writers you admire in this or other fandoms?
My writing and reading are at a low right now, but I'd say a lot of the people to read are hosted at the www.illuminatedtext.com, the domain that Jenn and I own. I'd without hesitation recommend Jenn, Victoria P, Katherine, and Ransom to anyone looking for WR. For Smallville, I'd say Jenn again, Caro, Pearl-o, Lanning Cook. For Sirius/Remus slash in Harry Potter, Victoria P is definitely a good bet.


Do you have any sage advice you'd like to share with fanfic writers just starting out?
Do your best. Yes, it's just fanfiction, and it's not life and death, but let's face it, you want people to read your fic. You want that bit of their time, you need to give some of yours.

Anyone who tells you your first fics are perfect? Is lying to you. Take a look around, if everyone receives the same fb, then it's not really the story that's being read, it's a rote reaction to the word FIC in the subject line. If you want to settle for that, it's okay, but don't expect that to be in every forum you go to, because a majority of fandom isn't like that.

So take your time, because reading your story takes someone else's time. If you rush out a badly structured, badly spelled, badly written story just because omgyouwrotethisandmustpostit!, there are a lot of people who won't bother finishing the story, and who will never read your next story. The same ease in which fic can be posted means that people have a lot of choices, if it's obvious a writer isn't even making basic efforts, folks will not read.

You must login (register) to review.