interview questions from kristenk2

[pauraque_bk]

1. Who is your favorite XF character to explore and write about, and why?

I'd have to say Krycek. He has a clearly-drawn presence and personality, but his background and true motivations are completely mysterious. This is a wonderfully inspiring combination for a fan writer. You can put him in almost any situation, and watch him fight or think or manipulate his way out, and then you can try to peel away all those roles he plays and secrets he keeps, and make him human.

And he's dead sexy, too. ;)



2. Who's your least favorite to explore, and why? Have you ever tried to write them?

Hm, that's tough. Doggett and Skinner come to mind (sorry!). It's not that I don't like them -- I do -- and I've enjoyed good fic about them, though I don't seek it out. For some reason they just don't tickle that part of my brain that makes me wonder what's going on in their heads. Maybe it's because they're such Manly Men; I rarely write that type of character in original fic, either. I've never tried to write either of them, but I've beta-read stories from their points of view, and made suggestions for motivations, character voice, etc.



3. What's it like being the Boy of the Harem? Are we scary, or just weird? ;-)

A little from Column A, a little from Column B. ;)

But seriously, it is interesting being the only guy in an otherwise female group, which in turn is part of a predominantly female fandom. It's been suggested to me that being a guy may have steered me away from a few of the badfic pitfalls, like feminization of male characters, excessive schmoopiness, and the like. And that may be true to an extent, but I don't know that it makes me really different; plenty of female writers avoid that stuff. There are sterotypically male pitfalls in writing too, and I hope I've avoided them as well.

I do feel a little like the odd person out at the Harem. But on the other hand, it's nice to stand out in the crowd, especially when you're trying to give people a reason to read your fic -- having something special about you can't hurt there. So it doesn't really bother me. Of course, I have a lot of female friends in real life as well, so the culture isn't as foreign. It's not like I'm a straight boy, after all. ;)

As an aside, my other main area of interest online is model linguistics, which is a region populated almost entirely by males. It's interesting to compare the group dynamics. I'd say that the differences mostly show when civil conversation breaks down: The guys call each other stupid and ignorant, while the women accuse each other of elitism and backstabbing. Just a general observation.



4. What other fandoms do you write in? Any that you've left?

I'm a late arrival to the internet fandom party, but I've been writing fanfic on my own since I was just a wee little Boy. I'm not sure which came first, but around the age of eight I was writing both Quantum Leap and... ahem, Darkwing Duck. It's okay, you can laugh.

The first fic-writing online fandom I participated in (not counting MST3K, which is a rather different beast) was Star Trek TNG. I discussed and feedbacked, and yes, I wrote, but I didn't have the guts to post my own stuff. I left that fandom in my mid-teens, though I'm still fond of the show.

There are a number of other fandoms that I've lurked in and written for, but been too shy and self-critical to post. These include Homicide, MASH, Sports Night, The West Wing, Cowboy Bebop, and CSI. The latter three, I still have some hope of actually posting a story for one day.

For the record, the fandoms I've actually posted stories in are X-Files, Law & Order, and Harry Potter. Not a combination I would have bet on, a year ago.



5. Pick one: catsup or ketchup. *g*

Ketchup! Linguistic descriptivist until the day I die! ;)



Thanks, Kristen, this was fun. I'll have some questions coming your way in a bit.

Comments

[maidenjedi]

Darkwing Duck?

You *rule*.

:-)

[pauraque]

Heheh. You know, I've been wanting to see that show again, since apparently it held this special fascination for me. I do remember quite a bit about it, but I haven't seen an episode in years. I looked around on the Disney Channel site, but it doesn't look like they're re-running it.

[gelliaclodiana]

I'd say that the differences mostly show when civil conversation breaks down: The guys call each other stupid and ignorant, while the women accuse each other of elitism and backstabbing.

Too much jet lag and white wine have left me with nothing more than the vague sense that there's something Really Important lurking in this observation. Also, it's quite funny.

[ratkrycek.livejournal.com]

Another "you rule!" for writing Darkwing Duck fanfic, and you wrote fanfic for Quantum Leap? You so rule.

Model linguistics - that sounds like it could be interesting. What is it? Something to do with the structure of language?

[pauraque]

Model linguistics - that sounds like it could be interesting. What is it? Something to do with the structure of language?

Yep. It's experimenting with model languages -- combining features from different existing langs, or trying to create something entirely new and alien -- for the purpose of finding new ways of expression, or just seeing how far you can push the linguistic universals before they break. It's asking, "Is there any language that does this? Could there be? If there were, how would it affect the thought processes and culture of the people who spoke it?" It's a sub-branch of constructed language creation in general, which would also include secret codes, international auxiliary languages, and the like.

[deslea.livejournal.com]

I'd say that the differences mostly show when civil conversation breaks down: The guys call each other stupid and ignorant, while the women accuse each other of elitism and backstabbing. Just a general observation.

I find this fascinating, and very very true.

Deslea, who'd rather be thought an elitist backstabber than stupid and ignorant...