Dear Readers,

Welcome to the Lois & Clark The New Adventure of Superman Writer's Showcase. At the bottom of this web site you will findlinks to past featured writers. Just click on the any writer's name you might have missed or want to read again and you will be taken to their interview.

Now, in keeping with Annie's famous words, without further ado I am proud and honored to present this week's Writer in the Writer's Showcase ...

Annette, Labrat, Kaethel, Avia

Personal Information

Author name
Ann McBride

E-mail addresses
Aerm1@aol.com

Residence
Louisville, Kentucky

List, AOL, or web affiliations
Zoomway's message boards, the Lois and Clark fanfiction mailing list, and the Lois and Clark mailing list. I also spend a fair amount of time on IRC.

Lois and Clark or Superman Status

How long have you been watching L&C?
I've been watching Lois and Clark since the late spring of 1998. I wandered into the family room to check on my children and they were watching it in reruns on TNT. One of them had a crush on Teri at the time. The other one said, "Mom, you should watch this show. You'd like it a lot." So I sat down and watched it, and they were right. I did like it a lot. I vaguely remember having heard about it when it first came on in 1993, but it was on Sunday night at the same time as the Simpsons, which was the TV show of choice with two kids at that time.

How long have you been a fan of Superman?
Since I was a kid. I used to watch George Reeves on television. When I had some spare change, I would get Superman, Superboy, and Supergirl comic books and read them. I saw the first Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, but was so disappointed with his portrayal of Clark that I never saw the others.

How long have you been writing?
I wrote a lot when I was in school, but hadn't written anything except business letters and memos since graduate school. As for creative writing, I probably hadn't written anything since high school.

How long have you been writing L&C fanfic?
Not very long at all. I wrote my first story in 2000, when a story that Irene started posting gave me an idea to go in an entirely different direction. I had been beta-reading for people for perhaps a year before that.

What types of Fanfic have you written?
I have written one vignette and three fairly long stories. That first fic, "A Triangle Built for Two," was supposed to be a vignette, but took on a life of it's own and grew and grew and grew. The three long stories have turned out to be a trilogy in which the relationship between Lois and Clark develops from wanting to date each other to, um; shall we say 'more'? All three of them have, I think, a fairly serious A-plot along with some angst, some humor, and some "smoochies." The vignette I wrote, "Why One Should Never Miss Meetings," has a married Lois and Clark who are also parents. It was written one day after a harrowing weekend of fundraising activities for my son's Boy Scout troop.

Most recent story posted? Where?
That would be "Aftermath." It was posted over the course of much of 2001 on Zoomway's message boards and on the fanfic archive the last Sunday in December.

Favorite story you have written? Why?
That is a difficult question. I'm not sure that I have a favorite. I liked "Aftermath" because it "fixed" some issues that I always had problems with in the show. (Namely, that Clark waited too long to tell Lois that he was Superman.) "Growing Pains" was interesting to me because it had several subplots, and it was fun tying it all together. "Aftermath," however, was really a challenge. The subject matter in the A-plot was extremely serious and was incredibly difficult to write comfortably. I felt a need to tackle the issue; but then it was a real challenge to write, perhaps because I was dealing with racial issues that I have only read about and heard about but not personally experienced. It did make me feel good to get positive feedback from readers who had more knowledge of the subject than I did. So, I guess I don't have a favorite story that I've written.

Current project/projects?
I've just started on a continuation of "Metallo." I have all of two paragraphs at this moment. So it may be a while before anyone besides my beta-readers see it. I have a feeling that it will be shorter than the trilogy, but it will be in the same continuity, since it takes place between "Triangle" and "Growing Pains."

Personal picks of other Fanfics you have read?
You're kidding, right? Just about anything written by LabRat, Carol Malo, Erin Klingler, Wendy Richards, Jessi Mounts, Sheila Harper, Yvonne Connell, Supermom, Nan Smith, and a host of others. As far as individual stories go, "Burnout," "Recognition," "Purity," "For the Greater Good," "Fear of Discovery," "Between Floors Seven and Eight," and "Mxysplit" are ones that I have read and reread many times. (If I didn't mention your name or story, it means nothing. I know that I've left out a dozen favorites. Blame it on my age. <g>)

General Interview Questions

What attracted you to writing Fanfic and what about it do you enjoy?
I had been reading Fanfic since the summer of 1998 and beta-reading since probably 1999 when I got the idea for a vignette that became "Triangle." I enjoy writing dialogue, I love it when the plot comes together, and I really enjoy getting positive feedback from writers whose work I admire.

What about the L&C and the characters do you like the most?
I love the relationship between Lois and Clark. I have always been drawn to movies, television shows and fiction in which the male and female characters have a strong partnership. If they work together, it's an added bonus. So I loved "Hart to Hart," "The Thin Man" and all its sequels, and "The Scarlet Pimpernel." The secret identity facet to the Lois and Clark relationship is also fascinating to watch. It was alternately intriguing and comical to watch Clark trying to manage the "triangle" before Lois was in on his secret. After that point, I enjoy watching her help him be Superman, which she had always done unwittingly; but it's more interesting to me to see her do it as an equal partner. I also love the repartee between the two on the show, and I try to work that kind of dialogue into my stories.

How do you interpret them in your work?
Oh my. I try to keep them fairly close to what I saw on the television screen. The one difference is that I have had Lois in on the secret since fairly early second season in the three long fics. This allows me to create some different dynamics in both A and B plots.

How did you begin writing in general?
In school, of course. I had a teacher in sixth grade that was really into creative writing. Every Friday we wrote either a story or a poem. She taught me most of what I know about brainstorming, organization, and thirst for the perfect word for the situation. After that, I wrote for myself during junior high school and high school. I don't think that I ever showed anyone the creative writing I did. I did get involved in journalism in high school and worked on the school newspaper, mostly as a feature writer and co-feature page editor. I think that all that journalism affected my writing, because I find it very challenging to write description, a holdover from that. On the other hand, I learned about the power of a good quote, so I think that has helped me with dialogue.

How do you feel about being nominated for a Kerth Award?
It was an enormous thrill to be nominated last year. I knew I wouldn't win anything when I saw the competition, but it was wonderful just to be nominated.

What story of yours was nominated for a Kerth Award and could you tell about it?
Both "Triangle" and "Growing Pains" were nominated, so that was really exciting. I think they were nominated for best series as well as individual stories in different categories.

What are you working on now and where do you see it going?
I'm working on a follow-up to "Metallo." It always bothered me the way it was written. Supposedly, Superman doesn't kill, yet by melting Johnny Corbin's legs, he allowed Rollie Vale to kill Johnny. I think that given the way Clark obsesses about rescues gone wrong, etc., he would have not lightly dismissed his involvement in that fiasco. But in the episode, he acted like it didn't matter at all. I'm trying to explore how Clark would have reacted to the situation, at least how Clark as I see him would have reacted.

What is your opinion about the following types of L&C fanfic's?
Action?
Action is good if it's well written. I don't particularly like fics that are only action with no sense of the characters' motivations or feelings.

Drama?
I love a good drama. The first time I read "For the Greater Good," I must have used about three boxes of Kleenex, which is unusual because I rarely cry at anything. But it was so well done that I was moved to tears. The second time I read it, I probably only used one box, but I still cried.

Humor?
Love it. I think that is one of the things I love about stories by LabRat and Jessi Mounts. Even when the topic is serious, they both manage to inject humor that is just so Lois and Clark. The show was full of humor, so I think that it ought to be an element of many fics.

Round Robin?
The ones that used to be written on IRC were fun to read. I am in awe of how people could take what they were handed and keep the story going smoothly.

Nfic?
I enjoy reading it, but haven't really gotten into writing it. I would like to say that I usually prefer it when a story is nfic because the "n" is integral to the plot.

Has *everything* been done in your opinion, and if not, what is left?
No, I think that as long as there are people writing, there will be new ideas and new stories. Truthfully, I think that the quality of the stories has improved over time as more and more people are using beta-readers and working out glitches on the mbs before sending stories to the archive. As Lois and Clark said, "There are no new stories, just new angles." I seem to recall from my college literature days that there are only 100 plots or something like that in all of literature.

What do you think makes the best story?
A story needs to have a good plot or premise and good, smooth writing. It drives me crazy to read a story in which there are major spelling and grammatical errors. Those will jar me right out of a story, and I won't read it. I like to see that Lois, Clark, and the other characters from the show are in character. One thing I have noticed, too, is that a fic is much better if it isn't rushed. A lot of young and/or new writers tend to rush through a story, leaving out the details that make it come alive. (I do it myself sometimes.) That is something that good beta-readers will catch, so I recommend getting one to anyone who wants to write.

Would you like to add a link or URL to your favorite fanfic for the readers to sample your writing?
All of my work is on Zoomway's message boards, the Fanfic Archive, and at Anne's Place.

Open Forum For Author Comments
I love fanfic. <g> I am first and foremost a reader, not a television viewer. So after I was introduced to Lois and Clark, I really wanted to read stories about them. We went to Scotland that July, and I must have gone into half the bookstores in Scotland looking for "Lois and Clark" books. I think I found one, the Cherryh novel, which was better than nothing, but just barely. When I got home, I was looking on the Internet for something, anything, about Lois and Clark and found the Archive. After that, I found Anne's Place, and Zoom's site, and half a dozen more. I read voraciously the rest of that summer, and since I hate reading on screen, I killed my printer printing it out.

The quality of a lot of the Lois and Clark fanfic amazes me. I think that a fair number of writers, if they tried, could probably get published and earn money for doing what they currently do for free. Another facet of Lois and Clark writers that I find wonderful is the desire to learn, to perfect their craft. It has been really fun to watch the development of a number of writers over the last couple of years. The fanfic list tends to have some intense discussions about writing style, points of grammar, etc. As a charter member of the "grammar police," I love it that so many writers are interested in that aspect of writing. It's quite educational, as well, when we explore the differences between English in the UK and the US.

And having gone on and on, just like the pink bunny, I'll quit.