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
Becky Bain

E-mail addresses
rbain@uswest.net

Residence
Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

List, AOL, or web affiliations
I run a Beauty & the Beast list called Tunnel Dreams, and I subscribe to several guide dog and puppyraising lists because my daughter and I raise puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc.

Lois and Clark or Superman Status

How long have you been watching L&C?
Since mid-third season. My first episode was I Now Pronounce You! Which I watched mainly because I'd been at a B&B meeting the day before and a friend kept talking about Lois & Clark getting married. Of course I had to keep watching to see what happened! But I really got hooked when TNT started running the series, and I got to see first season.

How long have you been a fan of Superman?
I used to read all the DC comics when I was a kid, so I suppose the fascination started there. I quit reading comics about junior high or so, but I remember standing in line for the first Chris Reeve movie during a bitter cold snap for over an hour! I must have really wanted to see that movie.

How long have you been writing?
Oh, wow, off and on since I was in high school. I started writing fanfic when I got hooked on Beauty & the Beast back in 1988.

How long have you been writing L&C fanfic?
Since 1997. I think.

What types of Fanfic have you written?
Mostly Beauty & the Beast, a couple of Quantum Leap stories, two L&C stories so far (though I'm almost done with a third) and several crossovers - B&B/Quantum Leap and my first L&C story was a B&B crossover.

Most recent story posted? Where?
Ad Astra Per Aspera, which was posted to the L&C archive last summer.

Favorite story you have written? Why?
Oh, gee, that's a hard one. I'm going to say it'd have to be either my L&C/B&B crossover, Timeless, or a B&B story I wrote a few years ago called O Never Star. (O Never Star is posted on the Beauty & the Beast Reading Chamber at http//jsd119.tripod.com/index.html if anyone cares!) I'm particularly pleased with these because they both turned out better than I thought they would! I think they're both good, solid stories.

Current project/projects?
I'm supposed to be doing the final edit on my latest L&C story. What I'm really doing is procrastinating, which is a very bad habit.

Personal picks of other Fanfics you have read?
You know, if I do this from memory I'm going to forget some really great stories! In general, I tend to look for authors (typical thought on a Sunday "Oh, good, so-and-so has a new story!"). Some favorites are LabRat, C.C. Malo, Mobile Richard, Wendy Richards, Tank Wilson, Shayne Terry, Irene Dutchak, Yvonne Connell. Raconteur is a new author whose Lifeflight series I enjoyed. Nan Smith's A Walk in the Dark really cracked me up. Kathryn Ann Kent makes me laugh, too! And I know I'm forgetting many, many good authors and stories...

General Interview Questions

What attracted you to writing Fanfic and what about it do you enjoy?
I've always liked writing, but creating characters is hard for me, so a ready-made cast and setting is perfect for me! Also, there's something about watching the characters on screen that sparks my imagination. I'm not sure I can put a finger on what I like about it - it's a creative outlet for me, for one thing. I've always been fascinated with words and the pictures you can make with them, so that's an appeal. Making up stories (although mine always seem to come to me full-fledged, and I just have to flesh them out!) is fun.

What about the L&C and the characters do you like the most?
Coming from a Beauty & the Beast background - one of the first things I noticed was how much Clark reminds me of Vincent! Plus the love L&C have for one another - they're so caring and tender. I must really like that, since it's drawn me to two shows now!

How do you interpret them in your work?
I don't know that I think of it as interpreting. They just show up in my head and start talking and doing things. I scramble to get it transcribed before they stop!

How did you begin writing in general?
I've always been a voracious reader, and from there I think grew my wanting to write my own stories. It seems like I've been doing it all my life.

How do you feel about being nominated for a Kerth Award?
Wow! It's a pretty incredible feeling. I'm very proud of my nominations!

What story of yours was nominated for a Kerth Award and could you tell about it?
I've been very fortunate because both of my L&C stories have been nominated. Timeless is a B&B/L&C crossover - kind of my personal transition from writing B&B to writing L&C! I had a lot of fun with the two couples - Lois and Clark, and Vincent and Catherine. Ad Astra Per Aspera was a story that I really didn't think would meet with much approval! But it was in my head and insisted I write it, so I did, and was pleasantly surprised by the way it was received.

Have you ever been nominated for the Kerth Award before? If so, please name the fanfic and tell something about it.
Um, see above answer. <g>

What are you working on now and where do you see it going?
It's an L&C fic that's sort of dark... and it's going to the archive as soon as I finish it!

What is your opinion about the following types of L&C fanfic's?
Action?

Drama?

Humor?

Round Robin?

Nfic?
I'll read and enjoy anything as long as it's well written and has a good story! I open every new story on the archive and start it - whether I finish it or not depends on the story, but I do finish most of them!

Has *everything* been done in your opinion, and if not, what is left?
You know, they say there are only something like seven plots, and all the stories in the world are retellings of those plots. Don't know how true that is, but I think it would be very difficult to come up with something that hadn't ever been done anywhere by anyone. Luckily, there are an amazing number of different ways to cover the same basic plot!

What do you think makes the best story?
Conflict. Something to overcome, a goal to reach, something! Beyond that, it helps to have a good grasp of basic grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. I have a better time reading stories that make it easy for me. I'm a lazy reader. I want to be in the story, I don't want to have to stop to puzzle something out. On the flip side, I try very hard to make my stories easy to read. I hope they are!

Would you like to add a link or URL to your favorite fanfic for the readers to sample your writing?
All my B&B fic and my B&B/QL crossovers (as well as Timeless!) can be found at the BBRC http//jsd119.tripod.com/index.html You'll have to look under two names - stuff I wrote myself is under my name, and stories I wrote in partnership with a friend are under a pseudonym, Lee Kirkland.

Where is the best place for a reader to locate your work?
The BBRC or the L&C Fanfic Archive. Anything I've ever written that's available on line is at one of those sites.

Open Forum For Author Comments
If you've ever wanted to write - give it a try! When it comes to writing, practice may not make perfect, but it will make you better. If you already write, find a few good beta readers and then listen to what they have to say! A beta who only gives glowing praise is nice, but it doesn't help your story. A good beta reader says, "I liked this and this and that. Now you need to work on this, this, that, this other thing, and all of chapter nine. <g>" You don't have to go along with everything your beta readers suggest, but you need to seriously consider it before you decide to reject it. There's a line of dialogue in Ad Astra that I think every single one of my beta readers asked me to change. And I really did fiddle with it for a long time, trying different ways for the character to say the same thing. But in the end, I went with the original version of the line, just because that was the way I "heard" the line being said, and none of the other ways of writing it seemed to convey that. But most of the time, I realize my trusty beta readers are right, and a line is clumsy, or a paragraph is muddy, or a whole passage needs to be rewritten. And I work with it until it's better, or clearer, or whatever.

After that, use your spell-check. Use a dictionary to look up any word you're not 100% sure you know the actual meaning of. Watch out for homonyms and make sure you're using the spelling that means what you mean! Make your story clear and easy for even the laziest reader. And keep at it. A sentence a day will be a novel if you keep it up long enough.

And that's my motivational speech for the day. <g> I'm honored to have been asked to share my ideas and experiences with the Writer's Showcase.