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
Rain Elizabeth Day (Rain for short :)
E-mail addresses
rainfall@magma.ca
raininglizards@hotmail.com <-- the one I check the most often
Residence
Somewhere in the wilds of Canada
List, AOL, or web affiliations
I'm basically a lapsed FoLC. I used to be on the loiscla list back when Tara was the listmom, and also on Rhen's fanfic list before it folded. I'm only 25 and I feel like a crotchety old grandmother. Back in *my* day... ;)
Some day I will get around to making myself a website (next time I finish a story, which should be sometime around 2005 <g>)
For those with a multi-fandom bent, I can be found most often these days on the scullyfic list, over in X-Files land. I don't write any faster there than I do here. :)
Lois and Clark or Superman Status
How long have you been watching L&C?
Since Christmas of Season 1.
How long have you been a fan of Superman?
Since Christmas of Season 1. :)
How long have you been writing?
Since Christmas of Season 1. Just kidding! <g> I've actually been writing since before I could read (my mom used to write down my stories for me). I wrote a lot as a kid. I wrote some original stuff, but I'd also often write my own endings to books that didn't satisfy me, or fill in my own missing scenes. I'd also make up new stories using characters from books. I wasn't really a TV kid, but I obviously had the fanfic thing down! <g>
How long have you been writing L&C fanfic?
Hmm, let's see. I discovered loiscla in the spring of 1995, and Rhen's fanfic list soon thereafter. I spent a happy summer reading everything in the archives (which was a lot easier back then! :) and decided that by golly, I could do this too! So, I wrote my first two stories, "Oops..." and "The Aftereffects of the Horizontal Lambada". I have wished ever since that I put some sort of timestamp on them, because I don't mind if people know I wrote them 6 years ago when I was young and innocent, but I cringe to think they might think they are recent work! :)
Then I got busy with school, stopped writing altogether, finished my degree, moved across the country, and decided it was time to exercise the rusty writing muscles. I finished "Leaping Greenly Spirits" in 2000 (it was a post-ep for "Brutal Youth", and was started right after the ep aired in 1996) and uh, well, that's it, really. I also have a bunch of half-finished stuff that needs extensive revision if it is ever to see the light of day. :)
I'm kind of like a Vulcan, except instead of mating every seven years, I write an LnC story every five. Which really is a better deal for me, when you think about it.
What types of Fanfic have you written?
As a child I wrote fanfic for lots of books (most notably Enid Blyton's Famous Five series). The most embarrassing fanfic I've ever written is a toss-up between Cabbage Patch Kids and My Little Ponies. <g> Oh, but the amazing original My Little Pony characters I developed! ;) In my defense, I was 8 years old and My Little Ponies were the coolest things ever. I used to write this stuff surreptitiously at school when I was supposed to be doing other stuff. <g>
As a teenager, I wrote a lot of really bad Star Trek fanfic, a lot of it vaguely Mary Sue-ish. Of course, I didn't know it was called "fanfic" and laboured under the delusion that I would be publishing a Star Trek novel some day. Ha ha. <g>
I've written LnC fanfic, of course, and some X-Files stuff. I recently wrote a Harry Potter fic, because it was begging me to put it on paper, but it's not going anywhere but my hard drive, because it's Most recent story posted? Where? Favorite story you have written? Why? In non-LnC stuff, I also have a soft spot in my heart for "Insert Title Hear", an X-Files badfic (a deliberately badly written piece) I wrote around the same time. Hopefully it is not archived anywhere. :) It featured the World's Worst Sex Scene (TM) and was written to exorcise all the dumb stuff I wanted to put into Leaping Greenly Spirits. I am absurdly proud of some of the stuff I came up with. Writing fic that is bad in a *funny* way is harder than it looks! <g>
Current project/projects? I'm also working on two X-Files fics. Just as "Leaping Greenly Spirits" was experimenting with smut, now I'm trying to see if I can write angst and scary stuff. I have a fear that all I can write is fluffy humour pieces with sex in them! <g>
Plus I have lots of odds and ends lying around which I will hopefully some day pick up again.
Personal picks of other Fanfics you have read? General Interview Questions What attracted you to writing Fanfic and what about it do you enjoy? I think the best thing about fanfic in general is that it makes TV truly interactive, and allows you to take control of the process. Instead of passively wishing they'd have an episode about A, you go ahead and put the characters in situation A and see what they do. I love the fact that it gives power back to the viewers, and puts our contemporary cultural myths back in the collective hands of the people instead of in the hands of for-profit organizations. Fanfic is really very subversive, when you think about it. I'm all for sticking it to the man. <g>
What about the L&C and the characters do you like the most? I love that their lives are so normal except for the fact that Superman exists, and that totally changes everything.
How do you interpret them in your work? I see a lot of myself in Lois, actually, which is probably why I like her so much. I'm not pushy like her, but I understood vividly why she slammed the door in Clark's face. I like the way she blusters her way through situations she's not entirely confident about, and babbles nervously, and stands up for what she believes in, no matter how scared she is. I see her as putting up a blustery front to the world, but also often to herself. She is a lot more emotionally vulnerable than she likes to think.
Clark is interesting too. He is so confident as Superman, and often so unsure as himself. He fell so hard for Lois, so fast, that you couldn't help but feel for the guy. <g> He can be insensitive sometimes, but that actually makes me like him more, because it makes him human (even though he isn't. :) I love his relationship with his parents, and I think it shapes him, in several different ways. Because he gets along so well with them, he relies on them, and is much more of a kid that way than Lois is. On the other hand, it gives him a sense of security and maturity about love that Lois lacks, even with his larger insecurity stemming from the fact that he's the only one of his kind on Earth.
I like that Lois and Clark are complex, interesting characters, who can lie and hurt each other and be selfish, but are ultimately good and likeable people. I like the dynamics that come from the huge secret they share, that forces them to lie when they don't want to, for the greater good, and for their own personal privacy. I like the fact that they are adults who can take pleasure in doing something goofy like flying.
Sigh. I'll never get over them. :)
How did you begin writing in general? Also, as I mentioned before, I've had the fanfic bug from way back, and always wanted to fill in missing scenes in books I read. I didn't watch much TV growing up but when I started to watch more as a teenager, I naturally expanded my writing to include shows that I liked.
Lois and Clark fanfic was the first kind I discovered online, and I was in heaven. I had found my people. :)
How do you feel about being nominated for a Kerth Award? What story of yours was nominated for a Kerth Award and could you tell about it? I started it right after the episode aired, and finished it almost four years later. :)
It's a ghost story that isn't, and features two Kleenex villains, a real estate agent, and the threat of an Olsen interruptus. And an exuberant Lois and Clark living life in the moment. With sexy results. ;)
Have you ever been nominated for the Kerth Award before? If so, please name the fanfic and tell something about it. It was about... well, Clark has to take a drug test, and Lois helps him out, and they get caught. Only it's funnier than that. I can't say too much. A lot of people have told me that they still remember the ending. :)
What are you working on now and where do you see it going? As I said above, I do have a bunch of unfinished LnC fics in various stages of abandonment. The one I work on the most often is a PG humour piece about Perry and Jimmy overanalyzing Lois and Clark's relationship ("What Does it Mean if it Comes out Blue?"). It stands a chance of being finished sometime in the relatively near future. :) I also have a couple of ideas for LnC fics that I haven't started yet. I tend to write in bursts, and I'm actually in a writing phase right now, so I am making some slow progress.
I'm also working on the X-Files fics I mentioned above. I like working in two fandoms at once, because if I need a break from one, I move on to the other. I just have to watch out with confusing my characterizations! <g>
What is your opinion about the following types of L&C fanfic's?
Drama? Humor? Round Robin? Nfic? Conversely, I also like it if the sex scenes are really unrealistic and obviously written by somebody who has no idea what they're talking about, but that's not very nice of me. <g>
Has *everything* been done in your opinion, and if not, what is left? What do you think makes the best story? Would you like to add a link or URL to your favorite fanfic for the readers to sample your writing? I'm an engineer, people. You'd think I would be able to knock together a simple web page. Someday!
Where is the best place for a reader to locate your work? Please remember that these last two were written six years ago! :)
Open Forum For Author Comments
My most recent LnC story is "Leaping Greenly Spirits", which was posted on Debby's nfic list (well, Joyce sent it out - thanks, Joyce!) and Zoomway's boards. It can also be found at Anne's nfic archive.
Probably "Leaping Greenly Spirits". Part of the reason I resumed writing it was to see if I could write non-cliched smut, and I think it turned out OK. I also feel like I achieved the tone I was trying to set. It's the first story I had beta-read, and Ann's eagle eye definitely helped make it better.
LnC - well, I have a bunch of unfinished stories, and four years until my next scheduled appearance. <g> Most likely to be finished in the near future is "What Does It Mean When It Comes Out Blue?", which involves Perry and Jimmy not following up on their "And the Answer Is..." promise to stop speculating about Lois and Clark and get lives of their own. Mayhem ensues. ;)
I have to preface this by saying that the fanfic I know best is that that was produced before 1996. And that was a long time ago, so I'll probably forget stories I loved. But, off the top of my head
Everything by Zoomway (for some reason, I'm particularly fond of "Dirty Bubbles" :)
Everything by The Gorn
"Tempus Fugitive Revisited" by Kaz from Oz
Everything by Rufus (I don't know if her stuff is available anymore, though)
Unknown Emotions by Jeff Brogden
I was attracted to writing fanfic because there were characters I loved, and situations I wanted to see them in, and the authors/writers/producers weren't putting them there. So I did. And it felt great! It's an amazing feeling to realize that you can play with the characters all you want.
Oh, gosh, I don't know. I love the fact that Clark is Clark disguised as Superman, rather than Superman disguised as Clark. I love everything about Martha and Jonathan. I love the fact that Lois is kick-ass and competent, but totally freaks out at the idea of Clark getting close to her. I love that Perry is such a softie underneath, and that Jimmy tries so hard, and that nobody mentioned his major plastic surgery between seasons 1 and 2. <g>
Well, they talk into my ear, and I put it down on paper... :)
I was very fortunate to be brought up in a household where my parents read to me and my sister and brother every night before bed, and encouraged us to read on our own, and didn't really turn the TV on much, and encouraged us to use our imaginations a lot. I learned to read before I started kindergarten, and my sister and I were constantly acting out these elaborate scenarios that we'd invented, and it just seemed natural for me to start writing some of these things down.
Honestly? I danced around the living room. <g>
"Leaping Greenly Spirits" was nominated for two 2001 nKerth awards (Best Humorous and Best Episode Tie-In). It takes place immediately where the episode "Brutal Youth" leaves off. I don't want to give too much away, since I think a lot of the humour depends on not knowing what's going to happen next.
Yes, my story "Oops..." was nominated for a humour Kerth Award the first year they were given out (1998, I think). It didn't win, but it was an honour just being nominated (honestly! I still think it's so cool! :)
Well, I'm cleaning my apartment, and it's not going well... oh, you mean writing. :)
Action?
Pure action fic doesn't really grab me that much, unless it also involves some sort of character growth. This isn't just for LnC fic - it's for everything. :) On the other hand, I really admire people who can write exciting action sequences within other fics. I've been at the edge of my seat, fearing for my beloved characters, up way too late but unable to stop reading, more times than I like to admit. <g>
I really like this genre, as long as it doesn't descend into melodrama. And there are a lot of wonderful authors here that don't do that! :) Once again, it's all about being true to the characters. I would say that most of my favorite fics qualify as dramas, although a lot of them have humourous elements as well. It is my goal to be able to write good drama fic. Sadly, all my LnC fic ideas are for humour pieces. This is why I had to turn to the X-Files for angst practice! :)
Hmmm. <g> Well, obviously, I'm all about humour (it seems to be my writing forte). I like reading humour pieces as long as they don't get over the top and slapsticky. I like witty dialogue and humorous situations that don't seem contrived, but were arrived at one logical step after another. Basically, I like well-done humour that (say it with me ;) respects character integrity.
I have to say that I haven't read too many Round Robin pieces. I think they could go either way. From a totally theoretical perspective, I would say that the bad thing is that they could be quite uneven, since they are written by so many different people with slightly different ideas of where the thing is going. On the other hand, I bet they're fun to write, and I could see some of them turning out quite well. I'm not really qualified to comment on this genre (didn't stop me, though, did it? <g>)
Pornography. Evil pornography. <g> Seriously, I like nfic if it's well-written. I'm not that into just pure plot-what-plot? sex scenes. I need a story to go around it. When I first discovered the genre, it was different, but now I've read so much NC-17 rated material that I sometimes actually find myself skipping over the sex to see what happens in the rest of the story! ;) On the other hand, a well-written sex scene that is placed at a good point in a story is usually a good thing.
Well, in some senses there are only about five different plots in all of fiction. The trick is to take the same old stuff and make it new. I'm not completely up-to-date with all the latest LnC fic, but I honestly don't think everything has been done. Most basic plots, yes. But I think there's always room to add a little twist to something to make it fresh and original.
I'm not sure how to answer this. Good writing. I've read stories with plots that I would never have expected to enjoy, and did just because the writing was so good. If your characters are interesting, and stay true to themselves, your story will be good. I think most stories (excluding vignettes) have some sort of crisis at their core, and how good your story is depends on how your characters deal with that crisis, both outwardly and inwardly. And sexually, if you write nfic. <g>
Despite the fact I've been writing online fanfic since 1995, I don't have a web page.
"Leaping Greenly Spirits" - Anne's Place (http//www.annesplace.net)
"Oops..." - http//www.lcfanfic.com/stories/oops.txt
"The Aftereffects of the Horizontal Lambada" - http//www.lcfanfic.com/stories/lambada.txt
Coming back after a long absence I'm so impressed at what this community has become, and how it's survived. I was worried that after the show ended folcdom would die off, but the opposite has happened - the LnC fanfic world seems even more vital than ever. This seriously rocks. :)