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
Christy

E-mail addresses
attalanta@aol.com

Residence
Ohio

List, AOL, or web affiliations
The Fanfic List

Lois and Clark or Superman Status

How long have you been watching L&C?
I saw my first episode the first time the pilot episode was rerun on ABC, sometime early first season. I don't remember the exact scene, but I came upon Lois & Clark by accident and was instantly smitten. I haven't missed an episode since.

How long have you been a fan of Superman?
Prior to Lois & Clark, I had seen the original Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, but I wasn't a big fan. The characters of Superman/Clark and Lois seemed one-dimensional to me, until I saw Lois & Clark. So I've been a fan of Superman as long as I have the show.

How long have you been writing?
I've been writing pretty much my whole life. My second grade teacher had us write stories and draw pictures to accompany them. I loved those assignments and I think that's what got me started writing. I continued writing - mostly short stories, some poems - in middle school and high school, though I didn't finish a story until I started writing fanfic in college.

How long have you been writing L&C fanfic?
I found the online fandom in 1996 and began writing fanfic in January 1997.

What types of Fanfic have you written?
The only stories I've finished are Lois and Clark, though I've started a Lois and Clark/Avengers crossover. I've written next-gen and early years stories, a deathfic, a revised episode ending, and various other types.

Most recent story posted? Where?
My most recent finished story posted was The Martha Chronicles 3 Metanoia, which was posted on the fanfic archive. I'm posting my current work-in-progress, Hysteron Proteron, on Zoomway's fanfic boards.

Favorite story you have written? Why?
The story closest to my heart is usually the story I'm currently working on. However, I'm still rather attached to several older fics. Emptiness in Harmony, which revolves around Lois and Clark's daughter, is very dear to me since it has lots of grounding in personal experience. Family Ties is a favorite because I think it was the first time I really synthesized several themes into one story, with a side plot about Perry weaved into the main plot about the effects of a car accident on Lois and Clark's son. I'm also proud of the three Martha Chronicles, since, for me, writing that series was such a huge undertaking. I think I learned the most writing that series, since extrapolating Martha into her youth allowed me to create an almost original character.

Current project/projects?
I always have several fics going at a time, so I can work on whatever feels right at any time. My most nearly-finished WIP is Hysteron Proteron, which I've almost completed and have started posting on the MBs. Other than that, I have three other fics started, including an alternate world fic and another Martha Chronicle.

Personal picks of other Fanfics you have read?
Tough question; there are so many writers whose work I enjoy. Probably my favorite writer is Sandy McDermin, who unfortunately isn't in the fandom anymore. I also enjoy anything by Debby Stark, Zoomway, Sheila Harper, Susan Stone, Jennifer Baker, Chris Mulder, Margaret Brignell, Wendy Richards, and too many others to list...

General Interview Questions

What attracted you to writing Fanfic and what about it do you enjoy?
Definitely the opportunity to tell a story is what first attracted me - and continues to attract me - to fanfic. I just enjoy a really good story, whether it's a fanfic, a published novel, a movie, or (less often) a TV show. And trying to write a good story is definitely what I enjoy most about the process. I like being able to work out my feelings through my characters, and I enjoy playing with words, but the best part of writing for me is the process of piecing together a story that I myself would enjoy reading.

What about the L&C and the characters do you like the most?
I was first attracted to the dichotomy of the Clark/Superman character. I think the "real Clark" (the man Clark shows his parents and, later, Lois) is like all of us, with different outer personas that are incorporated into one inner person we show the people we're closest to. I didn't like Lois's character as much at first, but I grew to love her, maybe more than Clark, because she's so different from the typical leading woman on TV. As a couple, Lois and Clark give me hope that a woman can find a man to love her strength, intelligence, and perseverance, not just her beauty.

How do you interpret them in your work?
I try to respect both Lois and Clark, as well as the secondary characters, as they were presented on the show. This is especially the case for Lois's character, since I think sometimes she gets diluted in fanfic, often getting overshadowed by Clark/Superman. I think "Lois and Clark" is as much about Lois as Clark, and when I write Lois, I always want to make sure she's as strong as - or stronger than - she was portrayed on the series. I try to write her as a woman I'd admire, even though she sometimes goes over the top.

I also like to consider Lois's and Clark's parents as well as their children. Their parents contribute so strongly to who they are, as they will contribute to who their children become. I like writing next gen and early years stories because they let me explore the complex link between our biology and our environment, and our past and our future.

How did you begin writing in general?
I think I started writing in second grade, but I think I started becoming a writer when I first taught myself to read when I was four. My mom claims that my kindergarten teacher told her that she knew, somehow, that I would express myself in writing. So far, she's been right.

How do you feel about being nominated for a Kerth Award?
I've been nominated a few times now, and each time I'm more excited than the last. I always say that I write for myself, and I do, but it's always exciting when someone enjoys something I've written, or, better yet, when they understand it, when it strikes an emotional chord with them. As much as I do write for myself, it's a great honor to know that someone else has understood and enjoyed my story.

What story of yours was nominated for a Kerth Award and could you tell about it?
A Dying Flame was nominated for Best Deathfic in the 1998 Kerths. The category gives you a pretty good idea what it's about, and I want to heartily thank every person who read the story, since I've come to understand that deathfic is perhaps folcs' least favorite type of fanfic.

My second nominated story was The Martha Chronicles 1 The Martha Bums, which is the fist story in a series about Martha's childhood and young adulthood. In MC1 Martha is a young girl who spends a summer in Smallville, where she meets Jonathan. The second and third stories in that series, The Open Road and Metanoia, pick up where the first left off, with Martha in her early twenties, encountering Jonathan again after years apart.

What are you working on now and where do you see it going?
I'm almost finished with one story, so I know where it's going and just have to get it there. The other story I'm working on is another Martha Chronicle. I've always wanted to explore Martha and Jonathan's relationship prior to finding Clark. I'm planning on concentrating on their struggle with infertility leading up to finding Clark, but the story is really only in the planning stages now, with just a few pages written.

What is your opinion about the following types of L&C fanfic's?
Action?
I like action in moderation. I don't like stories strong on action and weak on character interaction, but that doesn't often happen in folcdom.

Drama?
My favorite. IMHO, life is drama, and so are most good stories. The best dramas intersperse emotional drama with a supporting plot, but I think drama is the most important ingredient in a good story.

Humor?
I like humor most when it's part of a larger fic that has more serious themes.

Nfic?
Like action and humor, I enjoy nfic most as part of a larger story. I don't mind if a story just happens to be an nfic, but if its entire plot is dependent on its nfic-ness, then I'm turned off.

Has *everything* been done in your opinion, and if not, what is left?
Every time I think everything has been done and the best fanfic is the early fanfic, someone starts posting an intriguing work-in-progress and I'm proved wrong. So I'd say no; everything hasn't been done, though it seems more difficult now to come up with a completely original idea than it was when I first started writing fanfic. I sometimes think of a new idea, only to discover that someone else has already used it in a story. Sure, I could do my own take on it, but unless there's something truly new about it, I think I'm better off moving on to another project.

What do you think makes the best story?
It's hard to articulate. The best I can do is to say that the best story - not necessarily the best fanfic, just the best story - incorporates a lot of different elements into something interesting. I think the best stories reveal something crucial in their characters. And if we're talking fanfic, a faithful interpretation of the characters of Lois and Clark is a necessity.

Would you like to add a link or URL to your favorite fanfic for the readers to sample your writing?
All of my finished fic can be found on the fanfic archive http//www.lcfanfic.com/

Open Forum For Author Comments
First, thanks to everyone who has ever sent me feedback. I sometimes take the fandom for granted, thinking that it'll always be there and there will always be folcs eager to read new fic. I try to remind myself how lucky I am to be part of folcdom and how lucky I am that it has helped me to be a better writer. I also want to thank everyone who has edited and beta-read for me. I'm especially grateful to Debby Stark, who, a few years ago, took a lot of time to review the first draft of one story and, though it may not have seemed important to her, has helped my writing in so many ways. I also want to echo something I read in Jeff Brogden's Writers' Showcase and say that the best writing you can do is to write something new and to interpret the characters in your own unique way; as long as we all keep doing that, fanfic will always be new and interesting to read. Finally, thanks to everyone who works on the Writers' Showcase for giving me a chance to share.

- Christy