This week’s interviewee is a long-time lurker who surfaced in 2002 and began to post some very insightful and interesting comments on Zoomway’s boards. In particular, LabRat’s Masques drew her attention, and her comments were almost as interesting to read as LabRat’s story! <g> She is...

Whereabouts in the world are you?
I live in the south of Germany, having returned here a few months ago from Scotland where I worked and lived for nearly two years. I still miss it a lot.

How long have you been a FoLC?
Hmm. Let me think. I first saw the show back in 1994 when I was living in Wales as a foreign language assistant. I remember sitting in my landlady’s kitchen on Saturday evenings waiting for dinner (she wouldn’t let me cook in her kitchen) and waiting for Lois and Clark to come on.

I loved Lois’ spunk and the great friendship that was developing between the two. I had liked the Superman movies but quickly realised this show was so much more. It didn’t show Clark Kent as a fumbling fool and it took Lois more seriously. I loved the premise that Clark Kent was the real man and not Superman. Also, Dean Cain’s looks certainly didn’t hurt the appeal of the show. <g>

As to the fanfic aspect, I got hooked on X-Files fanfic first and then quickly discovered LnC fanfic. The show was still running then. I’d say it must have been 1995 or so. After the show was cancelled, I was very disappointed and read both fifth seasons and the sixth season. I’m still amazed at how this fandom survives and continuously puts out such great quality fiction with surprising new angles.

What drew you to Lois and Clark?
I guess it’s the relationship aspect most of all. I do like the super powers and the action, but reading about this special love gives me hope that such a thing might exist in real life.

I used to like Lois much more than Clark. (Don’t get me started on ‘Stop the presses’, I hated Clark there. Yes, Lois makes some mistakes, but he should have been much more supportive.) However, fanfiction has changed my view on Clark significantly, making me realise the motivation and character of the man. He still annoys me sometimes, though. <g> To be honest, so does she sometimes. I guess that’s a good thing, as it shows that I still care very much about these two characters.

When did you first discover fanfic?
Well, as I mentioned, the first fanfic I read was X-Files. It was shortly before I discovered LnC fanfic, so it must have been 1995.

What's the very first fanfic you read?
I’ve been wracking my brains over that one. I’m almost certain it was the excellent X-Files fic “The Sound of Windchimes” by Sarah Stegall. Very chilling and well-written, it really whet my appetite for more fanfiction. I guess I was lucky to start on such a high quality story. I can’t really remember what the first LnC fanfic was. I keep thinking it might have been ‘Rubber Duckie’ <g>, but I’m not sure.

Do you remember what your first thoughts were about the concept of fanfiction?
The more fanfics I read, the more I was intrigued by the concept of fanfiction. People were exploring so many angles that had to be neglected on the respective shows due to time constraints or network politics. Often I would find new plot ideas or pairings that I had thought about myself but knew would never be shown on-screen. And of course, fanfiction put to right many of the things I didn’t like in my favourite shows. (Especially The Aaargh, excuse me, The Arc. <g>)

What are your favourite sites for reading fanfic?
lcfanfic.com is the best archive I know throughout all fandoms, so this my absolute favourite. X-Files’ Gossamer.org is excellent too. For other fandoms, I usually use search engines and look for award sites and take it from there. I don’t really like fanfiction.net. Don’t know why, just never could get into it.

List some stories you’d recommend to other readers.
Oh dear, now this is really difficult. There’s just so many. Off the top of my head and in no particular order, I’m thinking:

• ‘Meet me in Kansas City’ by Chris Mulder
• Irene Dutch’s wonderful Firestorm Series
• The President Kent Series by Pam Jernigan
• ‘A Love So Long in the Making’ by Wendy Richards (great title, I’ve always loved that song)
• ‘For The Greater Good’ by Wendy Richards (I’ll never forget that winter around Christmas 1999 when this was appearing on Zoomway’s boards, I had to buy extra supplies of tissues and couldn’t wait for each new part to come up)
• The Universal Union Series by Jenni Debbage (the first Elseworld/Krypton story I’ve dared to read and I loved it)
• For nfic: all the stories by the Gorn (AFAIK, there’s only 3 stories out there)

What type of stories do you most enjoy reading, and why?
It depends on my mood really. Most of the time, I prefer longer stories to vignettes. I like relationship-driven stories that still have some kind of A-plot. I like revelations, elseworlds, alternate universes, WHAMs and WAFFs, Angst and probably much more. It just has to be well-written and I’d even compromise slightly on the writing if it’s a really intriguing and new idea.

What’s your opinion of:
Drama? Action?
Romance? Tearjerkers?
Love them all. I guess, I’m just a fanfic slut. <g>

WAFFy vignettes?
I tend to overlook those, but always read up on them come Kerth voting time and then I enjoy them a lot.

Elseworlds?
Alternate Universe/Beginnings?
I used to think I wouldn’t like them. So I didn’t read them. Then I realised that I might be depriving myself by not giving them a chance. For all I knew they could be wonderful stories about my favourite couple, simply exploring new concepts. And I found out that most of them are. I had a similar initial reaction to nfic.

Other (if we’ve failed to include your favourite type, here’s your chance to set the record straight <g>)?
Not that I can think of right now, but I’m sure there are loads.

Can you choose one, possibly two, stories you’d consider personal favourites, and tell us what you like about them?
Let me just say first that there are many other stories that I love just as much as these. These just highlight what I like most about LnC fanfic.

The Firestorm series by Irene Dutch. I loved the new characters she created, giving each child a unique personality and how she showed what a great family unit Lois and Clark had managed to build for and with their children. I liked that she included more of Dr. Klein and Jimmy. The series has time travel, it has doomed love (Lee/Jimmy), it shows Lois and Clark’s love persisting over a long time. I love all that. On top of that, there’s superb plotting and imaginative writing. Irene took the elements given in the show and managed to create her own new wonderful universe.

Then there’s ‘Meet me in Kansas’ by Chris Mulder. A story with completely different pace and plotting. However it’s just full of great writing and excellent characterisation, always staying true to the characters of Lois and Clark even though the premise of their meeting is completely different. And also there’s lots of humour.

Has everything been done in L&C fanfic? Are there any unexplored scenarios? Or doesn’t it matter? <g>
I don’t think there’s ever going to be a point where you can say, ‘that’s it, there’s no more new plots or scenarios’. As was discussed way back in the plagiarism threads, there’s only a couple of different plots out there, but there’s an endless supply of imagination that will always turn those into interesting stories.

And no, it doesn’t really matter. <g>

If you could be your favourite author’s personal Muse, what would your dream story premise be?
Something with switched identities, amnesia, Tempus, Luthor, H.G. Wells, maybe an asteroid or two and lots of Martha. <g>

But seriously, I’d like to see a revelation story where Superman’s identity is revealed to the world and Lois and Clark are already married and have to deal with that. But I guess, I’d want things back to normal in the end, so they can have the peaceful life they deserve. However, it would be fun to see the world go ‘Duh, of course’, even if just for a little while.

I’m not sure if this has been done other than in stories involving alternate Clark, although I have some vague recollection there might be a story about this.

Also, I think I would be interested in an episode re-write of ‘Stop the presses’ that makes this story-line more bearable.

In your opinion, what makes for the best story? What ingredients, in your opinion, are essential to your favourite type of fanfic?
Apart from an interesting or new plot idea, these are the elements I value most:
Good character descriptions. Good balance of introspection and action. Attention to detail. Realistic dialogue with a good dose of humor.

I don’t necessarily insist on a story having an A-plot, sometimes all I crave are some WAFFy moments, but the stories that stay with me for a long time tend to have an A-plot.

Any other comments you’d like to make?
I’d just like to say many thanks to all the authors who dare to put their brain-children and their talent out there for others to see. And thanks to Zoomway for giving us a place to give feedback easily and sometimes even be witness to the creation of a great story.