This week's interviewee is a New York City FoLC and a long-standing Superman fan, whose screen-name on the message boards (NearlyNoelNeil) is a tribute to a past screen Lois Lane. When time permits, she's an enthusiastic commenter on works in progress - and if you're ever sensible enough to send her a work in progress to read on one of her many business trips, you may get rewarded with wonderful feedback emails. She knows what she likes in fanfic, and is liberal with praise when she gets it; equally, she has good suggestions when she'd like to see the author do something just a little bit different. She's also a BIG fan of one of fandom's longest-standing and most talented fanfic writers, which definitely reveals her good sense! She is:

Whereabouts in the world are you?
By day I'm in New York City, and by nights I'm in Long Beach, Long Island.

How long have you been a FoLC?
In '93, when I read that ABC was creating a new Superman with an emphasis on the relationship between Lois and Clark, I announced to my husband that we had to watch it together, and we did. I'm not much of a TV watcher, so to commit to a show for four years is extraordinary. But the Superman myth has always been important to me (see my nick). As I've often explained, I grew up on a steady diet of serial reruns with George Reeves and Noel Neill (occasionally Phyllis Coates) and I thought that Noel Neill as Lois Lane was just a great role model: Not silly, not shy, not ineffective-empowered, feminine and with the universe's strongest man wrapped around her pinky!

What drew you to Lois and Clark?
Certainly the relationship hooked me; although, at the risk of inviting FOLC-ire, I think the writers did more harm to the character of Lois Lane than good. (Not that the comics writers did better.) More than that though, I thought the producers paid homage to the myth spectacularly. In a cynical world, it's the idea of Superman that counts. At times they made winking reference to Superman lore, and then they added the new twist of making Lois an active participant in the evolution of Superman. That was way cool. While I disliked some of the characterization, I love a good formula execution (Boy meets girl, Girl thinks boy is somebody else, Boy loses girl, Conflict A plot, Boy and girl dance, Girl gets boy, Kiss.) When you're constrained like that, you have to get really really creative with execution. So Superman is just that old Hollywood formula on a larger scale.

Additionally, I think that John Shea is a superb actor and really enjoyed his screen time in season one. Dean Cain gave our hero a sincerity that was lacking in the big-picture treatment of Superman, even if, at the time, his acting was the weakest of the bunch. On the other hand, he made me believe that Superman could be from Kansas. The supporting cast was, especially Lane Smith, divine. I love the updated Perry White! Like most of America, my husband was willing to sit by me to simply watch Teri Hatcher and what she was wearing. Eventually, he took to passing by only during the opening credits to see her descend the slide, but that's another story. <g>

When did you first discover fanfic?
I found an L&C forum in the Scifi section of Compuserve. And the section Chief was this Pam Jernigan-person. This was probably after second season.but I'm not sure. Having always used computers for my job, when the rest of the world went online, I was ready to go off-line! Anyway, fanfic was a great way to pass the time during the summer hiatus from filming.

What's the very first fanfic you read?
Gee. I don't know exactly the first one, but I'm fairly certain it was by Sarah Wood followed by anything that came off the then-prolific pen of Pam J.

Do you remember what your first thoughts were about the concept of fanfiction?
Absolutely, and it's one of the reason's I enjoy Pam's fic so much. Fanfiction, for me, was a way to keep all the good things about the L&C romance and the myth and to fix the neurotic, obnoxious, brain-damaged Lois Lane (who had her common sense slate wiped clean by ABC in the first two seasons). Luckily, a slew of writers out there seem to feel the same way. And those who don't mind a damaged first-season Lois at least make her consistent and show character growth. So it's a win all around. Fanfic writers have consistently improved the L&C product.

What are your favourite sites for reading fanfic?
That's changed over time. I used to be an active participant in folcdom, a regular beta reader and even IRC'd when I could, but real life drastically altered for me courtesy of Sept. 11, and normalcy has been tough to come by. I travel a lot, so the listserv didn't work for me. Today, I read the new L&C fic boards (thanks Annette!), Zoomway's boards and scan the archive for oldies but goodies. I pretty much stop in on weekends only, but occasionally very early in the morning.

List some stories you'd recommend to other readers.
I'm going to try to select stories that haven't been written about too much because we can use the Kerths and the other awards for the popular references. By and large, anything by (in no order):
ML Thompson, Pam J., Irene D., Yvonne, Missy, Tank, Wendy (or Tank AND Wendy), Kathy B, Zoomway & LabRat. Unfortunately, I'm not as well versed in the fics of the newer authors as in the ones who've been around from the get-go. So I mean no slight, I'm just an old-FOLCy. <g>

I'm rather picky about good clean writing and, after I enjoy the story, I also look at its structure to see how the plot is constructed and how well it holds together thematically. That's why I have a preference for short to medium length fic-it highlights the artfulness. But there are exceptions: Yvonne's stories are never short. And yet, they're so organized in their pacing and wrap up, that I can't believe she writes for serial posting!

Hmmmm. Probably my favorite story in all of Folcdom is (hope this isn't anticlimactic), Pam Jernigan's Second Chances. First off, I'm always telling Pam that I love her empowered Loises. But mostly, this is just a very tight little scenario that corrects the "great wrong" perpetrated by Clark. And Pam does it very economically by setting the stage by which it could happen, enabling the conflict/problem/missing info to build, resolving the aplot, resolving the bplot, kiss.

I'd also recommend Pam's Forget Me Not, Redux and the pair, Just Like That/Being Lois Lane. Again, these stories correct severe wrongs in the series while providing tidy insight, witty dialogue and a neat and satisfying romance.

While I don't care for angst for angst's sake, I think that Yvonne's characters are just divine and as close to real as fiction can get. Yes, her toys may be very damaged sometimes <g>, but they don't belabor it, they transform. Fear of Discovery III, in which Alt-Clark finds his Lois hiding in plain sight, is nothing short of amazing.

I think the Tank & Wendy challenges are just masterful. I'm always telling Wendy that I like her short works best (well, short-er) because they highlight her facility with plotting.

Amantium Irae Amoris Integratio by Ruth Ellison is amazing and probably one of the first works I read. I think it should be required reading.

Of Zoomway's stories, I particularly like the short revelation Known Too Well. Zoomway is always very very funny.

Also a top top story, is Deb Manning's Rubber Duckie, which ratchets up sexual tension beautifully. I think I'll reread that one right now!

For a long read, Sheila Harper's In the Beginning, where Clark meets Lois after she's already married to Lex is a magnificent tale. (And the nfic version is even better!) Speaking of "In the Beginning", BB Medos' story of the same name is also wonderful.

I really liked last year's In Cat's Corner, by Irene Dutch.

What else, what else??? Gosh there are just too many.

Tank's Day Follows Nightfall

Shayne Terry came up with a beauty in Fugue.

And I beta read and adored Jon Wolff's first effort Lonely is the Man, which is somewhere between an Elseworld and a Futures.

A new story goes up on the Archive or MBs. You drop everything - and we mean *everything* - to read it. So who would it be by? <g>
Not for nothing, but if I'm on the MBs, I've already `dropped everything' <g>. The answer is "all of the above authors", but especially Pam or Yvonne. More so now because Pam isn't writing much these days and Yvonne is not known as a fast producer <g>. So if something shows up, it's like Christmas!

What type of stories do you most enjoy reading, and why?
I prefer reading stories in their entirety so I don't lose important background elements. I like just about anything except gratuitous violence, irrational behavior on the part of Lois or Clark, and deathfic (because RL is challenging enough. I'd like to escape, thangyouveddymuch.)

I think I like stories about the beginnings of the romance best, because I enjoy the creativity of seeing writers reinvent the myth and manipulate canon. Not that I don't enjoy the original plots, but originality isn't what Superman is about for me. It's about serving my expectations that there's Hope with a capital H in new ways.but definitely serving those expectations!

What's your opinion of:
Drama?
IMHO, 10pm Drama should happen over in the nfic folders where it's free to follow its natural course. Whether that's a little over the top in a sensitive topic or a little sexier than regular fic, I can't say. But I think if authors are too constrained, it shows.

Action?
It's a lot of work to create good believable action. And those who do it (Missy, Irene) impress the heck out of me. Because I like formula, I never mind seeing a climax build to "Help, Superman Help!" But I think I may be in the minority there. (It's a serial thing <g>.)

Romance?
I love romance, but not without motivation and sometimes not without a little a-plot to help it along. LabRat's Are You Lonesome Tonight? (Kudos on the alt-Elvis title!) is already legend. And I love her waffy nfic vignettes. (Oh, is that what we call those? Vignettes? Hmmm.)

When I'm stuck in an airport or sick in bed, a good trashy romance (preferably historical because they're a hoot) is a perfect quick fix for transporting me elsewhere out of my head. So I'm a fan of any and all L&C romance fic.keep it comin'!

Tearjerkers?
For the record, my favorite Wendy story is "For the Greater Good" because it was a fabulous premise executed perfectly. I cried buckets. Also loved Tank's Future Series...many many tissues used there too.
A good tearjerker is tough because it's about timing. One page too long, and you've gone overboard into gratuitous angst. One page too short, and you might lose the effect. I find lots of touching moments to cry about in many of the fix. But I have to be prepared to read it and will sometimes put it aside for another time.

WAFFy vignettes?
Love it, the perfect escape! And waffy nfics too!

Elseworlds?
Some of them work really really well. And I love to read them.

Alternate Universe/Beginnings?
I love stories about how Alt-Clark finds his Lois: Pam's In any Universe, Zoom's Always Something There to Remind Me. Again, the beginnings are my favorites.

Other (if we've failed to include your favourite type, here's your chance to set the record straight <g>)?
I really enjoy the people who dare to take a premise that's a challenge and work with it. So the novelty stories, the challenges, and the round robins are a joy to read. Because to make them good it's really really hard work.

Can you choose one, possibly two, stories you'd consider personal favourites, and tell us what you like about them?
You mean I didn't already? I can choose 200! Once again, my favorite stories follow my idea of Lois Lane as role model. So these are the empowered Loises who've overcome the odds and may have some scars, but they firmly control their neuroses and not the other way around. They're also, true to form, really really smart. So if they're hanging off a ledge, it isn't stupidity that got them there, it was no other better choice. Similarly, if they don't see Clark for who he is, they are either on the way to figuring out what's odd about him, or they can't get involved without resolving something else first. But they're not so nuts that they spend 50 pages fighting an irresistible attraction-they just resist it consciously until the conflict is resolved. Gosh I hope that makes sense. I think that describes Sheila's In the Beginning and Pam's Just Like That/Being Lois Lane.

Has everything been done in L&C fanfic? Are there any unexplored scenarios? Or doesn't it matter? <g>
It doesn't matter. Keep writing. Your collective gift to me is greater than you will ever know and I'm very very grateful that your hobby has helped sustain me through a tough couple of years. It's a small oasis that transports me when I need it to a place where good prevails, people get what they wish for in their hearts, and no one worries about whether or not her legs are freshly waxed. <g>

Maybe we should take on the pilot in iambic pentameter?

If you could be your favourite author's personal Muse, what would your dream story premise be?
Fix the Luthor wedding story so that Lois discovers herself that Luthor is a bad guy and she saves Superman..but she may or may not know that she's saved him.

In your opinion, what makes for the best story? What ingredients, in your opinion, are essential to your favourite type of fanfic?
In this order: tight plot concept executed so that characters are `changed' and transform from the beginning to the end; witty dialogue; a satisfying romance.

Any other comments you'd like to make?
Everyone talks about not letting Tank retire (and I'm not in favor of letting him retire either). But has anyone noticed that Pam is hiding behind this "board management" excuse for quite a while? I think we, collectively, owe it to ourselves to boot her in the cyber-butt so that she boots her kids off the computer and gets to writing again! So there!