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
Tank Wilson (and yes, Tank is an actual nickname that I have carried since college)

E-mail addresses
TankW1@aol.com

Residence
The bitter cold environs of Rockford, Minnesota, USA

List, AOL, or web affiliations
Not sure what you mean by this? I belong to the LOISCLA fanfic list, the LoisandClarkNAOS list, and registered with Zoomie's Website, if that is what you are refering to.

Lois and Clark or Superman Status

How long have you been watching L&C?
I saw nearly all the episodes in first run. At the time I was a fan of the show but not obsessive about it. Then I got hooked on the reruns on TNT, that's when I got obsessive. I used to rush home from work everyday just to see that day's episode. When they changed the timeslot, I began taping it for viewing later. Then I decided I wanted all the episodes on tape and began taping them during the season 3 run. Eventually I aquired all the episodes on tape and haven't watched more than two of three episodes since that time. It's been about 3 years since I regularly watched the show.

How long have you been a fan of Superman?
I read Superman comics as a kid, and still do today. I guess that means about 40+ years.

How long have you been writing?
I have copies (somewhere) of stories that I wrote back in 5th grade. I've always been a reader of fiction, and by extention I periodically went through times when I'd write my own. They would be brief flurries of writing followed by extended periods of non-writing. I've always liked thinking up scenes and characters, but the boredom of the physical act of writing kept me from writing a lot. I couldn't type, and writing everything longhand was a real chore.

How long have you been writing L&C fanfic?
I discovered L&C fanfic when I first got access to the internet at my workplace back in '98. Later when I got my own computer, I got involved with Zoomway's message boards. I keep telling Wendy Richards it's her fault that I have written all the L&C fic that I have. It was her 30 minute challenges on that board that gave me the push to write something for everyone there. Then I made the mistake of ending one of those little posts with the words; 'to be continued'. Boy, what a mistake that was! The rest, they say, is history. An interesting side note is that in an early email to Wendy telling her how much I enjoyed her writing and how much I appreciated her encouragement on my early efforts, I tried to give Wendy a story idea. It was one that I thought would be right up her alley, but she politely told me she wasn't interested. She had too much of her own stuff in process. So I was forced to write "Love Disabled" myself.

What types of Fanfic have you written?
I wouldn't call my other writing fanfic exactly. I generally used to ape story ideas that were similar to the type of reading that I was doing at the time. When I was reading the Walter Farley books as a youngster, I wrote my own book about a horse. I wrote sports stories, and spy stories (James Bond has been popular for many years). Later in high school, I was hooked on Alister McLean so I wrote several longer spy/action adventure stories. In fact, myself and a good friend used to both write them. We would use each other as characters in our stories and get revenge for anything that happened in the other's story in the next chapter of our own. Since high school I did very little writing till I discovered the L&C archives and fanfic. (over 25 years!)

Most recent story posted? Where?
I recently posted (Jan. 2001) TOGOM version 487 on Zoomway's fanfic boards. All except one of my L&C stories started out on Zoom's boards. Now nearly all of them reside on the L&C fanfic archives. It's lucky they do too, because a short while back my hard drive froze and had to be reinstalled causing me to lose all the stories that I had on my hard drive. I have a CD only drive on my computer so nothing was backed up. I still haven't finished recovering those stories from the archives to my own personal folder.

Favorite story you have written? Why?
Most people would think it would be 'Love Disabled', and I do like that alot because it stretched me the most at the time, and I think I succeeded in what I was trying to do. But to be honest, my own personal favorite is 'A Matter of Confidence'. It was a concerted attempt at an A plot driven story. It had a lot of problems early which caused me to do a major rewrite before it was half way finished. Then when it was finished and I got very few comments (relative to earlier instalments) on it I was ready to just scrap it, but I'd put too much time into it so I couldn't give up on it. I ran it through two beta readers (A process I hadn't used before then) and did some more rewriting. In the end, the version that hit the archives was one that I was satisfied with. Most folcs weren't thrilled by it because Clark/Superman wasn't a major player in the story, it was Lois' story. But then, I like Lois.

Current project/projects?
I'm retired. No, really, I'm retired. Okay, you might see something from time to time. I've decided that I will write when I have some time, and am inspired to do so but will not post until the thing is either completely done, or nearly so. So I can only say about any current projects? It's a secret.

Personal picks of other Fanfics you have read?
In the years that I've been reading fanfics, I must have read over a thousand different stories, and a lot of them have been quite good. I like most of the stuff from many of the acknowledged top guns, like Pam Jernigan, Sheila Harper, Zoomway, Chris Mulder, Jeff Brogan, Phil Atcliffe, Wendy Richards, and many others. (I hate naming names because one always forgets some, and there are really too many to mention.) Demi's "Heaven's Prisoners" was the first fic I read, and Chris Mulder's "Meet Me in Kansas City" was the first really long fic that floored me. Wendy's "That Superman of Mine" was one of the few that I reread many times. I love a lot to the stuff that has been coming out lately. I think that Nan, Irene, and many of the recent crop of writers have already created an incredible body of excellant work. Racontuer's "Lifeflight" deserves a catagory all to itself, and Shayne Terry has got to be one of the best overall writers I've ever seen outside of published works (and he's better than many of them too). I'll stop now only because I could go one forever with this question.

General Interview Questions

What attracted you to writing Fanfic and what about it do you enjoy?
Fanfic writing gave me the push needed to actually write. It gave me the thing that was always missing before, feedback. I'm someone who can't write just for himself. I do get some personal satisfaction from finishing a story, but if it was only for myself I'd never write anything. A fanfic writer is not paid for the work they produce, and considering the time an effort they can put into it (I'm convinced that Wendy is crazy to write as much as she does, or she can type 350 wpm) that's an amazing thing. The feedback is the coin of payment for fanfic. I can't stress enough how important it is for a writer to know that they are not writing in a vacuum. They need to know there is an audience for what they are doing. Even negative feedback is preferrable to no feedback because then the writer knows that you read it and were moved enough to respond to it. Our purpose is twofold. One, we wish to tell some sort of story, and two, we wish to provoke an emotional response in our reader. Only then, have we succeeded in what we set out to do. Actually, when you think about it, writing fanfic *is* crazy.

What about the L&C and the characters do you like the most?
As a writer it gives you an advantage to use well known, established characters. You don't have to use up a lot of time reintroducing your main characters to your reader evertime you write them. The Lois and Clark/Superman universe is a very rich one which can allow for nearly any type of fiction story. Most folc writer's choose the romance genre of story, but the characters and their world can just as easily encompass genre's from action/adventure to full blown science fiction. It's fun being able to take your story in nearly any direction you want without the worry that it will be looked upon as not applicable to your character's world. Besides, I just happen to be Lois Lane obsessed and have always liked Teri's interpetation of Lois.

How do you interpret them in your work?
I try to stay fairly true to an internal image I have of the main characters. This image is heavily based on the interpretation of the TV series (though we all have to ignore some of the inconsistancies), but I also find I do borrow from the comic books as well. There are certain things that I can see Lois and/or Clark doing. There are certain things that I feel I can push them into given the right circumstances. But there are also certain things that I can't, given any circumstances see them doing. For Lois, while we all know she is given to fits of temper and 'look before you leap' type behavior, she is also very loyal to her friends and would never betray them, or their trust. For Clark, he is first and formost a compassionate being, raised with old fashion values and for me, I can never see Clark being totally intimate and making love to a woman unless he was in a comitted relationship, with her knowing 'everything'. As for Superman, it's easy, he doesn't kill. Under *no* circumstances can, or will, he kill.

How did you begin writing in general?
As mentioned above, I started out apeing the kinds of stories I was reading. I didn't write much because there really wasn't someone to read my stuff. So no serious writing existed until I got involved with fanfic. (That is if you can call this stuff serious)

How do you feel about being nominated for a Kerth Award?
I would be lying if I said it didn't please me. I was delighted to see that I had gotten some nominations. I will also admit that I was just a tiny bit disappointed that one of my fics didn't actually win one, but given the quality of the other nominations, I was lucky to even have been nominated in the first place.

What story of yours was nominated for a Kerth Award and could you tell about it?
"Dark Revelation" was nominated for best revelation. That was a story that I had planned to write in about three instalments. Instead it quickly got out of hand and became my first long form story. I had two scenes I wanted to write; Lois discovering Superman in the Kryptonite cage, and Lois sitting on the floor in Clark's apartment, holding a Superman suit when Jon and Martha come in, and she's askes them if it was true. Those two scenes I had pictured very vividly in my mind and I wound up writing a too long story just to encompass them. "Love Disabled" was nominated in the New Krypton category. I mentioned that story elsewhere. I also had two stories, vignettes more accurately, nominated in the comedy category. "The Costume" which dealt with Clark wearing a Superman suit to a costume party, and "The Secret Identity" which used Lois' puzzlement, over how she could have been fooled by a pair of glasses and a change in hairstyle, to explain her own change to a shorter hairstyle in Contact. I was also nominated as a best new writer.

Have you ever been nominated for the Kerth Award before? If so, please name the fanfic and tell something about it.
No, my first fic's hit the archives in 1999, so the 2000 Kerth Awards were my first.

What are you working on now and where do you see it going?
As I said before, I am officially retired. My current work/time situation doesn't give me as much flexibility to write as I used to have. The Future Series burnt me out just a bit, so I'm cutting back to a situation where I don't create any expectations that I can't fullfill. It's a secret but I have started another fic. One which will be the kind of story that most people accuse me of writing, but it may or may not ever see light of day. Only time (if I have enough) will tell.

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

Drama?
Yes!

Humor?
Yes! (oh, did you want some explanations?) Basically I like nearly all those aspects in a fic. I like lots of action, and drama. I enjoy a good A plot as well as the angst of an emotional B plot. We all know that most L&C fic is of a romantic nature, but all the other incredients are what make it so tasty. Waffs are good, but they are much better if set up with some good WHAMS. Also, humor is a necessary incredient in any story. Even in a very dramatic, angst ridden tale, we need moments of comic relief and the like to keep from being over whelmed. This also helps give the tale a more realistic air to it. If you observe, even under heavy duress, the human animal will look for bits of lightness, and levity to keep them on an even keel.

Round Robin?
I've enjoyed many of the early efforts, but I find they tend to get a bit vanilla in their storyline. It's hard for a group of people writing without consultation to build any type of heavy, or serious story. Round Robins lend themselves better to the light and fluffy.

Nfic?
While it may have it's place, and I would never deny someone their right to read or write such fiction. It's not for me. To me, romance is in the heart and in the head. It's feelings and emotions. Physical sex, is just that, physical. For me, a tender kiss says more about how two people feel about each other than any roll in the sheets. I've never been excited by watching or reading about *someone else* having sex.

Has *everything* been done in your opinion, and if not, what is left?
Anytime I begin to think that that may be true we see stuff like Racontuer's "Lifeflight", or Pam's "Tryst", or Shayne's "Dear Lois" and "Fugue". So I guess there is still more out there to do. What we have seen though is, most new writers all have to go through their natural steps. Each has to write their own revelation stories, or TOGOM rewrite <g>, or get their Lois' rants and Clark's noble lunkheadedness behind them. These are not bad things and many great variations on the themes have been produced this way. But the fact remains that many folc love the B plot and to face the facts, the waffy 'getting together' of Lois and Clark can only be written in some many ways. Most of the distinct differences we see now are in the settings, the A plot if you will. The challenge for the newer stories has been how to get to that 'happily ever after' ending that so many desire, by a new and sometimes devious route. We can only keep watching, and reading.

What do you think makes the best story?
We all have are personal favorite aspects of a story, but for most of us, I think that a story that challenges us with a combination of strong A plot with a compelling B plot, using characters that we know and can feel empaty for are the most satisfying. That, of course, refers to the longer form story. In the vignette or short story types; it just has to do what it sets out to do, whether that is to provoke a chuckle, or bring about a tear, the bottom line is entertainment.

Would you like to add a link or URL to your favorite fanfic for the readers to sample your writing?
I wouldn't know how to even if I had one.

Where is the best place for a reader to locate your work?
All works in progress start out on Zoom's board. All my finished work is on the Lois and Clark fanfic Archives. http//www.lcfanfic.com

Open Forum For Author Comments
I've only been involved in this FoLCdom for a few years but I'm amazed by how long it has existed, and even more amazed by how it doesn't seem to be slowing down at all. The show has been off network for many years, yet we are consistantly seeing more enthusiastic people jumping on board who've never seen the original episodes. The TNT reruns (and the overseas airings) have really galvanized the ever growing group of folks we call folcs. It will be interesting to see if fanfic alone can keep this alive after the series is finally retired and off the air completely. As I said, I personally haven't watched more than 2 or 3 episodes in the last few years but have spent many hours emmersed in Lois and Clark fanfiction. Maybe, that my answer?