Interview: momdaegmorgan
1) If you could visit any place at any time period, where would you go and what would you do?
No laughing.
I used to always dream of living during medieval times. Knights in shining armor and huge, sprawling castles. Fair maidens in gorgeous gowns and fire breathing dragons (hush! In my world, they existed). Perilous quests and broadswords. Of course, eventually I realized that all the romantic aspects of my fantasies, besides being probably mostly historically inaccurate, weren’t really worth the almost non-existent sanitation and hygiene.
Now I think I’d rather visit Woodstock, though there probably wasn’t a huge improvement in the sanitation and hygiene departments. I’ve always felt that if I was around in the 60′s I’d have been a hippie for sure. All that peace and love and long, flowing skirts, flowers in your hair, and best of all, really, really great music!
2) Have you ever met anyone famous?
Does Morris the cat (or one of the felines who played him anyway) count? If not, then no.
Though, when I was 15 I did nearly meet the members of Mr. Big. The mother of one of my good friends was the lead singer’s cousin and we were supposed to go backstage after the show. Unfortunately, the band was exhausted and had a lot of driving to do to get to their next gig, so instead we each got a rose from them and that was that.
I never met them myself but the cast of North Country was in our little town for a couple months a few years back. The movie’s based on a true story that happened here so a number of scenes were filmed up this way. There was a casting call beforehand, and everyone from the area was encouraged to try out for bit roles. I didn’t make it but my husband did and you can catch a glimpse of him during a town hall meeting. While they were here, the actors hung around town a lot and a friend of mine partied at one of the local bowling alleys with Woody Harrelson.
3) If you could meet any famous person, alive or dead, who would it be and what would you say/do?
Shallow answer first:
David Tennant. As for what I’d say/do…I know we’re all adults here, but I’m thinking that’s probably TMI. Or better yet, David Tennant, James Marsters, and Michael Rosenbaum, all at the same time. Oh, yeah, baby!
Non-shallow answer:
John Lennon. He was such an amazing singer/songwriter, and all around fascinating person. I’d love to have the chance to just sit down and talk with him about everything from music to his world views.
4) If you could switch lives with any person, who would you choose and why? If you want to switch with a person who is dead, we’ll assume that you wanted to live their life while he/she was alive.
Hm. I guess there’s no one specific but I’ve always wanted to be a good singer so I suppose I’d pick someone with a really amazing voice.
5) Who is your favorite author, alive or dead, and why?
That’s a tough one. Partly because I have a hard time picking favorites, and partly because lately all I read is fanfic. If I had to choose a published author, it’d be a toss-up between Ray Bradbury and Donna Gillespie. I’ve always loved the twists that Bradbury writes in his short stories, and the Illustrated Man was such an amazing concept (tattoos that come to life and tell a story) that I’ve been in awe of him ever since. Gillespie wrote one of my favorite books of all time (see #6) and I really love the way she takes history and fiction and melds them together into an accurate and fascinating story.
6) What is your favorite book and why?
The Light Bearer by Donna Gillespie. It’s an epic love story set in ancient Rome that reminds me a lot of Gladiator, only with a female lead. It has just about everything you could ask for in a book (an ill-fated romance, political intrigue, a historically accurate portrayal of ancient times, and lots and lots of drama and angst) and is written so well you become instantly invested in the characters. It’s the only book I’ve ever read more than once (I think I’ve read it four times now).
7) Who is your favorite singer, alive or dead, and why?
Hands down, John Lennon. Why? It’s John Lennon; do I really need to say more?
8.) What is your favorite song and why?
LOL! That’s a good one. There’s no way, out of the plethora of good music out there, I could choose only one.
Some notable mentions: Imagine, Me and Bobby McGee, Dream On, 21 Guns (the American Idiots version, Cy got me hooked), After the Bombs (if you’ve never listened to the Decemberists, go to Youtube and give them a listen, go! Go now!), Home Sweet Home, and The Rose.
9) What is your favorite movie and why?
Another hard question and another one that I can’t simply give one answer to.
Some favorites include: Bram Stoker’s Dracula, I Am Sam, Pay it Forward, Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, Almost Famous, The Blair Witch Project (one of only a few horror movies that actually scares) and The Princess Bride.
10) What is your favorite television show and why?
Absolute favorite? Hm. I guess I’d have to say Doctor Who (I mean, who doesn’t love British sci-fi shows?). Other than that I also love Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Smallville, House MD, CSI (the original), Hell’s Kitchen, and American Idol.
11) Who is your favorite actor/actress, alive or dead, and why?
Favorite actor is definitely David Tennant. He’s amazingly versatile, extremely believable, has the most expressive eyes, and did I mention he’s hot? Favorite actress…hm, I don’t think I have one, though I’m a big fan of Allison Mack and Billie Piper.
12) What is the one movie/television show that you would never admit to family, friends, co-workers that you watch? Yes, I know asking defeats the point, but spill your guts anyway.
I don’t think there’s any. I’m a fairly open person and I usually share things with my family and friends, whether they want me to or not. The only exception would be Smallville when I first started watching. A good friend of mine had been begging me to give it a chance and I kept telling her I wasn’t interested in the least. So when I finally did take the plunge, I was kind of embarrassed to admit it to her.
13) Do people in your Real Life know that you are a member of NS?
Yup.
14) Do people in your Real Life know that you read/write fanfiction?
They couldn’t not! I’m pretty sure they’re all quite bored of listening to me go on and on about my countless story ideas.
15) When did you first start reading fanfiction?
Three years ago? Maybe four.
16) When did you first get started in writing fanfiction?
Same time as #15. It was after the Stargate SG1 series finale aired. I was a huge Daniel/Vala shipper and when he made her cry during Unending it had so much angst potential that I just had to take the scene and run with it, take it someplace the writer’s hadn’t.
17) Is fanfic writing just a hobby for you or do you hope to go further with your writing?
For now it’s just a hobby. However, writing has always been a great love of mine and the idea of getting into it as a career has never been far from my mind. I have a couple of original fic ideas that I’ve been playing with the past few months and one day I might just write them. Then again, my intense fear of rejection might prevent me from actually trying to get anything published.
18) When you aren’t writing awesome fanfics, what do you do and/or want to be doing?
Spending time with my kids, watching Smallville with my husband. Picking up after my kids and my husband. *G* I also enjoy playing video games, reading, watching movies, and cross-stitching.
19) How and why did you first get interested in Chlex? What do you like most about the characters? What do you hate about them?
You can all blame Sinecure for getting me started on Chlex. I was her Doctor Who beta and she had a Chlex entry for the Porn Battle over on LJ that she asked me to take a look at. I ended up enjoying the story so much she sent me all of her other stories for the ship (and trust me, there was a lot), and I was hooked. Signed up for an account here, read nearly all of Zannie’s fics, and then I started watching the show (yeah, so I did things a little backwards, but I’ve never liked doing things the way I’m supposed to).
I’m not sure there’s really anything that I don’t like about the characters. I mean, they wouldn’t be who they are if say, Chloe hadn’t crushed on Clark for so long. Of course, depending on the day, I’m either cursing or applauding Lex’s evil side. As for what I love about them…with Chloe I think it’s her attitude and the way she smiles, with Lex it’s the way he tries so hard to do what’s right (even if his version might be slightly skewed from the rest of the world) and the little scar on his upper lip (it’s the stuff of many hot fantasies!).
20) How and why did you first get interested in writing Chlex fanfiction?
See the first part of #19.
21) Is there anything while reading Chlex fanfiction that you really hate?
Chlex specific? Lana or Lois bashing. But I’m anti-character bashing period.
22) What (if any) other fandoms do you read/write for and why?
Nothing currently. Chlex has taken over my life for the time being. In the past, I’ve written for Stargate SG1, Doctor Who, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Most of them I’ve gotten into for specific ships and because of specific episodes/scenes (Stargate it was Daniel/Vala and a scene in Unending, Doctor Who it was the Doctor/Rose and the scene at the end of Doomsday), Buffy however, I was introduced to via Sinecure’s Spillow fics and ended up liking the ship enough that I decided to watch the show.
23) What type of environment do you need to write? For example: extreme quiet, blaring music, subtle background noise, etc.
I used to be able to write no matter what was going on around me; kids screaming, dog barking, husband trying to seduce me. Now I need almost complete silence. Which sucks because I like having a soundtrack for my fics but listening to them now just distracts me too much (read: I start singing along more than writing).
24) How do your ideas come to you? Do you always write them or do you let them disappear?
Depends. Sometimes it’s a scene in an episode that grabs me, begs me to do something different with it, sometimes the idea just comes from out of nowhere. Sometimes I try to force them, which never turns out good (kids, don’t do this at home). Typically I write down at least a vague summary of the idea, other times I just let it percolate a bit in my head before I do anything with it.
25) Do you plan a story from the beginning to end or start with an idea and let the chapters come to you as they do?
It depends on the type of story I’m writing. When I was still in the Doctor Who fandom, me and Sinecure did a series of stories called Glimpses, which were meant to be little peeks into the Doctor and Rose’s lives. The fics were inspired by song lyrics or a quote or even, on occasion, a picture, and I’d almost always write them in one quick sitting, with no planning whatsoever. Longer one-shots and chaptered stories I have the tendency to try to plot out every last detail before I sit down to write…a habit Cy’s been trying to break me of because it oftentimes ends up holding me back, making it more difficult for me to actually finish anything.
26) Do you ever input certain aspects about yourself into the lives of Chloe and Lex? For example: Do you have Chloe listen to your favorite song or have Lex watch your favorite movie?
I don’t believe I’ve ever done this, in Chlex fics or any others I’ve written.
27) Do you associate your writing with any songs even if it isn’t a songfic?
All the time. If it hasn’t been obvious from this interview so far, music plays a very important role in my writing and my life. I think most of my best fics started from song lyrics.
28) Do you prefer writing easy, quick stories or long, layered stories?
Again, there is no right or wrong answers here. Sometimes I prefer the shorter (though not necessarily easier) ones, other times I want something I can really sink my teeth into. Though I do have the oftentimes frustrating habit of finding ways to turn quick one-shots into huge epics that will take years to write.
29) Which do you find easier to write: dialogue or description or are the equally hard/easy?
If you’d asked me this back when I was writing Doctor Who fic, I would’ve said descriptions are the hands down easiest to write. Dialogue never came easily to me in that fandom, maybe because I’m not British. With Chlex I think it’s about equal, though Lex’s dialogue is a lot easier than Chloe’s.
30) Is there anything that you won’t write or feel uncomfortable writing?
I’m a pretty easy going person and can’t think of any idea that I wouldn’t at least consider writing. Yes, there are some things that I’m not fond of (fluff!), but if a really great plot comes along, I could very well end up being convinced to write it. Of course, when I say I’ll write just about anything, I mean within reason. I won’t write incest, and though I’ve done a few mixed fics, I’m not entirely sure I’d write pure slash (though once again, if the plot/idea is good enough to draw me in, I’d definitely consider it–the slash, not the incest).
31) What do you do to cure writer’s block? What advice can you give to new writers who might be scared to post their stories?
If it’s a specific fic that I’m stuck on, I find the best way to get beyond the block is to walk away for a bit. If it’s enough of a block that I can’t write on anything at all then I have a few various methods that I like to use:
-The five minute prompt game (usually played with a friend). Randomly select a word (I like to use online random word generators) and then write whatever comes to mind. You have only five minutes to get as high of a word count as you can (the idea is for quantity, not quality), but if the muse takes over, then it’s certainly okay to keep going (A Distempered Tango started from two separate prompt words/games).
-The one sentence story game. Pretty self-explanatory. Write a sentence that tells as much as possible without having this huge, run-on sentence. I did this just a few weeks ago to help get over my smut-writing problems, and let me tell you, it actually worked. A variation on this game would be to play it with a friend, each of you writing one sentence at a time until you have a complete story (or you could do a paragraph at a time).
-Change it up. Sinecure had me do this with a Doctor Who fic of mine. Basically you take an already finished story (you definitely want to pick a one-shot, and preferably something relatively short) and completely change some aspect of it. So if it’s a really angsty fic, change it to fluffy, or switch the POV, change one of the characters to someone else, etc.
-Implement various methods of inspiration. Watch an episode of Smallville or make a music mix that captures the mood you’re trying to create. Also, if you’re stuck on ideas, use different prompts to get you going. Again, an episode or music may help, but take it beyond that and try pictures or quotes or poetry. The key is to seek it out in whatever avenues are available to you.
For the new writer, I’m sure everyone says this but don’t be scared to post. All of us were there at one point and time in our lives so we all know where you’re coming from. Because of that, I think most people are extremely supportive and encouraging with new authors. And I can almost guarantee that no one will bite.
32) Have you ever read someone else’s fanfic and wished you thought of the idea first?
Sometimes. Though there’s really no completely new, original story ideas anymore, sometimes I come across one that’s so unique that I’m kind of jealous…not so much that it isn’t mine (though I do have that happen as well), but that the author was able to come up with something so different.
33) Have you ever wanted someone else to write your story idea?
Yup! I have a lot of story ideas, and at the rate that I write, there’s no way I’ll ever finish them all. That and sometimes I just think that I couldn’t do the story justice, but someone else could. Plus, who doesn’t want their favorite authors to write a story for them?
34) Are reviews vital to keep you writing or will you finish a story even if you aren’t certain people are reading?
It may be very selfish of me, but if I’m not receiving any sort of feedback (or if it’s very minimal, like only a review or two per chapter), it’s very difficult to continue a story. I think everyone wants to feel that there’s a certain amount of worth in the things they do, and without that reassurance that a story that I’m writing is appreciated and being enjoyed by others, it’s hard to see a point in finishing. Besides that, my belief in my writing abilities wavers on a daily basis, and if something I’ve posted doesn’t receive any feedback, I begin to second guess what I’ve written.
35) Have you ever had a review that made you think something about your story that you never thought of before? Has a review ever made you want to make a major change to your story?
Yes on both counts.
36) How badly do you want to write for Smallville or at least rewrite some of the seasons?
Um, not at all? I don’t think I could handle the pressure of writing for a television show, not to mention the fact that I’d probably write everyone else out and it’d end up losing the Superman storyline and would no longer be primetime safe.
37) Do you see Chloe and Lex or other Smallville characters in different television shows or movies? Meaning, do you watch a movie like Star Wars and start thinking that Lex is just like Han Solo?
Not really, no.
38) What do you think AM and MR would say about your fics if they read them? How would you feel if someone from the show did read your writings?
AM and MR are reading my fics?! *runs for the hills*
Seriously though, that possibility frightens me. I freak out enough when I send a story off to be beta’d, and especially right after I post. So honestly, I’d rather not even think about what the actors would think of my stories.
39) If you could have any super power, what would it be and why? Would you use it for good or evil?
I could be altruistic and choose the power of healing like I would have a few years back, but I think if I could have any super power at all, I’d choose super speed. Obviously, I’d use it for good over evil, but mostly I think I’d be selfish. Can you imagine the transportation costs you’d save if you could just run really, really fast to wherever you needed to go? All the places you could visit that you’d never be able to afford to fly to?
Plus…I have travel anxiety. And I mean sick to my stomach, pulse racing, feels like I’m going to have a heart attack, can’t sleep for months before a trip out of town anxiety. It’s been five years since we last visited my parents (about a three hour drive from our place) because of this fear. So super speed would be a really nice power for me.
