So, Fox, tell all of the readers a little bit about yourself. 

I'm older than my cats, younger than Santa Claus...

Are you married?

I'm married, have been for six years.  It will be seven this June.

Does your husband read your fic? 

Hah! Excuse me while I roll around on the floor, laughing.  As I told a friend, his eyes glaze over when he comes in to see what I'm up to.

So, this is something that you do primarily because...

I love beautiful men. That was flippant.  Let me answer truthfully.  I love to write, always have. Not that I don't love beautiful men. 

Did you start out writing slash?

Never even knew it existed until a year ago!

How did you personally happen to come across it?

I was surfing around looking for stuff on Kevin Smith, and stumbled across fanfic.  Het stuff, priestess-in-the-temple jazz. Not really my thing, but I was interested in other people writing stories, 'cause I've always done that myself.  I hadn't even heard the term 'fanfic' before. Oh yeah.  I was surfing the fic pages, and saw an A.R.E.S. ring graphic, then read the words "Ares Rules Erotica..."  I can't even tell you what the last word is - I saw 'erotica' and clicked on the link immediately!  A slash hound was born.

What type of stories did you write before you found fanfiction?

I've always written fanfic, I just didn't know that's what it was. I saw Star Wars 17 times, and wrote stories about Luke and the gang. Same thing with The Breakfast Club (love that movie).  Wrote a little fic around that movie too.

What was the first slash page you found? Do you remember? 

First slash page...don't remember.  I remember my eyes got quite round when I first saw the explanation for slash.   I remember the story, though; it was Krycek/Mulder.  I was amazed - and hungry for more! 

How did you get hooked on Hercules/Xena?

I can thank my father for my Herc/Xena obsession.  He watches Xena, and when I'd visit my mom and dad, he'd usually have it on (he finds Herc too cartoonish - never watches it).  I started looking at it myself, and got hooked.  Then I watched a few Herc eps, and fell in love with Sorbo's biceps.  When I saw Ares, I fainted.  He is truly The Most Gorgeous Man on the Planet.  Those lips!

Have you told anyone about what types of stories you write? Does your family or friends know? If they do, how do they feel about your writing? 

Let's see.  My brother and his wife know, I forced her to read one of my stories, and she giggled all the way through it.  I'd hoped to sway her to the dark side, but she slipped through my grasp. And my husband has told a couple of his freer-thinking siblings.  Hubs' brothers were surprised - I'm so ladylike around them.  They're cool with it, thank goodness.

Do you remember what your first slash pairing was? And Ares seems to attract a lot women...So why pair him with a man?

My first pairing was Herc/Ares, which I'm a well-known slut for. Let's see...There's just something about two men together that turns me on, especially the beautiful KS.  I don't know how the het crowd can stand us.  Just joking, ladies!  Slash clicked with me immediately--I didn't think twice about following further links!  The day I found Herc slash I knew I'd found a home. Herc slash as in slash about Herc...I didn't find my true slash home 'til I joined KSA.

What is it about two men having sex that draws you to write about it?

I like the fact that there's no 'competition.  F/M has a little element of 'competition' involved.  This is going to sound weird.  I don't want to read about some chick with Ares, I want to be the chick with him!  When he's with another male, I don't have that odd little element there, so I can just enjoy what's going on. Plus, the OFC is someone else's fantasy, and has nothing to do with me. I think that's why I'm usually turned off by het--it's not coming from me. There have been exceptions, of course--I've read some wonderful het on KSA.  Plus, there's just something so sexy about two men admitting that they're attracted to each other...

You do write het very well though. I'm thinking of Ares Sends his Love...

Thanks. 

I really enjoyed that story...and I also enjoyed An Ares Little Solstice, because of how much texture and details you give your stories. Since were talking about the men...Tell me what do you find most difficult about writing the sex scenes? Anything stand out?

This is easy - since you're writing about two men, gender separation doesn't exist.  The pronouns are the worst!  All those him's, he's, and his to worry about!  Making clear who's doing what is the biggest challenge, I think.

That's a good point setting up the flow so you follow who is doing what to whom...making it all work smoothly.

It can be tricky.  Saying things like 'the king' or 'the demigod'...don't want to do too much of that, either. So that's my biggest challenge. 

What story that you have written is your favorite, and why? 

My favorite is Extraordinary Day with King.  I love the emotion behind the words, that Herc and Iph need each other so much. BrotherDance is my second favorite. 

What one would you like to see made into an actual episode? 

An ep?  Wouldn't that be great?   That's a pay-per-play channel I'd sign up for  immediately.  I'd love to see either of those stories turned into an ep.  Probably EDWK, 'cause we don't see Iphicles that often.

Is there a character you prefer writing? 

I don't write Ares easily, I wish I had a better handle on writing from his POV.   I've discovered that I like writing from Herc or Iph's point of view, 'cause then I can describe their reactions to Ares' lusciousness.  One thing that I thought was funny...when I first started writing Ares slash, I thought I was the only one with a thing for his lips.  I realized pretty quickly that we're all obsessed with them! 

Do you feel you can relate to the heroes better? Give them a better voice? Because Ares can be pretty intimidating.

I don't think it's relating to Herc or Iph so much as its just finding the right balance for Ares.  I'm writing his POV now in what's turning out to be a long piece...it's very different.  He thinks differently than we would, and he's been around a long time, and seen things we can only imagine.  Gee, maybe I do relate more to Herc and Iph.

So that's a challenge for you.  Do you continually try to do that in your writing? 

I like being challenged, yes.  I like getting inside different characters though, rather than finding one I'm 'comfortable' with. I like trying to figure out what makes characters do the things they do. 

You mentioned a stories you are working on from Ares POV--what else are you working on?

I have another Ares POV, and a follow-up to EDWK.  BrotherDance 2 is in the works, and another one that stars Iphicles/Ares.

Do you find yourself working on several fics at once?

I'm always working on at least two things at once.  Oh yeah, there's an Iolaus thingy in there, too.  And an Autolycus one, I'd forgotten that one!

Do you do any other writing now besides fan fiction? Anything you might want to market to the masses?

My private shame - a priestess fic.  When I'm overloaded with Ares' beauty and I want to daydream a little, I whip out my het fic, so to speak.  I'd love to write professionally.

Which published authors do you like? Do they influence you in any way?

Actually influenced...no.  I do have several that I admire technically.  Stephen King is amazingly descriptive (early SK - he lost me after Tommyknockers).  I did love Misery, though.   I think that was after. The Stand is one of my favorite books, as is Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley.  I like Amy Tan; I loved The Joy Luck Club.  I was amazed that it was her first novel!   I like Robert Heinlein, and I love Emily Dickinson.  Also in the Stephen King realm, The Shining is unbelievable. There are so many other authors...Milton.  I was the only person in my class that enjoyed Milton.  Shakespeare, of course.  The original wordsmith!   Arthur C. Clarke... I'll stop now. 

Do you feel they've influenced you in your writing style now? Since you mentioned how supportive the list was earlier what are your feelings about feedback and story critiquing. 

Though my writing's not as lushly descriptive as I'd like, I admire that a great deal in both published and fanfic authors.  If there's anything I get from those authors, it's to add more detail to my stories.  Feedback is a wonderful thing.  I feel a little weird talking about it, because I've been such a huge feedback slug for the last few months. 

Personally, though, how do you feel about it? Does it help to strengthen a writer? Can it be detrimental?

Critiquing is interesting.  It's only happened once to me, and I was a little taken aback at first, but this person gave me very good advice about certain points of my writing.  I'm very grateful. Not that I want everyone on the list to suddenly flood me with critical email! 

Strictly speaking list-wise, has there been anyone has influenced your writing style?

Yes!  In no certain order:  Tham, Taz, Candace, Jen, Marina, and WorstWitch have all made me tear out fistfuls of my hair at one time or another.

What is it about their writing that gets that kind of reaction out of you, other than that they're so good?

Yes, I meant that in a good way, and that's it exactly - they're all so good, it makes me beat my head against the wall that I don't write like that. I won't mention names, but I considered leaving the list after reading one story.

 So you feel that their writing has made you strive to write better then?

I'm thinking, "They're so good, why am I submitting anything!?"  I'd been writing for myself all my life, and I'd never shared my stuff with anyone until I joined this list.  We have some very talented people on KSA, and I was greatly humbled. Not that I thought I was so great, but seeing what other ordinary, unpublished people were writing...well, I was blown away.

Are you currently working on any stories that aren't fan fic related?

No, everything's Herc at the moment. It's the only fandom I'm in, actually.

Would you like to challenge yourself and move into something else, like an original mystery or love story?

I would like to challenge myself - I think everything I have going currently is much darker than my earlier stuff.   I've never done action, or a mystery, so I might try those next.  My darker stuff is a challenge; I thought I was becoming the list equivalent of a romance novelist, and I wanted to avoid that.  I think it's the material we work with; the gods and their ability to wreak havoc on mortals is usually a great basis for angst and violence! My earlier fic seemed to deal more with people being in love, and the little bumps along the way.  I wanted to do something a little different, so I'm branching out into angst.  I like the angstier stuff, 'cause there's more of the mental exploration going on that I like.  I think that's why writing different characters' POVs and different types of stories keeps a writer interesting. Comedy, angst, romance... Violence.

Is there anything you haven't tried that you want to from the above list?

I haven't done violence. Well...actually that's not quite true.  The big one I'm working on has the potential to become violent, which it probably will.  Hmmmm, I haven't done a mystery, either.  My favorite line from Star Trek was spoken by Capt. Kirk.  "I don't like mysteries; they give me a belly ache,"  or words to that effect.  Maybe it was stomachache.  Anyway...I'm not good with mysteries, so it would have to be very simple to start with.  People would probably hate it because it would be so obvious who dunnit.  I'd get critiques then! 

If you personally had to give advice to someone who wanted to write, what would it be?

Advice?   I'd tell them to pay attention to POV, that grammar and spelling matter, dammit!  Sloppy spelling and grammar bug me, but I won't talk about that now.

Your outside influences...Do you have any? Music? Art?

Music...I'm into Dave Matthews Band and Live at the moment.  I'm absorbing Live's new one constantly these days - Ed Kowalczyk is a very inward-looking lyricist, as I mentioned to a friend the other day.  I love their music.  Art...I like Rubens, Caravaggio, Michaelango; the classics.   Wouldn't it be wonderful if Michaelangelo's David stepped off his pedestal as a flesh and blood man?  >

Transfer interrupted!

I noticed you tend to lean for very powerful and moving influences. 

That's true. I hadn't thought of that. 

Who are your favorite authors on the list? Who do you read? Are there any stories you go back to for inspiration, or you find that you've reread more than once? 

I have two favorite pieces that I reread - Boar Hunt with Deity [by Taz], and Triumvirate [by Thamiris].  With Triumvirate, I like the mental games that Caesar plays.  Tham writes him so well; he's a brilliant strategist, always looking for ways to bend Ares to his will.  With Boar Hunt, it's the emotion between Herc/Ares, one of my favorite pairings.  I think Melt is my favorite story by Tham...I just love it. Jen's Regency Fuck is shaping up to be a fanfic classic. 

Perhaps that's why I enjoy your writing so much, the texture, the layers, the thought, feelings and emotions that go into it and come out of it! It makes you think.  I like that, especially in EDWK. 

The emotion is very important to me - I want my readers to feel what I'm writing, I want them to feel what the characters are feeling.  That's probably my number one focus when I'm writing. 

It is very easy to sink into them...especially in EDWK! Wet...Now I liked that one,  too  Very descriptive and emotional.

Yes!  EDWK...I know I wrote it, but I love that story. I like Wet, too. 

You're not afraid to expand and challenge yourself do other things.

I try, anyway.  Wet was interesting...I kept trying to write it one way, but the characters insisted on taking it in another direction. That's the first piece of slash I've written that's taken me where it wanted to go.  It was right.  I started doing research on Apollo, and found that he wasn't a boob at all, unlike the idiot on the show. One of the mythology sites says that Apollo's image was rendered more than any other Olympian.

That's an interesting comment. 

I can't remember my original ideas for the fic, but the story just didn't feel right.  Every time I tweaked it, Apollo changed a little more, and I finally realized that he and Ares needed to be together.  Oh yeah, I think it started out as a fuck 'em and leave 'em thing. This is going to sound goofy, but the characters wouldn't let me do it.  I've written that kind of thing before, so it's not something I'm averse to.  It just didn't seem right for that story.  Besides, That picture of Scott Michaelson is breathtaking...the curve of that ass!  How about that, sublime to pornographic in one sentence. 

Do you see yourself writing fan fic ten years from now?

I'll always write fanfic of some sort, I'm sure. I can't imagine not writing.
 

This interview was conducted on January 9, 2000, by Selursera.