Jen, please tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm female, English, 33 yrs old, single, and live close to Oxford.  I have three sisters.  I work as an academic administrator. Following a rush of blood to the brain, I've just started working towards a Master's in Business Administration for career purposes (my first degree is in Theology). Enthusiasms apart from reading and writing H:TLJ fanfic are guinea pigs (though I'm not currently keeping any), Blake's 7, historic aircraft and the  history of military aviation.

That's a pretty impressive background. Do you find yourself drawing from your interests in real life and using this in your writings?

I don't know about impressive, but thanks!  I'm not aware that I use my interests in my writing.  In a way that's strange, as my background in Theology would give me a lot to draw on in terms of the cult and ritual aspects of Greek mythology.  I suppose the closest I've got to that is in my story Ritual.  I do tend in my writing to stick to the world which TPTB show us rather than exploring the mythological elements further.

How did you become a fan of the show(s)?

Are you ready for a long story?  I was vaguely aware of 'Hercules' and idly decided to check it out one week, as it seemed to involve under-dressed men with longish hair and so might help an otherwise boring afternoon to pass more enjoyably.  The fates must have been kind, because the episode being shown that week was 'The Wedding of Alcemene'.  Even more significantly, the episode was already half-way through.  Which means that instead of switching off again fairly swiftly, having discovered that the reception of the channel it was being shown on was appalling, I sat drooling happily over a slightly fuzzy vision of dark male beauty, who seemed to be Hercules' brother.  The reception was so bad that the credits at the end were unreadable, but I did a very quick online search to discover that the character, Iphicles, was played by somebody called Kevin Smith, and that he also played Ares.

So I dug myself in the following week, ready to enjoy, only to find that Iphicles didn't reappear.  Nor did he the following week, nor the one after that.  And neither was there any sign of this Ares guy.  So I gave up.

I tried again a few months later, having moved house to an area where the reception was much better, and that was when I saw Ares for the first time. From that time on, I was hooked enough to begin to watch 'Xena' as well, and now I usually enjoy them even if it's an episode with no Kevin Smith character involved!

How did you start writing Herc-Xenaverse fan fiction?

When I started watching both X:WP and H:TLJ properly, I searched on-line from my work PC for websites and found an amazing amount of fan fiction on-line.  I read my way through quite a lot of that before discovering that the character in whom I was most interested, Iphicles, rarely appeared.  When he did, it seemed that it was usually (though not always) as an under-developed plot device. So I decided to remedy that and write my very own Iphicles-centered piece of fiction, purely for my own enjoyment. It dawned on me by about page 89 of this epic that it was such an incredible Mary Sue that, not only could I never let anyone else look at it, but I couldn't even bear to carry on writing it.  So just in case anybody had written any more Iphicles-centered fiction I performed yet another search for 'Iphicles' on the web, this time from my brand-new internet connection at home.

Well, imagine my surprise when my search threw up all sorts of references to fiction, which seemed to have Iphicles in a starring role!  This was an adult site, and consequently barred by my workplace internet access.  It was called the Archive for the Ksmithares mailing list.  I began to read, eyes opening wider and wider as I had my very first encounter with slash, and decided I had to join as I enjoyed so many of the stories.  From reading other people's stories, it just seemed a natural progression to write my own (Voice from the Past).  It says a lot about the supportive nature of the list that I had the courage to share it with a beta, who encouraged me to post it, and the lovely comments I received mean that I haven't stopped writing since!

Let's face it: our type of writing has a pretty limited audience because of the content and m/m aspects of the stories. 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?

Two members of my family know that I've dabbled in writing a little bit of Hercules fanfic but that's as far as it goes, and as far as it will ever go where my family is concerned.  I can't even begin to imagine the reaction if they found out.  I haven't told any of my non-virtual friends, and probably never will; with one possible exception, I'm sure they'd be horrified. Perhaps if any of them were fans of the show, it might be a different story and I could introduce them gently to the whole concept...

What is it that attracts you to writing about men having sex?

I think my answer to this is on two levels.  I like to read and write about men having sex because I find it very erotic.  It's also the case that the characters who interest me in the Hercuverse are sexually attractive males, and so when I write about them, and their relationships with one another, the relationships almost always have a sexual element.  When I'm writing about a sexual relationship, I find it important to show the physical side of that relationship as it can show so much about the characters and about the way they view one another.
 

What's difficult or easiest about writing the sex scenes in particular?

Most difficult: avoiding repetition.  I know I have pet phrases, and if I re-read sex scenes that I wrote at around the same time as one another, I can see those same descriptions popping up.  Although that's a problem in my writing in general, I think it's more obvious in the sex scenes because they instantly have more in common with one another than other parts of my stories do.

Easiest?  I'm not entirely sure.  I have found that whenever I've written a scene where the two protagonists are in love, the sex just writes itself, which is helpful. Where there are other things going on, mind-games, possession, claim-staking, whatever, I usually find I need to be a little more proactive in my writing of the scene.

If you could see any of your stories made into a real episode, which one would you choose?

I'd love to see Regency Fuck filmed, just to see Ares and Iphicles in breeches and top-boots!  In terms of which would make the best episode, I suppose it would be Traitor; it has a fast-moving plot, and a few more characters appear than is the case in most of my other stories.

Which story are you most proud of?

I find that a very difficult question to answer.  I suppose it would have to be either When in Rome or Resolution; it's not that I think they are necessarily wonderful stories, but I was pleased with the voice of the narrator in both (Caesar and Ares GoL respectively).  As an aside, I didn't actually realise that there was a Xena episode called 'When in Rome' when I
titled mine.  It may turn out to be Regency Fuck instead, but I honestly won't know until I've finished writing it and know how satisfied I am with the ending.

Which character do you most enjoy writing?

My immediate response was Iphicles, as his character is so little defined by the show that it gives a writer immense freedom to explore all sorts of possibilities.  But thinking about it, I loved writing Caesar in When in Rome; there was something almost hypnotic about him and I found him a fascinating personality.  One of those two, anyway.

Is there a character that you haven't written that you would like to? One that you think would be a challenge?

I'm not sure that there's anybody that I would like to write at the moment that I haven't yet written, although that may well change as I see more of certain characters.  Depending on UK terrestrial television for my Hercules and Xena viewing means that I'm a long way behind most of the rest of the world in the episodes I have so far seen.

I'd find it challenging to write Hercules properly; to show that there is depth to him, and that he isn't just a self-righteous insensitive block who always knows what's best for other people.  I don't think he actually is that simple, but it's so very easy to reduce him to that.  I'd certainly find it a challenge to try and find out more of what makes him act as he does.  Whether that's something I actually want to do is another matter entirely, of course!

What are your feelings on feedback and story critiquing?

I think that both are extremely important to writers.  Feedback lets you know what is and isn't working in your writing, and whether you're successful in putting across what it is that you intended.  To find somebody who will honestly critique your work is wonderful - if you wish for it!

As far as I am concerned, without feedback I certainly wouldn't share my writing, and I'm not sure how much I'd continue to write.  I'm always delighted to receive feedback, and I'm extremely grateful for the time and effort that people put into it.  It has also been the case that talking with people about stories has sometimes led on to other conversations, and I have made some new friends that way.

I do like any critiquing to be couched in constructive terms  Betareaders are different - they're there to rip it to shreds and tell me in no uncertain terms where the problems are.

Because I know how important feedback is to me as a writer, I try to give it on any story I have enjoyed, but I have to say that I'm not particularly good at analysing stories or characters.  I tend to respond intuitively and while I might know on an emotional or psychological level what is valid (or what I believe to be valid) I'm not necessarily able to deconstruct it.

What is the hardest part about writing for you?

Plotting a story.  I can't do it.  I cannot plan out precisely what is going to happen in a story.  Instead I start with the characters, getting inside their heads, and determining how they would act in a given situation. I'll be writing a scene with a fairly clear idea of what I want to happen, then suddenly somebody will say or do something that takes it off in a completely different direction.

What one story do you think people will always remember you for?

I don't know about 'always', but from the response it has received, I suspect it would be Regency Fuck.

Did you always want to be a writer or did the creative urge strike later in life?

I seemed to spend my entire childhood reading rather than writing (you know the drill, reading under the covers with a torch late at night, a book open on the bed when you're getting dressed, a book propped up on the edge of the basin when you're cleaning your teeth), but whenever we were asked to produce a piece of creative writing at school, I always enjoyed it. 

When I went to Secondary School, my best friend there spent her time writing a novel, and after a few years of voraciously reading what she wrote, I decided to turn my hand to it.  Since then, I've been working on various versions of those same characters, but never particularly assiduously.  I read H:TLJ fan fiction on-line before discovering ksa, but thought that I couldn't write it because I could never think of a plot!  When I discovered KSA however, it dawned on me that stories could be character-driven rather than plot-driven.  So I suppose my answer to your question is that although I've only just (about eight months ago) begun writing regularly, it's been there somewhere as a constant since I was about fourteen years old.

Do you write other fic as well as fanfic?  Do you hope to publish original fic some day?

I don't really write it any longer, and I certainly don't expect anything original of mine to be published.

If you do write original fiction, what types of themes do you find in your original fic?

The same themes which crop up in my fan fiction: self-delusion, emotional isolation, need, and love (whether recognised or not). I hope there's a bit of humour in there as well. 

What stories are you working on now?

Regency Fuck.  I can only work on one story at a time; I do tend to get easily distracted from things and I know that if I left a story half-way through to work on another one, I'd probably never come back to finish the first one.

Who do you see as your biggest literary influences, if any?

Anybody reading Regency Fuck will certainly see the influence of Georgette Heyer (the title is a tribute, of sorts, to her Regency Buck).  Other than that, I'm honestly not sure.  It's been quite a few years since I read much fiction; I prefer non-fiction, particularly in the areas of history and theology.  Not that I seem to have much time to read anything not related to my course at the moment...

Which types of writing do you enjoy reading?

When reading fiction, I like to read something where the author fully convinces me of the world which they are creating; it has to be consistent, with the author sticking to the rules that s/he has set.  I am only usually interested in reading writing with in-depth characterisation, and where there is at least one character with whom I feel some empathy.  My definite preference is for an author who has some humour in their work.  My favourite stories are those which I can lay aside at the end with a feeling of satisfaction.  I realise these are all very general statements, but I enjoy reading all sorts of fiction as long as at least some of these traits are present.  This is a list of what I like to read, by the way, not what I think my writing achieves!

Is there any other author within the fan fiction circle that has influenced or effected your at all? 

Well, there are several whose writing I greatly admire, but as for affecting me...  I'm not aware that they have, other than that the elements of their writing which I most admire are often those areas in which I am weakest.  So perhaps I would be right in saying that they challenge me to improve.

If you were able to meet any writer dead or alive who would you choose and why?

I usually prefer to let somebody's writing speak to me; there are some authors whose work I admire so much that I would be disappointed if I met them and they turned out to be ordinary people with weaknesses, or worse, unpleasant characters.  But if I have to name one, I think it would be Siegfried Sassoon.  I am fascinated by the events of his life.

How do you feel your style of writing has changed since you first began writing compared to your present style? Has it changed at all?

I'm not sure that I have changed much yet; it's still very early days for me.  I am a little more aware now of 'points of view', and of some of my weaknesses as a writer.  I do find that when I re-read some of my older stories, I wince at some parts of what I've written.  I hope that in a few more months, I'll be able to find even more wrong with them - that way I'll know that I'm improving.

If you had to give someone advice in regards to writing in general, what would you say to someone just starting out? What would be your best advice, so to speak?

I suppose the first thing would be to encourage them to do it, to actually put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and experiment with words: descriptions, characters, literary devices, whatever it is that they want to explore, but just getting a feel for how different combinations work.  If you don't actually do something yourself, it's quite easy to build up some sort of mystique around the process, so it's important (imo) to get in there and have a go and realise that you can do it.  At the same time, don't be disheartened by the fact that your first attempts might not be as good as you'd like; everybody has to start somewhere.

Look at what you've written and compare it to a writer whose work you admire, and look for the differences.  If, for example, their descriptions are more vivid than yours, try to see why.  There are also various good web sites (linked from the KSA Writing Resources page) which give guidance about the writing process, including tips about grammar.

Once you have something with which you are reasonably happy, or even if it is only as good as you think you can get it, find somebody whose opinion and ability to be constructively critical you trust, and ask for their comments. Having asked, listen to what they have to say.

I hope that might be of help to somebody, anyway!

Yes, I believe it will. Thank you, Jen.  This was a delight!
 

This interview was conducted in January 2000, by Selursera.