COCO CHANNEL Interview with Tommyhawk
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | COCO CHANNEL Interview with Tommyhawk |
| Interviewer: | Karmen Ghia |
| Interviewee: | Tommyhawk |
| Date(s): | February 2000 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | slash, Star Trek |
| External Links: | archived here, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
COCO CHANNEL Interview with Tommyhawk is archived at The Society for Slash Diversity and The Committee of Chekov Obsessives Comparing Historical and New Narratives in Ensign Literature.
See List of Star Trek Fan Interviews.
Excerpts
Tommyhawk: I did almost all my stories in "Star Trek: Voyager" with Chakotay and Paris, but I never really think of myself as a Slash writer. I was simply caught up in the chemistry of these two individuals. Every so often, you want to play matchmaker, and these two would be very good for each other. Paris could liven up Chakotay's rather dour personality, and Chakotay would provide some much-needed foundation for Paris' rather impetuous nature. So I wrote quite a few stories rather quickly. These days, I am simply out of ideas for the paring, and have stopped rather than churn out the same-old same-old.
Karmen Ghia: Never having seen Voyager, I still read C/P if it's well done. Britta hooked me with _Taming of Tom Paris_, and, as a general rule, I don't even like even super extra light BDSM, but I liiiiked that. I'm really enjoying your C/P shuttlecraft story. It's nice how you break the chapters into days; I like that. What was your earliest story?
T: "The Long Shuttle Trip" is my attempt to please my female readers. I'm glad to see it worked. As for my first writing, do you mean in or out of Slash? My first Slash story is the infamous (it's listed that way on a search engine), "Paris' Wedding" which is Part 1 of the "Son of the N'Gimellii" series. Slash is like peanuts, once you start, you keep on nibbling.
Karmen Ghia: How long have you been reading slash and fanfic?
Tommyhawk: I stumbled across some K/S books at a sci-fi convention in Tulsa, and bought them. I was about 18 at the time, so this would be circa, duh, 1974?
KG: Wow. When I was eighteen... well, never mind. How much and how long were you reading slash before the 'hey-man-I-wanna-do-this!' light went on?
T: The other Slash writers are gonna kill me for this answer... One night, bored, I went on-line in search of some K/S if I could find it. I like to type odd words into search engines and see what pops up. What popped up was one of the C/P Slash Ring's sites, and I cruised around it.
Now understand, this was Saturday night, the connection was lousy and I couldn't enter a LOT of sites. I think I ended up on the least-patronized sites, but I found what I read, I hated! I told myself, "Aw, come on, people! Paris and Chakotay wouldn't do that! What they'd really do, if they were to get into a relationship is..." And then I was sunk! When a writer has a universe (given by the TV show), the characters (given again) and a plot, he's got a STORY! And any writer can tell you once you have a story, you got to put it down on paper or it won't leave you alone. So I did, sent it to the webmasters of the C/P Slash ring (I went around it again, and e-mailed all of them I could). And the rest, as they say, is what makes horse races.
Karmen Ghia: What writers, slash or otherwise, do you feel have influenced your slash writing?
Tommyhawk: Again, I sort of wrote as a reaction to the many women who write Slash. I wanted to do a Slash story from a MAN'S viewpoint of these characters. But I have read some Slash I love, and even imitated. I enjoyed Siubhan's "Left Hand of Madness" and who wouldn't love Helmboy's "Traveling Man" series. And one of these days, I'm going to do my own Slash story based on a song like, duh, what's her name, partly to poke fun at her little obsession. The song? "Otto Titsling." 'Nuff said.
KG: What pairings make you feel warm and cozy when you read and why? When you write them and why?
T: Again, I'd rather tell about potential pairings rather than actual ones. I may well Slash again some day on another series. But it'll have to have the following characteristics. (a) Two good-looking men--it's surprising how few shows qualify on that requirement alone! (b) not a sitcom--and there goes the rest of them and (c) the proper chemistry. I can't force characters together, they have to BELONG together....
K: Have you written any K/S? Do you have any thoughts or feeling about K/S?
T: K/S was my first love, but it died for me when they started making the movies and all these old dudes came trundling out looking feeble. I know that actors age like the rest of us, but to me, it sort of spoils the original. I can't watch Star Trek: TOS anymore, the images of those old guys gets in the way.
Karmen Ghia: So, do you have any thoughts on the future of Slash on the Web?
Tommyhawk: More than thoughts, statistics. 20% of American households now have Web access. In five years, it'll be 80%. Not just Slash, EVERYTHING will explode. Technology never runs over anyone who keeps their eyes open. There's the truck and its' coming this way. Get ready to hitch a ride or dodge!
Karmen Ghia: What I love about my website is that I can always fix it in the HTML editor. What is the motivation to write slash? One can't sell it; one can't even eat it.
Tommyhawk: The same thing that keeps me giving away my stories on my own site. Selling is overrated. The Web will smash the printed word; you'll carry around a page-sized mini-computer loaded with what you want to read, and it'll display in a manner easy on the eyes. We'll have to revamp the concept of copyright, it's outmoded. My guess is they'll lower the cost of a royalty down to where it's cheaper to go ahead and pay it. When you write something, you want to share it. Otherwise, it's just a form of mental masturbation.