Twenty-Seven Grilled Bards and One Reviewer: Lunacy
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Twenty-Seven Grilled Bards and One Reviewer: Lunacy |
| Interviewer: | |
| Interviewee: | Lunacy |
| Date(s): | July 18, 1998 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | Xena: Warrior Princess |
| External Links: | full interview is here, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Twenty-Seven Grilled Bards and One Reviewer: Lunacy is a 1998 Xena: Warrior Princess fan interview at Whoosh!.
Series
For others in this series, see Whoosh! Interview Series.
Some Excerpts
I became involved in the Xenaverse around August 1996. During those first months I was primarily active on the NetForum and it was there that I began reading my first fanfic. After a while I started exploring the Web sites and discovering some incredible stories there that I suspected many of the NetForum regulars weren't aware of so I started posting messages telling them about those tales. Those messages were the early beginnings of the fanfic reports.One day a Xenite named Xenak asked me to recommend some good fanfic since he knew I was an avid reader. I posted a list of about 20 of my favorite stories. Xenak's message made me realize that in the months and years to come Xenites were going to find it more and more difficult to find specific stories and to identify the better ones at that point. Being a librarian I know how much people often rely on a service librarians provide called reader's advisory -- this service basically involves steering readers to books they may like and sharing book reviews with them. Around March 1997, I therefore decided to start offering a similar service to the Xenaverse community and thus the fanfic reports were born. In May 1997, MaryD graciously offered me space at her Web site to host the reports so that gave me the opportunity to expand the reports and to start organizing the actual reviews in different ways.
My primary motivation has always been to help fellow fanfic readers locate stories they might like. In addition to that, I also use the reports to try to encourage bards so that we get more stories, more variety, and better quality fiction.
The most obvious difference is that alternative fan fiction tends to deal openly with the romance between Xena and Gabrielle. In most alt. stories the romance is main text -- there is usually no doubt as to the type of relationship the two share or want to share -- they may spend the entire story afraid to tell one another but we the readers know how they feel. The subtext in the TV series is more subtle. It was particularly so when the series first began. My impression is that during most of that first year the people responsible for the series weren't really aware that the subtext was there, it was something that just grew out of the natural chemistry between the two leading ladies. I think TPTB [the powers that be] became aware of the subtext toward the end of the first season and started playing up to it but I don't think they've ever really dealt with it seriously. With the third season in particular, the subtext for them has turned into innuendoes and jokes. In the light episodes the subtext is a constant joke and in the dramatic episodes it tends to get watered down by the presence of chaperones, body switches, or dubious dialogue ("I love... that" or "The love of your love is you"???) Fortunately alt. fiction doesn't have to go in circles like that.
During the show's first year any discussion concerning subtext used to spark huge flame wars. Alt. writers often would post their stories just to private e-mail lists because they didn't want to deal with the attacks that posting on the Web pretty much guaranteed. In time, the subtext became much more accepted. Also, the alt. writers started to make themselves known and respected. Today, alt. fiction is a powerful presence in the Xenaverse with many of the most popular bards being alt. writers.
Fan fiction has always reflected to a large degree what is happening in the show itself. As such, its evolution is closely tied to the series. However, as a written medium I think fanfic has the advantage of being able to explore things like characterizations, motivations and relationships to a much greater degree. Consequently it seems to me that in fanfic as a whole, the X/G relationship has been explored to a much greater degree.Another way in which fanfic has really evolved somewhat differently from the series is in its treatment of Gabrielle. The series primarily revolves around the one hero, Xena. Gabrielle is very much a supporting player. We don't often get to see how the bard feels about things -- what her past was like -- very few stories revolve around her. Fanfic is very different in this regard. In most stories written by the fans, Gabrielle is given just as much attention as Xena. Many stories are in fact written from her own perspective.
Fanfic has also evolved differently from the series in terms of the various subgenres it has inspired. The idea for uber fiction, for instance, came initially from the episode THE XENA SCROLLS (34/210), which was the first time we ever saw the Xena and Gabrielle archetypes outside the Ancient Greek setting. Since then, however, the TV series hasn't really explored this concept further while in fanfic uber stories just keep getting more and more popular. Initially, revolving around the exploits of the Mel and Janice characters we saw in the TV series, uber fiction has since expanded to include other Xena/Gab archetypes in many different places, many different time periods.