All About Spike Interview with Dana Woods
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | All About Spike Interview with Dana Woods |
| Interviewer: | |
| Interviewee: | Dana Woods |
| Date(s): | between 2002-2006 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | Angel and Buffy |
| External Links: | full interview is here, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Dana Woods was interviewed for All About Spike.
Series
For other interviews in this series, see All About Spike Interview Series.
Some Excerpts
I've always had stories going in my head, and I started writing them down when I was fifteen. Once I started doing that, I realized that I loved doing it, and I had to continue doing it. I used to watch certain shows and get ideas about stories. It wasn't until I quite accidentally stumbled across the X-Files Gossamer archive that I realized, "Oh, wow. People write down these stories and put them out there!" So, I wrote down my own story and put it out there.
I like a lot of aspects of writing fanfic. It's helped actually develop writing skills for me because working with established characters took one aspect of writing out of the equation and reduced the pressure. It allows me to really devlop other parts of my writing. Also, I really enjoy working within the confines of how these characters are. If I want something to happen, I have to work to make it happen within the boundaries of who I'm working with. It's a great challenge.
I really enjoy writing Tara and Faith. I think that Tara was such a normal character that a lot of writers don't really find all that much intersting about her when compared to other characters in the universe. But there's a lot to her when you consider her without the supernatural bias, as it were. Faith, I think, it's intriguing because of just how guarded and defensive she is. I like peeling that back and seeing what's at the heart of her.
Sometimes, canon can be a difficult thing to maneuver. I've had my fill of flouting canon six ways from Sunday, but it can be tricky to write something that's in your head when there's no way it can be done within the confines of canon.
Write that horrible Mary Sue/self-indulgent fic that's invariably in your head when you wade into your fandom. I'm not saying post it, but at least write it. It's cathartic and it gets you ready to seriously tackle fic writing.