Lois & Clark Nfic Archive Interview with S. Lynn McCreadie

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Lois & Clark Nfic Archive Interview with S. Lynn McCreadie
Interviewer:
Interviewee:	S. Lynn McCreadie
Date(s):	2003
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
External Links:	full interview is here, Archived version
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In 2003, S. Lynn McCreadie was interviewed for the Lois & Clark Nfic Archive.

See that site for others in this series.

Some Excerpts

All of my life, I've had stories floating around in my head. I used to tell them to myself at night when I had trouble falling asleep - something I still do to this day. Scenes would play in front of my eyes as if they were a movie, and I've often said that if I had to do it all over again, I would have gone to Hollywood to be the female Steven Spielberg.

I'm a voracious reader, at least I was until I had children and found that they create a time vortex that just sucks your free time away. I've come to realize that there is a wide variety of stuff out there that spans the gamut of breathtakingly wonderful to absolute drivel. I decided that maybe I could write a book, all I had to do was sit down and give it a try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

So in January, 2003, I sat down with the intention of writing that book. I got pretty far, nearly done in fact, but felt that there was much I needed to learn about the art of writing before I could get the book up to snuff enough to try to have it published. I've since been taking a creative writing class and reading a lot of books about the art of writing to try to fine-tune my techniques.

Now that I've given myself up to the forces that drive all writers, I often walk around in a half-daze, thinking about my stories and working out plots and details. It's kind of like living in two worlds at the same time.

Really, I have to say that I've only been a true fan of Superman for about six months now. I'd always liked Lois and Clark, but it was the "Clark" persona rather than Superman that kept me watching.

Once TBS pulled the show off the air this summer, I turned to "Smallville" to fill the empty Superman void in my life. I'm finding that show fascinating because it's introduced me to quite a bit of Superman mythos that I never knew about. I've gone so far as to look at a few Superman comic books, but in general, I find comics aren't my thing.

Recently, I rented the first Superman movie with Christopher Reeves. I'd seen it years and years ago, along with Superman II, but was really interested in watching it again keeping in mind my current LnC and Smallville obsessions. I have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed. I thought Christopher Reeves made an outstanding Superman, but I absolutely hated Margot Kidder as Lois Lane. And I felt that the movie gave me little reason to believe that Clark/Superman had fallen so much in love with Lois that he brought her back from death. I think I was kind of spoiled for this movie because I view Lois and Clark as my "canon", and anything that deviates from that I find suspect.

Actually, only since August of 2003, which would make it about 4 months at the time of this interview. In a fit of Lois and Clark frenzy, I Googled around until I found the Lois and Clark Fanfic message boards. I read a few stories and was really amazed at how good and moving they were. Soon after finding these boards, I saw the TOGOM episode, and my first fanfic was born.

I enjoy writing fanfic because the characters are such well-known entities. Because of the television program, I've gotten to see them in a wide variety of situations and have a fairly good idea of how they think and how they would react in a particular situation. Having this backstory allows me to concentrate on my story without having to develop the three-dimensional character. Also, I have a real visual to fill in when setting the story or imagining a conversation - I just picture Dean and Teri. It's kind of like playing with Barbies - you already know what she looks like and how she can move; you get to have all of the fun putting her in different clothes and pretending she does all sorts of different things.

That being said, writing fanfic is very fulfilling because the people who read the stories already have a vested interest in the characters. They can hold you to a high standard and expect you to treat the characters fairly, which offers a great challenge to a writer. When they offer you praise, it means a lot because it shows that you remained true to the characters.

And I guess that is the other reason I like writing fanfic - it is a very immediate way to put something out there and get feedback, both good and bad. People are quick to tell you what they liked and what they didn't, so you can adjust your story to respond appropriately. I'm a true hedonist - I don't like to wait for anything!