Old School X Interview: RivkaT
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Old School X Interview: RivkaT |
| Interviewer: | Lilydale |
| Interviewee: | RivkaT |
| Date(s): | August 18, 2020 |
| Medium: | online, Tumblr |
| Fandom(s): | The X-Files |
| External Links: | at lilydalexf; archive link |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Old School X Interview: RivkaT was conducted by Lilydale as part of the series Old School X Interview Series.
Some Topics Discussed
- "What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?" "Dana Scully. Enough said! (Ok, it was Jose Chung’s From Outer Space specifically, but Scully generally.)"
- choosing her pseud
From the Interview
What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?
I made a number of good friends, and had my first taste of bitter fandom battles. I made dumb mistakes and, I hope, learned a bit about navigating fandom spaces. My long-time writing partner MustangSally taught me that it was always worth blowing the budget in writing–go over the top if you want. I put that to good use in my next big fandom (Smallville).
[...]
What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?
(1) Serials are different than works posted all at once, and have different strengths and weaknesses. (2) There are many ways to write a good fic, and somewhat fewer (but still a large number of) ways to write a bad one. (3) Most good fics are bad to some readers, and many bad fics are good to some readers, and that’s okay. (4) Summaries can often instruct many readers how a work is meant to be perceived, especially if they already know you as a writer–the importance of authorial intent is clearly not dead and may be unkillable! (5) Fandom has awfulness and greatness in it because fans are people.
[...]
What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?
I mentioned to a friend that I was really into the show and she said that if I went online there were people writing stories about the characters. I knew about fanfic from childhood fannishness (Star Trek etc.) and so I went looking on this vaguely-understood thing, the internet. At the time I didn’t have a computer that ran Windows so I logged onto Usenet at home and used Pine and Mosaic (an early search engine). When I wanted to see pictures I had to go to the computer lab at school.
[...]
Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?
Most of my friends are fannish and know everything; my family knows generally but basically doesn’t want to know specifics, which is fine with me.