Old School X Interview: Sheryl Martin
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Old School X Interview: Sheryl Martin |
| Interviewer: | Lilydale |
| Interviewee: | Sheryl Martin |
| Date(s): | October 20, 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: Sheryl Martin was conducted by Lilydale as part of the series Old School X Interview Series.
Some Topics Discussed
- meeting her husband via fandom
- being a fan of Scully
- liking her Dragon Series the best, despite some poor writing, as it taught her much about the craft
From the Interview
What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?
Well… I met my husband through it, so I’ll never say a bad word about it! For those who don’t know - when I originally started posting fanfiction, it was on the Usenet group alt.tv.x-files.creative newsgroup - and you could only post small segments at a time. I got a few emails back, fan mail from readers who enjoyed my writing.
One of them was from a lovely young man who really enjoyed my stories, and Jackie St. George - an original character I made up. (Yes, classic Mary Sue, but different in that she did NOT want to hook up with anyone!) I answered him back, as a good author should, and he wrote back and… We’ve been together since 1993 and married for over 20 years, so I’d say I’m pretty happy with the fandom experience. ;)
Social media didn’t really exist during the show’s original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?
I practically lived on ATXC and Usenet - I was running on a cheap Mac, using the Toronto Freenet to zip in, grab email and post, then duck out. I was dirt poor - no AOL for me, no university email or web page! It’s hard to imagine, but back then it was hard to get online if you didn’t have money. The Toronto Freenet gave a free, easy way to pick up email and get online - but only for a short amount of time. When a generous fan asked if they could put up a Geocities page for my fanfic, I was thrilled - there was NO way I could have done that.
Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?
I wrote fanfiction for Stargate SG-1 among others - my most recent being for The Orville and Agents of SHIELD - but XF has always been my first love. I’ve never engaged with fandom as much, I think, as with XF - which is odd, considering we were at the start of the social media craze.
Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?
I’ve got so many… The Widow from Into the Badlands, Rita Farr from Doom Patrol (the new series), Sara Lance from Legends of Tomorrow… I love seeing strong women on the screen, doing what women do without throwing it all away for a man’s approval.
Yeah, I’m like that.
;)