Slashcast Insider Interview with Captain Tulip

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Slashcast Insider Interview with Captain Tulip
Interviewer:	emmagrant01
Interviewee:	Captain Tulip
Date(s):	May 19, 2007
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):
External Links:	online here as a transcript, Archived version
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Slashcast Insider Interview with Captain Tulip is a podcast created by and posted to Slashcast as "Episode 17." Slashcast includes an transcript.

The interviewer is emmagrant01, the interviewee is Captain Tulip.

The Interview Series

See Slashcast Insider Interview Series.

Excerpts

Well, I guess, you know- I get obsessed with things quite easily and I like looking around for all the little details, so I was just sort of surfing the internet, you know, looking for spoilers and things about Harry Potter, things about the actors, and then I found this website which had all of this Harry Potter fic on it, and, you know, sort of there it all was and I just- yea, I really just sort of stumbled in on it... It's quite hard for me to remember, actually. I sort of feel like Harry Potter and fanfiction are, you know, intricately entwined, like neither would be complete without the other, or, at least, they wouldn't be nearly as interesting to me. Uh, writing... I think some time around the 4th book, actually.

Um, this is a little embarrassing, actually, but I posted my first fic on fanfiction.net because it was one of the first fandom websites that I discovered. Yea, it was actually a James/Lily, believe it or not, and it was really fluffy and sort of cracktastic, and yea... Well, see, I wasn't really expecting any response, and when I checked the story, you know, a few hours later to see if I had gotten any reviews, there were ten whole reviews. And, you know, it seems like nothing to the polished authors of LJ, but it was the best feeling in the world to me. I mean, ten people had clicked on the link to my story on nothing but the pairing and the summary, read it and enjoyed it, you know. It was really cool.

[Why I moved from my fic from fanfiction.net to LJ]: Well, because, at the time, you know, they had that sort of purge of all the NC-17 rated fics, and all of the best authors seemed to be moving to LJ, 'cause, you know, that's where they wanted to post their porn and, you know, I guess I really sort of followed the porn... Yea. Yea, I think a bit over a year. I was still a bit wary of it and a bit fandom shy when it was my year-birthday, so I didn't say anything, but yea, I think it's about a year and a half.

merry_smutmas, I think was great 'cause, you know, it allows newbies a chance to participate with all these amazing authors 'cause, you know, of the ballot system. And you get a whole lot of reader that you normally wouldn't because it's anonymous knows who's who. I mean, you know, they click on a fic based on the pairing and, you know, the summary and they can't just read something because it's someone they know, so yea, participating in merry_smutmas was just really a great opportunity, and it's a really great idea, actually. I mean, I know that, um, it's probably great fun for the fandom aficionados and stuff, but it's just a really great opportunity for newbies.

Um, I guess having something new to say [is the biggest challenge for new Harry Potter writers]. You know, a reason for all the readers to come and read your story as opposed to, like, the BNFs. You know, a different way of presenting the character without sort of, you know, spoiling them, 'cause there's just so much out there in HP, you feel like you have to sort of have something different to say, a different way to present things. Um, although, I must admit that I'm perfectly content reading the same plot lines over and over again. You know, Harry in Snape's dungeon for detention, Sirius coming to stay at James' house over the holidays, etc., etc.