The Doctor Who Fanfic Review Interview: Dancingsalome
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Doctor Who Fanfic Review Interview: Dancingsalome |
| Interviewer: | |
| Interviewee: | Dancingsalome |
| Date(s): | May 8, 2015 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | Doctor Who |
| External Links: | Dancingsalome Part One, Archived version Dancingsalome Part Two, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Doctor Who Fanfic Review Interview: Dancingsalome was posted at The Doctor Who Fanfic Review on May 8, 2015.
"This interview contains a trigger warning for survivors of sexual assault, as we discuss the role of fanfiction as therapy."
See: The Doctor Who Fanfic Review Interview Series.
Some Excerpts
TDWFR: You have been very honest and vulnerable in your blog about that trauma of being date raped at a young age. It sounds like writing has been a big part of your therapy and helped you to work through this experience. In your opinion, how important is it for writers to write whatever they feel rather than what is politically correct, popular or even a representation of a healthy relationship?
Dancingsalome: I think it is very important to write what you need to write and I don’t think fanfic should only be written if it’s nice and sanitized. Read a Greek tragedy or Shakespeare, among the most famous literature we have, and you will find a lot of things that are not PC or healthy, but they still have valid and important messages. Everyone, writers as well as readers come to fanfiction with their own personal need. To laugh a little or be thrilled or immerse themselves in romance. Or get thrilled or scared and feel a bit of catharsis. I think all these individual wants are valid and none better than the other.
Fanfiction has a well-developed system with genre, rating and warnings as a tool to help you find what you want and not read anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, triggered or perhaps just bored. It’s a rather unique system, if you pick up a book you can get the gist of the plot by the blurb and perhaps which age group it’s suitable for, but probably not warnings for non-con or character death or something else that fanfiction advertise before you even started to read.
Writing fanfiction was, if not a life-saver, at least a life-changer for me, and it has helped me so much when it comes to dealing with traumatic experiences. I have chosen to be open with what happened to me because when I started writing I felt very bad with all these angsty darkfics just pouring out of me. Why was I feeling such strong need to write this, especially after what I had experienced? Eventually I learned that I wasn’t strange at all. I think most people expect that if you have had a traumatic experience, then reading about something similar will be triggering. And that is probably the most common reaction. But you can also be drawn to it, because it gives you a chance to regain a sense of control. If you read about it you have the power to stop reading and as a writer you the one to decide what should happen, or not happen, which is very empowering. And you shouldn’t have to feel guilty about it, because you feel guilty enough as it is. So I’ll try to be honest with my past and my motivations. It’s my personal triumph, I have had bad stuff happen to me and it was awful, but every story I write is a way of saying; yeah, I was hurt, but I’m OK now and I have turned into something creative. Writing has defiantly been therapy for me and something I have needed to do.
TDWFR: You first started writing in your 30s. There are many, many writers of fanfiction who are in their 30s, 40s and beyond. How has your life experience helped you as a writer as opposed to if you had started much younger?
Dancingsalome: It probably saved me from writing a lot of Mary Sue’s… Joke aside; I’m not so sure it has helped that much. Life experience just comes, after all, regardless of what you do. I might have written things that I would deem too immature today if I had started earlier, but I may also have been a much better writer because I had exercise my writing muscles more.
TDWFR: Your job as a librarian must give you access to an enormous variety of literature. It’s obvious that you have a great love for literature of all kinds including fan works. Have you ever encountered any snobbery amongst teachers and academics towards fanfiction?
Dancingsalome: Surprisingly little. Teachers generally seem to think that if it makes someone write, then it is by definition good. And I have a feeling that fanfiction is a growing interest for academia. The most snobbish attitudes I have encountered have been from people in fandom, believe it or not. Like bashing all original characters from the assumption that they are always Mary Sue’s, or dismissing slash or het or a special genre just out of principle. I think it is less of that around now than a couple of years ago, though.
TDWFR: What is the best compliment a reviewer can give you?
Dancingsalome: A review. I get ridiculously happy every time I get one, even if it’s just “nice job”. But I do get especially happy when a reviewer really has got what you want to say with a story. One of the best reviews ever was someone who told me that she could really tell that I spend a lot of time thinking about my story and what motivates my characters. Which I do, but you never know if a reader will pick up on that, or if you are skilled enough to make it clear.