The KSA Archive Interview with Marina/Rusalka

Interviews by Fans
Title:	The KSA Archive Interview with Marina/Rusalka
Interviewer:	Narcissus
Interviewee:	Marina/Rusalka
Date(s):	January 2000
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):	Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
External Links:	interview is here, Archived version
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Rusalka (also known as Marina) was interviewed by Narcissus in 2000 for The KSA Archive.

Some Excerpts

I like the sense of fun in the shows, and the strong craftsmanship and production values. The special effects are always first rate, the scenery and costumes are gorgeous, the fights exciting and well-choreographed. All the leads and most of the guest stars give good-to-excellent performances. This is what lifts both shows above cheap knock-offs like Sinbad. What I dislike is the lack of continuity, and frequent sloppiness in the writing. Then again, this is what keeps fanfic writers going, isn't it?

I got into it by sort of a side route, by way of Highlander fanfic. I was trying to write a story about Methos leaving the Horsemen, but couldn't come up with a good scenario. Then I came up with the idea of him enlisting Xena's help, and suddenly the plot clicked in my head. So I wrote the story, Red Right Hand, and that was going to be my one and only foray into the Xenaverse. But I found I really enjoyed writing in that setting. And there were so many characters -- Ares, Iphicles, Iolaus, Jason -- that I wanted to explore. So I wrote more stories, and found, somehow, that I couldn't stop.

What generally inspires me to fanfic is annoyance. Some interesting subplot has been dropped, an issue that I consider important is being glossed over, a character I like is being ignored or badly presented... I get annoyed, and then I want to do something about it, so I sit down and write. I do find that coming up with fanfic plots is easier than coming up with plots for original stories, because I'm not starting with a blank slate. This is not to say that fanfic writing is easier than original writing. Coming up with an idea is only the first step. After that, the same level of craftsmanship and thought is required.

The hard part is to keep [my wirtten sex] from becoming repetitive without lapsing into either purple prose or medical-speak. The English language doesn't really have a casual vocabulary for sex -- it's all either clinical terms or swear words. (Come to think of it, the Russian language isn't any better.) And half the time, when I think of a particularly nice turn of phrase, I discover that I've already used it in another story six months before. I live in fear that there's a finite supply of descriptive sex phrases in my brain, and one day I'll use them all up, and be stuck writing nothing but G-rated stories for the rest of my life.