Twenty-Seven Grilled Bards and One Reviewer: J.C. Wilder

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Twenty-Seven Grilled Bards and One Reviewer: J.C. Wilder
Interviewer:
Interviewee:	J.C. Wilder
Date(s):	August 15, 1998
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):	Xena: Warrior Princess
External Links:	full interview is here, Archived version
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Twenty-Seven Grilled Bards and One Reviewer: J.C. Wilder is a 1998 Xena: Warrior Princess fan interview at Whoosh!.

Series

For others in this series, see Whoosh! Interview Series.

Some Excerpts

After seeing the TEN LITTLE WARLORDS (32/208) and THE XENA SCROLLS (34/210) episodes and reading Bat Morda's award winning fan fiction story "Is There A Doctor on The Dig", I could not stop myself from writing fictional scenes related to the show. I fell into a compulsive, daily writing/posting ritual after work. The exchange of feedback on the Xena NetForum encouraged me to continue. Months later when I did some editing on those first stories I realized writing had been cathartic in a big way. I was going to make "Goddess of Desire" and "Mad Dog's Sacred Treasure" part of a trilogy but I realized I had exorcised some ghosts by writing the two together and lost the motivation to follow up. But I needed another hobby and I'd found fan fiction and that was it for me.

In my opinion it is. It is multi-genre, but the thread that holds it all together is the intense, primarily loving relationship between the two heroines, Xena and Gabrielle. Not in every show, but in the majority of them. The theme of brooding, jaded darkness attracted to and needing innocent light and vice versa is very romantic and we saw a lot of that in the first two seasons. Subtext involves sexual innuendo certainly, but more romantic is the passion in the relationship that compliments the physical attraction and that includes spiritual and emotional chemistry which I still see, although less in the third season. Xena and Gabrielle care for each other and struggle together and ultimately would die for each other- and come back to life because they need each other so much that even death can not keep them apart. I like the variety in the show- even the comedy and I believe most of my writings reflects this- but XWP is primarily an irresistibly romantic show.

A friend got me thinking about this when she commented that some altfic is as much about lesbians in modern times as it is about lifestyles of the ancient Greeks, i.e. the difficulties of getting a date in the 90's when you are a woman wanting to date another woman. The "does she/doesn't she" internal dialogue that goes on and on, story after story. Sounds Woody Allenish. Hmmm. That debate can go on and on in Romance novels no matter what the sexual preference of the characters are. Yes, my stories reflect bits and pieces of lesbian relations in some modern neurotic and stereotypically superficial ways. Especially my first two, but they aren't very reflective of ancient times at all. And "My Protector" is set far into the future. Frankly, reading about the angst of characters who don't know if their feeling are requited is one of the things I love most about romantic fiction.

Really, lesbians are an oppressed segment within society so I have touched on how such oppression influences the romantic process. It can increase the tension and suspense. It can create an "us against the world" environment while creating misunderstandings and that cause the suppression of feelings at the same time. But again, these are also common themes in mainstream Romance novels.

And what's wrong with the "is she/isn't she" debate? How many TV shows have fizzled after the lead characters marry each other or just get married period, ending the do they/don't they suspense? Finding a soul mate is an ideal and reality has many more gray and mundane areas than is found in most fan fiction.

A completely uber story makes no reference to events in the television show or other works of Xena Fan Fiction but uses the characters of Xena and Gabrielle as archetypes for the introduction of new female characters in fiction. Typical themes that these new female characters play out are redemption (helping to redeem each other because of complimentary/needed traits the other possesses) while they are challenged by difficult situations, and discovering they are soulmates by the end of the tale.