Twenty-Seven Grilled Bards and One Reviewer: Tim Wellman

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Twenty-Seven Grilled Bards and One Reviewer: Tim Wellman
Interviewer:
Interviewee:	Tim Wellman
Date(s):	July 23, 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: Tim Wellman is a 1998 Xena: Warrior Princess fan interview at Whoosh!.

Series

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

Some Excerpts

I'm not sure what first started me writing Xena fanfic... I had never written fan fiction before, but there was something about the show... unexplainable... something that seemed to make me want to be a part of it, in whatever small way I could. So, the first couple of stories were shaky, but I was so much in love with the show... and so inspired by all the people commenting on my stories, that I kept falling further and further in love. By the time 'The Question' came along, I was writing on pure emotion, mostly with tears in my eyes. And I followed that story with 'The Dress'... and I realized then, on that emotional level, that this story was as high as I could get. I think I got scared at this point and tried to back off. I continued to write stories, and I believe the best story I wrote was one of the last, written a year after my initial fall; 'As Long As Someone Remembers'. I guess this question is too hard to answer... and it brings back memories of cold winter nights, staring at my monitor, hanging on every word all my friends at the Netforum would write... you see, it started out as a small community... and a couple of us were 'bards', even before that word came into the general Xena parlance... we were story-tellers, relating feelings we all shared, enjoying the moment and somehow hoping against all hope, that the moment would last forever. I think this is the slight tinge of sorrow you find in all of us who started out on the netforum so long ago... the very idea of creation carries with it the idea of an end... and perhaps this is why most fan-fiction never had a proper ending... the stories always lead to the next adventure. I guess we were fools... but for a brief moment in time we were a part of something incredible and wonderful.

Well, I'm a college trained writer... Marshall University, Creative Writing Major, 1983-1988. So yea, I had written a lot of things before Xena, things much different, though, for the most part... published poetry, and published short stories. And there is no real response when writing 'real' stories... sometimes someone may mention something, but it's rare... you measure success differently in the real world... my poetry and stories won college and state awards... and the money was great! But all that wasn't worth a single response by a fan on the netforum... I guess it's the community/family idea again... it's a completely different feeling to get a response from someone you love.

XWP is pure romance... or at least the first 2 seasons were (I haven't seen the 3rd season shows). As stated above, I regard adventure as the highest form of romance... the show had that adventure... and it also had an undeniable attraction between the two main characters. I guess I've never made a distinction between sexes... love is love... and when one person looks at another and their eyes melt into one shared vision... well, watch Xena and Gabrielle's eyes as they look at each other. You'll see love. So, you had a kick-ass adventure, love, beauty, exotic locales, and well-written storylines... Hawthorne should have been so lucky!

I haven't seen the third season. I stopped being a fan of the show. And it wasn't just because of the info we had before the 3rd season started about the rift. I left, as most know, because there was a rumor that Gabrielle would be raped. Rape is not something that should be used in any way to sell more Pepsi and Doritoes... after all, TV shows exist to make money... it was a disgrace to leak these bits and pieces about a 'rape'.. knowing full well that it would attract a certain audience... and it shocked and sickened me. And at that point, I told everyone I knew that I was leaving the show behind. And I did. Now, was Gabrielle raped? Most think so, though I understand it was left open... however, the slimy way the 'story' was leaked by TPTB before the third season started was enough to alienate me forever.