Twenty-Seven Grilled Bards and One Reviewer: WordWarior

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Twenty-Seven Grilled Bards and One Reviewer: WordWarior
Interviewer:
Interviewee:	WordWarior
Date(s):	July 2, 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: WordWarior is a 1998 Xena: Warrior Princess fan interview at Whoosh!.

Series

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

Some Excerpts

Yes, I've written a lot of fiction, in many forms. I've been a writer since I learned the alphabet, so it was long before Xena. I have written for a variety of media and genres (comedy, superhero, suspense/ thriller, children, fantasy, romance and more). I've never experienced anything like the responses one gets when publishing on the web. Generally, I wrote for professional purposes and one doesn't always get responses from that sort of thing, other than a paycheck (which is a darn good thing, btw). Xena fanfic introduced me to the 'fan letter' and that is an amazing feeling. Getting immediate feedback on your work is incredible and really satisfies in a deep and lasting way.

For awhile, the rush of getting responses did influence me. It was a lot of fun to put a new work on the web and hope that people liked it. About a year ago I stopped writing fanfic because I got too busy writing for my 'real' life. Occasionally, I'll pop out a short story, but the big, involved 'epic' fanfic is a thing of the past for me.

Using the archetypes of Xena and Gabrielle in a setting different from their own. I think Xena and Gabrielle need to be recognizable in the uber characters and that certain conventions should be adhered to. If you get too far away from this, you're writing an original novel or short story. This happened to me, in fact. I started writing an uber piece. Within a few chapters it became apparent to me that I was writing a novel. The characters took on lives of their own and I no longer saw Xena or Gabrielle in them. It was this novel that took me out of fanfic writing, in fact. A good uber piece (and I'll admit that I'm partial to uber fiction. I don't read much X/G fanfic but I've read several of the uber pieces) should evoke those things we love about the show -- the themes of redemption, darkness and light, innocence and world-weary experience, etc. -- and put them in settings that complement the struggles. Putting in the in-jokes is fine and can be a lot of fun, but what it boils down to isn't sly nods, but the character archetypes and the thematic similarities.