Winterfest Interview with JoAnn Baca
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Winterfest Interview with JoAnn Baca |
| Interviewer: | Winterfest |
| Interviewee: | JoAnn Baca |
| Date(s): | 2005 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | Beauty and the Beast |
| External Links: | JoAnn Baca interview, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
In 2005, JoAnn Baca was interviewed for Winterfest.
See Winterfest Interview Series.
Some Excerpts
The show was so different, so well written, so literate, so fascinating, with such incredibly beautiful characters - I was hooked from the beginning, and Friday nights at 8 p.m. quickly became “no calls, no plans” nights. NOTHING interfered with my weekly “fix” of BatB. It was like entering another world, and I felt privileged to be invited in. Nothing before or since has ever affected me like BatB or had such an impact on my life. Until BatB, if you’d asked me if I’d ever join a fandom, I’d have looked at you like you had two heads. No way would I ever be one of THOSE people! But BatB fandom doesn’t feel like a fandom, it feels like a family. And with the emphasis on doing things for charity (whether in local clubs or at conventions or when publishing zines), we find ways to give to others while we’re having fun, which was an important element in helping me feel comfortable with becoming one of THOSE people!
Although I’ve been a fan of BatB since the first airing of the first episode, I only found organized fandom in early 1997. I got access to the Internet and plugged “Beauty and the Beast” into the search engine as a lark, and found Songs of the Blue Bird, CABB and BBTV - I was in heaven! I found scores of other people who didn’t mind talking about BatB and didn’t think I was strange for wanting to. [What a relief!] I went to my first convention the next year (Virginia Beach) and met my wonderful roomies and lots of other fascinating, warm, loving people.
I usually don’t have endings in mind for my stories. Only on rare occasions are my stories plot driven, with a goal in mind ahead of time. [I’m not counting the Jo Fredericks stories – my pen name for steamy fic – which are basically written with the goal of getting Vincent and Catherine horizontal!] Nine times out of ten, I let a story take me where it wants to go. It’s really no use trying to force it to go in one direction when it decides to go in another, because stories can be very stubborn and so usually get their way. And usually I’m glad I let the story go along on its own, because most of the time IT has a better idea than I did! I don’t mean to sound facetious, because I’m really serious - stories (at least for me) generally have a mind of their own, which is why it’s not worthwhile for me to “plan” one. If I try to force it, it shows in the writing, which gets worse and worse until I get sick of it and hit the delete key.
I don’t find one type of story easier or more difficult than another. I find them all difficult (in a good way)! They force my mind into paths it usually doesn’t travel in my workaday world; they require me to try to find just the right word or phrase to convey what I want to say without (hopefully) sounding like a dozen other pieces of fanfic, etc. And when I sit down to write on a given day, I don’t know whether I’ll be writing short-and-sweet or hot-and-sweaty... it all depends on where the story takes me.
My favorite type of story to read is a “first time” story. I don’t really have a favorite type to write, though. I guess my favorite is whatever seems to be “working” that day! I do tend to write a lot of hurt/comfort stories, so perhaps that shows where my mind goes a lot.
I greatly admire people who can write zine-length, densely plotted stories. I don’t have the ability to do that. I can write longish stories, but nowhere near zine length ones. And I don’t think I’m very good at developing complex plots (or maybe it’s that I don’t have as much interest in writing that kind of story, although I’ve enjoyed writing the few I’ve written). I treasured the little “moments” between Catherine and Vincent in the episodes, so perhaps I gravitate toward giving them more of those, exploring little pieces of their complexity, rather than creating “episodes” of my own.
I’m a Classic fan - no ifs, ands or buts. The one time I wrote of a V/D relationship - and I doubt there’ll ever be a second - was for a very specific reason. I had read a 3S story which I had thought I might enjoy, since it was written by a writer I greatly admire, and the short plot description seemed to promise a “happy” ending to me. Well... I was so upset and angry after reading the story (which didn’t end at all as I’d imagined) that I vowed I’d create an alternate story, at least for myself, just to calm myself down! It was my own fault for reading what was clearly a 3S story, so I only have myself to blame, but that didn’t change how hurt I was by the ending. [And no, I won’t say which story it was, because it IS beautifully written and I WAS warned.] Anyway, to make MY story come out, Diana had to be in it, and she had to have a relationship with Vincent (in the beginning). So that’s the genesis of my not-strictly-Classic story.
I’ve only rarely introduced very painful developments in stories. I’ve learned that sometimes what I thought would be very dramatic in terms of tension will strike some fans as personally painful, so I try not to do that very much. [Several years ago, there was a discussion on BBTV about fanfic which included rape scenarios, and I realized that a story I’d written might cause some fans to become upset. If I had it to do over again, perhaps I wouldn’t have written the story that way... or perhaps I’d have been sensitive enough to put a warning before the story.] But as far as making the characters suffer a little, I admit that I love angst... I eat it with a spoon! I love to make the characters suffer agonies of indecision, torments of the soul, feelings of loss, maybe even some minor physical pain - because then when the comfort comes, it feels twice as sweet. I realize that may be a bit strange, but I really like hurt/comfort stories, and I enjoy writing them.
Absolutely, I have my stories edited. I firmly believe that writers who don’t use editors are making a big mistake - you may think a story is perfect, but another pair of eyes is always, always a good idea. But before I let my editors read my stories, I’ve already spent hours going over and over and over them. For me, the self-editing process is as satisfying creatively as the original writing. My self-editing process often takes more time than writing the original story, which is always done in a kind of rush, focusing mostly on dialogue. So when I edit my own work, I’m adding descriptive language, cleaning up typos and other mistakes, checking plot points to ensure there’s good flow, making certain I don’t have Vincent picking up a cup and not setting it down before rushing off somewhere, considering more appropriate word choices (and noticing when I’ve used an unusual word too often and use another instead), and generally trying to polish the story. I go over a story from start to finish in this way many, many times. As a final check, I always read the story out loud to myself - it’s amazing how many little errors you can pick up doing that (a trick I learned from my pal Roseann Buonadies, one of the truly great zine editors in our fandom).
I always try to contribute a new story when I know there’s a charity element involved, so that’s usually for a zine. Only when the zine has been out of print for a year (which has been a general standard in our fandom) and no further money will accrue for the charity involved do I consider posting it online. I’m happy to share them. I’ve never thought about NOT posting my stories online, although I know there are writers in our fandom who prefer not to, for various reasons. I fully support them and would do nothing to undermine their decision.
Soapbox moment: I know some writers’ works are so beloved; it’s devastating when they say no to posting their stories. But sometimes we have to learn to do without, to accept “no” as an answer, and not do anything ethically or morally questionable just because we “want” something. People are entitled to decide where and how their “children” (stories, art, or whatever) are exposed to the world. OK, I’m down from the soapbox now!
I believe the Crystal Rose Lending Library provides an enormous service in lending zines to fans who cannot otherwise find or afford them. But I have heard from fans outside of the U.S. regarding how hard it is for them to find zines, and borrowing them from the lending library is an expensive proposition due to mail costs. So, while I believe there is absolutely nothing like the experience of holding a zine in your hand and savoring it slowly, appreciating not just the stories but the poems, the artwork and the craftsmanship that the editor lovingly put into her zine, I realize that not all fans are able to have this experience. Even though the experience of reading a story online is so antiseptic and cold to me (kind of like the difference between sitting at home and chatting online compared to attending a convention with scores of others with whom you can chat and hug and share), the Internet provides an option for reading fanfic. So I want to help expand the number of out-of-print stories and zines which are posted online.
I’ve tried to track down fans who are no longer active in fandom to ask respectful permission (in writing) to post stories. It can be a frustrating process, as many addresses turn out to be no longer valid, and often the writers, when found, do not wish their stories posted online. But it’s nice when you do actually find someone and that person does agree! I haven’t been as active in doing this recently as I have been in the past (helping with the last few cons and working on producing a new zine have taken precedence), but I hope to get back to it soon.
Our fandom is one which got started well before the Internet was a viable source of contact between fans, so our historical association with zines is a rich one. Since I love the look and feel of hard copy zines so much, keeping that part of our fandom’s history alive is dear to my heart. I’ve been lucky enough to work with some tremendously talented people to put together several zines. The side benefit of zine production is raising funds for worthwhile charities, something our fandom has always done, and something I see dying out in other arenas in our fandom....
Putting a zine together takes time and patience. I try to ask for art and story submissions from people I’ve worked with on projects before, people who I’m confident will deliver what they promise. The actual editing usually is split between me and Cathy Moran, who is a superb zine editor. In this case, “editing” takes on several forms. I do the story editing - checking over the stories and making suggestions to the writers on fixing the occasional typo, plot burp, or other small things (but the writer always has the last word, no pun intended!). Cathy formats the zine; meaning she’s the craftsman, designing the special touches, selecting the font, typeface, deciding on the placement of art, etc. Then she provides me with a clean copy, and I arrange for printing, binding, and handle sales. We trust each other totally, which makes it easy to produce a zine together. Plus, since the writers and artists whose products we organize into a zine are so magnificent, all we’re really doing is gilding the lily a little!
It’s getting harder to produce hard copy zines, as fewer fans are willing or able to pay the cost of one... and printing and binding are getting more expensive, so zines cost more to produce, leaving less money for the charity... It’s a vicious circle. I doubt we’ll see many more zines produced in our fandom, except for conzines, which is sad but, I guess, inevitable. With the Internet, it’s so much quicker and easier to just post a story, even if no benefit accrues to a charity as a result, and even if we lose the visceral pleasure of holding a zine in our hands.
No, never, and I can’t ever see myself involved in another fandom. I’m not a fandom person, I’m a BatB person. I’ve enjoyed a few other shows and characters immensely (Spike comes to mind!), but none have affected me or taught me or inspired me like our show.... No. I have no desire or inspiration to write in any other fandoms.