Interview: taste_is_sweet
How long have you been creating fan art or writing fan fiction? A long time! When I was a kid my sister would make me entertain her for hours by telling her what we called 'superhero stories', which were about the cartoon characters we watched on Saturday mornings and after school (At the time it was Super Friends and Battle of the Planets, which we always called 'G-Force' and which seems to have been more popular in Canada than in the US; at least I've rarely met anyone down here who's heard of it).
I had no idea that this was something that other, older people did for fun until I was in university and I discovered the first X-Files fanfic archives on the internet. But my first real fanfiction story was for Star Trek: Enterprise in 2001. After that I never looked back. :)
What drew you into fandom in the first place? The slash, basically. ;-> Initially I was just fascinated by the idea that fanfiction even existed, but after finding a lot of really, really bad het X-Files fanfic, I somehow stumbled into Star Trek: Voyager Paris/Kim and Chakotay/Paris slash. Most of those stories were really, really bad too, actually, but I was much more interested in an OOC Ensign Kim performing black magic to get into Lieutenant Paris' uniform pants than an OOC Skully swooning over an even more OOC Mulder dressing as a punk for Hallowe'en with an earring, leather jacket, and really, really tight jeans.
By the time Enterprise came on the air I was such a slash fan that I think I was searching for slash archives with my sister the same week that the pilot ep came out. The number of slashers in the fandom was--and always remained--quite small, but they were so sweet and enthusiastic and welcoming that I was more than happy to jump in with both feet. Later, when ENT started to suck and I moved over to SGA, I was really lucky in that most of the ENT fandom moved as well. I still know some SGA writers from my ENT days!
Best thing about SGA fandom: go! The unbelievable creativity. I think the premise of SGA is special because Atlantis is literally so far out there than nothing seems impossible, but what the fans have done with that is still awe-inspiring. What I also love is how communal so much of this creativity has become. That's hard to explain, but it encompasses all the remixes, title pages, videos, illustrations, sequels, homages, meta discussions, ersatz archeological finds, communities, commentfics and probably other things I've forgotten to mention that different writers and artists do and have done because they were inspired by any given work. I've seen communal AUs, fic competitions and challenges and archives in other fandoms, but nothing ever like what I've seen in SGA. It's amazing and I love it.
Are you a fandom monogamist or do you participate in other fandoms? Which ones? I am a complete fandom monogamist. I've only ever participated in two fandoms, and only one at a time. I'm pretty sure I'll stay with SGA until the last archive crumbles to pixels decades from now.
Best thing about McKay/Sheppard: go! The small moments between them that so often made up for an unsatisfying whole in canon: The way Sheppard hollered 'McKay!' in "Hide and Seek"; the agony on McKay's face in "38 Minutes"; the iconic, 'So long, Rodney' line that launched a thousand stories and the, 'You and me--we're good, right?' that launched a thousand more. It's John's unshed tears at the idea of losing Rodney and how Rodney called for John when he couldn't remember anyone else. All the things that we fans were able to weave into a tapestry of fondness and affection and deep abiding respect and love in a relationship that canon all-too often soured or ignored. The best thing about McShep to me is what we saw even when it wasn't being officially shown to us.
Why did you decide to participate in McShep Match? Iinitially I hadn't been planning to, actually. Then back in March or April, lavvyan asked me very enthusiastically to sign up to join Team Work. (I'm one of the few whom kisa_hawklin didn't ask. (But you still like me, Kisa, right?) I wasn't sure if I'd have the time this year, but I told Lavvyan to go ahead and sign me up since I'd also be away and out of internet access when the signups were posted. Apparently the signups were over in five minutes, so I figured that'd be it for me for the year.
Then, out of the blue ribbon_purple asked me to co-write for Team Work with her. I was still somewhat ambivalent for the same time reasons, so I told her I'd help, though I didn't think that the mods would allow it. Then R_P said she'd already asked them and they'd said it was fine. :) So here I am.
And how did you choose Team Work? Team Work chose me. :)
Best thing about your contribution to this year's Match: go! (Remember to keep your answer vague, please!) That ribbon_purple baked me cookies! (Oh, you mean the story.) Hm. That R_P and I were able to come up with something cool that fits our prompt in two different ways.
Where can interested readers/viewers find more of your work? Oh, jeeze. Mostly at The Wraithbait Archive. The bio information included in the link lists my co-written stories at the archive, as well as the ones I've written as taste_is_sweet. You can also find my fic at the john_farr and jaffa_for_hire communities. There's also the leahwoof LJ that I share with springwoof that has most of my recent stories as well, if you'd rather read them in LJ format.
I keep forgetting to archive the 2009 SGA Big Bang story 'Stricken' that I wrote with my sister Squeaky, but at least it's up at the official BB archive. I think that's everything I have floating around.
In case anyone is interested, my Star Trek: Enterprise stories can be found here.
A word to our sponsors? Thank you guys so much for keeping the Match alive, and for all your hard work and enthusiasm!