<Host1> Now's the time to open it up to the guys...any questions folks have for them...

<Host1> so far, we have no questions DCC'd from the audience, so how about, to start...

<Host1> And we'll have wach answer these in turn...

* SpookyBear playing echo

<Guest5> I've got to go cook dinner, have a great talk time

<Host1> Riticulan...what made you start writing? And why fanfic? And why XF slash? And why M/K? <g>

<Host1> NEW TOPIC there -- okay, Mik?

<Riticulan> Me..It's a funny genesis about theis slash thing. I was looking at the internet one night and saw a scholarly disertation of slash. I said this looks cool, but was slightly off put by the written by and for females, but that is another story.

<Riticulan> First one I read was m/sk and I was hooked from the beginning of it. It was so different from the ther stories I was reading.

<Host1> How was it different, Rit?

<Host1> different from other slash fandoms?

<Riticulan> No, not different from other fandoms but differebnt from the other stories I was reading on the net. I wasn't into fandoms at the time.

<Riticulan> I loved the way the authors treated the characters...you could see they had such an investment in them.

<Riticulan> Why I write Krycek? Well I met Mr Lea before his X files days. What a looker....

<Riticulan> And how coul I resist his character....the heart of a devil, but the face of an angel.

<Host4> Ohh! I like that description of his character! :-)

<Riticulan> I'm sorry to say this...I might get pounced on...but all the other characters on the "Files" are quite predictable in what they will do or say.

<Riticulan> But not Alex, he's such a loose cannon. You never know what he will do next. I think that is why he fascinates me.

<Host2> looks rude, but was necessary <grins>

<Guest6> i want to hear the 'i met mr lea before' story

<Riticulan> On a train going to Vancouver. Sat next to me. Boy, was he shy! I couldn't believe it when he said he wanted to be an actor. Funny thing is I didn't recognize him the first time I saw him on the show.

<Riticulan> But I have tried to write other fandoms...Due South...but the characters were dead on the page. So I dropped it.

* Guest2 is utterly green with envy of Rit's experience

* Riticulan passes torch to mik

<Host1> okay, thanks, Rit - SpookyBear, how about you? How'd you get into this smut world?

<SpookyBear> I got the first piece of slash e-mailed to me after I mentioned a wet dream I had with Skinner in it to my next door neighbor.

<SpookyBear> He sent me the URLs to several slash pages - i immediately got hooked

* Guest2 spits apple cider all over the keyboard. "Er, scuse me."

* Host1 gets out a leg chain for the Surly Sailor Man <g>

<Host1> LOL, Mik!

<SpookyBear> sorry Tpaz - but I had a VERY vivid dream iwth Skinner in it one night - made me weak in the knees }:]

<SpookyBear> i had to tell somebody!

<Guest2> It's not the dream, Spooky..it's the idea of casually chatting about it over the garden fence, so to speak :D

<SpookyBear> I live in Seattle's "gay ghetto" its not that unusual to talk about stuff liek this

<SpookyBear> anyway - once i read it, i knew i had to write it

<Guest7> Care to tell us about that dream?:-)

<SpookyBear> I've been a writer for some time but never really had anything capture me like this

<Guest2> I suppose you can't turn the dream into a story without it being a Mary Sue.

<SpookyBear> you wanna hear the dream?

<SpookyBear> well i turned a lot of it into a story - the sex part at least

<Guest7> Yes... after all, it was the "igniting spark" to the goodies we can read now!

<Guest7> Which story would that be?

<SpookyBear> the dream was about being pushed against the wall by Skinner and then stripped down and royally screwed

* Host1 faints

<SpookyBear> It appeared in my first story "I want to believe" part one

* Guest7 leans over desk, listening intently;-)

* SpookyBear hands smelling salts to Host1

<SpookyBear> it involved a very large plug , a lot of lube and those sultry deep brown eyes staring into mine

* Host1 revives a bit, sniffing the salts

<SpookyBear> I get all woozy over large bald men anyways

<SpookyBear> well, i woke up all sticky and hot and devoted to watching as much of the X-files as I could from then on

<Guest7> Spooky, do you identify with Mulder in your stories - if this is a dumb question, I must apaologize... my reading time is very limited, and I am not sure if I ever read one of yours.

<SpookyBear> Yes, i idnetify with Mulder so much its scary - except for the looks, and the job of course, I'm a lot like him

<Guest2> What a great question, Guest7..I'd like to know of all the authors if they identify with any of the characters. That's something that doesn't arise for female writers..well, not without a lot of mental gymnastics anyway :)

<Riticulan> Spooky Large bald men...glad to hear it <g>

<Guest4> Guest2, not completely

<Guest4> you could indentify with some of the tendencies a character has

<Host1> folks, sorry - we have two questions lined up to come after the "MOTIVATIONS" one is covered...

<SpookyBear> Skinner is such the epitome of leather daddy to me :)

* Guest7 smiles at Spooky

<Host2> SpookyBear... seems we have some things in common then... grins. bbm men have me going, too. And the ID part... except I don't write myself.

<SpookyBear> anyway - XF slash is the frist that i've really dove into and have complete a *lot* of stories

<Guest7> Guess I have to postpone some other planned readings...

<SpookyBear> hehe - most of my stories dont' have as much SM as I want in them yet. the new one I'm owrking on does

<Host2> keep me posted <grins to SpookyBear>

<SpookyBear> watch for it - called "Doppelganger" has bothe Sk and K in it

<Host2> Will do :)

<Host1> ready for a new question, guys?

<SpookyBear> yup

<Guest7> Do you see Krycek as a dom, too?

<Host1> NEXT QUESTION: Do you ever feel that as a guy you are an outsider in the slash world?

* Host1 grins

<Riticulan> Oh definately yes.

<Riticulan> It was brought home to me on the slashkink list one time...a lady wrote in and said that she was quite

<Riticulan> offended my men stealing their forum.

<Guest2> Ugh! That's horrible!!

<Riticulan> She was really annoyed by the whole thing.

<Guest2> I can't understand that at all.

<Guest7> What a bullshit that is!!!

<Guest2> Rit, I hope very much that things like that are isolated occurrences..

<Host4> I can't believe that. Diversity is the salt of life, even in slash world

<Host2> Oh really?? True enough it started out to be a female domain but don't we all have our fantasies and want them written in bytes and publish... those who muster the ability of writing?

<Guest7> So women are allowed to fantasize and write about gay or bi guys, but men themselves not ::roars with laughter:::

<Guest2> I don't know any female slash fans with that attitude about male writers.

<Host1> wow, I can't believe someone would say that in slash...that men shouldn't write. Jeez!

<Guest7> Nor do I, fortunately:-)

<Riticulan> She wasn't generally supported on the list. But still I think she was putting a voice to a lot of unspoken opinion. But it didn't deter me any.

<Guest1> I remember that discussion, like we were invaders or something

<Host1> there's always someone out there

<SpookyBear> I've had one or two negative instances too

<Riticulan> Yea, thta's the one.

<Host4> I am very glad you are still with us, Rit

<Host1> Think maybe she didn't like the competition?

* Host4 hugs Rit

<Guest2> I feel just the opposite. It's extremely valuable to have input from a male pov, imho. Wow..

<Host2> That's cool, Guest2.

<Guest2> A thought just struck me, however

<Riticulan> IT would take more than that to get rid of me <g>

<Host2> I do value that alot, writer you can actually deal with constructivefeedback

<Guest6> heavens knows, I've asked an impertinant question or two and been grateful for the answers the guys provided

<Riticulan> Yes I rould think the same thing, too, Guest2. I wouldn't want to be reading novels by only male authors, for example.

<Guest2> Maybe female writers (some) feel THREATENED by the presence of males, because they expect the men to recognize where women get things 'wrong' and maybe point it out in a critical way, and they feel more comfortable among just other 'ignorant' females?

<Host2> sorry my topyse - typoes

* Guest2 hopes that made sense.

<Host1> yes, taking feedback well is so important, IMO

<Guest7> ::nods at Guest2::: we had some very fruitful discussions oin here, about male POV... hehe, and the Ladies promised more ball game:-)

<Host1> oh, yeah, they did..

<Host2> LOL

<Host1> and more rimming

* SpookyBear ears perk up

* Guest4 whispers to Guest2 : not me, everything I can learn to make a story accurate, I'll take it

<Guest2> that's the only thing I can imagine that was maybe in this woman's head..that she was happy writing slash her way and didn't want 'real' gay men showing up and snorting at her. Just a guess.

<Host2> New Question Alert:

<Host2> Question for our male authors: Why are you hooked by gay lit ie slash? Because youa re gay, bi or simply because you can relate very well.... and see the gay poptential in our fave TV men??

<Guest2> Ooh, that's a good one.

<Host1> so, let's have SpookyBear start us off...he needs to leave in 1/2 hour

<Host2> I'm afraid.

<Host1> Rit, are you ready to tackle that one?

<Riticulan> I think I would like to answer Mulder's question. It is a joy for me to read stories where two men can relate to each other in a loving, caring way; as oppoesed to the other gay literature on the net which is just sex, sex, sex,

<Riticulan> The authors of slash can invent a whole universe for these men to inhabit. Sure we must raise our hats to CC in thank you for inventing them in the first place. But it is the slashketeers that are donig all the hard word.

<Host1> glad to have you back from the netherworld!

<SpookyBear> I'm gay - plus Mulder just screams gay to me

<SpookyBear> or at least bi

<Riticulan> I alwaays thought Mulder was gay, from the very first ep.

<SpookyBear> me too Rit

<Host2> Hear Hear :))) <broad smile to SpookyBear and Rit>

<SpookyBear> then when they introduced Krycek - i thought - WOW gay FBI partners

<Riticulan> And when, in that ep, about killer bugs in the forest, he refered to the lumberjacks as "manly men" what was I to think? <g>

<Guest1> When you grow up gay in this culture you'll latch on to *any* hint of gayness in a character or situation

<SpookyBear> true Guest1

<Guest7> Saw that too... not gay perhaps for Mulder, but definitely bi.

* Guest2 is LOLing at Rit

<Riticulan> I think his quote was actually "big, manly men" wasn't it?

<Guest7> Guest1, in this culture as well (I'm from Germany). Things are a lot better on #TV over here, though.

<Host2> There's so much subtle gay statement in his behaviour... of course we're talking US TV still, but gaydar works overtime in certain episodes, imo

<SpookyBear> he makes sooooo many gayish comments

<SpookyBear> agreed

<Riticulan> Of course, I'm Canadian....things are a little more fee up here as well.

<Guest2> If it's not too personal a question, are all the male authors either gay or bi? I'm trying to find out if any 100% straight men are into m/m slash.

<SpookyBear> in Vancouver? yup that they are

<Riticulan> And Krycek. Why does he keep coming back for all that abuse.

<Guest7> It's there, definitely.... if it were not, you guys would not have wriiten all those stories, I think:-)

<Host1> NEW QUESTION: do you think men do know more about m/m sex than slashing females?

<SpookyBear> well, IMHO - if you've never done it, someone who has will know better than you but that doesn't mean you can't write about it

<Riticulan> Well I for one have seen a few things in slash that I have not thought of before.

<SpookyBear> me too Rit - read about them and then tried them

<Riticulan> That's what I love about slash - all the inventive imiginations.

<Host2> inspiration to boldly go new places then.

<Riticulan> I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flatery.

<SpookyBear> I've had a few women ask me how they could describe it better and i told them to watch videos and/or try anal sex themselves

<Guest7> YEP... the stories create both, for me... new aspects of character I might turn into role-play, new ideas for fun and games:-)

<Host2> Especially the latter... everyone can experiment there and come to new conclusions... ;)

<Riticulan> Just one thing in particular I learned from slash - something near and dear to Host1's heart - the sucking of fingers...never occured to me, but after-slash, I think it is hot, hot, hot.

<Guest7> One writer I know has started to go to "certain rooms", to gain experience and use it for writing:-) I think that's a great idea to approach "the honing of writing skills"!

<SpookyBear> hmmmmm, making me squirm just thinking about it

<SpookyBear> thats a good thing to do

<Guest8> I just wonderd who has more information at hand concerning the details of m/m slash.. male or female writers

* SpookyBear admits to using cybersex to hone writing skills himself

* Guest8 grins

<Guest7> LOL... I don't write, but I like to hone skils now and then, too:-)

<SpookyBear> LOL - well sir, hone away!

<Riticulan> Hey, Skinner, practice makes perfect. <g>

<Host2> Yeah Walt... <big grin>

* Host1 agrees, cyber/simming is great practice!

<Host1> plus, a lot of fun ;^)

<Host2> ditto that :)

<Guest7> Ah, those rulers.....

* SpookyBear 's stipes have faded - needs more

<SpookyBear> stripes!

* Host2 perks up - reconsiders and clears throat... where were we??

<Host1> ready for something new, fellas?

<SpookyBear> in the gutter again

* Host2 smirks

<Host1> NEW QUESTION: What would you consider the worst mistake a slash author could make in writing?

<Guest7> Well, let's see... ::opens drawer and eyes them fondly::: there's two light and bendable plastic ones, the solid wood, the one with the little calculator which always sends the batteries flying... and the King of Rulers... nice cold metal:-))

* Guest8 blurts out: 3 hands and the butt in the front

<Host1> lol!!!

* SpookyBear wants metal!

<Host2> lol Guest8, lol Walter.

* Host1 ROFLMBO

<Host2> SpookyBear... that one's gonna sting big time....

<Guest7> Oh yes, it does... and I will be ever so grateful to Host1 for this marvellous and useful present!!!

* Host1 grins

<SpookyBear> worst mistake IMHO, is not using the character as developed by the show - if you want the character to be so different, then don't call them the same name <Host1> you're quite welcome, Sir...use it wisely!

* Host2 turns slightly scarlet

* Host1 eyes the King of Rulers

* SpookyBear bows humbly for the King of Rulers

<Host2> Hey, worst mistake... Mary!Sue writing imo...

* Guest7 slowly pulls mind out of gutter - then shuts drawer with a hint of a smile

<SpookyBear> other mistakes are thinking that guys never go soft.....boy oh boy would I liek some of the stamina that the guys have in some stories

<Guest8> vbut are these problems that are typical for male writers? <Guest8 ducks>

<Riticulan> Yea, sp00ky, I think someone should write a story where Skinner can't get it up for once. REalism, there.

* Guest2 splorts cider again at Rit...classic

<SpookyBear> waht do you think about that sir? having a little problem??

<Guest2> oh god..Spooky, stop...

<SpookyBear> lol

<Host1> VERY RELATED NEW QUESTION: What do you think of other male slash authors who distort the characters?

<Guest7> YES... 3 biiiig Os in half an hour!! ::listening to Richard Chamberlain sighing

"Dream, Dream, Dream.....":::

<SpookyBear> ticks me off - i can think of one author in particular but won't state names

<Host2> Amazing, right? We also never here about small equipment, crooked and funny looking tools... Reminds me of all those hunks in certain mags.

<Guest7> Rit, there is one very realistic writer... of the few I did read up to now: MJ, in her Pencil series.

<SpookyBear> we aren't all Tom of Finland drawings

<Host2> LOL

<Riticulan> Or wish wer were.

<SpookyBear> true

<Host2> Tom's good example, nor Billy or Carlo lookalikes ;)

<SpookyBear> I want a Skinner doll hung and dressed like Billy or Carlos in leather though

<SpookyBear> I'd pay good money for it

<Guest6> don't we all

<Host2> Realistic writing... do you guys pinpoint details like un/cut for example in your stories, does any slash writer do that at all?

* Host1 thinks, unfortunately, this will have to be our last question 8^(

<SpookyBear> I've seen several stories with details liek that in it

<Riticulan> I did in my first story,

<Host1> sorry for any audience members who will have to wait for our next corralling of the boys!

<Guest7> I want a Mulder doll in full gear!

<SpookyBear> I've always written Mulder as cut. personal preferences sneak in

<Riticulan> Rather sarcastically I had Mulder say to Alex, "I see your arm was the only thing you had cut off". What a bad boy I was.

<SpookyBear> LOL rit

* Host2 would like to give more male slashers the opportunity to speak up here again.

<Guest2> Thanks for coming Spooky

* Host2 grins...

<Riticulan> I was just happy to find out that there were some....

<Host1> yes, absolutely!

<Host2> Sorry ;)

<Riticulan> Male writes I mean.

<Host4> It was great to have you over Spooky. Thank you.

<Riticulan> Bye So00ky

<Host1> we need to have another one of these soon, I think.

<Host2> Thank you Spooky :)))

<Host2> Yeppers, Host1.