Why we picked her:
Te has some nice rants of her own on her site, and she mailed us and offered herself up for criticism, which around here we consider to be just unbelievably cool. She has also written X-Files, in addition to - *deep breath* - Once A Thief, Sports Night, Due South, Hard Core Logo, Island of Dr Moreau, Virtuosity, Oz, The Usual Suspects, The Lost Boys, Diablo, Angel, The Long Goodbye, crossovers, X-Men, Alpha Flight, Third Watch, etc. Her web site has fuzzy yellow flowers and is located at strangeplaces.net/te. It also houses a funky Lost Boys archive.

I know everyone hates this question, but how do you get inspired? What would you recommend for people who have trouble finding story ideas?

Impractical answer: Inspiration is everywhere, absolutely everywhere. In the strangely cold expression in an old man's eyes while you wait at the post office, in that particularly odd shade of orange-purple that describes the New Jersey night sky. You just have to open yourself up to everything and *look*. And then hyperanalyze like your annoying Aunt Sister when she's getting especially nosy.

Practical answer: The people I spend the most time with, their assorted quirks and weirdnesses. My dreams. Egregiously bad fiction with the occasional nugget of a good idea. Music. Pictures of naked people.

When you're reading, are there any aspects that can make or break a fic for you? What impresses you and what turns you off?

Hmmmm... It's so easy to list off a bunch of things that can make me stop reading, wash my eyes out, and mock the writer with joyous abandon, but a lot harder to try and come up with tangible things that make a story great.

One thing that always appeals to me is when a writer takes the characters in startling directions -- *and* backs it up with enough information and analysis to make the new direction make *sense*. To be able to do that without an embarrassing info-dump in the author's notes... now that's good stuff.

Also, all kinds of people experiment with style, but some people do that experimenting *with* style. That is to say, no one's going to call you the new Chip Delaney if the readers have no fucking clue what you're talking about. A good writer can toss most of the rules of grammar out with the trash and make something beautiful and new. A bad writer can do the same tossing and make something incoherent and migraine inducing.

What else, what else... a good writer is *not* afraid of using the characters' names. The Spike taught me that way back when I was just another XF slasher, and it stuck with me. No one is going to beat you if you use Xander's name more than once in a given paragraph. Please, anything but "the smaller man," "the younger man," "the youth," "the teen," "the sorrowful teen," "the weeping, sobbing, suicidal-to-the-point-of-accidental-comedy teen," etc., etc.

Other ominous signs that will, more often than not, make me delete a story unread:

1) "NSync's latest single really expresses how I feel about Spike's character."

2) "Unbeta'd! Tee-hee!"

3) "[Insert character name] sucks, so in my universe everyone hates him/her."

That last is one of my biggest fannish hatreds right there. In my opinion, if you can't at least *respect* a character, you have no business writing him/her. I can't count the number of stories I've read in various fandoms in which the author's rabid hatred for Character X is expressed in every possible, improbable way. From said character proving to be the force of all evil in the universe, to having said character's friends and loved ones suddenly turn on him/her -- *with no explanation of why*.

I *hate* that, and it's all over Buffy fandom. There've been any number of public, heated... discussions over the preponderance of hatefic. Me, I just don't get it. It's invariably characterized in a way that suggests the writer is watching a wholly different show, and it strikes me as a profound waste of time.

I don't know, maybe this is just how other people handle anger management.

What do you struggle with when you sit down to write, and how do you overcome it?

My biggest problem is sitting down with a single story and sticking with it. My attention span is about the same size as Calista Flockhart's waistline. I rapidly become bored if the story can't be finished in a few hours, unless I have a co-author to sit on me until the story gets done, or an audience to do the same.

It's kind of horrifying, actually, how little writing I do by myself these days.

Do you ever get "blocked?" How do you deal with it? Any idea what causes it?

Well, sense my blocks tend to come after highly prolific periods, I always assume that the story-well is empty. I just... run out of words after a while, whether I've been writing fiction, essays, or thoughtful-as-I-can-make-them responses to mailing list discussion.

I deal with blocks by pissing and moaning like a little bitch, then detach from fandom for a while. Maybe actually go outside. Read books. Watch television until I remember that I really, really hate television. Play with the dog. Have ungodly amounts of sex. In short, I go out and live my life. Stare at the world, take it in.

Fill the well.

And then again, sometimes I just ask friends to give me random challenges until something breaks.

What are some common mistakes that you see new writers make in your fandom?

Other than things their 8th grade English teachers really ought to have beat out of them?

Well, the biggest mistake I see newbies make is to underestimate the importance of a beta reader. I mean, I feel like kind of a hypocrite, since I mostly edit my own work these days, but Lord knows I *miss* things. All the damned time. Beta readers are good and good for you, if only to catch those embarrassing typos we *all* make.

I'm trying to think of things specific to Buffy fandom, but I think most of this stuff can be applied to all sorts of fandoms. Like:

1) Writing to the lowest common denominator. Sure, we all want to be popular, but if you also want to be a *good* writer, don't just emulate any old prolific poster -- go to the people who are genuinely your favorite *writers*, pro or fan, and study how they string words together. You might not get as much feedback, but I guarantee it'll be from cooler people.

2) Not taking the time to actually watch the episodes of the show, instead relying on fanon to inform your view of the characters. God, this happens all the time, until one popularly horriffic Spike characterization turned into archives chock full of craptacular Spike/Xander fiction. *Watch* the show, people. Not every fannish writer actually pays attention when and if *they* watch.

3) Yowling at people who send constructive criticism. If you don't want an honest response to your work, say so in the notes. Lots of cowards do. Oh, that was mean. Damn.

4) Smart-quotes. Okay, so that's pretty shallow, but I swear to God, they drive me fucking *batshit*. Turn. Smart-quotes. Off. Don't know how? Ask. Please. I'm begging you.

How do you select what to read and what to feedback? Do you mainly read stories written by your friends or do you branch out a bit?

I read pretty voraciously. I'm on a frightening number of mailing lists, and if it doesn't look too egregious, chances are I'll read it. I send feedback every time I like a story. Period, the end. I know how *I* feel about feedback, and I hope to get what I give. If I don't like a story, but I feel the writer has potential, I'll send constructive critcism.

I also regularly hunt down other people's recs pages and scan for new stuff. God, if you're out there, and you're reading cool fic, and you're thinking of starting a recs page, *do* so. And let me know where I can find it. I swear, sometimes I *live* for a recs page update, fandom notwithstanding.

What common mistakes do you see in your fandom in terms of characterisation?

1) Spike as Fluffy Bunny Head. Didn't you know? Spike, that Slayer-killing, soulless demon is, actually, only misunderstood. He cries at the drop of a hat, *loves* Xander, hates Buffy, has a soft spot for witches, and only wants to be wuvved. *yark*

2) Buffy as psycho evil bitch goddess.

3) Willow as psycho evil bitch goddess.

4) Any female character who is not actually Drusilla, as psycho evil bitch goddess.

5) Xander as self-injuring, weepy, cringing, helpless boyling. DAWWWW... isn't he *sweet*? And dammit, I've done this. And I'm *sorry*, okay?

What advice would you give someone who is just entering the fandom?

Watch the show. Watch the goddamned show, dammit. It's a *good* show. That's why *we* watch it. Watch the show, learn the characters, check out my and others' rec pages for the readable fic. Figure out why we think these writers are so good. Ask if you have to. Please.

How would you summarize the state of writing in your fandom? Are you generally impressed with the fic you see, or does it make you want to bang your head against the wall?

Well, I'm hoping it's just summer slump, but fic has been pretty painful just lately. However, there are lots of good writers out there. The Spike, Debchan, Jane St Clair, Jessica Harris, Laura Shapiro, Cody Nelson, Elizabeth, Sarah T., Spyke Raven, Kita, Samantha, Sheila Perez, Shrift... I could go on, but you get the picture. I'm assuming that, like me, they're working on longer works in the luxury that is knowing we won't be Jossed in a matter of days.

Any other pet peeves/advice/general thoughts?

Hmmm... I think a lot of the older fans -- that is, fans who have been around for a few years -- are a little superstitious about writing fan fiction for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I mean, they're used to spending all of their fan-writing time fixing the assorted mistakes and inconsistencies of *crappy* shows.

Personally, I think there's a lot to say in Buffy that'll never get onscreen for one reason or another, and I'd love to see some of the older, experienced writers tackle things.

Besides when the show's creator says something like "...all the relationships on the show are romantic, hence the BYO subtext principle," I think it's pretty much our *duty* to get our grubby little paws all *over* the characters.

As for other pet peeves, feel free to check out my blog, where I rant on a fairly regular basis. *g*

Oh, yeah -- send *feedback*. I don't care if it's for a story I wrote three years ago in a drunken stupor, I still wanna know what you thought. And I do apologize for my crap. *g*

Te's recs: