Friday, July 14, 2006

A Ramble from Archaeobard

I am very pleased that tonight's author chose to ramble for all of us. One can only hope it enlightens more of you to the incredible talent of not just this writer but all the Fingersmith Fever folks and the one and only Sarah Waters. Definitely worth everyone's time.
I've been asked by Elisa to write a few words about my writing and the Fingersmith fan fiction web site I am maintaining at the moment. I'm not entirely sure what a ramble involves, but I am assuming it is a brief authobiographical blurb and discussion of my current activities. That said, here I go:

My personal web site is located at: www.geocities.com/archaeobard/

The Fingersmith Fever website is located at: fingersmithfever.com/

I started writing fan fiction in late 1999 based on the Xena genre and soon discovered that my favourite characters were Janice and Mel. I think that's partially because I was an archaeologist at the time and liked the idea of Janice. Consequently some of my better Xena material is based on those characters. Alternatively I look at what I wrote back then and physically cringe although some things such as the unfinished Bodice Ripper Series make me laugh. I sincerely hope my writing style has improved. I also wrote an article published in Whoosh! on sexual cliche in Xena fan fiction of which I am sort of proud (www.whoosh.org/issue56/davis3.html).

Since my Xena days I have dabbled in a variety of other genres. I've done some fan fiction and poetry for Bad Girls, which I enjoyed writing. I think I actually stayed up all night once watching the entire third season of the show on DVD. Sorry, I like a Scottish accent. Sometimes I can be a little sad.

I've written one Battlestar Galactica (new series) story but wish I could be inspired to write more. I love the female Starbuck character and hope she will talk to me more than just once. Obviously I didn't impress her very much.

I've been stuck for about three years 50K words into an original novel based on Celtic folklore called The Dark Huntress, although the writing is atrocious. I had someone edit it and they ripped it to shreds, which is a good thing. I may improve if I can ever pluck up the courage to start writing it again.

My most current inspiration comes from the Sarah Waters novel Fingersmith. I was first introduced to Sarah Waters when I saw the BBC TV adaptation of Tipping the Velvet. I loved it and went out and bought the book. I loved the book. I even ordered books from Amazon about Vesta Tilley (a male impersonator of the times) and then sought to get my hands on anything ever written by Sarah Waters. She has such a wonderful, warm style of writing. I then went backwards and read Affinity.

I actually forget when I bought my copy of Fingersmith, but it must have been soon after reading Affinity. My copy of Fingersmith cost me seventy-five pence, can you believe it? Someone actually gave this book to my local charity shop (I hunt there for books all the time, comes from having been a student I think). I devoured it in a single day and eagerly awaited the broadcast on the BBC. A friend taped it and lent it to me as I was busy at the time. At first I was not so impressed but it grew on me. Not being satisfied, I bought the DVD when it came out. Still not satisfied, I started hunting about the net for Fingersmith fan fiction. I couldn't find any. I found a vague reference to a single story from an interview with Sarah Waters but could not locate the story. Frustrated, I did a search on yahoogroups and found a Fingersmith group. I joined it on the 15th of March 2006. This is the start for me of Fingersmith Fever.

Having written material in the past for other genres I started putting pen to paper for Fingersmith. I posted some poems and a short story. Lo and behold, other people started posting their musings as well. I thought this was fantastic. People who had never written anything before in their lives were coming out with the most beautiful words based on Fingersmith. Personally I am floored by Ruby and Elizabeth. Basically anything that helps people express themselves is a winner.

After a month it was decided that enough people were producing material that we should start a web site and Fingersmith Fever was born in April 2006. It seems we have grown from there. We are still babes at the moment with only 8 fan fic authors, 6 poets, 3 artists, 3 music vid makers and a couple of people working on articles for the site that are yet to be published. However in time I hope we will grow. If that is the case I shall buy a domain name...a first for me. I am excited by this new web site and have high hopes for it. I am very proud of the people who have come forward to offer their ideas and inspirations and have the guts to have them published to the web.

Although the Fingersmith fandom might be quite small and selective it is certainly out there. I think that in this novel, Sarah Waters has appealed to us. She has introduced a very real set of emotions. The period in which the novel was written is not that far removed from us in time. The house I live in was built in 1890 and still has the outhouse outside although I use it as a garden shed at the moment. The loo makes a good shelf. Sometimes I turn off all the lights in the living room, draw the curtains, and cover the TV with a throw and light candles. I block out all the sound from outside and pretend I have travelled back in time. Then I cast my mind to Briar and Sue and Maud start talking to me....

Archaeobard


My advice is check out the Fingersmith Fever site. While you're there thank all of them including Archaeobard for sharing her words and talent with us. I read some of the stories yesterday at lunch and I can say these writers have captured a true piece of the splendor of Fingersmith.

Now off to your updates and enjoy.

Elisa

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