I thought it might be interesting to interview a few well-known authors, so that we could find out some intriguing facts about them!

If you would like a particular person interviewed, please PM me (don't post it on the thread) and give a good reason (as well as a few questions) why they should be interviewed

First up, an interview with probably the best-known and loved author on the fanfic boards. She is the master of Obi-torture, the inventor of An-Paj...she is...

JANE JINN!

 

Jane, could you give us a bit of background information on yourself?

I grew up in Salt Lake City, the 4th of 5 kids, and my biggest ambition was to work at the public library. Although I applied at least once when I was 12, I had to wait until I was 16 to get hired. Ah, the joys of being surrounded by books! I came to Germany for the first time when I was eighteen, right after graduating from high school. That was only for four weeks, but it was long enough to convince me that I had to come back, so I did, almost two years later. In the meantime, I worked hard at the library to earn the necessary money, and attended the University of Utah with vague ideas of majoring in History, English, or German, or maybe all three. But Germany was always in the back of my mind, and the ?semester abroad? turned into 16 years.

When did you first become interested in writing?

Oh, probably when I was about ten, though I?ve always been interested in stories. I learned to read before I was five and could never get enough. I?ve also ?created? stories all my life; talking them out to myself in the privacy of my bedroom, moving my action figures around to give my fingers something to do (my keyboard has since replaced those action figures)

When did you first find out about the JC?

In January, 2000. I had already seen TPM and had even started writing a fan fic in the autumn of 1999. A tiny article in the German news magazine Focus about SW on the web caught my eye. A link from another website led to me TFN, but it wasn?t until January that I accidentally hit ?boards? instead of ?editorials? with my mouse, and saw the words ?Fan Fiction?.

What drew you to Star Wars?

Even by the age of eleven, when the original film came out, I?d always been a fan of science fiction and wanted to see any movie I could that took place in outer space. My older brother had already seen it, and wanted to take the entire family, and I was not about to say no. I was really excited. I went to see it several times that summer, and after it left the theaters, I used to wish I could go back in time and see it again (this was before video.) I was a fan of Luke Skywalker in those days, but when ESB came out, my heart was caught by dashing Han Solo. I remember getting impatient during the final sequence of ROTJ. There?d be a scene with Han Solo *yes!* and then *groan* the action would switch back to Luke, Vader, and the Emperor.

What inspires you to write?

When I first started, it was the desire to insert myself into my favourite television shows and become part of the action, to interact with my favourite characters. In my teen years, I also wrote original fiction to help me deal with a lot of the things I was feeling at the time. Now it?s become a pleasant habit, a way of expressing my creativity.

What contribution do you think you've made to the boards?

A few well-written, completed stories? Obi-Torture was there before I was, but I think I helped make it a recognized genre. I hope I?ve boosted a few authors? egos by giving out good comments on stories, not just one word like ?great? or ?more? or even ?up?, but by pointing out things that were really well done or that I particularly liked, so as to make the author feel good about him/herself.

An-Paj is probably the most popular healer of all time in the fanfic world. Where did you come up for the idea for him?

Oh, I was working on a round robin at the time and needed a healer in a minor role. At first, he was nothing more than a name and a few bits of dialogue. A few posts later, I needed an explanation as to why he wasn?t getting sick when everybody else on board the shuttle was, so he became non-human. Not being terribly creative with other species, I based him on a picture of an Andorrian that I saw once in a Star Trek book; blue skin, white hair, antennae. He just evolved after that and he?s still evolving.

Do you have any plans on writing an exclusive story for An-Paj and his family?

Concrete plans for

 

Good idea having a thread like this on the boards, Kit'.

Jane, since you first posted on my very first story here I've been of the opinion that you write good responses, and it's impressive the number of stories you manage to keep up with!

 

Wow, this is a great idea and insightful too!
More please!

 

The next interview shall be with HaiGan and will probably be posted in a couple of days time.

Kithera

 

Thanks, Hai Gan. Sadly, I can only keep up with a few these days, Darth Real Life and all that. But I still strive for quality.

Oh, and I just wanted to announce this:

No, no, no, no, I don't torture no more
Obi's tired of waking up on the floor

Bad poetry, I know, but after having considered this for at least eight months, I've come to the conclusion that my Obi-Torture days are definitely over, and have been for quite a while. Apologies to anybody who might feel betrayed because of this, but I want to grow as a writer and improve my craft, which involves leaving the confines of a a very narrow genre. I'm now striving, among other things, to improve my characterizations, and create plots that don't revolve around torture scenes.

Edit: I'm looking forward to all the other interviews! I think this is a great idea to get to know my fellow authors!

 

May I make a request?

Could you interview Amidala_Skywalker, please?

 

I like this!

 

*Starts making a list of all the other authors I'd like to be nosey about, to PM to Kit'*

 

Oooh, this is an intriguing idea.

*waves at Jane Jinn* You encouraged me when I was a newbie! Thanks!

 

interview Val solo or Sarah_Kenoibi!

This is a cool idea!

 

Great to see that people are excited about this!

But please, just PM them to me. Don't post them up on the thread because I really don't want this to turn into a popularity contest. Also, I need to get those questions to help get me started!

Kit

 

Wild applause and a bag of bunny Qwik-Gro for Jane!

And HaiGan is a good choice... if you can get her to sit still long enough.

I also suggest Jedi_Galadriel. Let's see, who else do I want to know about...?

 

I have a suggestion....Casper Knightshade.

 

I'll unfortuntately be away until Sunday (australia time), if you'd like someone to be interviewed. Please PM me...

Hugs
Kithera

 

Great idea, Kit!

 

Hey, good idea, Kit!

I just want to give a big huggles to Jane Jinn. She helped me out when I was a newbie in Ty-Gon Jinn's round robin "I'm starting a JA run-on..."

Muchas gracias, chica!

 

Not too bad of an idea here.

Nah, Sara, they won't interview me. They never will. Why would they anyway? I can't be that interesting; 10 loyal posters and 42 Loyal Lurkers get enough of me everyday.

 

[cue exciting music]

NOW THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BE WAITING FOR....

She's only been on the boards for two years, but in that time her characters, plot line and beautiful writing style have lured both readers and writers alike. She is the master of Angst and Buffy crossovers. The inventor of Barin Truthfinder and Thom Capella. Yes that's right it's.........

[pauses for breath]

!!!!!HAIGAN!!!!!


***

Okay, first maybe you could give us some background information on yourself, such as where you grew up...embarrassing stories would be much appreciated.

You want me to talk about myself? I'm trying to give it up, it gives other people a headache .

Born and bred in SE England, not all that far from London. Girls' grammar school education. I suppose I've managed to pack a lot into my life so far- I've worked part time since I was 14 as a swimming teacher and lifeguard, travelled a bit (Europe, Russia and the Middle East), been through both 6th form college and then design college (film, TV, theatre, radio, photography, scriptwriting, production, all that jazz), one unsuccessful marriage, one son (now nine), an engineering degree (aeronautics and astronautics), and more hobbies than I can reasonably list- mostly literary, musical, arty-farty and physical, although I seldom get along well with spherical objects unless it's hockey or pool.

All that education and I've ended up writing technical manuals for engineering equipment and driving a couple of servers and a LAN. I guess I'm some kind of mental squirrel, gathering informational nuts . My current obsessions (aside from Star Wars fan fiction) are role-playing games, Norman Living History, model railways and trying to re-learn the violin. I read when I can find five minutes- formerly Anne McCaffrey, recently Harry Potter, and generally Terry Pratchett and several flavours of detective fiction, SF and the better-written variety of thriller. I'd like to get back into Tae Kwon Do and backstage theatre work, both of which I was involved with at college and university, but time is always a limiting factor.

My embarrassing stories mostly involve my little sister, so I couldn't possibly tell any of them. Except the one about the time she shut my head in the car door, which probably explains a lot.


How did you find the Jedi Council boards, and why were you looking in the first place?

I can't actually remember. I might have found it via one of Jemmiah's stories posted at FanFiction.net, but I couldn't say for sure.


What made you decide to stay and contribute to the boards?

It felt like home.

I think I stayed because I found other authors with a similar mindset. I like the attitude of helpful encouragement and the emphasis on good writing style. The number of research, grammar and genre threads on the resource page is an indication that many authors are actively trying to improve their writing.


Have you always been a Star Wars fan, and when did the obsession start?

I haven't always been a fan. I'm a newbie compared to a lot of people on the boards. I can't point to any real starting-point either; fantasy and SF have been interests of mine for several years, ever since I discovered a book called 'Dragonflight' by Anne McCaffrey waaaay back at primary school (junior school, if you need a translation). I remember in 1984-ish there was a back-to-back screening of the original trilogy on television and I didn't manage to sit through them all- I went outside to jump around the garden instead! That's possibly the closest I can give to a starting-point. I finally rectified the situation about three years ago by renting the original three films from the local video library. It's been a steady relationship ever since.


Barin and Thom are some of the most flamboyant (in Thom's case anyway) characters, how on earth did you come up with them?

I didn't invent Thom, not consciously. I created Barin; Thom popped up and said 'hi, you need me'. He's been writing

 

Kit', your prelude flatters me far, far too much.

There are better writers out there than I. Go inteview them. In fact, I'll send you that list.

 

This is a great idea, Kit! (Not that you haven't heard that about fifteen million times now... )

It's really interesting to read how other authors got their starts into Star Wars and fan fiction. I think this will lead everyone to find new authors whose stories they haven't read yet.

Looking forward to the next great interview!

Mel

 

Very cool, HaiGan! It's really good for us new writers (I can't figure out the grammar in that sentence-- sorry) to see how the older and/or more experienced writers got started. Thanks!

 

This should be fun! Thanks for getting it started Kit'!

 

This is a great idea, Kit! It's been lots of fun reading about both Jane and HaiGan!