The Lost Seasons interview
1.
The traditional first questions: How did you get involved in watching Daria? How did you get into writing fanfiction? What
other fanfic writers were your inspirations?
I
was watching Daria from the
very beginning. I caught the first teaser commercial during the MTV Beavis
& Butt-Head "Butt
Bowl" at Superbowl halftime, in 1997. Believe it or not, I wasn't that
impressed initially with the first season. A couple of the later episodes
("Road Worrier", "Misery Chick") brought me back for Season
2, where "Arts and Crass" blew me away. It's still my favorite
episode of the entire series. By the time Season 2 ended, I was obsessed. The
weekend after "Write Where It Hurts" aired, I went out and bought the
Daria Diaries and the video
release of the first three episodes, plus the B&W pilot.
I
desperately wanted more, but there wasn't any! So I looked out on the web and
found the fan-fiction section of Rowena's "Planet Daria" site. This
was before Outpost even existed. There I discovered the Daria/Trent 'shipper
stories by Invisigoth Gypsy, and the early works of Peter Guerin and Michelle
Klein-Hass. I found them quite different in tone and content from the show, but
enjoyed reading them. Over the next couple of days I kept getting struck by
inspiration, thoughts of "Hey, this would make a good Daria episode!" I'd written three Beavis &
Butt-Head fanfics years ago in
college, and people had told me they were a lot like the show, so I wondered if
I could do the same with Daria. I found myself having to carry around a notepad
and pen to jot ideas down, even waking up in the middle of the night. I've
never had a TV obsession of that magnitude before, or since.
I
wrote "Lotto Nonsense" in three days, that's the fastest I've ever
finished a writing project. People liked it, I got several positive e-mails on
the day I posted. That encouraged me to write "To Helen Back" and
people liked that one too. Originally I'd planned to stop after two or three
stories, but the ideas just kept pouring in.
2.
If you still read it, what do you think about current trends in Daria fanfic writing? Where would you like to see Daria fanfiction go?
I'm
afraid I haven't read any Daria
fanfic since I stopped writing it. That's kind of a shame, since I'm sure
there's a lot of good stuff being written, but I just don't have the time for
it anymore. To be honest I'm astounded that people still read my own fics,
after all these years.
3.
Which of your Daria
fanfiction stories are your favorites? Which do you think was your best? What
developments in your continuum did you like best, and which ones do you wish
the show had adopted? Conversely, is there any story development that you wish
you had pursued, or any character you could have developed better?
I
would have to say my top three, in no particular order, were "Accept No
Substitutes", "Driven Wild", and "Fireworks". I really
like "Fireworks" because it's on-canon but also something the real
show never would have done. It was a lot of fun to create my own set of
characters from just a few seconds of "That Was Then" flashback. I
was always exceptionally pleased with the way that one turned out.
I
tried to keep my stories like the first and second seasons, where there wasn't
a lot of obvious continuity between episodes. I kept any Daria/Trent
developments low-key and tried to make the stories stand on their own, so
readers didn't have to read everything in order to understand and enjoy them.
Admittedly there were a few places where I sort of let that slide in favor of
dramatic effect, such as the parade two-parter. I tried to use a more dramatic
structure where the entire first episode is a flashback. But overall I'm happy
with how I balanced the attention given to each character. In retrospect it
might have been nice to bring some of the secondary cast to the forefront, such
as DiMartino, Mack, Barch, Upchuck, etc.
One
thing I really would have liked to see a bit more of in the show is Daria being
made fun of by her classmates. You can't be as big an outsider as she was, and
not have to deal with at least some of that. It's one of the few things about
the show that didn't ring true to life for me. So I tried to bring a little of
this into some stories, without making it the entire focus, and without making
the characters who did it "the bad guys". It's very easy to
completely villify, say, Sandi. So when I had her being mean to Daria I tried
to balance it out with other aspects of her character, to keep her human. In
"All Washed Up", for instance, I made her uncoordinated on
rollerblades, which gave her a sort of weakness in front of Quinn and company.
4.
Do you think your stories started particular trends in Daria fanfiction writing? Were there characters or
elements from your stories that other people used in their own fanfiction?
The
one that really comes to mind is stressed-out Jodie blowing up at Andrew
("No Picnic"). That was my clichˇ; I think I invented that one. 8-) A
lot of people made casual references to events from my fics in their own, for
awhile that was the thing to do, sneak in references to other people's work. I
believe I may have encouraged some authors to give canon storytelling a shot,
though I'm not going to name any names in case I'm totally wrong.
5.
How did your particular vision of Daria differ from the Daria of the series?
Did you have a dramatically different take on any particular character? If so,
expound on this.
I
tried really hard to write like I actually was writing the show. So aside from
having Daria have to put up with more blatantly jerkish behavior, I wouldn't
say it was substantially different. I do seem to have picked up on a number of
subtle traits that eventually worked their way into the real episodes. Stacy
standing up for herself, for instance, or the potential for Daria and Jane to
have a guy come between them.
Looking
back, I think I had Daria being slightly meaner to Quinn, and some of her
sarcasm lines got a little dark at times. One in particular sticks in my mind,
about wearing her jacket to cover up the needle marks on her arms... What was I
thinking there? Also I definitely had a tendency to overuse musical montages
for comic relief. That's probably the influence of "Quinn the Brain",
another of my favorites.
6.
How much of the entire Daria
TV series did you watch? What do you think about the changes wrought in the
characters over five seasons and two movies? Was there a particular episode or
scene you especially hated? What is your favorite season? Did any episode in
particular have a strong impact on your fanfiction?
I
watched everything, up to the very end. Overall I was pleased with the writers'
willingness to age the characters and let them mature a little, since that's
realistic. Quinn's growth was the most impressive, especially in Is It Fall
Yet? and my favorite, the end of
"Lucky Strike" where she finally tells Sandi that Daria is her
sister. It just confirmed what I and others had long suspected, that Quinn was
smart, and that her shallow and immature behavior was a phase she'd outgrow.
Unlike
a lot of people I didn't hate Tom, but I don't think I ever got fully
acclimated to his presence. He just sort of came out of nowhere, and the
producers decided, okay, he's going to be Jane's boyfriend and then Daria's,
and we were just expected to accept it without question. If he'd been around
since the beginning, just a nice guy in the background who worked his way into
their circle it might have come off better. It felt a little artificial, like
"How can we make sure we have enough episode stories?" "I know,
let's throw a guy into Daria and Jane's world!" Plus it's the sort of
thing you see on every other teen show. Lots of teenagers go through high
school without ever having a serious relationship, and I was hoping Daria would finally be the show that acknowledged this.
There was plenty of other fertile ground to fill 13 episodes, all the
fanfiction written around S2 - S3 is proof of that.
That
said, once they did decide that's how they were going, I was relatively pleased
with how they handled it. Jane's sudden paranoia and jealously over Tom could
have been explained a little better maybe. The infamous kiss was another thing
that came out of nowhere (I never felt the writing worked up to it properly)
but I was always very impressed that they had Daria confess what had happened
instead of having Jane find out elsewhere. And in the end, the show redeemed
itself by showing that Daria could get along just fine without Tom, something
we fans knew all along.
There
were only a few episodes I didn't care for. Some, like "The Daria
Hunter" and "Fair Enough", got better after repeat viewings. I
never really liked "The Lawndale File" because it felt like just an
excuse to throw out a bunch of X-Files references. "Legends of the
Mall" seemed like it was trying too hard to imitate the Simpsons Treehouse
episodes. There was one Season 4 ep, the one set in the huge warehouse store
("Mart of Darkness"?), that I thought was completely stale that late
in the series. "Fizz Ed" was pretty weak for a season opener.
"Depth Takes a Holiday" was just ridiculous. And the musical: When it
first aired I was so starved for Season 3 that I made myself like it, but now I
can't stand to watch it. It was a totally unnecessary gimmick and looks pretty
embarrassing now.
So,
from best to worst, I'd rank Season 2 as my favorite, followed by 5, then very
closely by 1 (maybe even the other way around), then 3, and Season 4 as my
least fave. The movies I'd both probably stick in the 2-5 area. IIFY? ranks
slightly higher than IICY?.
Since
my fics were written between Seasons 2 and 3, those were the episodes on which
I based my vision of the show. At least one fic, can't recall which, borrowed
elements from "Arts 'n' Crass", with Daria ending up in Ms Li's
office but eventually getting away. The end of "To Helen Back" was my
answer to the Season 2 Peggy Nicoll eps which always seemed to have Sandi and
her mother get the upper hand against Helen and Quinn. And the Daria/Trent
episodes definitely had an influence. I was never a hardcore 'shipper, but I
liked the cute way the show toyed with the possibility in the earlier seasons.
I thought they could have ended it better, though. Sorry, Glenn, but Daria and
Trent's exchange at the end of "Jane's Addition" gets my vote for the
corniest piece of dialogue in the entire series. 8-)
7.
What caused you to drop out of Daria fandom, or have you been lurking but not posting? What brought you
back into Daria fandom?
Why did you stop writing fanfiction in 1999? Would you care to write Daria fanfiction again?
I
never stopped being a fan of the show, I just got burned out on fanfic and
wanted to do other things. At the time there were so many other authors turning
out really excellent stories. I didn't always have time to read them all, and
was always very concerned and insecure about inadvertently writing something
someone else had already done. I guess I let it all get to my head a little
too: After awhile I started getting disappointed if I didn't get the amount of
feedback I'd come to expect with each new story. If I had the time I'd consider
writing the rest of LS2, though I'm not sure I can get my previous obsession
back.
8.
How have your life experiences affected your fanfiction writing? Do you think
you have a different take on the Daria show itself than other people do?
Not
substantially different. I remember talking to a lot of people on PPMB and IRC
and hearing how the show totally nailed their own memories of high school, or
what they were currently going through. Which was part of what drew me to watch
it. So Glenn and company seem to have done a good job characterizing Daria,
making her experiences broad enough to attract a wide audience, but still
specific enough that we could all relate very intimately to them.
Most
of what I wrote was simply ideas for what I thought the show might do, based on
what I knew about the characters. Only a few scenes were specifically lifted
from my own life. In high school I had to take a lot of crap just for not
fitting in, so the idea of that made it into my fics. I was in band, which
inspired the parade two-parter. They actually ran out of pants my size so I had
to wear smaller, but mine didn't rip like Daria's, it was just really hard to
march and play and breathe in them. Daria and Trent's dinner in "Driven
Wild" came out of a very awkward senior-year date. I went to an older
relative's funeral not long before I did "Alienation Legacy". I'll
talk about "A Morgendorffer Scorned" a little further down.
9.
What other reading and/or writing have you done in recent years? What else can
you tell us about your real-world life and what's going on in it?
Lately
I haven't had time to read as much as I'd like, as I've been delving pretty
heavily into my gaming obsession. I collect vintage computer games and play a
lot of modern console releases (GameCube, XBox, PS2). Since leaving fanfic I've
bought a house and adopted a new kitty (my previous one was old and sick, and
she died), but I still have the same day job as before and the same basic life.
Last fall I was in the L.A. area and got the opportunity to meet Michelle
Klein-Hass in person, and see Kara Wild again. I still hear from Deb Hopkins
(SBBED.D) and Peter Guerin occasionally.
As
for writing, I've written a few short stories but they're under a pseudonym
and, erm, not exactly the sort of thing I think a lot of Daria fans would be into. (Heehee, they're kinda
naughty!) At one point I developed a TV series in my head and started writing
the pilot for it, but I burned myself out on that, too. It's still here, maybe
I'll get back to it someday.
One
thing that sort of helped bring me back to the show was one of my game
collector friends discovering it. One day I suddenly got an e-mail from him,
saying he loved the show and had just found my fan-fiction on Outpost! When
worlds collide. Last time I visited him I took my collection of Daria memorabilia up and showed him all the cool stuff
I'd saved from the glory days. I took my tapes too, so he wouldn't have to
settle for the butchered Noggin syndication. And I played the answering machine
messages Tracy Grandstaff did for me after I won the Cool Crap auction. He died
laughing!
10.
"A Morgendorffer Scorned" treads territory later covered in the
fifth-season episode, "The Story of D." How would you compare the
two? How do you view Daria's reaction to criticism in your own story?
I
felt they took somewhat different paths through similar territory.
"AMS" focused on Daria's reaction to her first real critic, while
"Story of D" was more about her own insecurities about her writing
ability.
"A
Morgendorffer Scorned" was very much autobiographical. Pretty much
everything in that writing workshop happened to me. The names of people and
places were changed barely enough to prevent recognition. I used to write
stories for my friends' and my own amusement back in high school, got straight
A's in English, and it was the first time I'd ever had somebody pick at some
little detail like that with something I wrote. It completely rubbed me the
wrong way. I thought Daria's experience would probably be similar: Mr O'Neill
had always been either very supportive of Daria, or very careful not to make
his criticism seem like criticism at all.
11.
What sorts of reactions did you receive to your fanfiction stories? Was there a
particular story that everyone liked? If so, why? Was there a particular story
that produced a lot of disagreement or negative comment? What was the problem?
I
received very positive reaction from the start. The first fan-mail I ever got
said "Lotto Nonsense" was just like the show, and my next few fics
got similar responses from increasing numbers of readers. The first one to
suggest that the quality of my work had slipped a bit was Danny Bronstein, in
response to "Weighting to Exhale". (I still loathe that title, why
did I ever go with it?) I also seem to recall one person disliking that story
because it sort of made light of Quinn's obsession with her weight. The person
who wrote me either had an eating disorder or knew someone who did, and she
wasn't pleased with they way I portrayed it. Somebody was unusually bothered by
my having Daria sweating after running with Jane at the start of the parade
episodes. Of course the 'shippers adored "All Washed Up" and
"Driven Wild". But my absolute favorite review I ever got was for an
"Abruptly Amy" script where someone told me they loved it, but
couldn't stand to finish reading it. 8-)
12.
Is there a "guest character" (one you created) in your stories that
could be considered a Marty Stu or Mary Sue? If so, describe. Which guest
characters were your favorites?
I'm
assuming you mean a character of my own creation who sort of came in and took
over the episode? I always tried not to make them the main focus, but instead
play the other characters off the M.S. and explore how they'd react. The judge
in "To Helen Back" did this well, I thought, as did Mr. Baldwin in
"A Morgendorffer Scorned". Both brought out aspects of Daria I hadn't
seen before but sensed were there.
I
think it's important not to let your guest characters overshadow the regulars
or control the episode, but give them enough personality to stand on their own.
Margot in "Accept No Substitutes" is probably my favorite example of
this. She's very vocal, she's in your face, but we don't follow her everywhere
she goes, and we don't see her planning out what she's going to do in class.
It's still Daria's story. We experience Margot through Daria, we see her
through Daria's glasses.
Chad
in "Weighting" (GOD I hate that title!) was a pretty generic guy, and
the episode was sort of built around him, so he's probably my biggest M.S. in
the negative sense of the term. He existed basically to make Daria and Jane
fight, and didn't really bring out any aspects of their personality other than the
notion that a guy could be a source of conflict between them. Heh, I can't even
remember that much about Chad, so obviously he didn't make much of an
impression on me either!
The
only other one I can think of where the guest characters really took over would
be "Fireworks". I pretty much just ran wild there, but tried to make
each of the hippies act and feel different. Not easy when you're trying to cram
in, what, nine new characters? There's a whole 'nother series in there if
anyone else wants to write it.
13.
There is a reference to a story called "DTV" but no such story can be
found. Where is it?
"DTV"
doesn't exist, in either completed or incomplete form. It was slated to be
episode #7 (I think) of Lost Season 2, and involved Ms Li setting up a school
television channel as another means of passing her propaganda on to students.
Of course Mr O'Neill coaxes Daria into being the lead anchor, and she ends up
telling it like it is instead of what Ms Li wants her to say. By now I'm sure
someone else has already done that story. If not then there you go, free idea,
run with it. 8-)
14.
What other Daria
fanfiction stories have you considered writing, but haven't done yet? You
promised four more scripts in "Fireworks." What were they going to be
about? Did you have any episode ideas beyond that?
Actually
I had a whole other set of 13 planned out. Other victims of LS2's early
termination, let's see... There was "Daria-Elect", where Daria makes
it her goal to sabotage that corrupt judge's re-election campaign. Then there
was one where Kevin asks her to tutor him so he won't get kicked off the
football team, and Daria actually ends up feeling a bit sorry for him when she
sees firsthand how football is literally his only chance at getting anywhere in
life. That's another one that's probably been done to death by now. I had one
planned where Jake and Helen would have a huge fight, and one of them would
leave. I had one focusing a bit on Upchuck . . . I can't remember now. The LS2
finale would have been "Infinite Jane" and would have had her
thinking seriously about her career path as an artist. That one would also have
had my resolution to the whole Daria/Trent crush thing (remember this was back
before any of us had even heard of Tom). And I had another Beavis &
Butt-Head flashback episode about
Daria working at Burger World, intercut with scenes of Jane and Trent before
Daria moved to Lawndale. That one's about half-completed, if I still have it.
That's all I remember, and I forget what order all of these would have
"aired" in.
15.
What was the best advice offered you regarding your Daria fanfiction writing?
I
don't recall a whole lot of specific advice for my writing, other than please
keep doing it. I think I filled a gap for a lot of people between Seasons 2 and
3, and people may have been reluctant to rock the boat? I'd get e-mails about
scenes people really liked, or things that felt a little off to them. Sometimes
I'd get suggestions about something I could do with one character, and if I
could fit it in with my existing ideas I'd try to use it. More than once I was
urged to try writing a script professionally, but for me when it becomes work
it stops being fun.
16.
Were you the first person to say that Daria's middle name is Marie? ("To
Helen Back")
I
think I might have been. Somebody else came up with "Elaine" at
around the same time, and I think that sounds better. I just pulled Marie out
of my butt because it's my sister's middle name . . . though she was a lot more
like Quinn than Daria while we were growing up. I was Daria. 8-)
17.
What would the Daria
characters be doing now (in your humble opinion) if the show had been continued
into the current decade?
Heh,
probably scraping the bottom of the barrel for story ideas. 8-)
But
seriously, they'd probably have them going off to different colleges, Jane to
art school, Tom to his ivy league. Brittany would have to face life without her
Kevvie, who would be dealing with the humiliation of being held back. I think
Daria might actually follow through on her "College Bored" threat,
decide higher education isn't for her, and start her own freelance writing
career or publishing business or something. There's all sorts of potential for
dramatic and comical situations there -- people not taking her seriously, the
wacky clients she'd get, etc. Back home Jake and Helen would be dealing with
the start of empty nest syndrome. Quinn would take the opportunity to
redecorate Daria's padded room, and would be delighted at having more space for
herself, but eventually she'd miss her sister. She wouldn't be able to talk to
Jake or Helen or her Fashion Club friends about it . . . maybe Trent? He'd be
facing the fact that his own sister is off on her own, and he's still a slacker
living at home. I can see the two of them developing a sort of bond, but
nothing romantic, though Quinn would try.
For
splitting the cast up like this to work, they'd have to completely reinvent the
show. It'd mean switching between scenes with characters who no longer had any
proximity to each other, since realistically they'd only meet each other in
person on rare occasions. I'd foresee lots of phone calls between Daria and
Jane. Plus they'd have to come up with all new secondary characters in
everybody's lives, and make us care about them and while not having those
characters invading the show and stealing attention away from our beloved
original cast. It'd be a difficult balance to strike, but I bet it could be
done.
18.
What did you think about "Waiting to Exhale" mirroring the Daria-Tom-Jane
triangle that appeared later on the show? How would you compare Chad to Tom,
and your triangle to the TV show's triangle?
I
wasn't that surprised when they eventually did it, I mean, it's a pretty
obvious storyline for a teen show. In this case I'd say theirs was definitely
better. They made the third triangle point someone we'd actually see again.
Chad just kind of showed up and then disappeared, I guess I didn't really know
what to do with him after "Weighting" (okay, LAST time I mention how
much I hate that title!) I was still planning to stop after 7 or 8 fics, so I
hadn't thought that far ahead. It also worked quite well having Tom go to a
different school. For the most part that kept the romantic drama outside of
Lawndale high, which I think saved the series from descending into every other
teen show, where everything is entirely about relationships and break-ups.
19.
Do you look at Margot of "Accept No Substitutes" as an older Daria?
How does she compare to Amy Barksdale?
I
never once thought of her as another adult Daria. She was someone else Daria
could look up to, and a teacher at that. I really wanted Daria to have one
good, intelligent teacher who felt realistic. It's kind of hard to take O'Neill
/ DiMartino / Barch very seriously. O'Neill never really knew how to handle
Daria, and I think ended up learning more from her than he taught her. The
other two were essentially caricatures (albeit funny ones).
I
also wanted Margot to have obvious flaws, so I gave her more of a badass
streak, more defiant and rebellious than Amy would ever be. She's what Daria
could become if she started constantly pushing back at the system instead of
just trying to get through it and put it behind her.
20.
In "No Picnic," it looks as though most of Jodie's stress is caused
by Andrew. Why did you therefore decide to have Jodie's "deep talk"
be with Daria instead of with him?
I
felt Jodie knew her father enough to realize one outburst wasn't going to
change him, and I think I tried to drop a hint or two that maybe this wasn't
even the first time something like that had happened, just the loudest and most
public. (I haven't reread the fic so I'm not 100% on that.) The Jodie/Andrew
dialogue would have been harder to make touching yet funny, without delving
into complete melodrama, so it's the sort of thing that works better left to
the imagination. They probably talked on the way home.
And
why shouldn't Jodie talk to Daria when she's miserable? After all, Daria's the
"Misery Chick", right? 8-)
21.
Regarding Aunt Eleanor, Daria tells Amy in "Alienation Legacy":
"I wish I could've known her." Amy replies, "I wish you could
have, too." Why didn't Amy ever introduce Daria to Eleanor, given that a
fair amount of time must have passed between "I Don't" and
"Alienation Legacy" and Amy already recognized Daria as a
"kindred spirit"?
It
sort of lends a tinge of regret to the episode, maybe Amy kept putting it off,
vowing she'd do it eventually, but then it was too late. Though honestly I'd
never given much thought to this, beyond how infrequently Daria saw Amy.
"I Don't" was the only time they met in person on the show, and then
my own "Rain on Your Parade", in which I think her sudden appearance
may have come across as a bit artificial. At that time I hadn't even planned to
do "Legacy" yet.
22.
How did you find and select the music you used for each scene?
I'd
browse Amazon's music store and download sample clips until I found something I
liked that sounded like you might hear it on the show. That, or I went with
something I happened to be listening to at the time.
23.
Which character(s) did you have the easiest and hardest time writing?
Daria
and Quinn always came very naturally, since that was my relationship with my
sister. I'm not an artist and didn't really know any artist types growing up,
so that aspect of Jane was a little trickier. Same with musicians, although
Trent was pretty low-key and didn't have to say much to get his personality
across. I had a terrible time coming up with passable Mystik Spiral lyrics.
Kevin and Brittany were both supremely easy because they both had one-track
minds, ditto Upchuck. Jodie was a lot easier than Mack, since we hardly knew
anything about him at the end of Season 2, but I struggled with her parents' dialogue
for awhile. Jake and Helen came easily when they were parenting Daria/Quinn,
harder in their everyday lives or interacting with other adults.
I
simply loved writing the Fashion Club, though I never knew thing one about
fashion. But the subject is fickle enough that you can take just about any
clothing, hairstyle, makeup, etc. and make it the "in" thing for that
episode. I actually signed up for "Just Nikki", a teen mail-order
catalog that offered some exclusive Daria merchandise for awhile, and I would
browse it to get ideas for trends the Fashion Club could discuss.
24.
The Abruptly Amy series
is something of an anti-Lost Seasons. What led you to write episodes for this series, given your
reputation for being strictly on canon?
HAHAHAHA,
God, Abruptly Amy! I still
cannot say that title without giggling. 8-)
I'd
wanted to collaborate with Kara Wild on a fanfic for the longest time, but my
burnout set in before we got around to writing an on-canon story together. I'd
read her Abruptly Amy pilot and
laughed my ass off, and decided it would be a great change of pace to do
something like this. Not have to constantly worry about writing in character,
sticking to canon, etc. I asked Kara, and I think she'd already been toying
with the idea of expanding it into an actual series, so I thought up the Corona
storyline and volunteered to write two scripts. She got John Takis, John Berry,
CrazyNutso, and maybe one other writer together and we puked out 8 episodes. We
all pretty much did whatever the hell we wanted, with no regard for continuity
or anything. It was very liberating.
This
will probably horrify fans of my "real" Daria scripts, but I think Abruptly Amy was the most genuine fun I had while writing
fanfic. The whole thing sort of took on a life of its own. I heard someone from
MTV who worked on the show actually read it at one point! Oh, and somebody
entered it into the Internet Movie Database too, it was there for like three
weeks! God, the memories! 8-)
25.
What did you enjoy most about each of your collaborative experiences ("My
Stupid Date with Destiny," "Thicker Than Water," Abruptly Amy)? How did they differ from your solitary
writing process?
For
all of these, I liked the opportunity to break away from canon, be it a little
or a lot. Having a collaborator made me feel more comfortable doing things I
probably wouldn't have done by myself. At first I thought it would be hard
sharing creativity with someone else, as I tend to pour myself into everything
I write, which makes me very possessive of it. (That's another contributor to
my burnout writing the TV pilot, I can't bear the thought of a bunch of
clueless producers and network execs butchering it.)
Peter
and Danny were both great to work with, and very open to ideas. We'd brainstorm
a little through e-mail, discuss what story we wanted to tell and how to go
about it. Then one of us would write the first scene, and we'd pass it back and
forth, adding a piece each time until we had a complete story and were both
satisfied. Together we came up with things I never would have thought of on my
own. I remember for "Thicker Than Water" -- John Berry cast the
deciding vote for the title -- Danny was able to work in the suggestive
Hawaiian beach name, which was a gag I desperately wanted to use but wasn't
sure how to present. I think he also came up with the idea of Amy sleeping with
Trent, something unheard of in fandom at the time. It made for some great comic
opportunities once I let myself get over the non-canon hurdle. It definitely
turned out better than if I'd tried to do off-canon myself.
And
Peter, he was never afraid to go anywhere, no matter how people might react. I
mainly did the Beavis and Butt-Head scenes in "My Stupid Date" but
had to work very hard to tie them in with his story about Daria's abuse while
still trying to let people laugh. I even managed to fit it in with the rest of
Peter's OAV series (since it was officially part) by having Sandi show up to
make amends for her previous attack on Daria, and Trent's protective stance when
she got too close. Peter really liked that idea so I just went with it. A lot
of people still didn't care for the story, just because of the difficult
subject matter.
God
it's amazing what I remember about some of these stories. If I find the time
I'll have to dig them all up and give them a post-fandom read.
Thanks
for the questions, if anybody has anymore you can write to me at ceforman@pobox.com. It's great to know
people still remember this show. Now if we can just get MTV to do a decent DVD
release . . . (Yep, I already signed the petition.)