Driven Wild Universe interview

with Kara Wild

1. Now the longest-running Daria fanfic serial of them all (began in April 1999), DWU is an iconoclastic work, shattering many common perceptions and stereotypes held by fans about the Dariaverse. For instance, the Daria-Jane relationship plays second fiddle to relationships between women in the Morgendorffer and Barksdale families, and even to the touchy relationship between Daria and Quinn. Amy Barksdale is not Daria's automatic ally. Quinn is a math genius and must wear glasses. Quinn leaves the Fashion Club, then returns and Sandi is voted out. Jane gets into student politics. Helen and Jake are not guaranteed to stay married. Amy has a baby out of wedlock. Trent and Tom are not Daria's main love interests. (She in fact has no real love interest after the middle part of the series.) Rita Barksdale is not a selfish evil witch. QUESTION: Is this stereotype-shattering a result of your being a bit of a natural contrarian? Do you deliberately look for icons that you can break, or does this seem to happen without your thinking about it?

I'd say yes, yes, and yes. I don't necessarily go into a story thinking, "Which character portrayals shall I find fault with this time?", but I do have a tendency to pick up patterns, find inconsistencies, and see questions that haven't been asked. That's how I found material for my first half-dozen or so DWUs. Is Quinn really shallow and empty-headed? What really makes Amy tick? Who is this Andrea we keep talking about? Why do so many people think Trent will end up with Daria? Etc., etc...

2. Who, in your opinion, is the central character of DWU, the one around whom the series spins? Daria? Quinn? Helen? Amy? All four? Someone else?

I'd say Quinn's development provides the thrust of the series, while Helen's development provides the depth. The series started out with Quinn as the unofficial main character, but by Episode 11, "Breaking the Mold," was becoming just as much about Helen. It could even be argued that in the last four or five episodes, Helen's issues took center stage, and "Tomorrow Never Knows" was partially about her regaining the confidence in herself that she had lost after "An Uneasy Marriage."

3. With which DWU character to you most strongly identify, and why? Is this your favorite character?

Interestingly enough, I would say Daria. We're both moody, introspective, reluctant to engage with the outside world, and have strong beliefs that we want to live by. I didn't center the series around Daria, though, because she already had a series centered around her life, and Glenn and co. seemed to be portraying it just fine.

At the same time, I relate to Quinn as an emotional younger sister, frustrated by the calmer, more rational (but not necessarily more correct) older sister. I also relate to Helen as a pragmatist and a doer. I don't network constantly or work 80-hour weeks, but I do address a problem by working toward a solution, not hiding out and whining that life is hard.

I'd say Helen is my favorite character because she is so complicated. On the one hand, she can be so bossy, self-righteous, and oblivious that you just want to shake her. On the other hand, she has the ability to wind down and look at life as it really is, not how she thinks it should be or has deluded herself into believing it to be. You never quite know how often she thinks in this manner, whether underneath her positive "I'm on it!"s, she's thinking, "If I stop, I'll drown."

Moreover, Helen really does try to be there for her kids, and, with constant effort, has broken down some walls, at least the ones that belong to Daria. After "Write Where It Hurts," I think Daria finds her perceptive enough and, in touch with her life enough, to go to whenever she has a major problem. Who did Daria turn to when the Tom crisis emerged? Not Jake, not Amy -- Helen.

People have criticized her for being so work-obsessed, but the fact is that she is an associate at a law firm. She would get in serious trouble if she worked less than 50 hours a week. I suspect that if you looked at the schedules of many breadwinning parents, you would find that they were similar to Helen's.

4. Which character in the Dariaverse is the most difficult for you to write for or identify with, and why?

After reading the above, you should realize (if you didn't know already) that I have major issues with Jake. It's not that I lack sympathy for his bad upbringing; it's that he chooses to deal with it by turning his back on reality. However, an even harder character for me to write is Jane. I've always been kind of a nerd, so it's hard for me to get inside the head of someone who is truly "cool." A part of me just wants her to stay cool, to be the one person who just takes life as it is and goes with it, even when it takes her places she doesn't want to go. I think one reason I disliked the Love Triangle episodes is because Jane suddenly developed this paranoid neurotic personality that had little foundation in previous episodes. I know that if I crawled around in Jane's head for too long, neurotic Jane would become the norm.

5. Which DWU character suffers the worst, most crippling characters flaws?

Most of the DWU characters, those pre-existing and those that I invented, have pretty big flaws. However, the most crippling flaw of all is a lack of self-awareness. Without the ability to recognize how screwed up you are, how can you ever hope to change your ways? By "Tomorrow Never Knows," Amy, Helen, Jake, Daria, and Quinn all have varying degrees of self-awareness; the one with the least amount is Alfred Phelps, which could be why he ends up with absolutely nothing at the end.

6. Has your reading of fanfic written by others affected some aspect of DWU? If so, give details.

I've already mentioned how 'shipper fanfics and 'shipperism in general influenced the writing of "'Shipped Out" (and "Erin the Head," to a lesser extent). C.E. Forman was a huge early influence, and several times throughout the first third of my continuum I address, and sometimes challenge, many assumptions in his fanfics. For instance, I didn't care for the Amy/Eleanor relationship in "Alienation Legacy" and thus hinted at its downside in "None in the Family." I think both C.E. and John Berry had me working to make my stories funnier, reminding me that Daria is a situation comedy. It was also due to their influence (and that of Peter Guerin, Danny Bronstein, Invisigoth Gypsy, etc.) that I wrote my installments in script, because it was the prevailing trend at the time.

As the continuum moved along, other fanfics played a waning role in its development, and by the end, the only way they directly affected my work was to convince me to give up the Commercial Hells, which I'd grown bored of writing. However, I do give credit to The Angst Guy's "The Thong Remains the Same" for nudging the DWU back to the front of my mind again so that I was compelled to finish. The Angst Guy also deserves credit for writing his unfinished Amy/Quinn fic, "Invisible Planet," which inspired me to write my unfinished Amy/Quinn fic, "Working Girl."

7. What is the climax of the DWU epic so far, if it has one?

I would say "Memory Road" is the climax. It's the point where Helen and Jake could go either way, thus having a significant effect on the whole family for the remaining two installments. If they were to stay together, it's questionable whether Quinn would have gotten so tight with Phelps that he let her in on his money-stealing scheme. They would have been close, and Mr. Phelps would have used her, but Quinn would not have been so miserable that she viewed him as a surrogate father.

8. If you decided to kill off one character in a future DWU story, which one do you think it would be, and why? Which characters are NOT expendable in this way, in your opinion?

If you mean "Which character is expendable enough to kill off?", I would say Damien Crawley, the underground newspaper editor from "In Her Own Words." By "Tomorrow Never Knows," his role in the series is pretty much over, and it would make sense if he committed suicide (not that he would), given that the paper that he had put his heart and soul into was finished.

I could also kill off Barry, the taxidermy-loving mathlete and uber-nerd, but I like having him around for comic relief, and I suspect that deep down, Quinn would miss him.

As for which characters are not expendable in that way, I would say any of the main ones. If Helen, Jake, Daria, Quinn, or Amy were to die, that would throw the series into major upheaval. I tend to avoid death as a means of generating conflict because it just makes things too heavy, and the loss of a character is usually greater than what you gain.

9. If you decided to write an erotic DWU story, which two (or three) characters would it most likely be about, and why?

Oh geez... maybe Amy and Joel. Or two of the mathletes and Quinn (with a blindfold). Amy and Joel because they are in love, so an erotic story would be touching rather than disturbing. Quinn and the mathletes because it would be amusing to think of the series of unfortunate events that would lead to such a threesome.

10. Which DWU character in the Morgendorffer-Barksdale clans is most in need of a visit to a psychiatrist, and why? Which of them do you think is the best adjusted?

That depends -- is there enough room in the office to fit all of them? As for the best adjusted, I would say Daria.

11. What keeps the dysfunctional Lane family from being as interesting to you as the Morgendorffers or Barksdales?

By the time "Lane Miserables" rolled around, I think I had just finished "Cheered Down" and was plotting the "None in the Family" two-parter, so the Barksdale family conflict was already at the forefront of my mind. As for why I chose the Barksdales over the Lanes, I think it was because 1) at some point I knew that there would be an episode focused around the Lane family and was interested to see where the actual series would go (back then, we tried to create scenarios that wouldn't get superceded by the show); 2) a lot of people (like Michelle Klein-Haas) were already doing a good job exploring the Lane family; 3) I wasn't a 'shipper, and any exploration of the Lane family seemed destined to lead to the Daria/Trent issue, and I just didn't want to deal with that, and 4) as I said above, to me, Jane was the "cool" one, and I didn't want to spend a lot of time on situations where she wasn't cool.

Going back to the Barksdales: I recall that most fics at the time weren't about the family at all, but about Amy. When I started writing, Amy had already been anointed the "older, cooler" Daria, and fanfics usually consisted of her arriving in Lawndale, making nasty remarks about the rest of the family, then ignoring them to focus exclusively on Daria. Her own life was never mentioned, except for her successful career as an award-winning something-or-other. It struck me that these fanfics were missing an opportunity to really understand Amy, and, by extension, Helen. Amy wasn't just an older Daria; she grew up in a household where she was often overshadowed by her older sisters. She had a flair for design (judging by her living room in "Through a Lens Darkly") and a weakness for flashy sports cars, whereas Daria strikes me as very minimalist and utilitarian. I suspect that Amy never had a moral dilemma about wearing contact lenses when she was Daria's age, though she might have been self-conscious about the extra attention.

Amy also had some relationship with her older sister, given the fact that her letter in TALD was written to Helen and not Daria. What was their relationship really like? How often did they communicate? These questions led me to write "The Tie That Chokes," which led to more exploration in "That Thing You Say," "None in the Family," "Erin the Head," and "All But Forgotten"/"Memory Road."

12. The transition from childhood to adulthood is particularly painful in DWU for Daria and Quinn, and adulthood is excruciating for Helen and Jake. What do you think makes for a "good adulthood" or for being a good adult? How successful are the DWU characters in their daily struggles with the responsibilities and freedoms of adult life? Who is the least successful person at being an adult in this series? Who is most successful?

I would argue that it isn't the entire transition that's painful for Daria and Quinn, but just this particular point in the transition. Similarly, Helen and Jake's entire adulthood (which spans many years) hasn't been "excruciating." They've just arrived at a moment where some self-correction is required, and that correction happens to be difficult. Sooner or later, this moment will pass and things will be easier, though not necessarily smooth sailing.

I've already mentioned several factors that go into the making of a successful adult: responsibility, perspective, taking an active role in your loved ones' lives, honesty, etc. Being a successful adult does not mean your life will be perfect, but that you are doing the best you can with what you have. In that sense, I would say that throughout the DWU, Helen is a more successful adult than Jake, but she still has some maturing to do. Helen still has trouble accepting when something is wrong, and although she has found other outlets for self-expression, she falls back into the pattern of overwork too easily. Meanwhile, Amy has perspective on just about everything else but her own life. She tends to zero in on the aspects that make her unhappy and minimize the aspects for which she should be grateful. I might consider Joel to be the most successful adult overall, but that's really hard to say, because Joel has his issues as well. I would therefore have to say that no one person is best at being a successful adult in the DWU, but that Jake (for reasons already mentioned) is the worst.

13. When, during the writing of DWU, did you realize that DWU was turning out to be a long-term project, or did you always see it as such?

By the time I had written "None in the Family." I had originally planned an eight-fic story arc and wasn't sure if I was going to write any more, but the conclusion of that arc made me realize that there were more stories to tell. I'm not sure at which point I decided the continuum would be twenty-two episodes.

14. You use the following quote as your PPMB signature: "It made me realize, at that moment, that every time somebody opens their mouth they have an opportunity to do one of two things - connect or divide. Some people inherently divide, and some people inherently connect. Connecting is the most important thing, and actually an easy thing to do. -- Joss Whedon, June 2003." In DWU, connecting is so rare as to be on the endangered species list. The relationships between the Morgendorffer-Barksdale women in DWU (particularly Daria, Quinn, Helen, and Amy) are prickly at best, frequently offering more conflict than comfort. Why is this so? Why is it so that these women have so much trouble getting along? Why do they hide so many secrets from each other, and why do they get so pissed off about it later instead of being understanding? Why is unconditional love impossible to find in DWU, or is it?

First, a disclaimer: I think that some see that signature and think that I've anointed myself the Joss Whedon of the Paperpusher Board; therefore, whenever I do something that they construe as "dividing," they tut-tut that I'm going against my message. It's true that I consider Joss to be an inspiration -- in a place like Hollywood, where there is so much politics, his attitude is refreshing -- but that doesn't mean that I see myself as him, or that his message is applicable in every situation. I want everyone to get along on the message board, but sometimes I need to take a hard line to make that happen. Joss himself probably had to get tough sometimes, because I doubt a television show or movie could have been made otherwise.

Anyway, in terms of how it relates to the DWU: You could argue that the series is full of dividing, or you could argue that the characters started out divided, but throughout the DWU learned to come together. I would make the latter argument. Amy didn't learn how to separate herself from her mother and sisters in the DWU; she was already separated from them. In "The Tie That Chokes," "None in the Family," and "All But Forgotten"/"Memory Road," she gets taken to task for her attitude, rethinks it, and becomes closer to Helen as a result. Similarly, Daria and Quinn were near strangers to each other when the DWU began, but Quinn's experience with her glasses helped them find common ground, even though there was much conflict and jealousy getting there. I see the arguments they have as a necessary part of breaking down the walls they've built around each other, until they have no choice but to come to an understanding.

As for unconditional love, there's plenty of it. Jake and Helen love their kids regardless of what they've done, as do Helen and her sisters. The love may be hidden by the "emotional walls," but its there.

15. At what point in the writing of DWU did you decide that Helen and Jake's marriage was on the skids, and they would eventually separate? Was this in your head from square one, or did it pop up much later?

Shortly after writing "None in the Family," I realized that Helen and Jake's issues had not been resolved. By "Breaking the Mold," in which Jake seems completely uninterested in Helen's new passion, I knew that they were in for some rocky waters and that a split was possible. However, I remained undecided over whether or not to go through with it until "Memory Road."

16. In what areas do you think DWU could be considered superior to the canon TV series? In what areas do you think it is lacking in comparison?

I would call it superior in its willingness to take a hard look at the dysfunction in the Morgendorffer household and not let up. Too often, the show started to take a hard look at the characters, then deflected its gaze. Too much was left off screen and unexplored.

As for the ways in which the DWU is lacking, I would say in light-hearted situations. Nearly every episode of the continuum is so story driven, there isn't room for a goofy episode centered around a class project or a Bad Movie Night. It would have been nice to have something that showcased what it was like to be inside Phelps's class for more than a minute; he has a dry humor that I'm not sure I portrayed as well as I could have, and being his student would not have been as horrible as one might think.

17. What were the most interesting or unusual reactions that readers have had to chapters in DWU?

I can't recall any off the top of my head. Maybe the strangest reaction came from Crazy Nutso, who not only wrote me into his "'Shipper Wars" story, but created a Senior Year series in which Quinn was smart and I was her math tutor.

18. How do you think DWU has influenced the larger sea of Daria fanfic? Are there particular chapters of DWU that you think started trends in the writings of others, or focused attention on particular aspects of the show? Have other Daria fanfic writers named elements of DWU that affected their perceptions of certain characters or situations from the show? Elements from DWU have appeared in the works of others, notably "Illusions" and "The Thong Remains the Same." What stories by other writers have made use of DWU bits? What do you think of DWU bits appearing in the works of others?

It's hard to say -- I know that I have had an influence, but I'm not sure to what extent. I think that I launched the "Quinn isn't as stupid as she acts" trend before Is It Fall Yet? and left a few cracks in the Temple of Amy after "The Tie That Chokes" and definitely after "Memory Road." I know people liked my take on Andrea. I also compelled other authors to focus more on the Helen/Amy relationship instead of always focusing on the Daria/Amy relationship, and to cast a more critical eye on Jake (such as Crusading Saint). A few more people might have found it safe to write anti-'shippers because of me, though "Lane Miserables" helped a good deal.

I've been referenced in many fanfics and several authors have borrowed my characters (ex. Mr. Phelps, Berry), my names for the characters (ex. "Evelyn" for Mom Barksdale), or my occupations for the characters (ex. art appraiser for Amy).

I don't feel like making an exhaustive list of specific works, but offhand, I know that bits of my fanfics have been referred to by C.E. Forman, John Berry, Austin Covello, Peter Guerin, Aaron and Barry Adelman, Crazy Nutso, Canadibrit, Milo, Steven Galloway, Brother Grimace, Crusading Saint (though in his case, I think it was more thematic), John Takis, Mike Quinn, Rey Fox, William Gasarch, Guy Payne (I think), The Angst Guy, and RLobinske. Possibly Scissors MacGillicutty as well . . . or at least he's threatened to.

During my peak writing time, referencing another author's work was very common and I've always found it flattering. I'd generally prefer it be on the lighter side, though, rather than have the story heavy with references so that it can't stand on its own (unless it's a funny take on a story development, like "The Thong Remains the Same").

19. What fan art would you particularly like to see done for DWU? Which scenes most cry out to be illustrated?

More than one fan artist has claimed that since my stories rest on emotion rather than action, they're difficult to capture visually. I disagree, and with a little time and practice, would be willing to illustrate some of my work myself. A list of scenes I'd like to see:

"That Thing You Say": Trent in the living room playing the guitar for the Morgendorffers

"'Shipped Out": "Older" Daria and Trent meet Jane and Jesse. Jane's head is swelled like a balloon and on the verge of exploding.

"Andrea Speaks!": Daria standing next to Andrea in front of the school bathroom mirror, Daria and Andrea run into a freaked-out Quinn in the hallway at home, or a shot of the public debate between Sandi and Quinn

"None in the Family, Part 1": A scene set up like a triangle, with Amy sitting at the table in the foreground, putting together party streamers, Helen standing to the left, criticizing her for not moving faster, and Rita criticizing her and Helen from the right. Amy looks like she is doing a slow burn. An alternate scene could show Jake staring at Dad Barksdale's photo, getting psyched up, while Amy and Daria watch with dismay.

"None in the Family, Part 2": Daria and Quinn watch Mr. and Mrs. Gupty "cure" Jake in the living room.

"Outvoted": Jane tosses paint in Sandi's face.

"Of Absolute Value": Jake's school meeting with Phelps

"Breaking the Mold": Helen's head covered by a bucket of plaster, plaster running down her shoulders, while the art class and Jane look on with a mixture of amusement and horror

"Surreal World": There's a lot to choose from, but some that pop into my head -- Jane and Daria watching and mocking the other LHS students from the roof, the LHS students zoned out watching a Real World marathon, Quinn's appearance during the house meeting to throw Daria out, etc.

"Erin the Head": Erin singing lead with Trent in Mystik Spiral or Erin and Brian's meltdown on the Guptys' marriage therapy show

"Primarily Color": Andrea's demonstration in O'Neill's class or Quinn and Stacy serving latkes at the Israel booth, dressed in Orthodox garb

"Charge of the Math Brigade": Barry, Clarence, and Squiggley try . . . unsuccessfully . . . to carry Quinn off the stage after their triumph over Grove Hills

"An Uneasy Marriage": A comic scene: Jake and DeMartino club pieces of junk in the junkyard. A serious scene: Helen looking at Greg, right after their kiss, horror washing over her.

"All But Forgotten": Serious scene: Amy leaning over Helen, hugging her, as Helen cries into her waist. Semi-comical scene: Daria, Jane, and Quinn watch Jake go to bat in the T-ball tournament.

"Memory Road": Many explosive emotional scenes to choose from here, such as Helen and Amy's nasty fight in Act Two, Quinn acting out on Jake after his devastating news in Act Three. Also some more subdued scenes, such as Helen in the flashback that opens the story, and Amy and Joel talking after they have fought and made up. A comical scene: Tad Gupty scared out of his wits when Joel hints that he might eat the Giant Strawberry.

"Into the Fire": Stacy shows Quinn her karate gi; Brittany and Kevin "console" Daria after learning about her parents' separation; Daria and Jane see a cleaned-up Andrea; Helen and Jake blow up at each other during the counseling session.

"Tomorrow Never Knows": Quinn getting her mugshot taken; Daria and Tom confront Marshall Winsett; Daria alone with Mr. Phelps during her detention; Sandi catching Quinn on the balcony of The Grove, thinks she's going to jump off.

"Mother's Milk": Amy gagging on her coffee after Joel's little reveal

Any fan art of the "shorts," like the "I Don't Aftermath."

20. You wrote "They Came from Planet Xulfanex," an AU of your AU. How do you feel about science-fiction Daria fanfic in general? Is there a core theme to TCFPX that makes it different from the mainline DWU? Would you ever write another SF-based DWU tale?

I don't really have a problem with it. On the one hand, it's not my thing -- I did not grow up reading superhero comic books, Star Wars or Star Trek novels, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, or Ray Bradbury. I also have not watched Dr. Who, any version of Battlestar Galactica, or most of the Star Trek incarnations. I zoned out midway through 2001. I don't mind a good sci-fi story, but I don't live and breathe sci-fi, and it's difficult for me to view the world through a supernatural lens. On the other hand, done right, a good sci-fi story can say a lot of meaningful things about human beings, which is why I'm a huge fan of The Twilight Zone.

As for Daria sci-fi stories -- again, I don't see the harm of there being some. I do have a problem with there being many, though, because it starts to look like a crutch on the part of the author or authors. Like "I can't think of how to portray Daria as vulnerable in a conventional sense, so I'll transport her to an alternate post-Apocalyptic universe, where Quinn is really her cousin and Trent is her brother." You start to see the gimmickry in these types of stories, until pretty soon that's all you notice, because the Daria characters have become nothing more than vessels by which the story is transported from Point A to Point B to Point C. Any chance for meaningful insight has been lost.

"They Came from Planet Xulfanex" was written for fun... and on a dare, scraping together my faint knowledge of sci-fi traditions. Its themes are actually not too removed from the themes of the DWU. Whereas Quinn in the main DWU fears that her glasses will make her look like an outside, Quinn of the sci-fi DWU has a whole range of crazy powers that she can't control. Both have the opportunity to take something that controls them initially (Quinn's glasses/talent for math, sci-fi Quinn's superpowers) and bring it under their control, for the betterment of themselves and everyone else. The DWU and "Xulfanex" are about rising to the challenges posed by life. Some might not meet the challenges in the best way, but nearly every major character shows courage by the end.

I don't know if I'll ever write another separate sci-fi story, but I might write a sequel to "Xulfanex". I've already written a few scenes.

21. How did it come about that you wrote "Rose-Colored Lenses," the first of your DWU tales? What was happening in your life, what attracted you to writing fanfic, etc.? Were there other stories or directions in Daria fanfic you considered early on, but elected not to do in favor of DWU? What were the fan reactions to the earliest chapters of DWU?

If I recall, I was looking up history graduate programs online, with little enthusiasm, when I stumbled upon a group of fanfics in February of 1999, at a Daria fanfic website that I think no longer exists. I cringed at the thought of reading what I was sure would be clumsy, inferior imitations of the episodes, but decided to take the plunge and see what other Daria fans had to offer. At that time, the third season had just started, and after an excellent second season, I was dying for anything that would expand the characters further. (Season Three began on a sour note, when the heads of MTV made 307, "Daria!", the season premiere.)

I think one of the first fics I read was a scripted fic by Peter Guerin. "Okay, this sort of feels like the show... but would Daria really make so many obscure anime references?" Then I found John Berry's "Bond, Jake's Bond." I thought it was goofier than the show, but was pleasantly surprised by how well he kept Jake, Daria, and Quinn in character. I read some others before finding C.E. Forman's Lost Season fanfics, which completely absorbed me. I thought he captured the show amazingly well, though at times the characters bordered on caricature. Already tempted to write a fanfic of my own before reading Forman's work, I was now determined, having seen what fanfic could be. My class schedule that semester was light, so I had more free time for creative writing. I already had a scenario in my head, brought on by my disappointment in not seeing Quinn's reaction to Daria's contacts in TALD, and by my general hope that Quinn's character would be allowed to deepen in the same way as Daria's. I wrote "Rose-Colored Lenses" in script form, which was the prevailing form at the time, and quickly came up with several more "episodes." Fearing that someone else would do the "Amy/Helen bond and feud" episode, I wrote "The Tie That Chokes" that May, pushing aside lighter episodes like "English Impatient" (Mr. O'Neill's class goes to England), and an episode where Helen and Quinn get very sick with the flu. From there, the continuum grew.

Fan reaction was favorable from the very beginning. My first feedback came from John Berry, whom I regarded as a sort of celebrity in the Daria fandom. C.E. Forman followed with a good review and words of encouragement, sending my heart a-flutter. Martin Pollard liked my work enough to make me a Featured Author (now Recommended) after "That Thing You Say," and Michelle Klein-Haas, notorious for being very selective about what she posted on her website, accepted all of the fics I sent her. There weren't any fanfic forums or message boards at the time, so most of my feedback came via e-mail.

22. What prompted you to complete "Into the Fire" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" in 2005, after such a long absence from fanfic writing? Where are your fanfic interests now? Which incomplete DWU story is most likely to be finished next?

I always planned to write the last two DWUs, but in 2005 I finally had time. The previous two years, I was devoting so much energy to finding an in -- any in -- to Hollywood. I wrote spec scripts, interviewed with a zillion producers of shows, sent out query letters to managers and agents, etc. Then finally I won a contest with a pilot script that I'd written, which opened some doors wide enough for me to get some representation. I was really burned out on writing spec scripts (ten in all), which are like fanfics, only more rigid, and decided I could afford to ease up on the treadmill and spend some more time writing fun stuff. (Of course very soon, I'm going to be busy all over again.) It was also something of a fluke that I started writing "Into the Fire," because another thing that kept me from finishing the DWU was my uncertainty of how to end it. Then I read a shooting script draft of Revenge of the Sith and a lightbulb flashed on in my head. Suddenly I found myself writing one scene, then another. "Oh, just one more, then you can... oh, just one more." Pretty soon, "Into the Fire" was written and I had notes for where I wanted to go with "Tomorrow Never Knows." Naturally, that had to be finished as well.

When I find the time again -- who knows when that will be -- I will finish "The Age of Cynicism." Then, after more time passes, I might finished "Working Girl" and "The Winter Chill." As for any fanfic beyond this fandom, I don't see myself writing any. I'm not the type of person who leaps from one fan group to another. It's unusual enough that I would even be in this one.

23. Why is "The Age of Cynicism" unfinished, despite its placement midway through DWU?

I set the order of installments pretty far in advance. Usually I knew of a few scenes I would be using for each fic and would give a little "sneak preview" in the preceding fic's Commercial Hell. I previewed "The Age of Cynicism" in "Primarily Color," then found myself struggling to find the time and inspiration to write during a personal transition period, when I was moving out of my off-campus housing at Berkeley, back home (gulp!) to live and earn money until I had enough to live on my own in Los Angeles. In between, there was a three-week trip to France and England in late May and early June of 2000. I felt like I was being pulled in all directions, and the story was proving to be more of a challenge than I had thought. I meant it to be something of a follow up to C.E. Forman's "Fireworks," but also incorporate themes and issues from the DWU. It would have comical references to cultural trends from the early 80's, as well as seriousness that came from Jake's plotline with Helen's father and Helen and Jake's realization that their hippie days were fading into the past.

However, I ran into problems when I tried to do research on baby toys and parenting techniques from 1980-81 and found nothing that addressed just those years. (I was born in 1977 and can remember some toys of my youth, but that doesn't mean they existed as early as 1980.) The research was dragging on longer than I'd expected and, already feeling burnt out from writing the continuum, I was afraid that stalling on "The Age of Cynicism" would cause me to lose momentum for good. I therefore decided to move on to "Charge of the Math Brigade" and get back to TAoC later. Since by that point, I had mapped out the continuum to the end, I felt that I couldn't place TAoC anywhere else without interrupting the momentum of the final chapters. Plus, leaving it unfinished as DWU #15 reminds me that I need to finish it.

24. In the "Driven Wild Universe Primer" on the Contrarian's Corner website (http://www.the-wildone.com/dwu_primer.html), you mention that the point of divergence for your massive AU is after "Daria!" and before "Lane Miserables." What led you to pick that particular period as the divergence point? How did the events in TV episodes after "Daria!" affect the development of DWU's later chapters? (Minor point: You mention that "Lane Miserables" was when Daria got over Trent-but didn't her attachment to him really end in "Jane's Addition" when she realized Trent was totally unreliable? And she did have a Trent-positive daydream at the end of "Lane Miserables," didn't she?)

I didn't choose "Lane Miserables" as the point of divergence, but looking at the Season Three episodes, it makes the most sense. A month before it aired, I had already written "'Shipped Out," in which Daria had fantasies about her older self with Trent and was crushed to find him with a girlfriend. By the end of the story, Daria decides that she would just like Trent as a friend. It seemed illogical, therefore, to have "Lane Miserables" occur unaltered in the DWU, because it would just look as though Daria was going through the cycle again. That's not to say that the LM situation of the Wandering Lanes descending on the house wouldn't have happened in the DWU; it just wouldn't have involved the Daria-getting-over-Trent angle. In fact, I should be clear that "divergence" doesn't mean that nothing after "Lane Miserables" would have happened. Some things wouldn't have, obviously -- "Psycho Therapy" would be redundant after the events of "None in the Family" -- but other episodes like "Jane's Addition," "Jake of Hearts," "Partner's Complaint," etc. would have happened. They just would have slight differences to reflect what was happening in the DWU.

Personally, I think that Daria's attachment to Trent ended in "Lane Miserables." "Jane's Addition" just highlighted her growing disinterest. She didn't display any of the heart-flutters toward him that she did in previous episodes.

As for how later episodes of Daria affected the DWU, I've already mentioned the effects of "Psycho Therapy," the Love Triangle, and the two movies on DWUs #17 through 22. I faced a bit of anxiety after the Love Triangle about whether to introduce it into my continuum, before deciding to leave it out for the sake of continuity. In the end, I think it was a wise decision.

25. In DWU, how do you treat the peculiar, unrealistic episodes of the Daria series, such as "Daria!", "The Lawndale File," "Depth Takes a Holiday," "Legends of the Mall" (teeth on Helen's car door), "A Tree Grows in Lawndale" (flower on crutch), and so forth?

I treat them as dreams. In "'Shipped Out," Jane asked Daria if she had the dream about them "bursting into song" again. In "Tomorrow Never Knows," Quinn refers to the scenario in "Depth Takes a Holiday" as Daria's fever dream. Since no principle character was around when the flower bloomed from the crutch, I don't think about it or refer to it at all.

26. How did the revelations the Morgendorffers have about each other and their family in episode "Psycho Therapy" affect character development in DWU?

It didn't really do anything except confirm what I already suspected and turn my dislike of Jake into full-fledged hatred. Once I saw how perceptive he really was, how he could state his mind to Helen in a clear, concise manner under the right circumstances, any sympathy I might have had for this poor, poor man trodden upon by his mean, horrible wife went out the window. If Jake isn't really oblivious, there's no excuse for him to have engaged with Helen and his daughters as little as he has. He may be "damaged goods," but he has the tools necessary to climb off of his cross and build a bridge (to paraphrase Christopher Titus). I might have had more respect for Jake in "Psycho Therapy" if, in the end, he had owned up to his resentment and agreed with Helen that they have some serious issues to work out. Instead, he blamed his rant on drinking too much milk. Milk, for God's sake. <shakes head>

I think his behavior in that episode was what caused my portrayal of him to take on a more negative slant. You can see it in "An Uneasy Marriage," as well as "All But Forgotten" and "Memory Road." I softened up on him when I wrote "Into the Fire" and "Tomorrow Never Knows," because Season Five episodes scaled back his resentment and made him more benign, but "Psycho Therapy" left a bad taste in my mouth.

27. What elements from the movie Is It Fall Yet? made their way into DWU, even though it never occurs in the DWU universe? Did any fourth- or fifth-season episodes or the movie Is It College Yet? affect the development of DWU?

Events from IIFY? were alluded to in "An Uneasy Marriage" and "In Her Own Words," which were released not long after the movie aired. Jane's conversation with Jake in AUM was a tongue-in-cheek allusion to the Love Triangle, while "In Her Own Words," was, in many ways, a direct challenge to the theme of IIFY?: Give People a Chance. If Helen thought it healthy for Daria to get out of her room and meet other people, how would she react if those people were antisocial outcasts like Daria? (In Act Three of "Tomorrow Never Knows," we get the answer: Not well.) The movie skirts around the issue; Tom is clearly more social and socially presentable than someone like Vince Rogers or Andrea, so Helen and Jake are never put in the position of having to accept someone less ideal as Daria's companion. (Although we never saw their first reaction to Jane.) I like the idea of people expanding their horizons, but I thought that the Give People a Chance theme was cloyingly simplistic and that every part of IIFY?, from the OK to Cry Corral to the last kiss in Tom's car, was designed to dull Daria's sharp edges so that she could be more acceptable to "regular" people.

I don't recall any Season Five episodes making their way into the later DWUs, though I might have been taking a poke at "Lucky Strike" when I had Sandi reveal to Quinn that she already knew Daria was her sister. Some of IICY? got alluded to: In "Tomorrow Never Knows," I arranged it so Jane took the trip to Bromwell instead of Daria. I liked how Bromwell served as a positive force in Daria and Quinn's life, instead of the vortex of misery that it was in IICY?.

28. Did any episodes of Beavis & Butt-head that featured Daria have an affect on any part of DWU, or is DWU based on the Daria TV show alone?

The DWU is based on Daria alone. I think I made only one allusion to B&B, when Daria mentioned not wanting to be a fashion reporter in "Breaking the Mold." Otherwise, I couldn't remember many of the episodes that Daria had appeared in, and in the ones that I could remember, she seemed very different from how she was in her own series.

29. Quinn with glasses-this image practically defines DWU. Where did that idea come from, and why? Was there any particular reason you chose math as the subject Quinn would excel in?

As I've mentioned before, the idea came from my annoyance that we didn't get to see more of Quinn in "Through a Lens Darkly." I started to think about a Quinn version of that episode, only she would wear glasses, not contacts. After I wrote "Rose-Colored Lenses," I realized that there was a lot of story and thematic potential in her being forced to wear glasses: Quinn would be forced to look at the world differently and choose whether to stay on her current path of clothes shopping and dating, or whether to branch out more into academic pursuits.

I chose math because 1) it felt like something Quinn could excel at without seeming out-of-character, and 2) it was a different subject from the ones at which Daria excels. If I made Quinn a "writing brain," she would seem like little more than a Daria clone. It might have been interesting to explore the tension between them for a few episodes, with Daria desperately trying to carve out an identity that distinguishes her from her sister, but wait... didn't they already do that in "Quinn the Brain"?

Math is something that Quinn can make uniquely her own, with her talent for mixing and matching naturally transferring to complex equations. Daria can't dismiss Quinn's talent as having sprouted from the subjective views of people who already admire her as she could in QTB. If Quinn's talents were in the humanities, I could see Daria always believing that she was the more gifted one or that Quinn was a fraud. I keep thinking back to Quinn's grade in "Lucky Strike": Daria gave her a B+, which Quinn obviously thought was generous. But why a B+ and not an A-? The line between them is so narrow. Maybe Daria was afraid of appearing to favor Quinn too much, or maybe she thought that was the grade Quinn deserved. Still, I find it interesting that Daria marked her below the dividing line rather than above. Compare this to the DWU, where Daria clearly comes in second in the subject of math. Daria must work through several different emotions -- confusion, jealousy, awe, suspicion, pride in her sister -- before finally reaching a state at which she feels comfortable with Quinn's math prowess.

Another minor reason that I chose math is because it was suspiciously absent from Lawndale's curriculum on the show, and I thought that a higher profile would provide the opportunity for some fresh new situations.

30. What is it with Daria's love-life in DWU that she isn't getting anywhere (and doesn't even try) after she gets over Trent? What kind of guy is the Daria of DWU most likely to date? Is there even a chance she will find someone she will want to marry? Is there even a chance someone will want to marry her? Any ideas of how you pictured the newly developing relationship of Daria and Tom (at the end of "Tomorrow Never Knows") going?

I didn't date in high school. My friends never dated. Their friends never dated. While people do date in high school, the activity is far from universal, and to me, someone like Daria would be too inhibited to share her life with a guy during her teen years. Even on the actual series, her relationship with Tom feels like an awkward fit; she is never quite able to be vulnerable with him. So the answer is that Daria of the DWU is both uninterested in and afraid of romance. Plus, her attempts beyond Trent haven't gone too well. When she tried to rebound in "'Shipped Out," Jane set her up with Barry! She was drawn to Damien in "In Her Own Words," only to find that he was an irresponsible egomaniac.

As for the type of guy Daria would most likely end up with, I agree with Anne D. Bernstein: It would be someone smart, funny, independent, capable of original thought, and with emotional baggage comparable to hers. A person to whom Daria would feel equal and to whom she had something to offer, not someone whose sole purpose was to teach her. I think Daria of the DWU will be open to marriage, though maybe not until she is well into her 30's. While I don't consider Amy to be Older Daria, I do think that there are enough similarities that Amy's relationship serves as an indicator of where Daria will end up. If someone considers Amy desirable enough to marry, I suspect the same will be true for Daria.

I speculate on the possible outcome of a Daria/Tom relationship in my end notes for "Tomorrow Never Knows." I never state explicitly whether they will hook up, but I wouldn't be surprised. I think that Daria/Tom in the DWU would be freed of a lot of the baggage that weighed down their relationship, post-Love Triangle, in the series. Daria might be willing to trust Tom a little bit more, and they might wind up dating for several months. After a while, however, their personalities might start to rub each other the wrong way, and they would break up before college, as they did in IICY? It's interesting to think about, especially since Tom of the DWU isn't quite as much of a schmuck as he is in the series.

31. If DWU were the real world, Daria and Quinn would have both graduated college by now (or would be on the verge of it). What do you think they might be doing now? Have you considered writing a fanfic story or series showing the DWU characters of 2006?

I haven't had any thoughts of writing a DWU set in the present. If I had to speculate, however, I would guess that Daria is in graduate school, having decided that being a "professional student" was desirable after all compared to scrounging around for a job in an unfriendly job market. She might be earning a Masters or Ph.D in Journalism or in Literature -- something for which she couldn't get a job anywhere but in academia. Quinn might still be earning her bachelors, depending upon how long it would take her to settle on a major or upon the rigors of the major she chose. Once she graduated, she would probably look for a job before considering a higher degree. I'm not sure what job climate awaits the graduates of a Math, Economics, or Business major, but I could see Quinn being hired into an entry level position at a big conglomerate like Proctor and Gamble, one that has many different departments. This job would probably involve doing many things that Daria would be morally opposed to doing herself.

Sometimes I speculate the characters in the future, though not necessarily 2006. For instance, how would Amy do as the mother of a six-year old? Would she and Joel still be married? Would Helen and Jake have gotten back together or divorced? Would Daria or Quinn be meeting Mr. Right? Still, as I've said, I've made no plans to write a "present" DWU. It's enough of a challenge finishing the installments I originally set out to write.

32. What would be the greatest gift that Helen could give her daughters? What would be the greatest gift that Jake could give them? Is this gift even possible in DWU?

In the case of Helen and Jake, the greatest gifts would be their trust and their willingness to listen. Helen showed that she had trust in Daria in "Tomorrow Never Knows" and she is trying to be a better listener. Jake, too, is making more of an effort, now that he knows that the time he has with his daughters each week is short and precious.

33. What would the Daria of DWU be like as a parent? What would the Quinn of DWU be like as a parent? How would they compare to Helen and to each other?

I strongly suspect that Daria will never have children. However, if she did, I could see her being both a good parent and a bad one. Good in the sense that she would teach them to think for themselves, but at the same time establish a firm moral/ethical code. Bad in the sense that she might come across as emotionally distant (even though she sincerely loved her children) and fault finding, which would discourage her kids from coming to her with problems. Oddly enough, I see Daria resembling not Helen, but her Grandpa Barksdale as a parent.

I see Quinn popping out a few kids (before rushing to have the effects liposuctioned away) and being an indulgent mother. She would be lax with discipline and loathe to deny her little darlings anything they wanted. She would kiss and cuddle them, but be unable to connect on a deeper level, and only years later, when they're nearly out of the house, realize the depths of their estrangement. If Quinn held down a high-powered job, I could see her being constantly distracted by work, like Helen, and turning over many of her mothering duties to a nanny or au pair. If she were a stay-at-home mother, she might become over-involved in her kids' lives to the point where their activities were more about her than about them. I don't see Quinn doing anything in moderation.

Of course, in spite of their parenting flaws (how many perfect parents are there, really?), their kids might turn out to be well adjusted, great individuals who have loving relationships with their mothers, spouses, and children. I'm just pointing out the possible flaws in either sister's approach.

34. You made some interesting comments about Daria's emotional state in the "Deep Thoughts" forum of PPMB, in the thread, "Would Daria really be so well-adjusted?" How well-adjusted is the pre-college Daria of DWU? Is she better or worse off emotionally than the Daria of canon, per the series?

She's probably the most realistic, well-adjusted person in her family. Both a little better off and a little worse off than she is in the series. Better because she has been through more in the DWU and thus has developed a thicker skin; worse because she will always bear some scars from her experiences.

A lot of Daria's malaise during "The Winter Chill" stems from both her realization that her life will not instantly improve now that she is in college and from a sense of "Where do I go from here?". These are existential issues that could plague Daria whether her parents were separated or not.

35. Expound at length, please, on Daria's political interests in DWU, and any antecedents from the TV series (comments she makes, things she does, etc.).

I think her political views are indistinguishable from the ones she holds (or doesn't hold) in the actual series. Daria's various comments (as well as Glenn's) suggest that she leans left, such the admiration she shows for the ideals of the 60's ("That Was Then, This Is Dumb") and her annoyance with abundant military spending ("The Teachings of Don Jake"), and also her lack of comments expressing admiration for unfettered capitalism, small government, and "strong families."

At the same time, I doubt she identifies with a political party. Indeed, Daria of the late 90's is probably disgusted with the Democrats because she sees them as wanting to support whatever policies the Republicans put forth instead of standing up for what they really believe. (In fact, Daria is probably disgusted with them now.) I couldn't see her being a Republican -- Daria likes truth and honesty, neither of which would describe the Republican party over the past 10 to 15 years. I also think that the sway religious groups hold over party leaders would alarm her. When Daria reaches the legal voting age, she is therefore likely to choose "Undeclared," or whatever you write when you don't want to be affiliated with a party. She might flirt with voting for a Libertarian candidate, but in 2000 and 2004, would hold her breath and vote for Gore, then Kerry.

36. Will Daria ever be happy? What circumstances or personality traits work against it?

Of course she'll be happy. I don't think there's anything in Daria's personality that makes her less capable of achieving happiness than other deep-thinking people. Maybe she won't be perfectly happy, but who is? At least Daria would be honest enough with herself to admit it.

37. Looking back, it appears that you were the first (or one of the first) to round out Amy Barksdale and make her something other than an older clone of Daria. What were your inspirations for developing her character. Describe the tensions between Daria and her aunt Amy, who is so often seen as Daria's natural ally, but in the latter chapters of DWU is anything but.

I've already addressed the first question, so I don't need to go into more detail. Regarding the tension between Amy and Daria in the later chapters of the DWU: Amy loves Daria and wants her to be happy, but she also has a relationship with Helen that she can't turn her back on. She knows that what would make Daria happy (Helen's return) is not the same as what is good for Daria... or Helen, for that matter. With her sister crying right in front of her, Amy puts Helen's interests first, recognizing that if they don't fix her problem, it will hurt her entire family.

At the same time, Amy's tensions with Daria stem from being too much like Daria. Recall that in "Erin the Head," Daria chose to live vicariously through Cousin Erin to see how true love could affect a person, being too timid to take the plunge herself; likewise, Amy tries to experience "spiritual awakening" through Helen in "Memory Road" because she lacks the self-confidence to find it on her own. This causes Amy's altruism to take on a selfish tinge, putting her into direct conflict with Helen and Daria.

If I ever finish "The Winter Chill," I think the tension between Amy and Daria's similar personalities will be even more obvious. They both have a hard time talking about what's bothering them, preferring to use passive aggression as their weapon of choice.

38. What is the worst aspect of the mother-daughter relationship between Helen and Quinn in DWU?

For Quinn, it's that she doesn't confide in Helen. For Helen, it's that she isn't curious enough about Quinn's life. Once she sees that Quinn is really hitting the books in math, she is too quick to assume that Quinn's problems with school are in the past and that she will inevitably improve in all of her classes.

Quinn tends to react to things in a muddled, emotional fashion, whereas Helen tries to stay controlled and rational. Being a lawyer, Helen is accustomed to using strong verbal communication, which I think is why she relates better to Daria, who is a good writer and clear thinker. Helen knows how to make verbal inroads into Daria's mind; Quinn's emotional responses take her off guard and leave her little to work with.

I still wonder why Helen and Jake of the series never had a stronger reaction to Quinn's poor grades.

39. In the notes for "Rose-Colored Lenses," you make an interesting comment about Quinn and one about Daria as well: "She's probably as smart as Daria, just as Daria is as pretty (and some would say more so) as Quinn." Do you really believe that Quinn, as depicted in the show, is as smart as Daria? Isn't much of Quinn's behavior manipulative and based on her looks, instead of clever or thoughtful? What evidence from the show supports that? And, given the comments people in the TV series make about Daria ("Too Cute," "I Don't," etc.), why assume she's as pretty as Quinn? Even the Three J's in "Quinn the Brain" were only playing along with Daria at the end to get Quinn back.

I wouldn't say that Quinn is as smart as Daria in the same way, but she might be just as shrewd in a different way. For instance, I don't see Daria having the innate ability to woo and manipulate the way Quinn does, as often as she does. Daria can manipulate stupid people, but Quinn seems like she could persuade even the not-so stupid to follow her lead. For instance, Danny in "CafŽ Disaffecto" and the cowboys in "Speedtrapped" did not seem all that stupid; Daria helped Quinn "make the sale" in the latter case, but Quinn had the reeled in ninety percent. Like Daria, Quinn knows her strongest assets and uses them to the fullest. Also like Daria, she is coming to realize that she is more than just those assets and is slowly embracing more aspects of her personality. This happens more dramatically in the DWU, but appears to be happening on the show as well.

In terms of looks, I think that Daria is actually prettier than Quinn. Her darker hair is a lot nicer to look at than Quinn's orange-red; her nose doesn't stick up the way Quinn's does and she's not as bone-thin. I don't know how many of the characters would share my view, but that's how I see it. Daria will get more attractive over time, while some of Quinn's signature traits -- the red hair, the tiny figure -- will start to fade or thicken. Fortunately, by then, Quinn will probably have a Plan B.

39. Jane is noticeably a minor character in DWU, acting as Daria's support in the staggering emotional and psychological battles in which Daria is involved, while in the TV series Jane is second in importance only to Daria herself. Discuss your view of Jane's role and character in DWU vs. the TV series. How does the relationship between Daria and Jane in DWU differ from that in canon, as you see it? How did these differences come about in your own mind? If you were to update your essay, "The Unflappable Jane Lane," what would you add to it? Do you feel now that you know Jane, or is she still difficult to access?

Is Jane really second in importance to Daria in the series? In Season Four, they finally started focusing more on just her, but throughout most of the series, Jane seemed to vie with Quinn for the secondary spot.

As for Jane in the DWU, I see her as being Daria's rock. So much else in Daria's life is topsy-turvy that it's good for her to have someone who can provide her with perspective and a sense of humor. I don't think their relationship is all that different from the one in the series, except that since "the Tom thing" never took place, they don't have a source of tension between them. Jane still thinks that Daria can be a giant stick in the mud (such as in "Outvoted"), but ultimately values her friendship.

If I were to update "The Unflappable Jane Lane," I would state that the series has now given us evidence that Jane is not always unflappable, but still has not peered deeply enough into her psyche. Why did she suddenly become so unhinged during Season Four? Not just in the last two episodes, but in episodes like "Mart of Darkness," when she got in a huge fight with Tom over gummy bears? If she was unused to the strain of having a steady boyfriend, why wasn't this discussed? Why weren't her perceived inadequacies explored more thoroughly? My excuse was that I didn't need to create another basket case, but what excuse did the show have -- that it liked to scratch the surface, then shy away before things got too "uncomfortable"?

40. Say again why Amy and Joel aren't getting married right away, even after baby Ryan is born. How does Amy work this out in her head? How does the rest of the family feel about it?

First, I should note that maybe two weeks passed between the end of "Memory Road" and Amy learning of her pregnancy. Second, having children does not create a mandate for a couple to get married; several couples live together for years without tying the knot. In Amy and Joel's case, however, they do plan to marry, but by "The Winter Chill" are adjusting to other HUGE changes in their life. They had barely affirmed their commitment to each other as a couple (in "Memory Road") when they learned that they were about to become parents. Amy of "The Winter Chill" gets dazed thinking that two short years ago, she lived by herself. She is afraid of losing herself if she moves too fast.

There are also more mundane reasons that the wedding gets put off. By the time Amy recovers enough from her bouts of morning sickness, she is too bulky to fit into a wedding dress, then she and Joel are too sleep deprived to put two thoughts together, let alone a guest list. Amy wants her wedding to be special, yet feels that it is being pushed for mainly pragmatic reasons and worries that, after so much time has passed, during which Joel has observed her in many unflattering moods, he will no longer want to spend the rest of his life with her. (This fear gets put to rest after she and Joel spend some quality alone time together.) Oh -- she's also terrified out of her mind about stating her innermost feelings to her husband-to-be in front of a crowd.

Mrs. Barksdale is very, very irritated by her attitude, and pushes marriage in subtle and unsubtle ways every time they talk on the phone. Helen and Rita are perplexed, but rationalize it with, "Well, that's Amy." Quinn might wonder when Amy and Joel will tie the knot, but Daria doesn't care one way or the other. It should be noted that Amy and Joel finally get married on New Year's Eve, before the Year 2001, when Ryan is almost seven months old.

41. How do you see Rita as a character in DWU? If she reappears in future DWU fanfics, how might she be used?

Rita's martyrdom and resentment are more prominently on display in the DWU. (In fact, as The Angst Guy argues, it's questionable whether she displays much resentment at all on the show.) She never felt that she could compete with Helen in the academic arena, and therefore chose to focus on her prettiness and popularity (like Quinn, but without the machinations). She convinced herself that she was just as good as Helen, but in a different way. When Amy displayed similar academic prowess and success at her career, Rita brushed it off, thinking that with her sour attitude, Amy could never be truly happy. In both cases, Rita had a point; however, her rationalizations have tended to be more of a defense mechanism than beliefs in which she's confident. Deep down, Rita wonders if she is as smart as her sisters, and if so, whether encouragement from her parents might have propelled her in a different direction.

I see Rita as having an obsession with mind-body the way that Helen has an obsession with work. Rita's life is yoga, organic foods, spas, facials, enemas, power walking, massages, and the occasional nip and tuck. We already know that she's an attentive daughter to Mrs. Barksdale and a doting mother to Erin, but I suspect she's also a loyal friend. She has more quality time to spend with people since she has no steady employment.

If she returned to the series, she might feel sympathetic enough toward Helen to help her ease into the dating scene. I also had an idea for a fic called "Re-educating Rita," where Rita decides to prove that she's as bright as her two sisters by enrolling at the local college. Don't expect to see it anytime soon, though, if ever.

42. Play "spin the major" and discuss what degrees Daria and Quinn might pursue in college, given the DWU setup, and their possible future careers in DWU.

I agree with other fans who think that Daria will either be a journalism major or be in one of the humanities, such as English, History, Philosophy, or Psychology. She might lean toward journalism more than she would in the actual series, since her spark was lit in "Breaking the Mold" and "In Her Own Words."

With Quinn, it depends on which college accepts her. If she gets into a math/science university, I could see her majoring in some sort of heavy-duty math. However, if she went to a university with a more diverse course list, she would probably apply her skills to a business or economics major. Quinn has always stricken me as a natural when it comes to marketing, ever since she sold phone cards in "CafŽ Disaffecto"; I think she would want a career that combined both of her loves -- math and shopping.

(Which reminds me: I can't believe that I never once thought of having Daria make this quip: "If you're so brilliant at math, how come you can't keep track of your balance on the charge cards?")

What Quinn has started to see in "Into the Fire" is that as much as she loves math, she doesn't want to focus on it exclusively. The rest of her junior and senior year, she'll be focusing on other subjects as well, maybe feeling the familiar twinges of anxiety about not knowing what she wants to do with her life.

43. Why do you think Daria has such a hard time saying, "I love you"? (This appears in "That Thing You Say" and is echoed throughout the series.) Use an answer other than: "That's how she was on the show."

I think she has a hard time saying "I love you" because it requires her to be vulnerable at a time when she views expressing any emotion as a sign of weakness. Maybe in a few years she will feel comfortable enough with herself to let it slip, or maybe she will always be uncomfortable saying it because of bad experiences from her past. (Think of "Boxing Daria," when Daria was frightened after someone she loved left in the middle of the night after saying angry things about her.) I almost had her say "I love you" to Helen during a scene in "Tomorrow Never Knows," but it felt too forced. I don't think Daria is quite ready to be so open with her feelings.

44. Jake and Helen: Do you consider them to have the potential to be alcoholics in DWU? How will their use and abuse of alcohol (and other drugs, such as during their hippie years) affect Daria and Quinn?

Judging from the number of martinis he drinks, I wonder if Jake isn't already a low-grade alcoholic. The pinch of loneliness from being on his own might lead him to the bottle a little more often, though I don't see him turning into a fall-down drunk. As for Helen, while I think she would restrict her drinking to social occasions, I wouldn't be surprised if she knew of a good pot dealer (a la Weeds), recommended to her by Eric, of course. I wouldn't be surprised if Helen from the actual series knew of a good pot dealer. Stress might tempt her to light up more often, but if so, she would wait until she or her daughters were away for the night.

45. When DWU #22 concludes, where is Jake going, in terms of his emotional well-being? What is his future like? Is he getting better or worse, or not changing at all, as you see it?

Jake feels a little more confident about what he can do as a person since the events in "An Uneasy Marriage," which has decreased his bitterness overall. At the same time, he is starting to wake up and realize that not everything is about him. Being on his own has helped him step out of the box that he was wedged into, or has wedged himself into, and he is able to see things from a different perspective than before. Helen is not "just like his father" and his father didn't cause the problems between him and his daughters. Fear of having a permanently damaged relationship with Daria and Quinn, the way he did with his father, haunts his interactions with them. He wants to prove that he can do better.

46. In the last chapters of DWU, what does Jake have to offer Daria and Quinn, beyond presents, money, and a different place to visit every other weekend? What has Jake taught his daughters about fatherhood and being a husband, for better or worse?

It's hard to say. Jake obviously loves them, but many of the lessons he's taught them are bad. Fathers don't have to mature, be engaged, or reliable. Fathers learning to be more self-realized become self-absorbed and harmful. Presents equal empathy. Because of this, I could see both Daria and Quinn being wary of marriage -- even if Jake and Helen never separated. Who would want to be saddled with that? Which is not to say that Helen has always taught them good lessons, but I've already stated that, overall, she is a better parent than Jake. If Jake teaches them anything positive in "Tomorrow Never Knows," it is the possibility of redemption. By the final scenes of "Tomorrow Never Knows," he is much more involved in their lives than he has been throughout most of the series.

47. Is the Tiffany of DWU any different from the Tiffany of the TV series? Does her cluelessness make her a happier person? How is it possible to make this character inherently interesting?

I'd say she's exactly the same as she is in the series, except maybe for the early DWUs, which I wrote before Tiffany's personality was firmly established. Had MTV aired "It Happened One Nut" in the proper order, I never would have given Tiffany so much intelligence in "Cheered Down."

Who knows if she feels happy... or if she feels anything. The only ways I could see her being more interesting were if 1) she were given some tragic back story (stolen from her rural family in China when she was a newborn) or 2) if you stuck with the idea that Tiffany is secretly very crafty, playing both sides in hopes of gaining favor.

48. Has your view of Tom Sloane changed since you wrote "Anatomy of a Tom Hater" and "The Other Side of the Kiss"? Can Tom ever be redeemed as a character in canon fanfic, and if so, how?

Time has softened my feelings toward him a little, and writing the above-mentioned essays was definitely cathartic! I never really hated, hated Tom except in "Dye! Dye! My Darling" and "Is It Fall Yet?"; otherwise, I just thought he was so-so. Not horrible, not great. He just took up space . . . which is a shame, because in "Jane's Addition" he seemed to have real potential.

I think he could be redeemed in canon fanfiction if you were to do something like write a story set between DDMD and IIFY? in which Tom went back to Jane and asked if she were really serious about wanting him to date Daria, because if not, he wouldn't. That would show that Tom was an honorable guy who understood the impact of his cheating and the break-up on Jane, and who cared about her well being even though they were no longer dating. You could also create a back story that gives Tom the opportunity to look like an honorable guy in other ways. For instance, he could use his car to give rides to people without transportation who need to get to appointments or job interviews. He wouldn't even have to tell anyone about it; he just does it because it's the right thing to do.

49. What were the real-world roots of your creation of the villainous Alfred Phelps? When did he go from being a helpful teacher to a criminal manipulator in your mind? In your opinion, is he the most evil of all DWU characters? If not, who is worse? Is there such a thing as evil within DWU, given the deeds of Phelps, Sandi Griffin ("Outvoted"), and racist students ("Primarily Color")?

Mr. Phelps isn't based on anyone in real life. Well . . . maybe Karl Rove. Otherwise, he came into being in order to fill the role of math teacher that the series had left open. I made him a priggish, proper Englishman because that was one of the few stereotypes left unclaimed. At the same time, having been to England and made English friends, I wanted him to transcend the stereotype. Therefore, I thought it would interesting to set him up so that he was at a distance from the other LHS teachers' behavior and could serve as a sort of critic. A Daria of the faculty.

Very early on, I decided that there would be something suspicious about his character. Daria picked up on it in "Of Absolute Value," noting how unusual it was for Phelps to go to so much trouble in order to help Quinn alone. In some respects, I saw the Phelps situation as an inversion of those Stand and Deliver scenarios in which the teacher puts everything into educating disadvantaged students so that they have a better life, and years later gets some Teacher of the Decade award. I think there's a tendency to romanticize these types of teachers, while giving little thought to the person filling the role, which is the case with Helen, Jake, and Quinn. All three are thrilled to have hit the jackpot with a Stand and Deliver teacher and thus ignore clues that he isn't quite as immaculate as they think.

I don't know if Phelps, or any major character in the DWU, is pure evil. I suppose you could say that Phelps does more things that are evil than other characters, based on an inner sense of victimhood and desperation. Again, the greatest reason is that he lacks the ability to stand outside of himself and see that his actions are really wrong and he should correct them. If there's anything that could be construed as Evil in the DWU, it's the tendency to take your selfish desires and twist them until you've convinced yourself that it's really just selfless good for other people, and anyone who suggests otherwise is against you. That's the rationale not only behind Phelps's actions, but also those of the racist kids in "Primarily Color" (who think that anything having to do with diversity is kow-towing to minority students). Sandi's evil-doing in "Outvoted" is more of the purely selfish kind, and fortunately even while doing it, she seems to realize that and feel remorse.

50. Only a handful of fanfics have described Mrs. Barksdale, mother of Helen, Rita, and Amy. (Example, Richard Lobinske's Falling into College series.) How does Evelyn Barksdale of DWU differ from these other views of Helen's mom?

I haven't read enough of Falling into College to get a full impression of Mrs. Barksdale, but many of the fanfics that I've read involving her (C.E. Forman's "Alienation Legacy" springs to mind) have portrayed her as a one-dimensional cold, elitist snob. Evelyn Barksdale is an elitist snob, having grown up in a well-to-do family that emphasized breeding and earning potential while de-emphasizing emotion, but she also is not as cold as Helen assumes her to be. "Evie" loves Helen and Amy no less than Rita, but she has a bit of Helen's tendency to respond to the wheel that squeaks loudest. For Helen, it's work; for Evelyn, it's Rita. Evelyn is also savvier than her daughters give her credit for, more aware of what they think than she lets on.

She has tender memories of her husband, even though their marriage went through some rocky periods, but like Ruth with Jake, she carries a lot of guilt that she didn't defend Amy's better when Howard lost his temper with her.

51. Joel Silverman: Does he have the potential to become Amy's very own dysfunctional "Jake"? Why do Amy and Joel have a more loving relationship than Helen and Jake, or do they? Why did you decide to make Joel almost normal compared to the annoying or ineffective male characters so frequently seen in the Daria show?

Joel, for the most part, is very different from Jake. While Joel can get cranky and resentful, he never stores up his anger until he explodes the way Jake does, nor does he hide from the world around him. Joel also has a good relationship with his father; his mother is the one with whom he has problems, ever since she moved several states away after his parents' divorce, when Joel was only six years old. Amy will sometimes accuse him of projecting his "mother issues" onto her, while Joel will counter that she does the same with him, using her father.

I don't know if their relationship is more loving than Helen and Jake's so much as it is on more equal terms. Both Amy and Joel know how to talk about their feelings, and both resist leaning on the other too much. Joel has accomplished enough on his own to feel confident in his abilities, so he doesn't need Amy's constant approval. Amy and Joel often fight like Beatrice and Benedict, but their fights serve a constructive purpose by helping them learn how to treat each other better; they don't just store up their anger, explode, then pretend that everything is okay the way Helen and Jake do in the series.

I made Joel a normal guy mainly because I wanted to show that normal guys could exist and be halfway appealing. I'm not a member of the school that thinks it's hilarious when men act like stupid, overgrown children (Homer Simpson, I'm looking at you). I think those "sitcom dad" portrayals send a negative message about what men are capable of achieving, and that the men who are responsible and mature deserve better. Not only that, the women who date or marry them deserve better. I wouldn't shackle Amy with a dud after having given Jake hell for not trying harder with Helen and his daughters. Joel is not meant to be perfect -- perfect characters tend to be boring (see Sloane, Tom and MacKenzie, Michael Jordan). He is just an intelligent guy who doesn't run from his issues.

52. Erin of "Erin the Head" (great pun, by the way) does seem to be quite an airhead by the story's end. Describe your view of her growth through the series, up to "The Winter Chill." Wasn't her husband Brian kind of a major-league jerk, though?

Erin of the DWU is something of a simple-minded idealist. She has this romantic image of what married life should be and wants desperately to achieve it. At times the filter comes off, and she sees Brian for the smug sexist jerk that he is, but the minute he starts making conciliatory gestures toward her, she melts into his arms, certain that it will be different this time. I suspect Rita was like this once, and only after years of hard-learned lessons realized that she wasn't destined for a prince, a white horse, and a Happily Ever After.

Erin is like a female version of Jake. She had a scarred childhood caused by her parents' fighting and divorce, and her mother (although doting) has been a poor role model for strong, successful womanhood. Though she recognizes the dangers of walking down Rita's path, Erin chooses to ignore them in order to wallow in a fantasy world of wife and motherhood. Amy suggests that Erin learn how to value herself before selecting a life partner, and Erin treats her advice like Greek.

A lot of fanfics, such as ones by Crusading Saint and Richard Lobinske, portray Erin as finally waking up and taking initiative with her life. I wish that something like this would happen, but I suspect that instead, Erin will get locked into a pattern with Brian where he treats her like dirt, she runs away crying, then a few days or weeks later, they're back together like newlyweds. This pattern will likely occur for years after "The Winter Chill." The reason I chose to not have Erin exercise her freedom of action was so she would serve as a cautionary tale for Daria and Quinn -- especially Quinn.

53. Glenn Eichler, in the questions asked of him by you (on DVDaria) commented that Quinn was a virgin but probably had an active sex life anyway. How does the Quinn of DWU differ from this, or is she like that, too?

Quinn of the DWU has the same nonexistent sex life as Quinn of the series.

54. Glenn Eichler's revelation that Rita was meant to be the oldest Barksdale sister took many fans by surprise. How did you regard this news, and how does it interact with the setup of DWU?

I was a little disappointed because I'd used clues from the show to create this whole back story for Helen, in which she was the unloved, put-upon eldest sister. However, the revised age order has little impact on the events of the DWU and may even make certain aspects more plausible. For instance, it makes more sense that Helen and Amy would be close if there was no one born between them. It also would make Helen's anxiety over Amy's impending birth (discussed in "Memory Road") more plausible, since not only would she stop being the youngest child, but she would no longer be Daddy's favorite; where would she fit in? I don't think Rita's reactions would be much different from how I portrayed them; she might not be quite so jealous that Helen and Amy had bonded, but I think it would still make her uncomfortable.

In any event, even if the revised age order did have a major impact on my series, I wouldn't change it now.

55. Which of Glenn Eichler's answers to fan-posed questions would have the most impact, positive or negative, on DWU, if the idea were to be adopted into the fanfic series? Which of his answers had information you have considered using in your series?

Hard to say, since so many of Glenn's answers were open-ended. Nothing he said would really hurt my continuum all that much... except for his admission that Amy is five or six years younger than Helen. If I went back and incorporated the narrower age difference, it might throw a few of their interactions out of whack. Much of Amy's outrage in "Memory Road" comes from the fact that Helen was like a mother figure to her growing up, and that at 10 years old, Helen was old enough to know better when she wished that her youngest sibling would be born a girl. Whereas if Helen were only five or six when Amy was born, Amy would have a hard time holding a grudge against her for thoughts that she had as a small child. Also, while Helen might have entertained and watched over Amy when they were young, she likely would not have been as much of a nurturer as I had imagined her to be.

56. Was "Shipped Out" written in reaction to the plethora of Daria/Trent shipperfics that has dogged this fandom? How did fans react to the story? Did you feel vindicated by events later on in the TV series?

"'Shipped Out" was written in reaction to 'shipper fanfics and to 'shipperism in general, which didn't seem to need fanfics to keep it flowing. I meant for it to project my belief that while Trent was a good guy, he was completely different from Daria and would never be able to satisfy her needs. It was a lot of fun to write, and I remember rushing to get it out before "Lane Miserables" could air, because (after seeing a screen capture of Trent sitting with Daria on her bed, after the episode had accidentally aired in England before the United States) I was sure that the episode would take their relationship further, and I wanted to get my two cents in before that happened. Naturally I was pleased and surprised to see that the series writers agreed with my assessment. Some scenes were downright eerie in their similarity, such as the future fantasy in LM where Daria gets over Trent. It led to this half-joking belief amongst fans that I could "predict" plotlines in the series, which turned out to be sort of true (Quinn showing her smarts in IIFY?) and sort of not true (the Love Triangle). My one regret is that because "'Shipped Out" is so much like "Lane Miserables," it suffers by comparison; "'Shipped Out" deals exclusively with Daria/Trent, while LM also has the amusement of the Wandering Lanes.

I don't recall fans having an adverse reaction to the fanfic. Some notable anti-'shippers loved it, while some notable 'shippers like Michelle Klein-Haas and Diane Long admitted, "Yeah, yeah, I know it probably won't happen, but I can dream, can't I?"

57. How do you explain the long absence of Amy from Daria and Quinn's life (made apparent in "I Don't"), and how does that absence figure into DWU? In "The Winter Chill," Amy reflects on a "cosmic connection" she felt with Daria at Erin's wedding, yet in a story fragment in which Amy recalls events during Erin's wedding, Amy tells Joel, "I spent three hours with a niece I'd barely seen since she was five years old." How has this long separation from her nieces and her unexpected connection with Daria affected Amy's thinking about Daria throughout DWU?

I would explain Amy's long absence in terms of 1) her alienation from Helen and 2) the geographic distance between them. In DWU chronology, Amy earned her Bachelors and Masters at northeastern universities and lived in northeastern cities and in Europe while the Morgendorffers lived in Texas. Amy felt as though she had little in common with Helen and, without geographical closeness compelling them to spend holidays together, she did not have much incentive to visit. Daria and Quinn would have been "Helen's kids," and Amy would not have bothered to see them as anything more than extensions of her bossy older sister. Only when Daria was sixteen did Amy see a unique person whose outlook she understood. Having bonded with her at the wedding, Amy did not want to let her drift away again. As Amy mentions in "The Tie That Chokes," she and Daria mainly kept in contact over e-mail. Daria's muted but evident admiration of her would have left her surprised and humbled, maybe even slightly gratified, and all-too-aware of the responsibility she had for being a good role model. Thus, throughout their first couple of years of contact, Amy would have tried her best to fill the role of the "wise aunt" that Daria expected her to play, to the point where she kept a lot of her life -- like problems with Joel in "None in the Family" -- hidden. Not that this is unusual for Amy, but she and Daria are supposed to be closer than Amy and Evelyn, Helen, or Rita.

Eventually this dynamic begins to break down, as Daria gets indignant that Amy won't deal with her on an equal level (confide in her the way Daria confided in Amy about Trent). Amy starts to give off more clues that she isn't perfect and, as she becomes closer to Helen, that she and Daria aren't completely in sync. After pushing Helen to do what is right for herself in "Memory Road," at the possible expense of her family, Amy feels very guilty when she learns that Helen and Jake have separated. In "The Winter Chill," we learn that an unmentioned rift has formed between her and Daria, who feels that Amy played a role in the separation, though she does not know how much of one. Amy's guilt and concern for her nieces are the reasons she nudged Joel extra hard to let Quinn into his firm's internship program ("Working Girl"), during which she and Quinn are able to work through any of their lingering issues. However, Amy is sure that Daria knows exactly what she did in "Memory Road" and will never trust her again. No longer Daria's mentor figure, Amy does not know what sort of relationship will exist between the two of them. She is not even sure of exactly who she is at the moment, having seen the changes in her life that come from raising a baby son. Amy picks up on Daria's extreme annoyance with Ryan and finds an excuse to shift some of the guilt she has been feeling onto Daria's shoulders. She feels, not without justification, that Daria thinks she is a sellout for having gone the mother route and will never accept her son. This way, if Daria pulls even further away, Amy can tell herself that it was because Daria is selfish and unreasonable, not because Amy betrayed her.

Of course what Amy winds up learning is that Daria's distant attitude can be traced to many different factors, some of which have nothing to do with Amy. They eventually renew their bond, with Amy telling herself that she needs to trust Daria as much as she wants Daria to trust her, and Daria telling herself that Amy, even with her new life, is still the same person... that she is a person. It is an adjustment for both of them, but by the end of "The Winter Chill," I think both are on their way to having a more open and honest relationship.

58. The Morgendorffers are not technically Jewish, per "Primarily Color," but Quinn briefly embraces this heritage during the story despite the face that she has only the shallowest grasp of its meaning and implications. Did "Groped by an Angel" affect your writing of the tale? How do you view Quinn's religious interests and longings? Does she have a spiritual side, and if so, what is it in DWU?

"Primarily Color" was released right around the premiere of Season Four, so "Groped by an Angel" had no influence. Quinn embraces Judaism in PC because Judaism is a minority religion and minorities are the hot new trend as far as she is concerned and she intends to partake. On a day-to-day basis, though, Quinn has no definable religious interests or spiritual beliefs. I could see her starting to question the meaning of life or the existence of a higher being after facing so much hardship in "Into the Fire" and "Tomorrow Never Knows." However, it would be years before her questions coalesced into a distinct belief system, if ever. I could see Quinn's spirituality always consisting of scattered puzzle pieces that never quite fit. Unless she were to swallow wholesale the religion of her future husband-to-be...

59. Does the Daria of DWU have a spiritual side, and if so, what is it? If not, why not?

I don't think so... not at this point, anyway. She might ask questions about the workings of life, but she wouldn't attach the answers to any particular religion. She might approve of some practices of certain religions, though, like tolerance, nonviolence, etc.

60. You create an interesting background for the Barksdales in "Primarily Color," having them involved long ago in the violent politics of Northern Ireland. Is there any value in speculating about a connection between Northern Ireland's internecine strife and the sibling strife between the Barksdale sisters? Neither Quinn nor Daria seem to have much interest in Helen's family, though the Barksdales have a much greater impact on their lives than do (apparently) Jake's family. Comments?

I didn't consider a Barksdale/Northern Ireland connection, mainly because the Barksdale sisters are mutts just like nearly every other American. They may have Scotch-Irish blood, but as their surname suggests, they also have English blood, as well as blood from one or two other nationalities. If I were to compare the Barksdales to Northern Ireland, I might as well compare them to the England/Ireland and England/Scotland feuds as well.

Daria might be more interested in Helen's family than her ennui in "Primarily Color" would suggest; she reacts this way mainly because of her skepticism toward O'Neill. As for Quinn, she is too narrowly focused on her present concerns to care about the past. Yet she would have embraced Helen's ancestors in a heartbeat if she'd thought they would help her win "cool" points at school. Daria will probably express more overt interest in the ancestral Barksdales at some point, maybe after a sit-down with Amy. Of course, if she were to learn about the Northern Irish ancestors, she might at some point feel compelled to trace the family tree branches up to the present, which would lead her through the Barksdales' Confederate ancestors, and I don't think she wants to look at that era of her family's history quite yet.

61. In "Outvoted," Sandi Griffin reaches an abysmal moral low during her campaign against Jane Lane for student body president. Was this a step too far in developing her character, or did you see her deeds as more probable than possible? Discuss her redemption in DWU, from "Primarily Color" onward. Do you like this character?

I may have gone too far by having Sandi go on live television and insinuate that Jane was like the Columbine murderers. If I could go back, I'd cut the scene out. However, the thing worth noting is that Sandi is desperate, and desperation can drive many people to do things that they otherwise wouldn't do. Having been replaced by Quinn as president of the Fashion Club, she now finds herself about to be denied another position by someone who should be far beneath her on the social totem poll. Sandi's attempt to ruthlessly put Jane "in her place" is an attempt to equally secure a social position because, without a high-status leadership role, she could sink through the ranks and become increasingly undesirable. Soon after, Sandi realized the perils of this sort of thinking and tried to make amends.

I like Sandi okay, but I don't feel the same fascination with her that other fans do. I don't know why. Maybe because she seems like such a caricature and her accent is so phony and distracting. It's hard to get past them to look at the person.

62. Racism rears its ugly head in "Outvoted" and "Primarily Color," which it almost never does in the series. How do you view DWU's take on racism at Lawndale High, as it has affected Jodie Landon and Mack Mackenzie? How do you feel about the way the main characters deal with racist attitudes and people?

With regard to the series, I think Jodie and Mack must have been the recipient of racist attitudes at some point or other, or they wouldn't have made so many comments about their token status. Racism doesn't have to rear its ugly head in an overt way to exist in canon Lawndale.

In the DWU, the more virulent, overt racism that you see comes from a segment of LHS students that feels marginalized in some significant way and looks to take it out on people who have had more success. Most students likely wouldn't care one way or the other if Jodie were the school president, and therefore she would not face opposition on a daily basis. At the same time, she and Mack are often the recipients of smaller, unintended slights borne of ignorance. The big question in "Primarily Color" is how far one should go to stamp out racism. Should there be a "one size fits all" policy, where the ignorant slights get the same treatment as open intimidation, and if so, would this help or hurt efforts to promote tolerance? Should only racist attitudes be punished? What is the dividing line between acceptable and intolerant?

Daria asks these questions throughout the fic, casting a critical eye on the Zero Tolerance policy and anything that hints of "political correctness." One could make the argument that her lack of tolerance is a form of racism, but then, one could also argue that Quinn's fast acceptance of minorities as "chic" makes her even more racist than Daria. Are they really racist, though, or are they just displaying the sort of hyper-criticalness/thoughtlessness that they would toward anyone? Personally, I don't think that Daria or Quinn would ever refuse to befriend someone who was of a different race or religion, unless that person failed to meet standards that they applied to all people (such as wardrobe, in Quinn's case). Daria believes in tolerance, but knows that when it's heavy-handed, school-enforced tolerance, the possibility for disaster is great.

What I like about "Primarily Color" is that it does a good job exposing the complications surrounding the issue of tolerance, such as the proper terms to use for each group or which groups have or haven't been oppressed. For instance, Jodie points out that O'Neill's Irish ancestors were persecuted, but Daria learns that their persecutors, the Northern Irish, had also been persecuted at one point. The only answer is that there's no easy answer, and the victims and oppressors aren't as identifiable as one might think.

63. How did fan readers react to "Surreal World," arguably the funniest of DWU's episodes?

Fans really seemed to like it. I received more responses than I did for any other DWU, before or since. Their reactions were along the lines of, "Wow, she actually wrote something funny! Funny!" I was glad it turned out as well as it did, because that episode was a killer. Even so, "Surreal World" is the installment that has aged the least well, what with its references to Ananda, Real World: Hawaii, and musicians like Jewel. Maybe that works in its favor, though, by showing that series like Real World that strain so hard to be "hip" wind up painfully dated in a short amount of time.

I'd be curious to know if anyone felt there were any other DWUs that were funnier.

64. Trace the development of the relationship between Amy and Quinn, which in "Working Girl" and "The Winter Chill" appears to have flowered into a warm, cheery friendship that a bitter Daria can only envy.

In the beginning, Amy views Quinn as being on the shallow side, someone with whom she doesn't have much in common, but harmless enough. Amy would have followed her development with the glasses and math with interest, but not to the extent that she kept up with Daria. This would change after "Memory Road," when Amy's concern for her sister and her nieces would lead her to keep a closer eye on them. After Helen fills her in on the problems with Mr. Phelps in "Tomorrow Never Knows," Amy's heart goes out to Quinn, and she leans on Joel to let her into his engineering firm's internship program. At this point, Quinn is still mostly a stranger to her, but over the weeks, they bond over their mutual adoration of Amy's infant. Amy sees a sweetness in her niece's personality that she didn't think was there, and she finds herself comfortable with Quinn in a way that she isn't with Daria. While Quinn admires her as the "wise aunt," she doesn't pass judgment against Amy when she acts less than perfect and even seems to like it when Amy gets a little goofy. Their rapport is not always smooth: During "Working Girl," Quinn does some questionable things, forcing Amy to act as the mother in Helen's absence. However, a genuine affection does develop between them, and with Daria more distant since Ryan's birth (or maybe even since the weekend of "Memory Road"), Amy devotes more of her correspondence to Quinn. Even after she and Daria reaffirm their bond, Amy still values her friendship with her "bouncy," irrepressible niece.

65. How did you get the idea of Jake bonding with Mr. DeMartino in "An Uneasy Marriage"? The two don't seem to have anything in common in the TV series, but you make it work in DWU.

The set-up was established during a scene in "The Daria Hunter" (chopped out in the version aired on The-N), when Jake and DeMartino get drunk in a tent and rant about their messed-up childhoods. Not long after, fanfics would appear that showed Jake and DeMartino together at a bar, acting like friends. Their plotline in "An Uneasy Marriage" was an attempt to explain how they reached that point. I actually think that of all the men in Lawndale (the fleshed-out men -- Tom Griffin doesn't count), Jake and DeMartino do have the most in common. In addition to their awful childhoods, they both always seem to be on the verge of exploding.

66. The physical fight between Daria and Quinn in "Tomorrow Never Knows" is scary and traumatic, and its aftershocks could run for years. Will Daria and Quinn become the new equivalent of the "Battling Barksdale sisters"? What elements work toward full reconciliation and what elements work against it?

Daria and Quinn won't soon forget the nasty fight, but I don't think they'll turn into Helen and Rita if they learn from their mistake. Quinn is so ashamed afterward that she practically grovels at Daria's feet for forgiveness. She now knows how it feels to have her sister really, truly hate her, and it's horrible. As for Daria, she now knows what happens when she gives in to her passions and the result frightens her. Both will try to be extra-considerate of the other (especially Quinn) during the months that follow "Tomorrow Never Knows," and the situation may not rear its ugly head ever again, given that it started when Quinn accused Daria of interfering with her life and soon they will lead separate lives.

If Daria and Quinn do develop a Helen/Rita relationship, it won't be because "it all started back when we had that horrible fight," but because of strains of jealousy/hostility that already existed in their relationship, which they cannot excise. Maybe Quinn will go on to be a huge business success while Daria is a frustrated part-time professor at a low-level college. The resentment Daria might feel could be enough to drive a wedge between them. Maybe Quinn will sabotage something that matters to Daria for her own gain; if so, that's when Daria could conceivably point to their fight in "Tomorrow Never Knows" and say that it represents a pattern. Daria will always feel some resentment toward Quinn for what she did, but as long as it remains a one-time occurrence, she will be willing to dismiss her actions as partially due to the devastation she was feeling at the time.

67. In "Mother's Milk," in an astounding and intimate moment with significant psychological impact, Helen, Daria, and Quinn drink Amy's breast milk. How do you view this event on a deeper level? What's really going on here? Is Amy "mothering" her sister and nieces, nursing them and helping them grow as individuals and as a family? Is Amy the most significant maternal figure in DWU?

I wouldn't go that far. As we know, Amy likes to keep her emotions inside and holds everyone at a distance. That in spite of this, she would allow other people to drink her breast milk is shocking and ironic. I don't think it really says anything about her relationship with her sister and nieces, except that she feels comfortable enough with them to be this intimate. I wouldn't call Amy a greater mother figure than Helen, but someone who is learning how to be a mother. Since "Memory Road," she has found that being part of a family means caring about your loved ones even when they're not fun or precocious, or even when they don't really like you. Amy believes that she can't turn her back on Helen, Daria, and Quinn and she knows that she can't turn her back on her son. She is not used to feeling so much responsibility and it is all somewhat overwhelming and scary to her.

68. You have Amy Barksdale think in the unfinished story, "The Winter Chill," that her sister Rita and niece Erin are the "earth mother" type, almost super-moms. Explain this, please-not sure it comes out elsewhere in DWU.

Minor correction -- Amy describes Rita as hands-on and Erin as the "earth mother" type. I'm not sure if Amy is using it in the correct sense, but she means that Erin is not just hands-on, but exclusively devoted to motherhood, treating it like her calling, like something she was born to do. Erin treats every aspect of parenting as a joy, whereas the more cynical Amy combines love of her son with fatigue and worry about the new pressures he's introduced into her life.

69. The "'I Don't' Aftermath" fragment among the scenes cut from DWU stories is almost a complete short story. Any chance you'll tidy it up and sent it out as one of Amy's reminiscences? It shouldn't take you but a couple days to do it.

Do I detect a suggestion? <smirk> I was thinking along those lines myself, as well as cleaning up and completing some of the "Future Scenes" for submission.

70. In an early version of "Memory Road" on the Contrarian's Corner website, (http://www.the-wildone.com/spoilerfic/abf_part2.txt), the following conversation takes place between Amy and Joel:

AMY: . . . (runs her hand along the back of Joel's head.) Though I'll admit I'm a little afraid of you from time to time. Sure I hide it well behind my wonderfully disaffected veneer, but it's there.

JOEL: Why?

AMY: You've got everything under control. You're so talented and smart and funny. You have all these friends... and one day you might find a girl with a brighter outlook than yours truly.

JOEL: I love your outlook. You're sassy; you make me do things I'd otherwise just think about.

AMY: I do, don't I? (grows solemn.) But someday you might not want that.

Is Amy's point of view above how you see Daria's thinking, too, regarding a boyfriend? Does Daria also fear she will be betrayed or left behind because she is perceived as inadequate or wanting?

(Just to note, a form of this conversation exists in the final version of "Memory Road.")

I think it's pretty clear that just about everything Daria does is to protect herself from rejection. While Daria's misanthropy is meant to ward off the idiotic, a part of her fears that it is so ingrained, she cannot break free... so when she does meet that Special Someone, he will view her as beneath him... and be right. Even if she is able to suppress or get past it for a while, this ingrained part of her personality will eventually reemerge, alienating her loved one to the point where they can no longer be together. Given the number of times that Helen or Jodie or even Tom has criticized Daria for her attitude, it wouldn't be too difficult for her to imagine that there is nothing desirable or appealing about her cynicism, except to someone more "warped and depressing" than she.

71. What attracted you most to the Daria show on TV, when you first saw it? How has your perception of the show changed over the years?

I was a fan of Beavis and Butt-head and always liked Daria's character, as I did Van Dreissen's, Buzzcut's, and Mr. Anderson's. When I learned that Daria was getting her own series, I was pleasantly surprised, and after reading good reviews about it in the paper, I decided to tune in. My college roommate and I watched "The Invitation" on her television and we thought it was the funniest thing we'd ever seen. Never had there been a show in which the lead characters talked and reacted the way we would. I lost some interest when the subsequent episodes proved to be less naturally funny, but was hooked for good after viewing "Road Worrier" (thanks, Anne!). I became really passionate about the show after seeing "Gifted" (I'd missed the first half of Season Two because I was out of the country), where Jodie actually called Daria on her pessimistic attitude. I realized that Daria was not going to be a one-note show in which the smug cynic shot fish in a barrel episode after episode. My expectations that the show would really stretch itself in the third season were high... only to be lowered as Season Three unfolded with fantasy episodes that clashed with the show's realistic point of view and lightweight plotlines that demanded more depth (such as "Jake of Hearts"). The beginning of Season Four got me hoping that the show was back on track, but by the end, I was throwing pillows at the T.V. screen. Daria was finally serious about character growth again, but through a plot device that I thought was cheap and ridiculous. By Season Five, I'd grown weary of expecting anything from the show, so I just sat back and took what pleasure I could from the episodes.

Now that the show is over, I don't have any more expectations and find pleasure from watching even the dull episodes (especially since Daria is so rarely shown). I find myself gravitating toward Season One episodes and Season Four episodes the most; Season One because of the great snark, the likes of which would never be seen again, and Season Four because now that my anger has cooled, I find it an oddly fascinating train wreck.

72. How has your view of Daria fandom changed since you began watching the show? How has your view of Daria fanfic changed during the same time?

When I first started watching, I don't think there was a fandom. Between Seasons One and Two, I popped onto Planet Daria from time to time, but did not experience full-fledged "fandom" until the beginning of Season Three, when curiosity led me to visit Lawndale Commons. I don't remember what exactly it was like, except that opportunity for long conversations was limited because the board operated like a "grinder," eating posts that floated to the bottom after X number of days. Michelle K-H was a regular (it was her board, after all) and Paperpusher would pop over every so often, though like now, his appearances were too rare.

I think I was near the front of a tidal wave of newcomers, which would include fanfic authors like Canadibrit, Jon Kilner, and John Takis, amongst others. Fandom began to feel very crowded by Fall of 1999, and Martin Pollard created a fanfic message board at Outpost Daria so people could be entertained during the "long drought," as the long break between seasons was called back then. I think the creation of the board fundamentally changed the way a large group of fandom interacted. The threads could be longer and more permanent on the new board, so works could be discussed in depth and authors and readers could mingle (good), but at the same time, it provided more opportunity for fanfics to be pimped by an author or an author's devoted fans, and for an author to establish an "entourage" (bad). I don't think Martin's board is solely responsible for this trend; it would have happened with any semi-permanent message board, and once Paperpusher set his up (after Michelle yanked hers suddenly in December 1999, after being called a Nazi one too many times), these progressions became an indelible part of fandom.

I've gone through several stages since the beginning. First, the shy newbie afraid to say anything lest I get called an idiot. Second, one of the new fanfic authors clamoring for attention amongst the crowd. Third, fic author and moderator of the Outpost Daria Message Board (which became an all-purpose message board after Michelle's went down, if I recall) and the Paperpusher Board. Fourth, fic author, moderator, and webmaster (of the still minor Contrarian's Corner). Fifth, I eased up on the writing and took over DVDaria. Sixth, I bought the PPMB from Paperpusher, which brings me to the present. During this time, I've made and lost a lot of friends ("lost" in the sense that they stopped coming to the forums), many of whom I still wish were around, like John Berry and Rey Fox. I've also wanted to hurl several people through a window at one time or other... including myself. I used to take other fans' opinions very seriously, especially when I was in that transition stage between Berkeley and Los Angeles, when I had little else going on. I would actually care what cliques were forming at #daria+. Now, as hard as it is to believe, I feel more detached. I want to be respected, but I don't care if I'm not everyone's "pal." Sometimes I worry that I should care a little more, because I can get temperamental and I don't want to trample on other people when I give my opinion (those who don't deserve it, that is).

As for how I view today's fandom compared to that of yesterday... I'd say it's smaller and mellower, probably not unlike the Daria community between Season One and Season Three, which I never had the chance to experience in full. I'm amazed at how many people have stuck around besides me -- like Martin Pollard, Steven Galloway, Guy Payne, Mike Quinn, Crazy Nutso, Kemical Reaxion, Milo, John Takis, Aaron Adelman, Reese Kaine, etc., etc. What does it mean? Are we creatures of habit, or do we view this as a genuine community, one that we sometimes leave, but know that we can come back?

Similar to the fandom of "old," people are basically friendly, though the smaller size of the group seems to mean less diversity of thought -- people used to really butt heads, over Daria/Trent 'shipping, if nothing else -- and fewer fires to put out, certainly no raging infernos. The trolls that you see now are smaller and less noxious than the ones that haunted the message boards of the past. Fewer people seem to complain that they aren't being noticed... unless they're fuming about it inside. There's not as much action in this group as there used to be in terms of creating new websites, but I think the levels of activism (mobilizing to put Daria on DVD, etc.) are about the same.

Where I really feel the difference is in the fanfic section. Fanfic authors now seem to try on multiple hats, whereas fic authors of the past, possibly due to sheer numbers, tended to be more segregated along the lines of 'shipper drama, comedy, regular drama, etc. In some ways, having fewer people to compete with liberates an author to try new things, but at the same time, it means fewer genres from which one can choose. Comedies used to be abundant; now they lag far behind dramas. Yes there are Iron Chef challenges and Scenes That Would Never Be Written Yet Are Written Over and Over Again Each Time Getting Stranger and Stranger, but few ideas from either get made into full-fledged stories, let alone comedies. I miss the sheer goofiness of John Berry's stories and the mild insanity of Crazy Nutso's stories. Scripted fics, comedy or otherwise, used to be numbered alongside the narrative fics; now only a handful get written. Several people have claimed that they just don't like scripted fics, but I have to wonder if many would feel otherwise if they had been exposed to them regularly early on in their "fan life."

A lot of excellent stuff gets produced now, but I'm not one of those people who thinks that a story is "the best ev-ah!" just because it was written more recently than a story with a similar theme written six years ago. Some moving, excellent drama was written by Renfield, Yui Daoren, Jon Kilner, Daniel Suni, John Takis, Milo, Diane Long, Erin Mills, and more. At the same time, great comedy came from the aforementioned John Berry and Crazy Nutso, as well as John Takis, Milo, Thomas, and Mike Yamiolkoski. Milo took fanfiction to new heights with his "silent fanfic" as did Aaron and Barry Adelman with their intricately produced Daria movies (which fooled a number of people for a long time). Yet when is the last time anyone besides me and Martin Pollard has mentioned John Berry? Yui Daoren? Jon Kilner? Would Renfield and Nemo Blank be remembered if they hadn't each written something fairly recently? Would Michelle Klein-Haas's work be remembered if she hadn't yanked it from the Internet? I don't think that newcomers to fandom and fanfiction should have to genuflect to the "old greats," but it would be nice to see that more people remembered that there was a lot of fanfiction written before the last few years, and much of it was pretty damn good.

73. When you read the Daria fanfic of others, what things piss you off the most about it? What mannerisms, writing habits, expectations, beliefs, or characterizations do you hate seeing when you read the Daria works of others?

I guess it's easier than saying what I like. <chuckle> Just kidding. (Or am I...?)

I hate reading fanfics that make Jake look sweet and understanding and Helen cold and distant. Not only do I feel like I'm reading about characters I don't recognize, but I can see the verbal gymnastics that went into making Jake seem like the superior parent (similar to the ones used to make Trent burn with ambition). I hate when fanfics portray Daria as having heavy-duty unrealized longing for Tom before "Fire!" when the show provides no evidence. I used to hate Daria/Trent 'shipper fanfics because everything unique about Daria was cast aside and she just became the archetypal "smart, sensitive girl" destined to hook up with the "talented, sexy musician." I'm no fan of stories in which the Mary Sue or Marty Stu has a starring role because I'll always be more interested in the actual characters than ones the author invented. Fanfics starring Amy, where she shows up and solves Daria's problems with her magic Cynic juice, bother me for reasons that I've already stated, but I also find them to be amusing.

I also have a strong dislike for fanfics that make Daria too accomplished and admired by all, because it usually happens overnight and without sufficient foundation to make it believable. When a character becomes too perfect, he/she almost inevitably becomes less interesting and relatable. Similarly, I dislike fanfics where Quinn, post-IICY?, is mature, sensitive, and academically focused. She seems so far removed from the Quinn that we know, she might as well be a completely different character. I can see Quinn growing more serious, but not to the point where she sheds all of her flaky self-centeredness. In my experience, people don't change overnight, and part of the pleasure of seeing them change is watching the development.

Even though these types of fics grate on me, I recognize their right to exist. My dislike of any fic does not mean that I think it should be banned or that it isn't "real" fanfiction. At the same time, recognizing a story's right to exist does not mean I am not allowed to challenge some of the story's assumptions or its underlying premises. I think a lot of times, fans assume that critics of their story are trying to drive it out of existence and that they have the legitimate power to make it happen. That wouldn't happen, unless said story offends nearly everyone on many levels... and even then, it would probably just wind up on fanfiction.net.

74. What (realistic) topics and issues have yet to be covered in Daria fanfic, or have been woefully underdeveloped?

Hard to say... I don't think I've ever seen a fanfic that had Daria work as an office temp, which seems like something she could do during the summers of her college years. Daria's reactions to the indignities of her situation would be priceless. I also don't think that many fanfics have addressed the issue of Daria's weight. While I don't think she would ever be as preoccupied with it as Quinn, I find it unrealistic that she would never think about her weight at all.

Otherwise, I'd just like it if people wrote more fanfics about everyday stuff. Daria goes to the store... what drama and mayhem might ensue? Quinn takes her driving test. Daria gets forced to perform in a talent show or school play. A few authors have mined this territory, but I think many believe that it's impossible to create good comedy or drama from these types of situations, so they reach for the melodramatic -- a school shooting, a sudden death, an attempt at suicide, a bombing, rape, etc. These can and have been done quite well, but as with sci-fi, they can also become tired and formulaic, becoming less about the characters and more about the horror of the event. Not every story needs to leave you grasping for a hanky.

75. Were there times when you considered ending your involvement with fanfic writing? Why? Did you ever seriously consider leaving Daria fandom? Why?

I've never thought, "I'm gonna leave right now and NEVER come back!", but there have been times when I've felt much less involved, to the point where I expect I'll get so caught up in Real Life, I'll slip away altogether. That may yet happen, but so far, every time I think I've reached that point, something draws me back yet again. In some ways, it's much easier to participate long-term in an online fandom compared to a face-to-face club, because it's convenient to access, available whenever you want it, and it isn't so demanding that you have to sacrifice other interests to make room (unless you really want to).

As for fanfic, I've never made a conscious choice to stop writing forever, though I have made an effort to write less. Even when I announced retirement in 2002, I added the caveat that it was temporary, meant to cool expectations that I would be coming out with a new installment anytime soon. I always want to leave open the possibility that I could write more.

76. What is happening in your life nowadays, at work and home? What future events are you planning for or hoping for? What real-world projects are you currently working on?

I'm currently tinkering with a treatment for a screenplay and will soon write the first script draft. It's my first attempt at a full-length screenplay as opposed to a teleplay, so I have a lot to learn. I'll just have to trust that my manager is sincere if he tells me it's marketable. Otherwise, by day, I edit this and that manuscript as a copy editor and sometimes work as a freelance writer. At night, I unwind in front of my computer alone... though hopefully not for much longer. I'm also semi-active in local politics and am trying to become more active.

I've made some headway in Hollywood, but am growing jaded about my prospects as a television writer (freelance jobs are nearly impossible to get, and staff jobs more impossible still) and am hoping to get farther with screenplays, which are easier to sell than teleplays. However, I am also giving serious thought to my next career path, which could involve law school, or going into investigation. No matter what happens, though, I'll make the time to write because it's in my blood. It won't always be screenplays; I'm getting the itch to write novels again, and might try my hand at an ongoing comic. I'm also excited about the various technological advances that have made it easier to produce and sell CDs and films for cheap. Someday in the not-too-distant future, it could be very possible for an amateur to produce and animate a series, and broadcast it on the Internet, that looks as good as the ones currently on television. In any event, after the DWU ends, my search for the next big series to write will begin.

77. It could be argued that you have a dimmer view of Jake Morgendorffer than of any other character. What was visible to you in the Jake of the actual series that brought you to this conclusion; why do you feel it to be accurate, and how would you say that you've worked with this viewpoint in the DWU?

When I first started watching Daria, Jake didn't leave much of an impression on me. He was just another well-meaning but clueless father, like the ones on countless other shows. Then I started reading fanfics by prominent authors like John Berry, C.E. Forman, and later Michelle Klein-Haas and Diane Long, who presented Jake as a tragic figure: a funny, sweet man, hampered by a terrible past, who really tried to be there for Daria and Quinn in his own way. By contrast, Helen was portrayed in varying degrees as cold and indifferent to her family's wants and needs, serving only to undercut Jake's authority at every turn. These takes on the characters conflicted with my view of them and left me scratching my head, wondering if I was looking at them all wrong.

For a time I tried to see Jake in a more positive light, applauding his occasional forays into awareness, such as his defense of Daria in "Arts N Crass" or his brief heart-to-heart with her in "Jake of Hearts." Even so, I had trouble warming to him, or understanding how Jake was being prevented from having the closeness with his daughters that he supposedly craved. From what I could see, for every episode that showed Jake cared about his family, there were two that showed he just couldn't bother. Where was Jake in "Write Where It Hurts?" Obsessing over a stew that was made at his military school. Where was Jake during Daria's vanity crisis in "Through a Lens Darkly"? Murmuring at something he read in the newspaper. Where was Jake during the Love Triangle? Committing unintentional arson (in "Fire!"), obsessing over squirrels, then trying to tell a successful joke. At nearly every pivotal moment of Daria's life, Jake wasn't there for her emotionally. I wasn't expecting him to sit down and have a long, intimate talk with her, but I did want to know that he got what she was going through and was ready with some level of support. Even their bonding episode wasn't about Jake wanting to know Daria, but about him wanting her to be his security blanket while he was at the conference. Jake never, ever went out of his way to ask Daria or Quinn what they were feeling or how they were doing unless Helen gave him a push.

I struggled with these findings for a while, thinking that I was just being too hard on Jake, who really wasn't a bad guy even with his faults, until I saw "Psycho Therapy." In that episode, Jake's occasional whiny cluelessness morphed into something very nasty and passive aggressive. Something inside me snapped, and the next time one of those "Poor Jakey, if only he were given a chance" threads appeared on the Paperpusher Board, I wrote, "Jake is an asshole." The responses ranged from curious to surprised to downright offended. Other fans offered the usual examples of Jake's supportive parenting -- "But he put his arm around her in that episode! See? See?? Helen never did that!" "Jake and Daria read the paper together! Clearly they have a cosmic bond that transcends mere physical gestures!" -- but by the end of a long debate, some people thought that I'd made good points. Crusading Saint, for instance, wound up incorporating a more negative view of Jake into fics like "A Loss of Perspective." Others acted as though by trashing Jake, I was trashing them; they identified with him so strongly as the principle male of the show, they felt as if their efforts were being blasted, or possibly the efforts of any man. That was never my intention. I wanted to point out Jake's mean-spiritedness, hypocrisy, and lack of effort. Obviously I couldn't know what every male fan of the show was doing during his off time. In any event, this view of Jake stuck with me, bleeding into DWUs like "An Uneasy Marriage" and "All But Forgotten"/"Memory Road."

78. What was your justification or rationale for making Mr. Phelps homosexual? Was it from a desire to remove him as a possible romantic relationship for Quinn?

Yes. I thought that if Mr. Phelps were straight, people would be too quick to jump to the conclusion: "He's a lech!" Even if his stated intentions were as I've written them, I could still see people thinking, "He wants to get into her pants." I didn't want the Phelps/Quinn relationship to be sexual, but spiritual. Phelps does love Quinn, but as a daughter figure, or more accurately, like a plant that he's nurtured from a seed. His corruption has nothing to do with his homosexuality and would exist even if he were straight.

79. Where did your nickname 'The Queen of Quinn' come from?

From the fact that I was the first fanfic author to focus on her character for an extended period of time. If I recall, back during Seasons Two and Three, fanfic authors were just beginning to explore characters that weren't Daria, Jane, or Trent. Austin Covello became known as the "Stacy" author because of his fanfics about Stacy. C.E. Forman was the "Jodie" author because of "No Picnic." I was the "Quinn" author.

80. You are one of the few actual, professional writers involved with writing Daria fanfiction (TAG being another notable in this arena). How has your training and experiences as such helped shape not only your actual works, but your vision of what the show was?

During most of my fanfic career, I wasn't a professional (and even now, I don't yet earn enough from my writing to live off of); therefore, training wasn't really a factor. However, I noticed that writing actual scripts has made my writing for "Into the Fire" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" sharper. I've learned to be as brief and precise in my description as possible, and I leave out references to camera angles because a typical script draft doesn't have them until the episode is ready to shoot. Now when I look back at my older fics, I want to take a hacksaw to some of the camera angles and weed out most of the "Bt"s. Several of them have already undergone a bit of streamlining...

As for whether my training has affected my view of the show... not a whole lot. My views of the characters were largely formed by the time IIFY? aired. It did make me understand better the constraints that the Daria writers were under when they wrote the episodes -- a typical half-hour is thirty pages, which isn't very long.

81. What fanfic series, past or present, would you like to be a 'guest writer' for (for just one episode)? What would you like to do with the characters of that series, and what stories would you like to tell?

I would say C.E. Forman's The Lost Seasons, since it was such an early influence and our styles are so similar (plus, C.E. and I collaborated on my series, Abruptly Amy). I would probably wind up doing... what I did to the characters in the DWU. Hmm. Maybe that's not such a good idea. I wouldn't mind guest writing for All My Children, since I like tales of Helen and Jake in the 60's. I don't know what I would do differently, though.

82. What would you say was your greatest 'missed opportunity' in writing the DWU? If possible (assuming it's not), how would you have liked to change it?

My greatest missed opportunity was in not showing more of Jake's growth/activity between "An Uneasy Marriage" and "All But Forgotten." In one fic he is screwed up and confused, then two fics later, he's teaching classes and meeting with one of his students. That's a pretty big leap, and too much of it happened off screen. Sure, the teaching reveal made for a good "Gotcha!" moment in "All But Forgotten," but something that impacted the family this much really should have had more "screen" time.

A couple of smaller missed opportunities include not fleshing out Phelps more, in terms of leaving stronger hints about his crooked intentions and showing the type of teacher he can be in a classroom, and not showing more of Joel before "All But Forgotten." He physically disappears after "That Thing You Say," not to reappear until nearly the end of the continuum. Joel in my mind has grown into a more complex character than he appears to be throughout most of the DWU.

83. What would you say are the biggest misconceptions about the characters in the DWU?

One misconception about Quinn is that she is a math genius. Quinn is very talented, but she isn't a genius. Another is that Daria doesn't have a starring role in the DWU because I wasn't interested in her, couldn't relate to her, or couldn't write her character. The real reason is, again, that Daria already had her own series, and it was more fun to write about characters that hadn't been explored. A third misconception is that just because Quinn has a starring role, the entire DWU is about her. Anyone who has read the continuum knows that is definitely not true. A fourth one is that I want Jake to suffer. I don't . . . at least no more than any other character . . . but I do want him to atone.

84. What storylines did you have serious reservations with before writing them, and are or were there storylines that (after serious contemplation) you chose not to pursue? Why did you make those decisions?

The first DWU installment that made me pause was "Cheered Down," because I was about to take my first major departure from canon. By the end, not only would Quinn be wearing her glasses regularly, but the Fashion Club would be broken up. Since this was a time when canon was more strictly adhered to (after I wrote "Andrea Speaks!", I was gently chided by a couple of people for making Quinn a cheerleader when she had already rejected the idea in the Daria Diaries), I was afraid that no one would accept the new developments. I remember e-mailing C.E. Forman frantically (by then, we had regular correspondence) and asking for his advice; he assured me that in spite of his "canonical" reputation, he had done a number of crazy things with the characters, too (like turn Quinn into a golf prodigy), so it was okay.

Other storylines I've had reservations about were the ones for "Outvoted" (the challenge of putting Jane and Sandi in starring roles), "Surreal World" (the challenge of creating the reality show style), "Erin the Head" (because I was afraid it would be stupid), and "In Her Own Words" (because it was dense and full of new characters). "In Her Own Words" started out as a dramatically different story entitled "Idol Warship"; I don't think I've ever rewritten as much as I did for that fic, and that includes the rewrites for "Tomorrow Never Knows."

As for storylines I've scrapped, I can't think of any other than the light-hearted fics I came up with early on, like "English Impatient." As I explained earlier, it was because they wound up not fitting in with the overall direction of the continuum.

85. It could be argued that the ending of the Phelps storyline in the DWU was something of a letdown, because he didn't get a serious comeuppance and because it happened Greek theatre-style (off-stage). How do you respond to that; do you feel that Phelps 'wasn't punished enough' after all of the things he did and the resultant aftershocks, and do you feel that your way of having Phelps punished was a deliberate attempt to NOT have Daria handle problems in a canonical fashion, in order to differentiate the DWU from the standard Daria universe?

I think that Phelps is punished on screen. His nadir moment comes during his last scene with Quinn, when he watches her go and realizes that he has just lost her for good. He goes into his empty kitchen, sits down, and stares into space. After all of his desperate attempts at self-preservation, from threats to manipulation, he has nothing. He has lost Quinn, Marshall, his reputation, and (soon) his job and possibly his freedom. He is alone and realizing it for the first time.

I felt that if I showed Phelps being sentenced, I would have to show the trial, dragging out a story that was already too long. I liked leaving that bit of ambiguity in the end where Quinn doesn't know why Phelps turned himself in, whether it was because he saw no way out or because he truly cared about her. Such ambiguity seems to be more true to life than not.