This month's featured author is Cheile. Cheile writes Voyager/DS9 fanfic and four of her stories are featured on this page.
If you're a fanfic writer and would liked to be featured on this page, please drop us a note at [email protected] We'll also gladly take recommendations for writers whom you think deserve to be "in the spotlight."
Name: Cheile
Websites: Cheile's Paris and Torres page, The Janeway/Chakotay Shrine, RubyCat's Lair
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
What do you want to know? �Just kidding. �I'm 21, living in CA, only child and I have two cats--a 12-year-old female named Bendi and a 6-month old kitten named Meru. I work nights at the Base commissary and try to cram the rest of my routine into the daylight hours.
How long have you been a writer?
�Since about freshman year, when Nola, a friend in Spanish class, convinced me to try scribbling for fun. �I went home and wrote a couple pages on what I thought was a nonsensical, dumb beginning of a short story about a haunted cabin at a summer day camp. �I brought it back to Nola, she gave me a million suggestions and we kept working on it. �That dumb beginning has bloomed into a 120-page novel on my computer and once I give it a huge and thorough overhaul and let a few more people proof it, I plan to offer it to a publishing company.
How long have you been a Trek fan?
I started in sixth grade, gave it up in eighth, then got hooked again when my dad made me sit down and watch Voyager's "Future's End part 1".
What is your favorite series to watch? To write for? To watch?
DS9, with Voyager a close second. �to write for - DS9 and Voyager probably share that title. �My Voyager muse just emerged first.
What is your favorite episode?
oh my - there are just too many. �The one TOS episode I recall is "That Which Survives", where the Enterprise found a planet guarded by a projection of a woman whose touch would kill. �For Voyager - probably "Course Oblivion" and "Timeless"--those two were well-done acting by the entire cast, and also "Faces" and "Barge of the Dead"--great efforts by Roxann Dawson and also in part Robbie McNeill. �For DS9 - "Duet" (Nana Visitor blew me away in this one), the "Favor the Bold"/"Sacrifice of Angels" two parter, "Chimera" (both Rene and Nana were great and the ending was just beautiful), "Change of Heart"--the best Worf/Jadzia episode to date, and too many more to list here. �Those are the ones that stand out in my mind.
What type of fanfic do you like to write?
Mostly romantic stuff, because I am a hopeless romantic at heart. �"Kira's Prayer" was probably the first thing I wrote that wasn't entirely romance, though it contained some romantic factors in it.
Have you done any other type of writing?
Aside from my in-progress novels, I've written and had published about two dozen reviews in a Bakersfield newspaper.
How did you get started writing fanfic?
After I got back into Trek, I searched the web for good sites to surf. �I found, among them, many fanfiction sites. �I read various stories and thought "maybe I could try it". �So I did.
What is your favorite fanfic?
Like choosing a favorite episode, this is difficult. �My favorite Voyager authors are probably D'Alaire, JoAnna Walsvik and Janet Toner of P/T fandom, and Your Cruise Director aka YCD of J/C fandom. �For DS9, Naomi, Katia, Seema and Carrie are the best of Worf/Jadzia. �Odo/Kira has so many great authors that I couldn't possibly list them all, but Greenwoman's "Reconsider Me", Carolyn Fulton's "Basilisk", Cecy Pelz' "A Lonely Place to Be", Lori Summers' "Angle and Plane"/"Circle and Spiral", Kyroka's "Bloodfire", Roxane Gilbert's "Faith Along the River", Amylynn's "The Gift" and Trace Hemenover's "A New Light" are�just a few of my favorites.
Is there someone who inspires your writing, be it a famous person, one of the actors or another fic writer?
The actors themselves are the epitome of inspiration with the way they breathe life into the characters they portray. All of the above authors are also good inspiration, and it was after reading Janet Toner's epic "Warmth" that gave me the "I can do this" thought. The continuing encouragement/persuasion of my friends from RAFL, especially Cath Allan, helped me to finish "Kira's Prayer" and continue on with my other O/K ideas now in the works.
What is your favorite book? Why?
This is also a hard decision. Andre Norton has to be my favorite author. My four favorite of her books are "Flight in Yiktor", "Breed to Come", "Wraiths of Time" and "Black Trillium", co-written with Julian May and the late Marion Zimmer Bradley. Also I like Brian Jacques and his "Redwall" saga. Carole Nelson Douglas and Lilian Jackson Braun are good choices for mystery fans who love cats. V.C. Andrews is great because of the never-ending twists and turns--you never know what the characters will go through next. For Trek books, Peter David's "Imzadi" stands out, along with the Double Helix DS9 novel and Jeri Taylor's "Mosaic".
Do you have any advice for other fanfic authors?
Write, write, write, and don't give up. And don't let anyone who tries to tear you down succeed because THEY think your writing sucks.
Anything else you'd like to add?
Just something Rene Auberjonois said once - "Try to channel your anger and disappointment into something CREATIVE, and . . . . Reach for the Stars!".
Kira's Prayer A coda to "What You Leave Behind", from Kira's point of view.
The Prophecy While at a fair with his family, sixteen-year-old Tom is approached by a fortune teller. What she reveals might someday be reality....
Seo S�ora�ocht "Gravity" coda. Tom finally gets to see B'Elanna after two months. They share an evening together. B'Elanna meets Noss. Noss' thoughts on P/T.
Dark Surroundings Answer to the P/T Collective Loony Archivist's challenge--"why is Tom so claustrophobic?" Well, here's my guess--kinda comes from personal experience.
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