Wizz’s Wackyweed...

Interview with Debbie Dee
by Wizz
 

Introduction by Wizz:

I had the pleasure of meeting this writer about two years ago. Although it was a short meeting I look forward to this summer when we meet again an can actually sit down and talk! So enjoy her answers and I will be able to tell you more dirt....er... I mean....about Debbie Dee by the end of this summer! See ya soon DD!!!!!!!!!!

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From Wizzy and Shadylady:

1. How long have you been writing fiction?
A few years now.

2. What is your favorite fan fiction story you have written and why?
Well I really don’t have a favorite but if I did I think it would be Woman of my Dreams….because it was the first story I did that was from people I made up myself.

3. What got you interested in Xena and writing fan fiction?
I didn’t like the way Xena ended so decided to write my own ending. So I wrote my own story on how I brought Xena back to life. And I had a very good friend (Tina) help me post it.

4. How has Xena changed your life?
It taught me how to stand up for myself. And because of the show I found email groups and found a lot of great friends I would not of known if it was not for this show.

5. What color is your toothbrush?
White and green

6. If you could be any super hero, who would you be and why?
Well I think Xena is a super hero and I would like to be her because she is not scared to kick butt.

7. Do you wipe with your right hand or left?
They have Toilet paper now????

8. Why and when did you start writing?
I started writing to see if I could do it and because I like happy endings…I can do that with my own stories…I control them. I started really writing a few years ago.

9. What is your bra size?
Sorry can’t see the tag in back to tell.

10. Do you write more than one story and a time?
Well I get tricked into making bets with wizzy for one. For another when you get a story in your head you have to write about it. So you just find the time.

11. How and where do you get your inspiration?
It can come from anything,,,tv..real life..reading.

12. What kind of underoo’s do you wear?
The kind that I can afford to buy

13. How long have you been writing?
I started writing when I was a teenager..but only F.F. for a few years.

14. What story/series are you most proud of?
I am really proud of all my work so I can’t just pick one.

15. Do you get hate mail and how do you handle those?
I have gotten some but I really have been lucky and mostly get really nice emails…and when I get some not so nice I just thank them for the feedback and that is about it.

16. What is the best piece of advice you got when you were starting out as a writer?
Have a good beta reader sanding by…but don’t be scared to ask for help if you need it. And if you don’t like what you wrote at first don’t give up just try again and again if you have too. Make writing fun not a chore

17. How do you lay out your stories?
Sometimes I will write down a story outline. But most of the time I just start typing and see where it leads me.

18. Do you have an ending before you start writing or does it reveal itself to you as you write?
I found out with my first story don’t think too far ahead with anything because the direction of the story can change on you. But I always try and make it a happy ending. To me that is the important thing.

19. How do you get beyond just an idea?
Start writing.

20. How does an idea become a story?
Again just start writing and see where it goes.

21. What suggestions do you have for creating self discipline in writing?
You just have to sit down and do it. Never say when I get time or you never will write.

22. Which story/series has gotten the most response from fans?
Wow that is hard to say..they all have gotten good responses but I think right now my Magic in your Heart stories are getting the most right now. People like magic.

23. Do you like to write X&G or uber/original stories better?
I have written one X&G story and wish I could write another one someday. But right now I am just writing original stories

24. Do you envision stories before you write them or does the story just unfold as you write it?
Sometimes I can envision it and dream about it. But a lot of the time the stories just unfolds as I write it.

25. When you have finished with the story/book do you miss those characters that you’ve written about?
Yes I do because they become a part of you.

26.  Do you or do you not wear underwear? If so what kind?
What is it with you people and underwear…(G) see answer on number 11

27. If you could have dinner with anyone who would it be and why?
Well if it is a star then Lucy & Renee and why because they are nice people I would love to meet someday.

28. Who is your favorite X-man?
Don’t really have one

29. Who is your favorite hero of all times?
XENA

30. Years from now, how would you want to be remembered?
As a nice person there for their family and friends.

31. What is your pet peeve?
People not just helping with the house work always waiting to have to be asked

32. What advice can you give to future writers?
Just write down your stories and never be scared to ask for help.

33. What has the show Xena meant to you?
Wow it meant so many different things to me. It was a show of trust, friendship and love. There will never be another one like it.

34. What are your dreams? Hopes? Wishes?
My dream is to someday not have to worry about money…(G) My hope is to live a happy life and my wish is for my family to be safe and happy.

35. What is a necessity for every writer in your opinion?
To have an idea in your head on what you want to write about. To have an idea of what you want to have happen in the story…and most important…have a good beta reader.

36. What is your favorite quote? Why and how does it affect you?
Well my grandma use to have a favorite quote that I always loved and try to live by. (Never take life to seriously you will never get out of it alive anyway.) How does that affect me? Well when things start to get really tuff I remember that saying and I laugh…it helps to settle me down enough to start looking at things different.

37. What makes your best friend, your best friend?
She is always there for me no matter what. And I am there for her too. And she likes me for who I am.

38. Who is your real life hero and why?
My mom was my hero. Wow there are just too many reason to name them all but I guess the best way to say it is because she was always there for me. She always made me feel loved and safe. She was my best friend as I was growing up. I could talk to her about anything. She is the one that taught me how to dream.

39. Why do fools fall in love?
Because everyone wants to fine that one true love.

40. When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
When I was a kid I would make up stories in my head all the time. I would even play-act them out at times.

41. What significance, if any, is there in the title?
A title can sometimes give you an idea what the story is about.

42. Can you see the book as a feature film?
When I am writing I picture the story in my head like a movie. So yes I could see it

From Strongsouljah:

43. What vices or rituals, if any, do you have and how do they affect your writing?
Well one of the rules I make for myself is my stories will always have a happy ending. I guess I am a romance at heart and don’t like sad endings. I will not read or watch anything if I know it has a sad ending.

44. Are you easily distracted by big breastessess?????
Not really…LOL…I should of known you would ask that.

45. Have you ever had a serious case of writer’s block?
Oh yes….and I hate it…Right in the middle of a story once I had it and so I could not finish the story till it was gone. It sucks

46. How did you get over writers’ block?
I start reading the stories I really like. Or I watch Xena or other movies..but mostly Xena.  Don’t force yourself to write. Just give it a rest and go do something else for awhile…read…watch a movie…play games

From Tammy:

47. What writer do you most compare yourself too or whom so you model yourself after?
I really never thought about that. I don’t think I have compared myself to really any writer. I like a lot of different writers but I never really modeled myself after one

48. What writer influenced you the most?
I am not too sure. I have so many writers that I like that I can’t just name one. I know all of the writers on the Sandbox I have read their stories and each one touches me in a different way. I really enjoy Missy Good’s stories too

49. What is essential to you in your surroundings when you are writing? i.e.: music playing, incense, candles lit, food/drink, smoke pot???
I like peace and quiet mostly. And yes I will have something to drink like diet dr. pepper or a snack to help me think…(G) Sometimes I might have soft listening music on.

50. Is your aim when writing to keep it strictly as literature or do you have goals for screenplays/motion pictures?
It would be like a dream come true if I had one of my stories put into a movie…but when I am writing I am just writing for fun and hope I am giving the readers a good story.

51. If you could interview/talk to any author (dead or alive) who would it be and why?
Well Missy Good I guess… because the other authors I really like I already talk to them all the time. (G)

52. What are your other artistic interests?
I like to draw and paint.

53. Are you easily distracted when writing?
Yes I can be at times

54. Do you prefer to be alone when writing?
Yes I do mostly that way I can keep my mind on my writing

55. Do you have a set time that you write (a.m. or p.m.) or when time permits?
No set time. Just whenever the mood hits me

From Tina Stratton:

56. At what age did you start?
At a young age can’t really remember how old I was.

57. What is inspiration for you?
Good feedback on my stories letting me know how much people liked them.  My best inspiration is my friends.

58. Where do you get your ideas? Do they just pop up or do you hear something or see something and think.... hey that would work?
From just about anywhere. I could be in the store and see someone do something and think that would make a good story.   I could hear or see something. Just about anything can be made into a story

From Anne:

59. "What would you never ever ever write about?" to keep the link with the whole bard thing?
I really don’t know.

60. "If you had to bring Xena back from the dead AGAIN, how would you do it?"
I already did that…I wrote a story bringing her back to life.

61. "What's the most original way in which you ever killed a red shirt?" ( I think this is killing off an ordinary character in your stories)
Don’t really know.

62. "If you could be any kind of vegetable, what would you be?"
Carrot.

From Tap the Wizard:

63. Would you have dinner with me?
I sure would….(G).

From A. Hawk:

64. One question would be where do they get the inspiration (for your stories) for all of that when writing a sex scene?
Well I have been reading a lot of Tina’s, Pat’s, Wissy and Shadylady’s stuff. That can give anyone inspiration…..LOL.

Ask them what made them first begin to write and not exactly how they felt about it, but what keeps them going?
What keeps me going is I have all of these stories that build up in my head I just have to write to get them out. It is just something inside of you that just makes you keep going.

From JL Nicky:

65. Do you wear silk stockings?
NO!

Do you prefer cucumbers to finger cookies?
Cucumbers with a little bit of mayo on them

66. Are you hooked up right now? Tied up? Twisted up? (All of which are becoming I might add)
Hmmm….maybe….(G).

67. Do you own a Jag or a Honda?
I own a smoking run down van

68.  Were you the bartender or the Dancer? (A Shadylady story...)
Neither one.

69. In your opinion is Popeye equivalent to Hercules? Does the myth/legend over lap...
Well I never seen Hercules with a pipe in his mouth. So I would say they are nothing alike

70. Is Hercules better than Sampson? You know...Delilah's Sampson?
Yep Hercules is..because he knew Xena…LOL.

71. What’s your favorite color?
Yellow.

72. Ever used any of those lil ole accents in ya'lls lil ole stories?
Nope.

73. WHAT is your favorite Ice Cream Flavor? (There is more than 31 you know).
Chocolate or swiss chocolate cherry

74. Have you ever had Wild Turkey AND Bourbon in the same night? If so, who held your head over the porcelain goddess?
Nope Never

75. Did you ever think there were people out in the world just as twisted as you?
Not till I found all of you guys….(G) Only in The Sandbox

76. Who is YOUR favorite author?
Too many to name.

77. What is the genre that you write most in, such as mystery, romance?
I try and whatever I feel. I try and put mystery and romance in to a lot of my stories but because I love happy endings I guess you could say romance.

78. What is the genre that you read most in?
I like a lot of different stories so I don’t have a genre.

79. Have you ever written outside your comfort zone? Were you happy with the result?
I like to widen my writing so yes I have.  Yes I was

From DJ Belt:

80. Do they write spontaneously or plot the story out in intricate detail before writing?
I get a idea on what I want the story to be about then I start writing and see where it takes me.

81. How much of the bard's own personal life experiences and worldview enter their characters and story?
There has been some life experiences in some of my stories but not all.

82. When they write, are they moved by what they create, or do they view it dispassionately?
I am always moved by what I write. My writing is a part of me and if it doesn’t move me then it won’t move the reader.

83. Is (are) there a particular work of fiction which had a profound impact upon them as a youngster?
I liked Nancy Drew. (G) Whom do they particularly admire? I admire all writers

84. How crazy or unrestrained do they allow themselves to get when writing? Do they discipline themselves, or just 'let go'?
I just write the way I feel. I don’t try and discipline myself but I don’t like to get too wild on it too. So a little of both I guess.

85. Is there a particular piece of work that they cringe at having posted, or had totally bomb (often, much to their surprise)?
I guess I have been lucky so far. I like all of the work I have posted and so has the readers so far.

86. Is there anything that they'd never write?
I would never write a sad ending.

87. Have they written a story that got an unexpected response from readers either for good or, er, bad?
I wrote two stories once that I got some good unexpected responses too. It was some readers telling me that those stories had helped them. I thought that was really cool.

From Ri the Bard:

88. This one is for Wizzy imagination, what do you wear when you’re working on your writing (VBG)
Well I usually wear clothes…..LOL.

From phair (M. Mullaney)

89. Writing rituals? I have to have a clean computer desk, and quiet. Oh and course snacks…(G)
I have to have a clean computer desk, and quiet. Oh and course snacks…(G).

90. Favorite writing instrument (i.e. pen, pencil, typewriter, computer)
My computer.

91. Worst book you ever read?
Can’t remember the name but halfway through the book they had one of the women in the book die. I through it across the room and didn’t finish it.

92. Pen or keyboard?
Keyboard.

93. Favorite reading format: hardcover, paperback, book on tape, or online?
Right now on line.

94. When you're not writing what do you do with yourself?
I like to play playstation games. The army ones are the best.

95. Favorite comfort food?
Mac and Cheese, pizza, hot dogs.

From Debbie Dee:

96. What does being published mean to you? What do you expect to receive from the process?
It would mean I made it as a writer.  Just satisfaction

97. What state/country do you live in?
Oregon

98. What do you like to read?
I like to read F.F.

99. Do you have any pets & family?
? I have a dog named Keia and a cat named Max. I have four children. Three boys and a girl. And two grandsons.

100. What story that you have written do you like the best?
I like them all so that would be hard to say.

101. Do you have a story that was hard for you to write?
I am not too sure. I had a hard time with some of my stories just trying to put it down in words the way I saw it in my head.

102. Do you put a little bit of yourself in each story something that might of happen in your life to you?
Yes at times I do

103. What shows do you like and who is your favorite stars?
I like Xena of course. Cold case, L word, and all of the CSI shows. My favorite stars are Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor .

104. What are you writing on now?
I am writing on a story now about a girl that can do magical things.

105. Do you have any stories published or hope to get any published?
None right now. But I would love to get my stories published.

106. If you had to tell anyone about yourself on what type a person you are what would you say.
I would like to say I was fun, trustful person, that would try and be there for you.

107. If some one asked you a question on how they could get started writing what would you tell them?
I would tell them to think up a story that they want to tell. Know pretty much what you want to happen in the story and how you want it to end. Then start writing. Also have a beta reader or even just a friend there that you can use for a sounding board.

From Jude...Beta reader for the SB101

108. How often do the authors write? Daily or?
I would love to write Daily but real life sometimes just keeps getting in the way. So sometimes I only get to write a few days out of the week.

109. Where or what were some of the funniest things to happen that gave them inspiration for their stores and what was it?
I have had a lot of funny stuff happen to me in my life. Like tripping over animals, falling off boats, sliding down hills, walking along and stepping into a puddle deeper then you thought it was.

Are they pet lovers? YES
If so what kind of pets do they have? I have a female German Rottweiler and a long hair male cat

From Dot….reader

110. Author’s of a story wants feed back but 5 out of 10 never bother’s to write u back. Why?
I can’t answer for any of the other Bard as to why maybe they don’t answer back on their feed backs. But I try my best to always give some kind of answer to any of the feed backs I get. Even the not so nice feed backs.

111. Why don't writers finish their stories?
I would like to know that too. I have read some stories myself that never got finished. I was reading on this one story and it was on part 13 it was really good but for some reason the Bard got mad at something someone said to her so she just stopped writing. That was not fair to the rest of us. And then some Bard’s just get to busy with their lives and stop writing. I hope to never do that.

112. Say someone has an idea for a story but they can't write worth a damned would one of you writer’s consider writing it, where you get the credit for the writing but give credit to the person who sent you the idea?
If someone asked me to write a story for them then yes I would consider writing it as long as they understand I would do my best to follow their idea as much as I can. But I have my own way of writing and would put some of my ideas in it to. But yes I would put their name in the credits for coming up with the idea for the story.


From Koda Graystone:

113. What does feedback mean to you as a writer and how does it influence how you write?
For one thing it means that someone is reading my story. And it gives you a good feeling to hear that someone liked what you read and sometimes feed back helps you to keep going with your writing. It is like when you were in school and the teacher would tell you good job. It just gives you a good feeling

Do you use outlines? Sometimes I do. But usually I just start writing and see where it takes me.

114. How do you choose your characters?
Hmmm usually the characters choose me…lol….what I mean is I start thinking of what would be a good story. And then the kind of people that go in to it.  As I start writing about them I start seeing what they would look or act like in my head

115. How do you handle it when a reader asks why you used a certain plot device?
I try my best to answer them.

116. What is the primary reason you post stories to the internet?
Because I love to write and this gave me a change to do just that

Have you ever thought about writing outside your
comfort zone?  If so what?
I have written a lot of different stories. But I guess if I did have a comfort zone it would depend on what the story would be about as to if I would write it or not.

From Robin Alexander:

117. When do you finally feel comfortable turning your stories loose on the public? LOL it still makes me nervous when I post.
I am with you it still makes me nervous whenever I post anything. Because you never know what people are going to think about it. But I don’t feel comfortable about turning a story loose to post till I read it over about three or four times to make sure it sounds ok. I even have some of my friends read it at times before I post to see what they think. 

Thank you for sharing your history with the readers and fellow writers.

Feedback can be sent to: destinie@oregontrail.net

Wizzy44tc@yahoo.com

June 01, 2005