Interview With... a Nominee!

The weekend is in sight for most of us, which means it's time for another interview! We like to alternate the nominees, nominators and random shippers*, so this week we're going with a nominee. We have specific questions for the three different kinds of shippers and this will be the first time we're doing the new format for a nominee. Hopefully, you will like it and by the end feel like you've gotten to know this shipper a bit better.

When we approached her for this interview she was more than happy to participate and told us all about her involvement in the Stargate: SG-1 fandom, shipping, and writing.

Okay, no more stalling. Today's interview is with...

missparker!

She is an American children's librarian who has lived in the midwest, southwest and the east coast but the Bay Area in Northern California is her current home - a place she might stay for good. Unfortunately for fans of The Pretender, her pen name has absolutely nothing to do with the TV show; it was missparker's high school English teacher who gave her the nickname because the shipper reminded her of Dorothy Parker [an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist].

She started watching Stargate: SG-1 not too long ago, in 2010. At the time missparker was in graduate school and a good friend of hers, Christine (aka Replicarters), was into the show and she figured she either had to start watching it too or stop being her friend - she chose the former, for which both Christine and her fans are probably grateful. The first few episodes didn't really convince missparker but by the time she got to Solitudes she was hooked! We can't blame her, it's a wonderful episode!


Her introduction to the fandom was, er, slightly more unusual. She kept seeing people post pictures of Amanda Tapping [Captain/Major/Lt Col/Colonel Sam Carter] on tumblr and LiveJournal and while at first she was annoyed, it suddenly developed in what you may call a crush on the actress and down the rabbit hole she went. That's probably the reason why, while she refers to S/J as her OTP in the fandom, missparker pretty much ships Sam with anyone -  and Amanda Tapping with the whole world.


The appeal of S/J is something that many of her favorite ships share - they want each other, but aren't allowed to have each other. The angst is delicious and in the case of Sam and Jack there's also his rocky past and her intelligence to consider, both of which can be a hindrance sometimes. The age difference is something she likes as well.

Before being informed about the nominations she had received missparker was unaware of the Sam & Jack Multimedia Awards. However, she feels very honored, especially because she still feels like a newbie to the fandom which makes it very validating. She doesn't recall having won anything similar in the past and laughs as she tries to recall if she's actually been nominated before or not - she's not sure!

As you can see on her AO3 profile, missparker has written 24 Stargate: SG-1 stories, most of which are Sam/Jack. Depending on the type of story and the subject matter she can write very fast or very slow. Usually, she can deliver a five-things fic within a few of days but she also has series with multiple parts that can take a couple of years to fully complete! Outlining is not really her thing, but missparker does think the stories through before she sits down to actually write.

"They want each other, but aren't allowed to have each other"

Vidding and fanart are not fanworks missparker has experience with, but she does have advice for writers: keep writing as much as you can, even if it's not good. You will never improve if you don't write, write and write! She is pretty shocked to realize she's been writing over fifteen years now, but not ashamed to admit that the stuff she wrote in her early teens was truly terrible. For missparker, reading has improved her writing more than anything else. That's why she's urging other writers to read other fic, read books, read the back of cereal boxes - read everything you can! Figure out what you like and don't like from other people's writing and learn from it.

Due to a full-time job, an upcoming wedding and a so-so health missparker isn't as prolific as she would like to be, but she's still involved in the ship by writing fics. Forums are not something she participates in, with the exception of occasionally lurking on Gateworld to see what people are saying about her in the fanfic subforum. 


She does love to read fic and devoured all the fanfiction she could get her hands on when she first started watching Stargate: SG-1. At the time, she was very thorough about tagging everything but these days she only tags the stuff she really loves. As a matter of fact, missparker is a self-confessed fanfic junkie; she first started with The X-Files fanfiction all those years ago when she really should have been in bed, sleeping. Aside from XF and SG-1 fanfiction, she also enjoys Star Trek: Voyager, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, Sanctuary and others. 


Some of her favorite authors are nanda, Annerb, Kate (aka nextgreatadventure), Kristen (aka adventurepants), Christine (aka gingasaur) and Zowie (aka dayspassquicker), most of whom also write S/J fic. However, she hasn't nominated anyone for the Sam & Jack Multimedia Awards herself yet and said she'd have to take a look at the nomination process. Some of the names/stories that have already been nominated are familiar to missparker but it's clear that she's got a lot of reading to do to check out the competition!


At the moment of this interview, missparker is nominated in four categories:

• Best Angst - Deep City Lights: He picks her up in a blue convertible.
• Best Author - missparker
• Best Tag - A Small Crime: They don't do this often.
• Best Alternate Universe - Like Jokes or War, It's All in the Timing: If you make all different choices, can you still end up in the same place? 

* If you are a 'random shipper' and want to volunteer then please get in touch with us. Just send us an email at social@samandjackawards.com or use one of our social media accounts as listed in the upper right hand corner. Nominees and nominators will be automatically contacted, unless they have indicated they do not wish to be approached for promotional purposes.