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I'm surprised by exactly how many people write me to ask not only about the story & characters, but my personal opinion & viewpoints on everything from politics to religion to sexual orientation to child rearing to body piercings & tattoos. I'm nobody special people, trust me. Maybe your question will be answered here; if not, feel free to email me & ask it personally & yes, I will reply & yes, I will reply swiftly. (Type A Over Achiever; ker-ching!) This page is an attempt to gather the questions I've been asked most often usually in the order they were received (descending, if you're that anal) OR to answer the questions which amused, provoked or intrigued me (plus it's inherently, genetically, fundamentally impossible for me to pass up the opportunity to be a Smart Ass). I've summarized many of the ones I received multiple times. 2004 Update: Latest questions at the top now. I'm lazy. Bite me. Updated November/2007 Where has Free Fall gone???? (not that anyone's actually asked, but~~) The time has come, Lovely Readers, to poop or get off the toilet. In other words, I have taken Free Fall off line to work on it for real, in order to try & get published. I don't know if it'll ever happen. When it happens it won't be so different that those of you have read & loved it & written me about loving it won't recognize it~~ but it'll be a bit different. Xan wrote me something earlier in email that really hit home~~ She wrote: I don't think you should be married to anything... And that is such a wonderful, freeing, amazing thought. Free Fall came about because I was tired of fitting Cooper into canon & I wanted to write what I wanted to write. But I still found myself getting hedged into the traps & pitfalls of writing for other people. Not that that's wrong necessarily~~ but sometimes you don't hear your own voice when you're trying to listen to everyone else's. So~~ I will finish the last chapter of the ER crossover up. And my career in fanfic's done then. But hopefully.... hopefully... someday you'll be browsing the shelves at Border's or Walden's or even the discount bin at the local Piggly Wiggly & you'll look down & see the words 'a Cooper Finn novel' on the cover of something & you'll recognize my name & go, Oh HER! I used to read her crap on line all the time! And buy it. Or not. It ain't like I got paid for this gig, so just maybe having it out there is a big enough bonus for me to go for it. ~Tucker UPDATED July/2005 Are you EVER going to finish the ER/Division story? Yeah. Someday. When they tell me what they want to have happen. Not before. Right now they aren't talking. So I ain't writing, on THAT story. I am however having a blast with Free Fall. I still miss Ink Blots. Any chance of you keeping a journal we can read again? Nope. That was an experiment which bought me nothing but bullshit & crap & annoyance. I am thinking about starting a photography page though. A very carefully blurred out personal info & paranoid photography page, but hey. Like that idea? Email me. (Actually, just figured out you can't email me. No clue why. But you can leave a message on the bulletin board.) Are you single? I can't believe I'm still getting this one. YES. I am. I am staying that way, thanks. (I'm still cool with nekkid pictures & beer tho.) What do you do in your free time? I have no free time. But let's see.... recently I built a Cantina up on top of a hill where I hold Cooper type parties & BBQs & have friends over. Other than that I work. And work. And work. Fight a few fires, work, fish, swim, EMT when they come to me. And write when I can. What's your favorite television show? I don't watch a whole lot of t.v. but right now, Rescue Me, hands down. Tommy Gavin makes Cooper Finn look fucking wholesome. And SANE. God, I love that man.
WHEN are you going to update? Would you believe actually... SOON? As in later today (060104) or tomorrow at the latest? And it's going to be Chapter 77 of the ER/Div fanfic, although you have to realize that every chapter means that much closer until it's done with forever. How many more chapters of the ER/Division fanfic can we hope for? Um... not many. I'm writing on 78 right now. I see the story totally wrapped up in no more than 3 chapters, including 78. So maybe 3 more. Maybe only 2 more. Depends on how chatty everyone gets at the end. Are you just sick of writing it or what? Or what. I'm also super busy in my personal life but yeah... I'm tired of it. Not of writing, but of sorting out this one story and making sure I stay true to the cop detail in it & trying to go back & pick up where I was without screwing up is difficult. I wrote you & you never wrote me back! Uh oh. I am genuinely sorry. I try to write everyone back. I've been through several computers in the last year & bounced about through several email programs along the way & it's possible (read: highly likely) I either never got them or got them & saved them in a folder & then moved to a different program in my endless pursuit of internet happiness &... yeah, never wrote you back. Write me again! I'll do better, I swear! Are you going to finish the crossover ER/Division fanfic? (Boy, do I get this one a LOT.) At the moment the answer has to be an honest... I don't know. Probably. Someday. I'm anal like that. A lot of things have happened in the two years since I started writing it. I made the mistake of having the characters begin to identify in my brain with people in my life & it's absolutely impossible right now for me to write Cooper & Jinny. How did you get started writing fanfic? Jealousy & insecurity. Plain & simple & oh-so-tangled-&-complicated. What's happened to Ink Blots??? Ink Blots is no mas. My brain & my heart are no longer up for perusal or entertainment. It seemed to give people the idea that they knew me & therefore had the right to write me & demand my time & attention & 'speak' to me in any drunken, immature, obnoxious way they felt like at the time. I do still keep an on line journal but only friends are privy to it. It's not a slight against those of you who read it & sent me encouragement, told me what it meant to you... It's just I am not handing out pieces of me any longer. What's the one thing you want people to remember about Crossroads? It's just a STORY. FAN FICTION. NOT REAL. Are you really a cop? I have been. Fairly obvious. Or... maybe I just know a lot of cops. How much of Cooper Finn is autobiographical? Yes. Have you ever considered writing professionally? Wait, what? You mean I'm not getting paid for this? (Maybe someday; see next question.) Ever think about writing Cooper Finn and being published elsewhere than on line? Now that you ask... Yes. But only recently. I'm working on it and you're welcome to read what will hopefully someday be a book you can hold in your hands. What's the deal with Cooper's parents? They sucked. 'Nuff said. Are you going to let Jinny and Coop live Happy Ever After? Hmmm. Maybe. From where do you draw inspiration? From life, music, my job, other cop's stories, past experiences. Did you or do you now work undercover like Cooper? Don't go there. Just, you know, don't. The titles for your chapters never fail to intrigue me. How do you keep coming up with them? I don't know. Much of the credit goes to Xander, my beta reader/proofreader/editor. I try to give credit where credit is due and list the titles according to which of us named them and give the inspiration behind them. The longer this damn thing gets, the more difficult it is, believe me. What about a romance between Cooper & Arriaga in the Free Fall story? You ever going to let that happen? Oh, yeah. I'm finishing up Coop & Jinny first though. Plus Free Fall can be expected to undergo some minor plastic surgery since Bergen's now reminding me too much of Jinny for comfort. And don't expect instantaneous smut in this one. The development of characters, story line, plot, & cop shit is more important to me. I know Cooper is based on you but how many of your other characters are real? Is the Murph real? Bergen? Jase? Okay~~ First of all Cooper is NOT me. I admit the line gets a little blurry for me too but she's a fictional character which means she can get away with shit & I can make things work out happy ever after for her no matter how much crap she steps in. It doesn't work that way in real life which is a bummer & since I have this horrific I Must Be Perfect thing going on I do not allow myself to step in the kind of shit Cooper does; not NOW anyway. Murphy is, I regret to say, totally fictitious. You have no idea how I wish he was NOT. I'd like to be married to the guy, quite frankly, although I'd have to share him with someone in Vermont because I've promised to do so if I ever conjure him up. Bergen is fictional... mostly fictional anyway. She bears a certain resemblance to at least one cop I know & what's odd is I didn't even KNOW this person when I came up with the character (who Xan named by the way.) Jase is based very superficially on a real person (read: physically, NOT emotionally) I know & have worked with in the past. (And no, he's not dead & no, me killing Jase off is not some bizarre fantasy to have this person croak. Honest. I swear. In fact, I put time in making SURE the moron doesn't croak.) Are you going to write more on the Free Fall story? Absolutely. Looking forward to it. Do you have any recommendations for similar type police fiction? I'm assuming you mean off line~~ Yes, I do. Laurie R. King writes an excellent series about a female investigator (Kate Martinelli). It's set in San Francisco and yes, she's lesbian. Do not go buy if you're after smut monkey stuff because you will be tragically disappointed. Do go buy if you're looking for a well written mystery series about a female police officer who just happens to be gay. And I adore the Stephanie Plum series written by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie's a smart ass hetero & although not a cop, is a bounty hunter, which is what I want to be in my next life because let's face it~~ they have better toys & far fewer rules which me & Coop could both get into.
Her website is a blast too; check out I love the characters Angelo and Avery! Will they be in what (hopefully) will end up a whole Cooper Finn series? Absolutely! (I love them too, sooo much fun to write.) Your characterization of someone with a non-violent, difficult to label mental illness (meaning Angelo) rings so true to life... Is he based on someone real? Did you work in the mental heath field at some point? Um... Okay, I have to admit I am laughing my ass off at this one, please don't take offense. Did I mention I'm in law enforcement? I don't think 'work' is precisely the term I'd use to describe it but I have dealt with a number of mental subjects. And of course being crazy myself helps. (And good thing you clarified Angelo because I might have thought you meant Cooper, although, wait~~ Nope; she's violent.) Angelo's a composite of various people I've um... worked with. Yeah. That's it. Read as much into that as you feel like. Ink Blots is fascinating but how can you put yourself out there like that? It does seem like I pry the lid off my psyche & let you guys peer in, doesn't it? But think about it. You only read what I put down & for every dream I stick in there's five I don't because they hit too close to the bone. There were two this last week which there's no way in hell I was going to put down for everyone. Ditto with the stuff I jot down about real life. And it isn't like I haven't taken precautions to keep my anonymity. I don't email them out to my friends & co workers & anyone who reads this site & actually knows me in real life... They're 250% trustworthy. It started because I'd gone through a rocky stretch & I was having all these dreams & figured my subconscious was trying to tell me something. I'd keep a dream journal to sort through them but I can't read my writing; it's like trying to decipher ancient hieroglyphics even if I just wrote it (vaguely Japanese-Runic alphabet appearing) so I decided to type them onto the computer... then I had the idea of linking them to the site because there wasn't a lot going on with me in the writing department (due to the crapfest) &~~ there you go. I don't regret it. I love when people write me about Ink Blots, especially if they tell me it helped them someway. Usually by showing them they're not nearly as whacked as I am, but hey~~> public servant. That's me. Isn't it egotistical to have both a FAQ page AND an on line journal (Ink Blots)? Yep. And your point? On the titles page you tell people to send 'beer, nude photos & love letters'. I do? God, what an asshole! Has anyone ever actually sent you beer? Now why didn't you ask if they'd sent me nude photos or love letters? Zeroed right in there on the beer, didn't you, all of you who have asked this question? The answer is YES. Someone has. (I'm still clinging to my hopes of nude photos & love letters tho. And of course more beer is fine as well. Just think of me as a thirsty artist.) The link to Chapter 69, 'Something Subversive', on the Crossroads Series page doesn't work! Help! Heh, heh. The link doesn't work because the chapter is not written, my child. I thought it might be amusing to skip '69' & see who all & how many noticed. It was incredible to me that so many people DID notice & notice almost immediately. First Place in the Mystery of the Missing 69 goes to Stefanie. Stefanie will receive the first (proofread & edited) copy of 'Something Subversive' at least 24 hours before anyone else... And although I can't autograph it, I'll pant really hard on the screen as I press the send button. How long have you been writing? Since I could hold one of those big fat pencils in pre-k. Are you a religious person? You have several Biblical references/quotes included in the story. I'm a dedicated spiritually inclined HEATHEN. I was raised in a rather terrifyingly fundamental & devout Southern Baptist home (my curiosity, rebellion & independent thinking were labeled 'demonic') & have not stepped foot inside an organized place of worship since my late teens (discounting weddings & funerals, both of which I avoid if at all possible). I am a recent Honorary Catholic though, does that count? I like the sort of breezy all-encompassing Catholic theory of confession & forgiveness with due penalties; it's somehow very much like the little cushion & united brotherhood prevalent in law enforcement which might explain why so many LEOs are Catholics. And too, I like the ritual & the pomp of it & they definitely have the best accessories. On the downside, their Jesus is REALLY SCARY & they are just way too into suffering for any sensible Heathen plus I recently discovered (while perusing the Stations of the Cross) Veronica was there pre-nailing so now I keep seeing Archie on the Cross. And that's just wrong. Cooper starts the story out as a heterosexual and then discovers girls; what's your sexual orientation? Open minded. See Heathen & possible demonic possession references above. Who'll play Cooper in the movie? The movie. Uh huh. Ok, I'll play along. I've actually been getting this question for a year now & answering it in private email but after a brand new rash of it decided to stick it here once & for all. Ex gf thinks Tammy Lyn Michaels would be good, I think because of the hair, maybe. Renee O'Connor has also been suggested. <~~ And I mean in a totally NOT HAPPENING sense, as in people suggesting it to ME in email. There is no book, there is no movie, it's just a story on line. I think I'd personally love to see Amy Max son as Cooper. Or... hmmm... maybe Amanda Tapping?
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'Batster',