Disclaimer: The works referred to on this page may be of a more adult
nature than minors are allowed to view. Ms. Sebastian and Ms. Seawright do not condone
the viewing of such literature by minors. If you are a minor and you are reading this,
you are not allowed to read the works that have been marked with a NC-17 rating. As
always, reader's discretion is advised.
A long time ago on a mailing list far away, there was an unusual lemon writer.
Now, for those of you who are not in the know, a lemon is a fanfic that takes existing characters and puts them in adult situations. No, not like paying taxes or gettting Social Security checks or worrying about Medicare; I'm talking the kinds of situations you find
only in the pages of Penthouse magazine or perhaps the Oval Office.
Now, lemons have been around as long as fanfic has, and the standard lemon had a plot like
this: two characters get together and have sex. That's about it. What made Caroline "Kun-chan"
Seawright's lemons unusual is that her lemons actually had some storyline between all
the sex.
In the course of her fanfic writing career, Caroline paired up almost everyone logically
and gave them something to do other than boinking. She also created some "bizarre" pairings,
and even got some anime writers in on the act.
Not bad for a writer of lemons, eh?
[Editor's Note: Did you know there's a 19
hour time difference between California and Australia? I didn't, but I do now.]
Q: Caroline? Let me know the minute you get online tonight. <smile>
Caroline: I'm on!
Q: Yeesh, I was expecting you much earlier... What time is it in Australia now?
Caroline: It's 10:30pm... on Saturday nights, I go RPGing [role play
gaming] at a friend's place..I'd normally still be out, but the GM was tired.
It's 3:30am for you??
Q: Oh, yeah... I've been waiting since around
12:30am. So, what kinds of games do you role play?
Caroline: We normally play things like Werewolf and In Nomine. Though I started off playing Paranoia.
Q: The one where you're a robot and every one is against you?
Caroline: Heh, yes. (Clone, but close enough!) You get a
number of clones and it's basically kill off
the others before they kill you!
Q: It sounds like a heck of a lot of fun. <smile>
Caroline: It is. The funnier actions you do, the more
likely the GM will let you get away with it. <wink>
Q: First standard question: How did you get into
anime?
Caroline: Well, I do remember always watching various cartoons as a
kid, and it tends to be the anime that I
remember to this day. My most favourite anime
as a kid was 'Gigi'... it was only much, much
later that I found out it was anime - Minky
Momo. I guess I really learned what anime was
from my Japanese friend at high school -
Fumiyo Sakabe.
Q: You were into anime in high school? What high school
did you go to?
Caroline: Yes, I was. I was also into BBSing [Bulletin Board System reading], and so got more images of anime than what I'd
actually watched! I was at Kilvington Baptist
Girls' Grammar school at the time. (Before
that I was at a public school near my home.) I
don't actually remember why anime was brought
up in the first place, but I do remember
asking Fumiyo all about things like 'The
Mysterious Cities of Gold' which had been
repeated for the nth time, and 'Samurai Pizza
Cats'. It probably went from there.
I [also] remember doing various art projects with
anime-style drawings as the theme!
Q: How hard or easy is it to get anime in
Australia? I ask this because most of the
major translated suppliers are here in
America.
Caroline: Well, I live in a suburb of Melbourne. Anime
has become easier and easier to get over the
years, but the major comic shop in the city
has always sold at least translated manga. The
anime in that shop was sold side by side with
their Hong Kong movies (though the HK movies
were subbed, and the anime was dubbed.)
There were also two or three places that sold
Japanese manga, or translated manga with
subbed or dubbed anime. Nowadays we have a
Japanese department store - Daimaru - which
sells manga in their Japanese book shop. LOTS
of manga!
Then there have been the anime clubs!
Q: You guys have clubs? <blink> I didn't have a
club to go to! What was your club like?
Caroline: There was always Melbourne Anime Society [MAS],
since I've been into BBSing - I found other
anime lovers through these systems, and ended
up going to MAS with another BBS sysop. So I
got all the anime I wanted there! Then I
remember helping a friend who went to my BBS
pick the name of an anime club he'd start up
at Melbourne University! WWWA [WWWA is
the name of an organization in "Dirty Pair", an
older, yet still popular anime]. Since then
Monash University and a couple of other
universities have made anime clubs.
What was the anime club like? Well, MAS used
to be at a guy's house, and was 99% male (I
was the only female there, 90% of the time!),
and most of the guys were in their 40s. They
subbed things themselves for everyone to watch
and things like that. So it was a bunch of
guys (and me) watching anime. Now, though,
it's changed. I haven't been in quite some
time, though.
Q: It almost sounds like a scene
from "Otaku no Video". What did you do in
the clubs besides fansubbing?
Caroline: Heh, yes it did. What did I do? I didn't
fansub, I just went and watched the anime, or
read from their manga collection when they
were showing anime that I wasn't interested
in. Sometimes I got online (because by then, I
was in university and had discovered the
internet!) and got my e-mail. It was too far
away from the train station to go there for
any other reason than to watch anime when I
could get a lift.
Q: Here's fundamental question #2: How did you
get into anime fan fic writing?
Caroline: Fanfic writing? Hmm... well, I started,
really, because I wanted to chat to someone
who wasn't online at the time. I was on a MUCK
where I played Akane, and he played Ranma. So
instead of RPing [role-playing] with him online, I left
little RP-style messages for him instead...
Q: What were these messages to your RP friend
like?
Caroline: The messages were rather long, and mostly just
acting out various things. But one day while I
was at work, after it closed, I decided to
take what I'd started with and turn it in to
an actual story which I would then e-mail to
him. For a while after I continued to work on
it, adding bits, changing from first person
perspective, making it more like just a Ranma
and Akane story rather than 'us'...
Q: Do you still have the story?
Caroline: Yes, I do. <smile> It actually, in the end,
turned in to "Ranma nibun no ichi - The
Wedding". I don't remember quite how, but I
think that I gave it to some friends to edit
before I sent it to 'Ranma', and they
persuaded me to 'publish' it.
Q: Did you write before you were into anime?
Caroline: Only in English class! But I did enjoy it when
I was able to write a story that I wanted to
do, rather than any other type of writing.
Heh, I always got told off about how I wrote
too many pages in my stories in English class
- the teachers only wanted two or three pages,
rather than nine or ten! I wrote 'long short stories'.
Q: I can only imagine. <smile>
As for the type of stories you've written, why
did you pick the Ranma anime to base your
stories off of?
Caroline: Actually, I'd never seen the Ranma anime.
Maybe one or two of the TV series, and maybe
an OVA [Original Video Animation] or two... but I was always much more
into the manga, and collected the Viz series,
and the Japanese or Chinese (they were
cheaper) when I could get my hands on them. I
enjoyed the series enough to want to RP the
characters... it was my favourite manga. So
that's what I ended up writing on.
Q: Can you read Japanese?
Caroline: Well, not at the time. I still can't, really,
apart from various words here and there. I did
Japanese at university, but I've forgotten a
lot since I left. I have a Japanese-English
dictionary and JWP (Japanese Word Processor
for Windows) to help me out, though. I look at
the pictures and check the kanji and guess.
<nervous smile>
Q: As for the type of stories you write (and
February being the month of Valentine's Day,
you knew I'd ask you this), why do you write
lemons?
Caroline: After a while of seeing characters you like,
doing everything under the sun to each other,
girl-girl scenes for no reason, Ranma [screwing]
every girl left right and centre, no grammar,
no STORY, you kind of get sick of it.
Q: So you thought you could come up with
something better?
Caroline: Yes, I thought that my story I'd written for Ranma
was a heck of a lot better than the crap...
and sent it to rec.arts.anime.stories (as it
was back then). (After lots of editing by lots
of people!)
Q: What kind of response did you get?
Caroline: Hmm... I actually remember getting quite a
number of responses, and they were pretty
positive, actually. I don't remember getting
and negative ones... I know that the ending is
pretty so-so with all the pairing off, but
still... back in those days what I wrote was
original!
Q: How long ago was this?
Caroline: I think it was over the summer of '94 or '95...
Q: Wow, you are a dino, then.
Caroline: Heh, yes - I'm ancient in internet terms.
Well, old anyway. <wink>
Q: <uncomfortable look> If I can be so bold as to
ask... where do you get your inspiration for
your lemons?
Caroline: Heh... too much time playing [Truth or Dare] and too much
time spent in the more sexual side of the
relationship with 'Ranma' after me ('Akane')
and he got married online in the RP-ing. <sour look>
And I got carried away with the whole 'TS'
(online sex) thing back in those days...
didn't lead to much happiness, all of that,
but I learned that even online sex shouldn't
be taken lightly.
Too many people can get hurt... but stories
are fine. No emotions involved, except in
writing a story that has actual meaning to me.
<smile>
'Fun' isn't fun when you're too emotional.
So... there's no way in heaven or earth that
I'd have online sex, now, with someone I
didn't love. This has been the same for
probably three or so years.
Q: So the lesson to be learned here is lemons are
fine, lemon writing is fine, lemon acting out
and getting married online and the like can
lead to trouble?
Caroline: Acting out getting married and what not online
is fine... just remember that, if you're new
and you don't have the blocks that you do [in real life]
to stop your emotions getting entangled in
things, you can easily get hurt by others...
and that you can easily hurt others.
I found that it was so easy to think that
you're just having 'fun' when, in reality, I
was just hurting someone else back for them
hurting me, because I actually had fallen in
love with him... and I'd forgotten that the
other people were real people, too, with the
same feelings and problems as me...
Q: Wise choice, to be sure.
Caroline: I think it was my wisest choice in the last
five or so years. <wink>
Q: While waiting for your replies, I was reading
the 1997 Chicken Ball Awards Ceremony on your
site. It mentions your satire lemon story
"Gaijin in Nerima" getting nominated for Worst
Fanfic of 1997. Could you tell me why you
wrote that fic?
Caroline: Ah, "Gaijin in Nerima"! I can't say that I ever really
enjoyed reading self insertion 'fics...
especially the ones where the author's avatar
gets the girl. (Mostly the writers are
male, so ...). I wanted to write a satire on
those type of fanfics.
Something even more way over the top than the
self insertion fanfics usually are. And
instead of just sticking myself in there, why
not stick a few friends in there, too? Make it
REALLY silly. Get everyone to get the
character they want. And why not get the
reader involved, too?
Stick in a couple of paragraphs with the
reader as a character - 'you' - and a built in
drinking game... using as many of the rules as
I could that would get someone to drink... and
voila! "Gaijin in Nerima!"
Q: Did you have to get the authors' permissions
before you released it?
Caroline: Yes, the people who I wrote into the story all
gave their permission for me to put them in.
In fact, many others wrote to me asking if I'd
make another one, and to have them put in it!
(Though that one was kind of a flop... too
many people, and I ran out of steam. I gave
up, whacked on an ending, and there was Gaijin
in Nerima 2).
Q: Have you actually tried to play the Ranma 1/2 drinking
game while reading "GiN!"?
Caroline: Me? <laugh> No! I don't drink that much! Maybe
I'll have to get it out at a party and see
what happens, but I only ever really drink a
cocktail. Only at parties where you [bring your own] drinks
(or where there are free sweet alcoholic
drinks) do I drink more than that!
Q: Why do you think it got nominated for the 1997
Chicken Ball Awards for Worst Fanfic? Cause I
thought it was kinda clever myself.
Caroline: Heh... because people have no taste. <wink>
Actually, I think it's because it's too silly
for some people, and they don't get the
concept - satire - behind it. They didn't
appreciate it for that reason.
Q: What would you say was the hardest plot you
had to put together? By looks alone, it
appears to be "Too Much Wedded Bliss" because
of the extent of the people involved. You
have ALL of the cast involved in some way or
another.
Caroline: Hmm, no, "Too Much Wedded Bliss" actually
flowed quite well when I was writing it. I'd
say that the hardest was "H is for Hinako". It
loses it nearer the end, I think. I just
couldn't get the last part right. I went
through a lot of editing and suggestions, and
finally couldn't do anything more to fix the
ending, and put it out.
Q: Is it because of Hinako? Because technically,
she's still a kid....
Caroline: No, no. She's more mature in my series. I
changed things a little. It was just that I
lost the plot somewhere near the end. I knew
what I wanted to have happen, but I just
couldn't get my writing right. Instead of just
flowing, it spluttered and died.
Q: You said "Too Much Wedded Bliss" was the
easier of the two. Why do you think so?
Caroline: I don't know. My way of writing is to just sit
down, when I'm in the mood for writing, and
type. It might take a few days, it might take
a few weeks, it might take months... (in one
case, it just took a few hours!) But I can
only write when I'm in the mood. I can't sit
down and plan what I want to do... I either
write it out as I go, or I can't write at all.
This is why I need to edit my 'fics and get as
many other people to edit them before I let
the general public see them. I have to get
them pretty decent before I'll let anyone see
the stories. "Too Much Wedded Bliss" was one
of the ones that just flowed when I was
writing it.
Q: Have there been any fics of yours that just
stalled coming out of the gate?
Caroline: Hmm... Coming out of the gate? No. I
generally, when I'm in the mood to write, get
a fair way into them. If they're going to
stall, it's going to be half way through, or
nearer the end. "Gaijin in Nerima 2" is the
one that stalled the earliest. Probably a bit
sooner than half way through. I'm not very
happy with that one.
My Red Dwarf one stalled, too, so I decided to
make it Part 1 ... haven't done a Part 2, yet,
though... it's been quite some time. <sweatdrop>
Q: Quick question: Why do you hate Shampoo so
much? You made the girl give birth to
kittens!
Caroline: Ah, Shampoo. A subject that I could rant on
for hours and hours, making everyone who likes
Shampoo get very, very annoyed. I thought it
was funny making her give birth to kittens.
But I try to put my personal bias aside
when I write the "Nibun no Ichi" series... I
don't think that I have shown too much bias
against Shampoo in that series, have I? <sweatdrop>
Q: I don't think so. I do agree you've tried to
be fair. But if you had to name three reasons
why you don't like her, what would they be?
Caroline: I'd say that the major reason why I hate
Shampoo was the way various Shampoo fans
acted. I got sick to death of them, they way
they treated people, and so sick to death of
the character. But these days, I don't care
too much one way or another about the
character. I still sometimes point out all the
bad things about the character Shampoo to
people on the Ranma ML, just to annoy those
other Shampoo fans who say how wonderful she
is. <sour look>
Q: Has it been hard for you to write lately?
Caroline: Oh, yes. Every since I started working full
time (about two years ago), I've hardly been
able to write a thing. Work seems to zap me of
creativity. All I want to do after work is
either get online and talk to friends, go out
with friends here, or watch TV. Even the
weekends I don't want to do anything except go
shopping. I can't write... Ah, I want to go to
university again!
Q: What did you get your degree in?
Caroline: I did Computing (Information Systems) at
Monash University. I never got to finish,
though, because I got a full time job... I'll
do that last elective one day, though...
Q: Which of the fics you've written are ones
you'd recommend to people who are over the age
of consent who are interested in your work?
Caroline: If they're wanting to read a 'lemon', I'd
suggest starting off with "The Wedding".
Otherwise I'd suggest (for just about everyone
else, even younger people), to read "Passion
Spice...?" as it isn't a lemon.
Q: Yes, the infamous Passion Spice. <smile> Can
you tell me what inspired that one?
Caroline: Hmm... lets see...
I remember on the FanficML, back in the olden
days when SPAM was allowed, there was a huge
passion spice thread. I don't really remember
what happened, but it probably involved a bit
of fun role playing, as well as whatever
originally started it - probably someone
saying how everyone uses 'passion spice' as a
cheat to get characters together. So I wrote something to seem like I was using
the 'cheat' ... but didn't. <smile>
Q: Oh, you're referring to what the
spice actually did, rather than what it was
"supposed" to do?
Caroline: No, that story doesn't even use passion spice
in it. The character who gets it, THINKS
that's what she's using, but.....
Q: Hey, no spoilers... we want people to read
your story. <smile>
Caroline: I'll try not to spoil that any more. But I
think it's a fun story.
Q: Another question: Which authors did you used
to read and who do you still follow?
Caroline: Authors? Let me see... generally I read
fantasy books, though I'll read sci-fi,
historical/romance and other such books, too.
Let me see about the authors...
For fantasy novels, I used to read Piers
Anthony (still do, occasionally. I'm fond of
Xanth, even if it is way too "punny" these
days.) Recently I've been reading Robert
Jordon's Wheel of Time books (for the second
time). He's pretty good.
As for the sci-fi, there's Douglas Adams and
Jack L Chalker. (Oh, I also read Terry
Pratchet!)
Q: Who are your favorite romance authors? Do you
think they've influenced your work?
Caroline: Romance? Lets me think...
For historical/romance/adventure I'd read the
American Indian books, such as "People of the
Wolf" by [Michael and Kathleen Gear], I believe.
I think that Chalker, Jordan and Gear are pretty good
writers. Reading other stories after them
tends, more often than not, to be a let down.
Darn, I'm at work and can't remember [a certain]
author's name. All my books are at home.
She writes under a pseudonym for her historical
romances to differentiate them from the
non-historical romances...
Let's see if I can find anything on the
internet... There we go! Victoria Holt!!
Q: Okay, slow down! <smile> Which is the romance
author and which is the historical/romance
author?
Caroline: Victoria Holt has three names - Victoria Holt,
Philippa Carr, Jean Plaidy ... I don't know
why she does, but there we have it. I like her
books. <smile>
Q: Which writes which?
Caroline: Victoria Holt is the one where I like her
style the best - she's the one who writes
non-historical. (But not modern, either.)
Q: What do you feel is the difference between
non-historical and modern?
Caroline: For a modern romance, you wouldn't have women
in long dresses being chased around castles in
forests by darkly handsome villainous counts.
<smile>
Historical, though, I'd say would be much,
much further back, set in a specific period,
such as in the Czar's Russia, the French royal
court, and what not.
Q: And you don't do the villainous count, do you?
Caroline: "Ranma 1/2" doesn't lend itself much to that
type of character.
Q: Which fanfic authors do you like? Who do you
still read?
Caroline: I'm bad. I haven't read a fanfic, really, in
years. <big sweatdrop> (I hardly get around to writing
them myself!)
Q: Who did you like?
Caroline: Hmm... remembering things doesn't help when
you've got a mind like one of those things
that has holes in it. You know, you stick rice
in it to rinse it before cooking the rice.
Spaghetti too.
Q: A colander?
Caroline: That would be it. <wink>
I've got a number sitting in my FFML box,
waiting for me to look at, but... who do I
like? Hmm. I did enjoy reading Eric Jones'
Mikado series. John Biles' Lemonade (the first
one)... I don't know. I'm the type of person
who likes an individual piece more than
everything done by a certain person.
For instance, while I liked the first
Lemonade, I didn't enjoy the second one. There
are too many fanfics out there that I've read
and enjoyed to remember. (If I did enjoy it,
the author got a little message from me saying
so - I like to let the author know that their
work is appreciated.)
Q: Do you always feedback authors you like?
Caroline: If I read the story, yes. Even if it's just an
'I enjoyed that.' Sometimes, if I'm feeling up
to it, I might give a little C&C [Comment and Criticism]... mostly,
though, it's just a one liner saying that I
liked the 'fic.
Q: Final question: If you had the time to write a
fanfic today, what would it be about?
Caroline: Hmm... Probably the next story in the Nibun no
Ichi series... I wouldn't mind trying an
Azusa-Tsubasa story, even if it's only a short
one. <smile>
Q: If you ever get the time, I wish you luck.
Thanks for the time. <smile>
Caroline: Thank you!
Once again, the stories marked with an NC-17 rating should not be read by persons
who are not of the age of majority in their country. Reader's discretion is advised.
Author's Picks:
Mikado Ichiban by Eric Jones --
Yes, you heard right, a series starring Mikado Sanzenin, the egotistical and self-serving half
of the Kolkohz High Martial Arts pairs skating duo. This version is complete through chapter
sixteen, linked to the TASS r.a.a.c. mirror.
Lemonade by John Biles --
From the "Old Man of Anime Fic" comes a "kitchen sink" crossover, a comedy, gratuitous self-insertion and sex. And you thought all he did was write Sailor Moon crossovers... I'm including the text here. Rated NC-17 for sexual situations.
Spotlight Picks:
Gaijin in Nerima! by Kun-chan --
This was nominated for the 1997 Chicken Ball Award for Worst Fanfic. Once you get past the ick factor in thinking about fanfic writers having sexual relations
with characters, this funny and satirical tale really starts to get to you. This is also the
fanfic where Shampoo gives birth to kittens. Rated NC-17 for sexual situations.
Kun-chan and White Wolf's Hentai Fic, parts one and two, by Kun-chan and White Wolf --
The sexual situations here are implied, but very, very perverse and very, very funny.
You're gonna have to read it to believe it. Rated NC-17 for implied sexual situations.
Ranma Nibun no Ichi - The Wedding by Kun-chan --
The story that started it all, read all about how Ranma and Akane get married, and the
consequences of their actions. Rated NC-17 for sexual situations.
Passion Spice by Kun-chan --
For the minor crowd, a very sweet story that deals with love and mystical Chinese spices
and how the two shouldn't mix.
Assorted Links:
Kun-chan's Fanfics --
You can find all of Caroline's fanfics here, along with her Anime Expo memories page,
her chat page and a whole host of other goodies, including...
The Church of Ryouga --
I'm not kidding. Caroline is the webmistress and founder of the
Church of Ryouga, dedicated to exhaulting his name and examining his brilliance. There's
a fan art competition that's going underway, and Caroline's asked me to be one of its
judges.
The 1999 Chicken Ball Awards --
Voting may be over by the time this page goes up, but
take a gander at this site anyways. It includes the link to the 1997 Chicken Ball
Awards ceremony.
The image galleries I would like to thank for providing the images on this page are
Shampoo Sanctuary, Akane Tendo's WWW Archive,
and The Lost Gallery. Thanks for letting
me use images from your sites.
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