Fix-it fic has a habit of being annoyingly self-righteous, although I don't think that's innate. It's sort of like those people who got all screamy against Joss, when Tara got killed, except instead of being screamy in ways that proclaim Restraining Order, they express their screaminess through fic. So, actually, fix-it fic can have redeeming social value -- by saving otherwise-crazy screamy people from going off the deep end.

Or something.

I have read some interesting fix-it fic, or rather, fic that leaves canon behind because canon was not giving the author the dramatic hoo-ha the author needed; and plenty of real-world AU or "what if" fic. Personally I enjoy what-ifs, within reason and without axe-grinding. Like an amiably muddled dream of canon.

I like fix-it fic when it's a) well-done, and b) when the author is clearly having fun with the whole idea of it. One of my favorite fix-it fics in X-Files is like this. It's obviously a big, "I'm going to wrap up this whole thing and give it a happy ending with something for everyone!" but, it's like you can just picture the author smiling happily as she wrote the whole thing.

I interviewed Jane Espenson for my book, and we talked a lot about the audience and their relationship with the storyteller.

She mentioned something about fanfic i wanted to share with the fic writers here:

...Fanfic, the wonderful stories created by fans that allow them to play in the same world we play in. I adore fanfic and I think there are times when these stories can surpass the official product. Writing for the joy of creating exists in its purest form in fanfic.

And I thought that was such a lovely thing.

One of my favorite fix-it fics in X-Files is like this.

Snacky, I'm guessing that's Livia Balaban's thing, with the name I can never remember. Cuneda's Revenge, or something?

Writing for the joy of creating exists in its purest form in fanfic.

Awwwww. Thanks, Jane! Even if I never wrote any Buffyfic.

Jane rocks. Plus, has the good taste to know our Scrappy, so she wins at life.

I just had the horrible realization that I am significantly older than most of the people who write in some of my favorite fandoms.

Signed,

Just found out that the person who is beta-reading one of my fics is (technically) young enough to be my daughter.

Snacky, I'm guessing that's Livia Balaban's thing, with the name I can never remember. Cuneda's Revenge, or something?

Yep, Cunegund's Restoration. So smart and funny.

How do you decide how smutty to let your fic get? Because right now, I'm pairing some characters that, well, they're both dogs.Forward, aggressive, damn close to being indiscriminate. Which is the attraction in bringing them together, but I'm not sure that shy me can depict this.

How do you decide how smutty to let your fic get?

In number of encounters or detail levels of encounters? If it's number, I figure if a particular romp doesn't advance the plot or illustrate something major for a character, I leave it to the imagination.

If it's level of detail, I get bored very quickly with thrust-by-thrust choreography. I've noticed my characters snark a lot during sex, so I go for dialogue rather than "A's hand went to B's hip" etc.

Some of both. Those are good things to think about, Connie.