See, I don't get that. I NEVER use the file that went through beta as the file that I post. It's more complicated, but I sit with the beta in one window and the story in the other, and make the changes. Besides, I might have changed the story since I sent it to beta.

Anything long, I have two beta passes at least, so I do it this way.

What with being out of town this past week, I forgot to say that Bright Shiny Objects has been updated. I feel kind of sheepish because I was too disorganized to send the recs in this month, so the update is short on Jossverse stuff (which is my part most of the time.) There were some excellent Firefly fic I wanted to rec, which will have to wait until the next update.

There is one Gilmore Girls story (a gorgeous Luke/Lorelei) in that update that tweaks my heartstring just so. I'd be all kind of fannish about GG, if only it weren't airing at the same time as Buffy. Sigh.

Oh, and someone on GO recc'd this cute Stargate fic yesterday, which I loved. It made me burst out into laughter several times.

Edited, as usual, for stoopid grammar.

I blame Shrift and Dana.

Actually, that one's my fault. I didn't want to, believe me...

USA Today on fan fiction. Oy.

I NEVER use the file that went through beta as the file that I post. It's more complicated, but I sit with the beta in one window and the story in the other, and make the changes. Besides, I might have changed the story since I sent it to beta.

Me too. That's how I work.

Oh, how...patronizing.

Consuela, is it worth reading or only a source of wincing?

It's USA Today. That said, it's not quite as patronizing as it could be. Of course, it's chock-full of the standard inaccuracies.

Well, at least the USA Today article didn't commit the "all fanfiction = slash" error. Plus, I liked the fact that the author admitted that:

I can't say I blame fans for taking writing duties into their own hands. A good story is becoming increasingly difficult to find in movies and on TV; today's big cheeses prefer to spend money on uninspired remakes and realitysomethings. (snip) Despite their flaws, fan-fic scripts often entertain me more than the shows on the air.

I was a little bugged by the fact that the author kept referring to stories as "scripts," but that's a pretty minor gaffe compared to others I've seen.

I also have to applaud this statement:

As long as fan fiction is properly labeled and doesn't make a profit, the work's original creators should try to take it as the ultimate form of flattery.

What do the rest of you think of the four reasons the author gave for why people write fanfiction?

"The Flying Nun and the Chupacabra."

So help me, I kinda want to read this...

What were the four reasons?

• wacky situation
  
• pinch of sex
  
• character expansion
  
• tired of waiting for the inevitable

I hate it when people assign motivations to me. I don't do "wacky situations". I rarely do "pinch of sex". Sometimes I like to expand characters, but that's rarely my primary motivation. And ... "waiting for the inevitable"? Nope.

I write... why do I write? Because there's something I want to explore, because there's a character I want to understand, because there's an image I need to get down, because someone gave me a challenge, because I want to take a character somewhere we won't see on the screen, because I want to experiment with form or style or perspective, because I want to play with a situation that the show didn't or won't. Because I want to twist them until they break.

All of that, and none. And any journalist who tries to say why I wrote something is missing the fucking point.