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.

Cold Luna bar:

And nobody ever sits around pontificating about why Ann Patchett writes novels, do they? Is the creative instinct so closely tied to financial benefit that there's no way for the average person to comprehend the desire to create for free?

Granted, it sounds like the author was explaining a phenomenon to people who may have only heard of it in passing and are marginally curious. The biggest question in the mainstream's mind would be "Why?"

The biggest question in the mainstream's mind would be "Why?"

So why not ask? Instead of making blanket assumptions? At least, if they start asking, they'll get several different responses, and won't come across as nearly as patronizing as they usually do.

I loved the Margot Adler piece on NPR a month or so back -- she interviewed several members of the Sugarquill gang. It was funny and engaging and not patronizing. Nicely done.

As for colored comments, it's useful, but then not everyone uses Word. When I work with Marasmus, it's a problem, because she's on a Mac and the only thing we can use is .txt files.

I'm a Mac user, and I've got Word. AIFG. Mac!MSW is not at all an uncommon program, and it reads PC-originated Word documents with no trouble at all, & vice versa. (And I actually like it better than the PC!MSW I've used before).

Well, this is new.

Feburary 6, 2003 - On February 16, 2003, FanFiction.Net will officially split into two distinct and independent sites:

* FanFiction.Net: will only focus on fanfiction related services.

* FictionPress.Net: a new site that will only focus on original fiction related services.

FanFictition.Net will concentrate on fanfiction only and all original fiction entries will be moved over to FictionPress.Net. At launch, the two sites will be identical in terms of features and usage with the obvious exception of title change throughout. All users profiles will be duplicated on FictionPress.Net to make member transitions seamless.

We feel that this is the best course of action that will benefit both communities in the long run. With the introduction of FictionPress.Net, there will now be a dedicated outlet for original writers and readers with the same feature set as FanFiction.Net while at the same time, finally allow FanFiction.Net to only focus on fanfiction.

Again, the transition will be transparent to all users but will require a significant behind the scene effort. As result, FanFiction.Net will be closed down on Feburary 14th and 15th to facilitate this change.

Please help FanFiction.Net and FictionPress.Net spread the word so that current members will be aware of the change.

On a final note, FictionPress.Net is not accessible and will not be until the launch on February 16th.

Well, that should speed up the fanfiction portion of things. To be honest, I've never checked out the original fiction/poetry side of things. I feel a little odd about posting original stuff on the web, especially if I want to get it print-published elsewhere at some point. Does anyone else feel similarly?

I have a question about Glass Onion, and I thought I'd ask here before asking on the list and cluttering things up. If I have a story I posted a year ago on ff.net and on shrift's Buffy/Angel archive, would it be okay to send it to GO for comments and archiving?

I wouldn't put original fiction on the Net. I have dreams/fantasies of someday getting paid for the stuff.

Second on the question re: Glass Onion, which I keep meaning to check out.

Glass Onion is a worthy list and a good site. And because it's multi-fandom, they are (or were) pretty cool about people putting up older stuff on the archive and the list.

There was at one time a regular weekly "nailing", or public critique, of stories, but that seems to have fallen by the wayside. I expect you could ask for critique anyway, and see what happens.

GO is my only multi-fandom list, I've been on it since it started. It's changed a lot, but there are a lot of good writers there, and the occasional excellent discussion. The archive is good as well -- clean, loads fast, and uses the auto-archiving software that Leviathan and the BFA do.