There are some things I'd like to say...
As a writer of fanfiction I will respect an author's wish for their works to be excluded from the fandoms of fanfiction. What I will not respect however is taking what I do so that they can make it into this taudry thing that should be a mark of shame. If there's a scarlet letter or something out there then someone needs to hand it to me cause I'll wear it proudly. I don't think I'm unimaginative because I enjoy writing fanfiction. I've been working on fic that is mine and mine alone when I don't write fanfiction but I don't think that it in any way means that I'm using fanfiction as a training ground. Anyone who's seen my writing as it goes through its stages will know how many versions of a single chapter I will write before I'm satisfied with it.
Last month there was a certain well-known author who posted on her blog site that she didn't agree with fanfiction... Although didn't agree doesn't cover the scope of her dissatisfaction with it. I've up until now been a fan of the author and while I still love the books I will in the future most likely stay quiet about recommendations of the series to others. In all there was a series of three posts made to her blog with the last being a bewildered post wondering why people were so upset or rather they'd taken such offense to what she'd written and then posted (before subsequently erasing of couse) onto her blog site.
"But…imagine opening your daily mail and finding a letter detailing an explicit sexual encounter between, say, your twenty-one-year-old daughter and your forty-eight-year-old male neighbor---written by the neighbor. At the bottom it says, “Fiction! Just my imagination. All cool, right?” This would perhaps prevent your calling the police, but I repeat…ick."
I will repeat again that I respect an author's write to request that their works be left out of fanfiction but to go so far as to compare my writing to a piece of smut that's sole purpose is to offend is... well... I'm not happy. At all. She wants to know why so many people were offended with what she wrote. I have to wonder if she bothered herself to read over what she'd written before posting and if she'd allowed herself to see it in some way other than her point of view that's fueled with indignation over the 'theft' of her characters because it seems to me as though the writing was meant to both offend and shame fanfic writers into refusing to write ever again.
On a lighter note:
I have started writing fanfic for Transformers again. I've got about 2000 words written for Experiences and Traitor is making good progress. I do apologize that it's taken me this long to get over my funk but I think I can thank my niece for shaking me out of that one. On June 11, 2010 at 8:44 pm my gorgeous niece Lexie Elizabeth was born. Funny thing about that one is that we'd taken her mom out for a pedicure the day before and ten minutes after as we're walking through Wal*Mart her mother comes waddling back from the bathroom to tell us that her water had broken. lol lol lol cause seriously the looks that we got when she announced that one were just hilarious.