I suppose I’m one of the fortunate ones who haven’t really received abuse for writing fanfiction. I mean, I write (wrote) the weirdest pairings ever (and I still stand behind them) and I don’t give a fuck.
I can give you an example or two;
I’ve posted two fanfictions of the Pretender on fanfiction.net a while back (2005) and the pairing is Jarod/Angelo. Now, there are two things wrong here; fanfiction.net is the weirdest place ever but has the best traffic, and two; Jarod and Angelo? Seriously? The Pretender and the monkey? Yes. Because before Angelo, Angelo was Timmy. They grew up together and they have a very special connection to each other. Writing Jarod/Angelo, for me, is not far-fetched.
Here are some responses:
The idea of Jarod and Angelo being lovers is a little bit far-fetched for me, but I really love the second part of the letter.
ew…this is so gross
i mean if i were into gay fics (which i’m not) i could see Lyle and Jarod but Angelo…hahaha give me a break that will never happened just leave this fanfiction and write Parker & Jarod fics
Now, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but I firmly stated on the whole thing you have to fill out that it’s Jarod/Angelo, mildly slash, and yet, you still choose to read it? It’s not my fault that you didn’t like that weird corner of my mind that I choose to work with. Flaming me doesn’t bother me. I write what I want, you read what you want, I mean, I warn for it, don’t I?
To be completely honest: I loved writing these two and I would do it again. Maybe a little bit better seeing as my writing has significantly improved since 2005…
I was one of the first people in the NCIS fandom to write Gibbs/Ducky. I wasn’t the first or the second, but when I started to write them in 2005 I was one of the select few who wrote about them. I generally posted my stuff over at livejournal at the appropriate communities and people were generally positive about my work, which was great because my writing really really sucked back then (and I had a beta or two too!). I posted a fair bunch of stories on ff.net (and have since then removed a few because they were just bad (in 2011 mind set)). The comments were overall supportive, NCIS readers do check the warning labels. Apart from a few times: “Ew, they’re old!” I’m good. Because it just makes me shake my head because apparently Gibbs with a younger female is okay but Gibbs with an older man isn’t? That’s cute.
Hell, Meeko and I had one avid reader of our Stargate Atlantis/NCIS crossover Broken Bird who absolutely loved the story until she found a dash of Gibbs/Ducky in it. She left her last review that it did not sit well with her and bailed. I think that’s cute. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
The fanfiction community is generally very very weird (in a good way!). Especially fanfiction.net where most of us writers do post our stories for its big readership.
Both Meeko and I, separately, received PM’s of a guy who wanted us to write incest. On fanfiction.net. Now, we’re already skating around the edges of what’s ff.net appropriate, but incest? That’s a hard limit for the both of us. “Thanks for ruining my week,” the guy said when we said no, and even tried further harassment. For things like that, I do wish that the reporting system on ff.net was a bit easier than it is now.
Update: This guy is a troll and also some sort of legend amongst fanfic writers. He’s been around for 20+ years. Someone either took over his mantle, or it’s still the same person. It’s always the same. His name is jeremycrawford or any kind of variation on it and there’s an entire livejournal blog dedicated to his appearances (fun read). This is not the game designer with the same name. He even has his own fanlore entry (although it’s not complete, obviously). Now that you know he’s a troll, go have fun with him when he contacts you!
I do not have anything of value on my ff.net profile because people generally tend not to read them. All those long ass profiles on ff.net that causes me to have to scroll all the way down to the supposedly good stuff (aka stories) put me off from reading their stuff – that is my opinion. I don’t post anything on my ff.net profile other than a short intro and what I’m up to but other than that? Nah.
Readers don’t care about what your personal things are on ff.net. They just shout with every update you make “UPDATE SOON!” (while you’ve just updated). Sore hand, can’t type properly? Who cares? They want an update and they want it now. It’s up to the writer to deal with that and I tend to ignore it for the most part, I feel crappy enough that my hand isn’t working to full capacity and that I’m currently not writing with Meeko (yet, I’m typing all of this up to test out how my hand is faring and I have to admit it’s poorly). (edit: I sense a recurring theme when it comes to pain in my hands… 21/7/2016)
As a fanfiction writer, you write things for free and readers are impatient. Isn’t that the first rule of fanfiction writing? Ignore the shit getting flung to your head? You certainly don’t end a chapter with “Update coming as I see fit due to personal circumstances” because you know that is the one thing that will make (some) readers angry and it’s an invitation to abuse. Just don’t tell them about your personal things. Just don’t. Especially when you’re a sensitive soul who cares about what their readers think of them. Laugh about your flames. Seriously. Readers don’t care about you, they care about the story.
Don’t misread this as I don’t care about my readers. I do. I love every positive review I get because it’s good for the soul. The negative reviews – the ones that center around the pairing I write and they don’t agree with – get ignored. I write what I want to write when I want it. I’m a fanfiction writer and write for my pleasure. But I’m not going to pelt them with information that’s not relevant to them on ff.net. I do share it on twitter and my blog or facebook because those are the mediums to do it. Not ff.net. Ff.net is for stories.
So, if you want to follow me, here are some handy dandy links:
Buggy Fiction (website)
Buggywrites (twitter)
buggyfiction (fanfiction.net)
meekobuggy (fanfiction.net – account with my mistress meeko)
And now, if you’d excuse me, I’m going to step off my soapbox and give my hand a rest and watch some more Person of Interest.