On Fanfiction and Fiction Writing
A few days ago, the 15th anniversary of a milestone passed: I had my first fanfics published on a major fan website. They were Daria fanfics on the now departed Outpost Daria, then the mecca of all things involving the MTV cartoon. I remember trembling when I saw my fanfics listed among the two dozen under the "New Updates" header. Now it was official! I feared abusive comments, but mainly expected to be ignored. Days passed and comments trickled in... and not only were they positive, but two of them even came from Daria fanfiction's top dogs at the time! I printed out each email and tucked them into a folder, which I still keep around. The positive feedback left me warm and floaty, and dying to write more! Burnt out from revising my historical novel (ironically, a proto version of my current one ), I found writing scripted "episodes" of my favorite show to be invigorating. The stories in my head began to multiply and form the beads of lengthy pl