Baby Steps

Lately I’ve received quite a few emails regarding my FF stories. Some want to know if there will be a squeal to WHACW, others asking if I plan to “return” and continue writing fan fiction. While I find the curiosity flattering (who doesn’t want to be begged to continue a story ;) ) the answer to both those questions is no.

What Happens at Charlie’s Wedding was my baby steps into the writing world. If it hadn’t been for the FF community I probably would never have had the courage to publish. Actually I know I never would have, but you’d be surprised at the comfort a pen name can give you until you’re ready to scream that it’s you behind the smut. Velvetbutterfly was a test to see if I could do it, and with two published novels under my belt, I guess I can finally say I’m not too shabby when it comes to this writing bit.

But as much as I will always be grateful to the FF fans, especially to those who have followed me over to my original work and continue to support me, that part is over for me. A lot goes into writing and with the time I would spend writing FF is the time I could spent writing my own original, which is my focus now. Or least it will be as soon as I can concentrate enough to get something down.

My stories will still remain on FanFiction.net and Twilighted—at least for now. There may come a time when I decide to pull all of it just because (NOT to publish it), but for now they’ll remain.

That brings me to then next question I get asked a lot: do I have any plans to turn my FF into o-fic. No. Absolutely not. Without getting into the whole "pulled to publish" debate, for me it's just not something I`m comfortable with. I may have created the story but those aren't my characters. I borrowed them, and slapping a different name on them still won`t make them mine. Original fiction means from scratch, in my opinion. If I'm going to publish it's going to be something that's entirely mine and not something I borrowed along the way. That's just how I feel; no disrespect to those authors who have done it because I've read some really great books that I never would have guessed were originally FF.

The fan fiction community is a very close group, it's more like family than anything else, and I'm proud that I was part of that family for a little while. But like all families, there comes a time when you need to leave so you can learn who you are and grow into the person you want to be on your own. Those baby steps may seem terrifying to take but without taking them you'll never know where you could end up.