Thorn Wilde

OMG, you have to write those stories!!! Especially the second one, I want to know what happens! This has been done, several times, and at least two of them were awesome and highly praised by the fandom.

Working on it, my dear, the next chapter is already with the editor. I'm sorry you're so worried, but then at the same time that's actually extremely gratifying. I'm happy to have been able to write characters that my readers are emotionally invested in! Thank you!

That... is actually kind of cool. The way I understand it, we're talking shared royalties between the writers of the fanfic and the creators of the original content, and the original creators can choose to opt in or not. A way for everyone to make a little cash. That's a really interesting business idea. I kind of like it. Now, as for the discussion that's been going (wow, these are a lot of posts in the few short hours since I went to bed), I write fan fiction purely for fun and as a bit of an exercise. Sometimes, I write shipping fan fiction just for the pr0nz. I will happily admit that. My goal and my wish has always been to get my original stories published and, more importantly, read by an audience. That's what I write for. That's what I'm here. Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion on the subject, however I don't think we can be blamed for being a little bit offended when someone tries to tell us that no part of writing fan fiction requires creativity. Especially when we know that to be so very much not the case. I spent several years writing almost exclusively fan fiction, and that is something that helped my creativity immensely, helped me hone my craft, made me a better writer in every way. Nobody has to like the genre(s), but making the blanket statement that writing fanfic requires no creativity at all is perhaps a bit provocative.

So, in your opinion, the only thing that requires creativity is the character creation? No creativity at all goes into shaping your plot, writing dialogue, putting characters in new situations? When Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss adapted Sherlock Holmes to the present day, they were not being creative? And a writer who writes the script for an episode of a television series they did not themselves create the main characters for is basically a glorified editor? It's the same process. You invent new foes, new obstacles, new situations. You write new dialogue, new plot points. If you don't consider that to be creative, I don't think I have enough hands to count all the script writers I know of by name (some of whom are also published authors of completely original fiction) who would probably take issue with that statement.

I actually think it takes a lot of creativity, not to mention skill, to take already written characters, with personalities and backstories, and making them react to your plot without having them go out of character. If you think it's hard getting your own characters to do what you tell them to, try making someone else's. It also takes a lot of creativity to fill in the blanks often left in the backstories of less major characters in a story. The so called AU or Alternate Universe fic is also very popular, where you keep the characters but adapt them to a different setting. This too is very challenging and requires a lot of creativity.

To an extent, I think one can definitely say that every remake, spin-off, or reinvention is fanfic of a sort. And what about books based on TV series and films? The BBC publishes Doctor Who novels that are basically just very good fanfic. Aren't there also Star Wars novels? I mentioned Sherlock Holmes pastiches earlier as well, as a form of fanfic that goes back a long time.

Pink Floyd––Corporal Clegg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDeZ8qBd5A&feature=share

Those are exactly the questions that led me to write this story. Thanks for reviewing!

“So you did it, then.” Albus looked away and nodded. He said nothing to his brother, who was wiping the counter but did not take his eyes off Albus. “Finally,” said Aberforth. “You always knew you were the only one who could do it. Not only did you stop the reign of an evil wizard, you also showed the world, once again, what a great wizard you are. Good for you.” Albus almost smiled. There was a hint of a grudging sort of approval hidden in Aberforth’s sarcastic tone. They had barely spoken i

In May 1945, Albus Dumbledore defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald. A few days after this, Albus ponders his life and the schism which, nearly fifty years prior, tore his life apart. Can his brother forgive him? Can he forgive Gellert Grindelwald?

I would just like to say that I don't find any of you non-fanfiction people arrogant, and I didn't start this topic in order to split us up into people who love fanfic and people who hate it... I was just curious about people's opinions and the reasons behind them. Because I like knowing how people think.

If you're worried, just imagine how Ben must be feeling. Hope you'll manage to escape the men in the white coats until I get the next chapter back from my editor! Thanks for reviewing!

I think you'll find that that was explained as part of the plot, actually. That said, here's a list of changes and fixes made to The Order of the Phoenix after the book's original release. Lots of typos and stuff that didn't get sorted before the first edition came out. Sloppy editing, IMO.

Thank you!

Yay! New people! I'm glad you're enjoying the story, thank you so much for joining us so you could review! This gives me warm, squishy feels.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Mark is very cool, and he would never make excuses for anything. He's pretty straight forward, and to an extent partially modelled after a friend of mine and maybe just a tiny bit after myself... So I take it as a personal compliment when people like him.

Thank you! Glad you like! I don't know if Adblock would help with The Daily Mail, actually. I believe they get ad revenue for every visitor to their site, and I don't want them to get any money on account of me.

I promise to return Mark as soon as I'm done with him.

Yeah, here's hoping. Thanks for reviewing, glad you're still enjoying the story!

I think Ben is a little.... simple, sometimes. I mean, he's massively intelligent, but he tends to occasionally see things in black and white rather than shades of grey. Drugs are bad. I need to protect Mark. My fans are good people. And he likes to believe the best of everyone. And because he's older than Mark, it's easy to take on a slightly parental tone with him. He doesn't mean to be condescending, though, and Mark appears to understand that. Also, Harry can argue with Ben until he's blue in the face, but Ben controls his own image. It's part of his contract. So ultimately, it's his decision and Harry must do what he's told. After years of working together, Harry knows when he must admit defeat. He picks his battles.

I like Carol, too. She's a nice, down-to-earth type of person.

Well, consent means permission. Consensus means agreement, which was what I meant. But thanks for the heads up on the 'dispensed with' part.

Thank you! I've been trying very hard to avoid clichés and to keep my characters, well, real. Not so over-done and emotional. I'm glad I seem to be succeeding. Ben does have a flare for the dramatic, being an actor, but it kind of works cause it's him. Thanks for reviewing once again!

CHAPTER ELEVEN The Curious Incident of the Mail in the Night Time Ben couldn’t think how he could possibly have foregone this sort of treatment for all these years. He lay on his back, trying to control his breathing, while Mark worked his magic with his tongue and fingers. He was every bit as good at this as he was at blow jobs, teasing and prodding Ben in just the right way until he felt fit to burst. ‘Is it good?’ ‘Oh god yes!’ The words tumbled from Ben’s lips. ‘It’s so, so good! Oh,

I think Brink has a good point, too. A lot of people might not really think about it. If something doesn't matter to you, it might be hard to see why it would matter to other people. Years and years ago, I outed my best friend's general anxiety disorder to a new acquaintance. I was seventeen at the time, I think. It didn't even occur to me that there was a stigma for mental illness, and my friend tended to tell everyone anyway, so I didn't realise that telling someone about it would be a breach of confidence. But it was. We remained friends and still are, but I don't think she ever trusted me in quite the same way again. Sometimes it can be easy to overlook stigma and discrimination in society, not because you don't believe it can exist, but because you yourself see everyone as equal and it doesn't occur to you that others you speak to might not. So, your boss might know, rationally, that there are homophobes and dickheads out there who might want to hurt you or be cruel to you, but he won't consider the fact that they might be on his staff, in his own backyard, so to speak. Because, 'Surely, I don't know anyone who's still so short-sighted and stupid?'