Fictional Works (nee DAAS Fiction): Are We Being A Bit Creepy? - Fictional Works (nee DAAS Fiction)

Ahh, something I have been thinking about a LOT, lately...
re-reading some of the stuff I have written...and wondering if I should have written it at all, let alone, posting it in a public place, where anyone (namely the subjects of my writing) can access it and read it.

I must say, a fair few people know I write, but they do not know exactly what I write, or who I write it about.
I have shared a few of my less obvious pieces with a couple of people outside of this place, and have had good feedback, but I admit that telling them I write 'fanfic' is not something I want to do.

I would feel like they'd think I'm a little creepy, and considering some of them already think I'm nuts for being so 'interested' in my celebs, I doubt it would go down well.

Lately there has been a part of me that feels creepy for doing this, especially since actually seeing both Paul and Tim in the flesh, in such a close proximity of time...for the first time, too.

But I don't see the trouble with it. If it was hurting the people I wrote about, then I'm sure we would know by now, and I would stop it immediately.
On the other hand... it is something I really love to do, explore a character that has been somewhat established already, at least in the reader's mind, and to extend on it, tweak it a little, manipulate them in a purely imaginative sense.
It's a harmless (I hope) way to have a little control over something I know I will never actually be able to own, or dictate.

And this is why I haven't posted much in a while.
Hopefully I'll get through it, and start again, because, if nothing else, my ego loves the positive feedback.

My husband knows that I write stuff here and he has even read most of it (and the only issue he takes to this place is the amount of time I spend here) but there is no way I would ever tell any of the rest of my family and friends about it because they would freak out. But I honestly believe that if we are not hurting anyone, what is the harm? I find it to be quite a nice venting facility when I need it and it gets some reading enjoyment out to others (not that I have posted much lately).

And I do also like the rule of not using real family members names etc because it does make it more about the stories and not the actual people, because as a few people have already mentioned, we don't really know the real people anyway.

And most people here know my real name

I didn't actually know about the wider fanfic-ing community's problems with RPS until after I'd found - and become addicted to - this place and the writing of everyone here. I do occasionally think that what we do is a little weird, maybe creepy, but like most people have already said, if it doesn't hurt anyone, I can't see a problem with it. And, again, the fact that people know that we write about them and are okay with it helps with that. For me, it feels like we are really just writing characters anyway.

This place, everyone here as both writers and readers, and DAAS in general has helped me to cope with some problems I'd been having when I joined and inspired me to write again, after a dry spell of almost a year, and so means a lot to me. I have a couple of very close friends, and I'd count my dad as one of them, and they all know that I write RPS and have read some of what I've written. Sometimes I even make them listen to my plot problems and help me hammer out ideas. The only thing I don't tell them about are the smuttier aspects of my writing/reading.

And it doesn't matter to me if anyone here knows my real name, and I'm changing it next year anyway

I've written both RPF and fictional characters in the past, and the issue here is something I've never experienced myself, but I've definitely come across. There are also people in my real life (though they are very few) who know I write these things, but I think the reason I've never encountered it is because everyone who knows me knows that I have just finished studying creative writing, and I see fanfiction as one of the best ways to get in writing practice, to experiment with ideas and to ultimately have fun with writing. Whether that is with real people or with fictional characters shouldn't make a difference, because sane people should realise that none of this actually happened (to our knowledge).

I think the problem comes from the small but prominent number of fanfic writers who use their fics to cruelly bash characters they don't like. One I remember is a man who wrote graphically about his desire to rape and murder all of Girls Aloud. A few people take it too far, and unfortunately, their behaviour seems to have stereotyped the rest of us, which is a real tragedy.

I just wrote a folkloristic twelve-page essay on this and the creepiness really hit me as well, and not just because it's about real people. I was in a fanfiction forum meeting recently, and only after the thing I realised that I had actually been standing in the centre of a crowded mall discussing hardcore gay porn with three teenage girls like it was the weather or something, as if twincest and wrapping people in cling film was something light you can just chat about in public with almost complete strangers. It feels a bit wrong to be able to read and discuss porn as literature, but not at the time: the fandom is a different reality, somehow. 

Anyway, in the essay I ended up comparing slash with gay porn and came to the conclusion that pornographic slash is just gay porn for women by women, a collective sexual fantasy with a weird personality kink, in a way shared love put into words. The stalkerish trivia-obsession is admittedly a bit creepy, but I do think the world of fanfiction sees people as people and not just as objects, and that's a good thing.