in praise of fan fiction

You never know who you
will meet on the road ...

If all roads lead to Rome, as the saying goes, then even the two lane, back roads that aren't paved get there too.

So too does fan fiction lead to things.

It leads to more sales for the authors, friendships among the fan fiction writers, a sense of community, and a place for talent to develop and grow.

It isn't really a stretch.  

The Wall Street Journal has even published several articles recently about the phenomenon.  There are even several authors who are published by traditional houses who started this way.  Sure, not all of us who have cut our teeth there trying to write Fifty Shades of Grey ... some of us look for a voice, a style, or a creative outlet.  

I have a lot of good things to say about fan fiction.  I'm sure glad I found it.

what's in a name, really?

In an attempt to 'connect' with my 'authentic self' (sounds like I've watched too much Oprah, doesn't it?), in the past year I've tried to liberate myself from the persona I created that I think of as Alf or Alfonsina.

Alf is me but she isn't.  She doesn't fear what others think or say about her.  She is strange, creative, independent, and she will take almost any dare.  Most importantly, she can be outrageous and dance on top of tables (while drunk or otherwise) and doesn't get those things called hangovers or guilt complexes as a result.

As me, I am far and away too hung up on with other people.  How will/do they react.  How those reactions impact me.  Most importantly, how I let those things limit me.

I've also attended one too many seminars about writing/publishing.  The people involved have been all about third party point of view (and what they call a close third).  Me?  I tend to be vain and think in first person even if I've never been: male, in the military, or even been on the back of a motorcycle. 

I have looked at the authors I like/love and the books that I like/love.  Wouldn't you know it?  Virtually all of them are written from the first person point of view.  By reading those books from that place, I get to become someone I'm not.  I can be rich, thin, exciting, and have my own stable of nearly-naked, naughty men.  I can be a redhead, blond, brunette.  I am transformed into someone who is younger or older.

I get to escape my life and my world and go somewhere completely different for fun, profit, and pleasure.

That is the point of reading and writing (for my own pleasure and that of others), right?

So, I'm going to re-evaluate me and what I do.  Examine what works and what doesn't.  See how I can get back into my own zone.  I've been benched for the better part of a year because I let go of the name, the persona, I created.

I've missed Alf and I hope to reconnect with her soon.

The bad news about Alf/Alfonsina?  When I looked at buying 'my' own domain name, it is a FREAKING PORN SITE!  I can't really compete with that.

I will choose another name to write under (real things) ... I will write as Alf and then sign her name ...

Alf.