Bit of a rant...

I'm sorry to say that today's post will be a bit of a rant! Is anyone else out there bored of reading all the negative feedback directed at Fifty Shades of Grey? And actually the very bitter, aggressive and immature feedback a number of people are giving to stories that have been published as fan fiction in general? It amazes me how narrow minded and frankly nasty some people can be about it. For those of you that have never read fan fiction, it is basically a format whereby authors publish their own stories but use the names of characters from existing stories. Many of the stories published are very original and bear little if any resemblance to the fiction they are associated with. This is not a bad thing though; it gives people a chance to imagine characters they love in different scenarios and gives writers the opportunity to build their audience and to gain feedback on their style of writing. Let's face it, how would you know if your work is good if no one looks at it?

The Fan Fiction community on the whole is a supportive and friendly one, but there seems to be a core of people who are out to demean and criticise writers for no reason other than the success of their stories. Why? I can only assume it is a case of huge envy. There are some massively talented writers on Fan Fiction who write stories that are equally as good (and sometimes better) than the ones they categorise their stories in.

Reading is something people generally do for pleasure, particularly when it is fiction. I think it is fantastic that someone who started life as a writer on Fan Fiction has become a New York Times best selling author. I say congratulations E L James! Who wouldn't want to have her success? She has written something that appeals to the mass public and people have obviously enjoyed it (hence it being a bestseller) and yet there now seems to be this core of people jumping on the bandwagon to slate her and her work. I just don't get it :-s

I believe that fan fiction is a great platform for new writers (or writers who have been writing forever but been shy of sharing their work (yep people like me!)) for getting your writing off the ground and hopefully eventually published. If you have a talent, why shouldn't you make money from it? After all no one is forced to buy a book or an e-book and lets face it, in the current financial climate, we all need an extra income if we can get it.

So to all the authors out there who started life as a writer on the fan fiction sites, congratulations on making it into mainstream publication! It is testament to your talent that you have been published and people are buying (and in the main loving) your work! As for the naysayers, I grew up being told "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all". Perhaps we could all do with thinking about that; the world would be a much happier place without all the bitterness, aggression and lets face it blatant envy.

On the plus side, I would like to thank everyone who has supported me on my own writing journey. You keep me going :-)