Steering the Craft Chapter 4: Repetition
I decided to poke my writers block by getting back to this and immediately hit a thick wall of Fear of Failure even though that makes no sense with writing exercises. But I persisted!
( Read more... )
Every month in OTW Signal, we take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including issues related to legal matters, technology, academia, fannish history and preservation issues of fandom, fan culture, and transformative works.
An article published in February in the Dublin Inquirer highlights the fannish origins of author Diane Duane and how her experiences writing fanfiction influenced her career.
Inspired by a deep love of the (at the time) newly airing Star Trek: The Original Series, Duane began to craft stories featuring her favourite characters. Like many fans discovering a new world for the first time, she turned to storytelling as a way to explore it more deeply. The skills she developed while writing these stories would help her build a decades-long career as an author.
Duane found herself writing Trek “fan-fiction” – although, she says, she didn’t know that’s what it was called then.
Taking a sip of her cabernet sauvignon, she remembers her first effort as a crossover between Trek and musical sitcom The Monkees.
“I don’t know why I’m even admitting this in a public place, but it’s true,” she says, laughing.
Duane’s writing credits include novels and screenwriting work for well-known series from the Marvel, DC Comics and Disney franchises in addition to her original work. She remains engaged with the Star Trek fandom, enjoying the franchise’s recent series, Strange New Worlds.
Not all coverage is good coverage: When media threatens fandom takes a look at how sudden mainstream visibility can disrupt long‑standing fandom etiquette and trust built within fandom communities.
Using a recent article featured in Dexerto and the subsequent online backlash as an example, the author argues that when large media outlets introduce fanworks to broader, uninvolved audiences it can disrupt a community based on shared norms, and mutual understanding.
Fandom spaces used to be private, and fandom etiquette previously outlined a set of rules for fans. Now, media exposure turns these online communities mainstream, posing problems for authors when fan works are often created quietly and out of admiration for the source material — not a desire for attention.
The author stresses that ethical reporting on fandom requires recognizing fandom as a legitimate cultural practice that is shaped by decades of participatory storytelling, shared values, and communal identity.
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New-to-me flavour of chips: Thins Potato Chips Margherita Pizza.
Soooo tasty. Strong on the fake cheese, light on the tomato, reasonable on the basil / other herbs.
(brought home by Youngest from a picnic. This might be a short term variant).
Somewhere, deep in the woods of Holland, in cabins patrolled by volunteers, there’s a very, very kinky gathering. Meet Tom, who indulged his new pal’s girlfriend and helped to abduct her, throw her in a van and speed her off to an adventure in consensual non-consent. This is varsity level stuff and not for the … Read More »
The post After Action Report #22 appeared first on Dan Savage.
One quick bit of feedback from a reader before we get to the Thursday letter… I was just listening to the After Action Report with the monogamous straight couple who got a couple’s massage and private room. I wanted to chime in as another monogamous, cis-het mid 40s woman and say that the Savage Lovecast … Read More »
The post The Thursday Letter appeared first on Dan Savage.
SlasHeaven, a Spanish-language slash fanfiction and fanart archive, is being imported to the Archive of Our Own (AO3).
In this post:
SlasHeaven was founded on May 19, 2004, by the programmer and main promoter of the archive, Ayesha, and two collaborators, Maryam and Aura. This began after a massive deletion of fanfiction slash written in Spanish at a popular platform and with the conviction that we needed a place where we could publish in our language without restrictions. And so this website was born, a place dedicated exclusively to slash fanfiction written in Spanish.
SlasHeaven’s archivist made the decision to move the archive to AO3 after web configuration issues made it untenable to continue maintaining the archive themselves.
The purpose of the Open Doors Committee’s Online Archive Rescue Project is to assist moderators of archives to incorporate the fanworks from those archives into the Archive of Our Own. Open Doors works with moderators to import their archives when the moderators lack the funds, time, or other resources to continue to maintain their archives independently. It is extremely important to Open Doors that we work in collaboration with moderators who want to import their archives and that we fully credit creators, giving them as much control as possible over their fanworks. Open Doors will be working with Maryam and Aura to import SlasHeaven into a separate, searchable collection on the Archive of Our Own. As part of preserving the archive in its entirety, any fanart currently hosted by SlasHeaven will be hosted on the OTW’s servers, and embedded in their own AO3 work pages.
We will begin importing works from SlasHeaven to AO3 after March. However, the import may not take place for several months or even years, depending on the size and complexity of the archive. Creators are always welcome to import their own works and add them to the collection in the meantime.
We will send an import notification to the email address we have for each creator. We’ll do our best to check for an existing copy of any works before importing. If we find a copy already on AO3, we will add it to the collection instead of importing it. All works archived on behalf of a creator will include their name in the byline or the summary of the work.
All imported works will be set to be viewable only by logged-in AO3 users. Once you claim your works, you can make them publicly-viewable if you choose. After 30 days, all unclaimed imported works will be made visible to all visitors.
Please contact Open Doors with your SlasHeaven pseud(s) and email address(es), if:
Please include the name of the archive in the subject heading of your email. If you no longer have access to the email account associated with your SlasHeaven account, please contact Open Doors and we’ll help you out. (If you’ve posted the works elsewhere, or have an easy way to verify that they’re yours, that’s great; if not, we will work with the SlasHeaven mods to confirm your claims.)
Please see the Open Doors Website for instructions on:
If you have further questions, visit the Open Doors FAQ, or contact the Open Doors committee.
We’d also love it if fans could help us preserve the story of SlasHeaven on Fanlore. If you’re new to wiki editing, no worries! Check out the new visitor portal, or ask the Fanlore Gardeners for tips.
We’re excited to be able to help preserve SlasHeaven!
– The Open Doors team and Maryam and Aura
Commenting on this post will be disabled in 14 days, on April 8, 2026. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments regarding this import after that date, please contact Open Doors.
I'm a week post radiation; I'm still very red, and I have some raw patches in my armpit / outer edge of the breast. I assume this is mostly because I did not do the same prevention there, because I did not realise I needed to.
This means I am doing a lot of going topless; it is fortunately still warm enough to be doing that (although it is down to 22°C at the moment, and even with the door shut I'm a tad cold). I ran out of the ointment the hospital gave me, then the healing gel i was using, and the replacement
artisanat found isn't as good.
I have found a couple more books to fit the reading for the fiction part of my project, so I'm going gung ho on that. Am a little frustrated that I keep finding books from the USA, rather than anywhere else.
I have not been keeping up with DW. I've just opened about 20 posts and I think I'm going to end up closing them having skimmed. I have, instead, fallen face first into Heated Rivalry fandom, and very much appreciate
chaosmanor sharing their sources for fic. (I have not seen the show, nor read the books. This is unlikely to change. Youngest has been reporting back on the show).

a thousand beaks, a million talons, ten billion eyes. RIP Ms. Beakman, you beautiful bird
I’m a happily married pregnant woman. My wife and I have had a bit of a slowdown in the sex department, but nothing too worrying considering my “condition.” During this pregnancy I’ve had an increase in libido, but I haven’t shared that with her. We were having some conflict when I started to experience this … Read More »
The post Much Obliged appeared first on Dan Savage.