Hi- um, no rants this time, I promise .

I'm just wondering, since I know some authors on this and other sites have done it, and according to some of my friends and readers, I'm on my way to doing it, too. Just how many of you out there have put an original fic idea out as fanfiction to test it out and work it through, maybe get feedback and helpful advice on it? Or, in another instance, have written an AU fic and after it was completed realized it would be a great original story and so reworked it as such? Does it work well for you and have you successfully been able to rework the story into an original fiction? I am aware that one such fic- 'Underground Railroad', I'm sorry, I don't recall the author's name- is one, but I'm curious, as someone in the fanfiction community who also writes original fictions, how many have found success with this route?

Sometimes it works really well if you can get the readers into it, sometimes though readers are not that helpful so your best bet would be other authors and other members of writing communities.

Is it something you are hoping to eventually puplish? IF SO then I highly recomind pulling it offline ASAP. You dont want to give people the opportunity to plagarize your work. In this situation I'd offer the story to a few TRUSTED reviewers who are willing to give you SERIOUS feedback. Not just "Its great. I love it!" But actual thoughts and constructive advice... mostly at this stage I'd worry about flow, plot, and creative input. You can worry about grammar and spelling at the next stage.

However, I warn you... if you pull one ofthe stories you are currently writing on dokuga, I might have to come after your with the "Rabid fan baton" and beat you with it, until you update!

If its something you want to post as an original fiction but not publish it... using a medium like livejournal, fictionpress, aff.com then in order to be SURE you have some helpful feedback on it, let your reviewers know that its being moved as an original fiction, and to which site. Give them a link, so they can go there read it and review it for you. OR you can always rework it as an original but keep doing the FANfiction one - unsing the fanfiction as the outline for the original fiction.

Its up to you how you wish to do it. I am warning you again though.... *pats her trusty Rabid Fan Baton* I'm watching.....

LMAO! Yes, Moxy, I was referring to Stealing Heaven, though I didn't set out to use fanfiction to plot out or frame-work it before changing it over to original fiction- that was a notion presented to me by a few readers after about the fourth chapter (and for your information, I'm about 4 pages into the next chapter, should be up by today or tomorrow, cramped comp-usage time and having the kids home due to Colombus Day threw off my normal schedule, I usually churn out a chap over the weekend and type it for posting by monday afternoon, freeing me to work on & post the next one by friday I am dying to get back on that schedule). I do currently have quite a number of original fiction stories in their begining or midway forms that I do hope to have published at some point . . like if I manage to finish them .

I actually put them out on various sites with a reverse thinking on the plagiarism issue. All the sites I post on publish updates with the full date of the post and I have dated back ups both on my laptop and a flashdrive. I have kept timestamped documentation of any story-related communications I've had with advisors or - in the case of the series I'm working on- my colaborating authors. All this is so that should I ever come across someone stealing my work (which blessedly has yet to happen with my original works *knocks on wood*) I have more than enough documentation to back up that the work is mine. Another reason is that if I don't have people threatening me with batons or the occasional pointy object, I will unintentionally let things slide until I can no longer pick up the story where I'd left off.

I heard that there was a Star Trek fanfiction that someone put up online, and then when it was finished, they changed all of the names and fandom references and published it.

As a rule, I don't put anything I plan to publish online. I use too much of the character history to make that possible.

Le Sigh . . . I'm really considering now if I should pull at least my original stuff off line. It feels like a really hard decision, though. I mean, I really enjoy being able to share it with people, but even if I don't want to admit it to myself, maybe it does make more sense to pull it down.

Ah, I'm torn.