The Grand Opening of my newest Live Journal: Fee Folay’s Follies! Ta Da! (cue fanfare and drum roll, please…)

This journal serves a very specific purpose. It is a place to post my fan fiction and bask in the warmth of any letters of comment I might receive as a direct result thereof… or more likely, to post my fan fiction and sit listening to crickets chirp when no one takes notice. LOL! Well, at least I will have someplace to store my finished writing besides my geriatric hard-drive, which is likely to head for that CPU graveyard in the sky any day now.

I chose this particular style of journal because it allows me to use really bright, vibrant color – I LOVE color – while the actual writing remains black print on white background. Having struggled through other folks’ pink on black, or orange on purple print, I know how much of a headache clashing color combinations can be for the reader. Hopefully, y’all will appreciate the more traditional neutral scheme.

A word about my user name. Why Fee Folay? Well, I grew up in New Orleans…pre-Katrina New Orleans, that is, and the distinctive culture of that city is so much a part of my being in might as well be entwined with my DNA. I left New Orleans years ago, but though you can leave a city like NOLA, it never leaves you. The name “Fee Folay” is a wee nod to the unique traditions of that place. Fee Folay is a bastardization of “fifole” – a Cajun name for a swamp creature used to frighten young children into good behavior. Basically, the “fifole” is a burning ball of swamp gas….which seems apt. LOL! It was either that or “Lou Garoo” for loup garou – a werewolf like creature of Louisiana … and I just don’t look much like a “Lou”.

For each work of fiction I post here, I will include a short blurb including all those important things like FANDOM and TITLE and CATEGORY etc. And perhaps a few author’s comments to give anyone interested further incite into the particular piece. I always love getting a bit deeper inside an author’s head myself – but certainly my readers not feel obligated to indulge me and may skip straight to the stories should they wish.

What do I write? Well, I write in a variety of fandoms, but most involve relationships among and between male characters. Not all – I have written some male-female character dynamics as well, but my personal preference appears to be male-male relationships. I also tend to write drama, but have been known to dabble in everything from parody to poetry. Some of my pieces are short vignettes; others are lengthy, plot driven adventures. Some are set in modern times; some in distant galaxies. In short, I get around! I also write both slash and gen. If you do not understand these terms, I suggest you access an on-line fandom dictionary and look them up before proceeding further. However, if you are looking for heavy sex scenes, you are not likely to find them here. My writing, even the slash, tends towards the subtle. I do not feel comfortable writing “grope and pant” so I avoid it. (That is not to say I don’t read it upon occasion!)

Some of the following stories are already posted in various places on-line. Some have been printed in zines. Most have never appeared anywhere but on my hard-drive. I will not post them all at once, as I am terrible about actually committing myself when it comes to my writing. I will revise and edit and rework until the cows not only come home, but also move in, remodel and raise a family! By the time a bit of writing finally manages to make it here, I feel a bit more committed to leaving it alone – at least for the time being. So check back now and then, as I will be adding various works as they are completed or revised to my current standards (which always seem to be in flux.)

This will be a mixed bag. I am fickle when it comes to fandoms – jumping in and out rather like a jackrabbit on speed, and my muse is even more difficult to control. When she deigns to make an appearance, the words flow like water and I will compose stuff that I will later swear I am not talented enough to have written. But when she decides to take a hike and leave me holding the bag, writing becomes a tedious chore that leaves me drained and cranky. Often, when this is the case, I have to drop the piece I am working on and back off before I risk “destroying” whatever may be good about it. Thus my hard-drive is cluttered with discarded, half-finished Works In Progress – which you will NOT find here. As a reader, I find WIPs very frustrating, so as a writer, I will not subject you to curtailed stories that may never be completed. It is just too cruel.

And now a comment about comments. I myself am notoriously BAD about LOCs. There are several excuses I could try and trot out, but the truth is, there really isn’t an excuse. I just don’t seem to be able to compose decent feedback! Call me lazy. Call me overworked. Call me tongue tied…dunno. I just can’t seem to get it together when it comes to letting people know how much I’ve enjoyed their writing. Having said that, I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF MY STORIES!!!! However, it is hardly fair to ask my readers to indulge in something I can’t seem to manage myself – so don’t feel obligated to comment…and if you do, a simple word or two is enough… I am pretty certain all authors would love a detailed review of each piece of writing, but I am a realist, and sometimes, “Loved it!” is all one can manage. Or “Hated it” as the case may be… However, if you do “hate” a piece, in that instance I AM asking for a more in dept explanation – after all, I can’t improve if no one tells me where my weaknesses lie.

Also, my stories will be clearly labeled as to content – or as much as I can reveal without giving away important plot points – so if you choose to ignore my heads-up warnings and comments and read something that you find objectionable, don’t come bellyaching to me!

And now for the generic, overall disclaimers:

THE FOLLOWING STORIES INVOLVE COPYRIGHTED CHARACTERS WHICH DO NOT BELONG TO ME. I AM ONLY TEMPORARILY KIDNAPPING THEM TO PUT THEM IN VARIOUS HARROWING SITUATIONS FOR MY OWN EDIFICATION AND THE VICARIOUS ENJOYMENT OF MY READERS. THEY WILL BE RETURNED SHORTLY, RELATIVELY UNDAMAGED. THESE STORIES ARE NOT INTENDED TO INFRINGE UPON THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT HOLDERS OF SAID CHARACTERS. THANK YOU.

And the generic warnings:

THE FOLLOWING STORIES ARE WORKS OF FICTION. IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT FICTION MEANS, GO LOOK IT UP IN A DICTIONARY BECAUSE IF YOU WRITE TO ME TELLING ME THAT SOMETHING IS NOT TRUE AND HOW DARE I WRITE IT, I AM GOING TO SLAP YOU UPSIDE THE HEAD WITH A FEATHER.


SOME OF THE FOLLOWING STORIES MAY CONTAIN CONTENT THAT IS INAPPROPRIATE (and possibly illegal) TO ACCESS IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE UNDER 18. IT MAY ALSO BE DEEMED ILLEGAL IF YOU ARE UNFORTUNATE ENOUGH TO LIVE IN ONE OF THOSE AREAS WHERE THE LOCAL “MORALITY POLICE” HAVE DECIDED THEY NEED TO PROTECT YOU FROM YOURSELF BY PASSING ORDINANCES THAT RESTRICT YOUR PERSONAL FREEDOMS. EITHER WAY, IF YOU ARE UNDER THE LEGAL AGE, OR LIVE UNDER THE SHADOW OF BIG BROTHER, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED NOT TO ACCESS ANYTHING ON THIS PAGE THAT IS LABELED NC-17. IF YOU CHOOSE TO DO SO ANYWAY, PLEASE REMEMBER IT WAS YOUR CHOICE TO DO SO AND THUS, YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. UNLIKE OTHERS, I BELIEVE IN PERSONAL CHOICE AND RESPONSIBILITY…NOT IN IMPOSING MY VIEWS UPON OTHERS.

SOME OF THE FOLLOWING STORIES MAY CONTAIN CONTENT THAT SOME WOULD FIND OFFENSIVE. IF SUCH CONTENT OR THEMES DISTRESS YOU PLEASE EXERCISE YOUR PERSONAL FREEDOM TO USE THE BACK-BUTTON. IF YOU CHOOSE NOT TO EXIT AND READ SAID STORIES ANYWAY, PLEASE REMEMBER IT WAS YOUR CHOICE TO DO SO AND THUS, YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. UNLIKE OTHERS, I BELIEVE IN PERSONAL CHOICE AND RESPONSIBILITY…NOT IN IMPOSING MY VIEWS UPON OTHERS.

And now, on the fan fiction!!!

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FANDOM: Starsky and Hutch

TITLE: Reflections and Revelations

CATEGORY: Drabble. Gen. Rated G.

SUMMARY: A writing exercise

COMMENTS: I love to write, but it doesn’t always come easily. In fact, the older I get, the harder is seems to be to capture that magic that allows the words to just flow… too many other distractions. Too many obligations. Too much stress. Too exhausted from a job that requires all my energy.

I miss it.

So I do try to keep my hand in, jotting notes in the margins of my notebook during a boring faculty meeting, scribbling ideas in my journal, composing prose on the way to work (I am always too tired on the way home). Anything to keep those juices flowing.

It was with this in mind that I decided to try and tackle the latest on-line fanfic writing craze - something called a “drabble.” According to Wikipedia, “a drabble is an extremely short work of fiction with exactly one hundred words…The purpose of the drabble is brevity and to test author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in an extremely confined space….The concept is said to have originated in UK Science Fiction fandom, the 100-word format was established by the Bigmingham University SF Society….The word drabble comes from Monty Python’s Big Red Book.”

A drabble is basically a “writing exercise” of the kind that gets foisted upon you in “creative writing classes.” You see, there are rules involved, and rules broken – and that generally suggests some kind of learning experience. The rules one must follow, is that a TRUE drabble should contain only 100 words, no more and no less. I discovered this is a lot harder to manage than one might think. My first attempt ended up being 174 words… which meant I had a lot of words to chuck. Honestly, one hundred words doesn’t give you much with which to work! Every word has to be weighed, measured and considered. It is necessary? Does it further your idea? Can you condense it any more? And, in direct opposition to most writing advice, which stresses detail, detail, detail, with a drabble you have to keep everything as pared down and Spartan as possible. It is writing at its most elemental, and it goes against everything that defines me personally as a writer…. I am the queen of detail. Thus I found it a struggle, but one worth while. The following short piece, or “drabble” if you will, is the results of my efforts. It is exactly 100 words long, making it a “true” drabble… and hopefully, I manage to achieve what I was striving for, which was to convey far more with my 100 words than just what was on the page… It is based upon Starsky and Hutch because, well, that’s what I’m into at the moment…

Let me know what you think…

( dabbling-in-drabbling )

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