Don't be an Ashley Carter.

Many years ago, I picked up a couple books at a yard sale.  They were "Taproots of Falconhurst" and "Scandal of Falconhurst" by Ashley Carter.  I eventually read all the Falconhurst books and was confused.  Did Ellen get freed and later murdered by Ransom Lightfoot, or did she die in the slave uprising on Falconhurst?  Why did one book contradict the others?  Just what was going on?  I sorted them out finally, not by the chronology of the story, but by publication dates, and what I discovered was this:  The series had three authors, two of which sometimes worked together.  These two quit, or died, or were abducted by aliens, and Ashley Carter took over.

I can't begin to describe how angry this made me and still makes me.  Not that another author took over, but that he ignored the established reality of that world to suit himself.  Using the works of the first two, I could have made a viable timeline, family tree, and maybe even a map.   For example, the character of Ellen was the young master's (ahem) favorite.  She came to the plantation as a teenager, bore many children, and was killed in a slave uprising.  I don't remember if her dalliance with a fellow slave was included in the Onstott/Horner books, but if it was, she was forgiven.  Ashley Carter, however, decided that Ellen's dalliance resulted in Ellen's being freed and sent away, then murdered.  WHAT?!

I can't imagine doing this to another author, but it seems to be fairly common and even accepted practice.  I argue all the time with my fellow Protoculture Addicts about Jack McKinney's novelizations of Robotech.  I just read a 'prequel' to Jane Eyre that did it - and has gotten good reviews.  There is an official Dracula sequel, written by some kin of Bram Stoker's, that does it.

Now, let me clarify.  I am not talking about works that take a "what if" approach.  I am not talking about alternate realities or reboots.  They don't claim to take place in the same reality as the original and promptly contradict it.    Play in the worlds of others if you like, but respect the creator of that world.  Don't be an Ashley Carter.

I guess I should mention my writing.

I've mentioned in my profile that I write fiction, and it's been suggested to me that I post some of my stuff here.  I don't know that I'd post anything big, but some of my shorter stuff is possible.  I have been known to crank out poetry, usually from the depths of depression, and have written (as mentioned in my profile) a few bits of fan fiction.

As a general rule, I don't care for fan fiction.  I've seen too many pornographic, badly written ones.  By badly written, I refer to both the story and the writing itself.  I don't care for explicit sex - a personal preference, I know - and I'd like all the spelling and punctuation to be correct, and I really do not want characters acting unlike themselves.  I once stumbled across one in which Harry Potter was coupled with Draco Malfoy.  My brain still hurts.  

Most of what I write is ostensibly romance.  I've gotten grief from jerks because many of my characters are Cherokee and I'm not, but I don't see a problem with it. Gene Roddenberry was not an alien, after all, and  I  research like a madwoman.  In fact, my current project is stuck at the moment on a very trivial bit of research, something I could fudge on.  Cindy could quite easily say "I think the place has been abandoned."  It's not even important to the story!  It's a bit of back story for a secondary, maybe even tertiary, character!

Anyway, I've already completed "Ghosts", in which Danny and Megan take their Internet friendship further.  There are literal and figurative ghosts running around.  The current project (Seventh Son) is actually a prequel to "Ghosts".  It's about Danny's mother connecting with her Cherokee roots. In the process, of course, she meets Danny's father.  I've got ideas for more Stillwater Farm stories, too!

I've been told my best work is a piece called "Regrets", which I may post here.  Some of my readers have clamored for me to fill in a twelve year gap between the main story and the epilogue, but I'm stuck.  Olivia won't tell me about those years.  (And if you've read "Ghosts", this is the same Olivia.)  I wrote another I'm hoping to expand into a Stillwater Farm novel, but I am really unhappy with the resolution.

That's what I write, besides this blog.  What I write seriously, anyway.  ;-p