Sharon (Sentinel fan)

Fan
Name:	Sharon (F Kaffka, Fiona)
Alias(es):
Type:
Fandoms:	The Sentinel
Communities:
Other:
URL:
	Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
	Contents 1 Gafiated; 2 The Fic; 3 References;

Sharon (F Kaffka, Fiona) was a Sentinel fanfic writer.

Many fans considered her fic to be very dark, implausible in its intensity and graphicness, and a difficult read.

Sometime around October 1998, Sharon gafiated from Sentinel fandom, pulling down her fics.

Some fans reported that she had received hate mail, some said it was not hate mail but negative criticism, and some fans said she simply did not receive the kind of feedback she wanted.

The Kaffkaesque Disclaimer and Caveat: Please read before any of FKaffka's stories. Once should do it, but if you're feeling constructively critical, feel free to read it again.
Let's take it from the top. You all know, right, these characters aren't mine? Okay, well, some of them are mine, but none of the ones you've already seen on tv are mine, unless Pet Fly and I enjoyed a rare simultaneous creative synchronicity type event, which I defy them to prove. And, yeah, I'm a lawyer and I even teach law, and I even teach entertainment law, and so, in a more nearly perfect world, I could cite you precedent on ownership of fictional characters, but hey, you didn't sign on for legalese, right?
Mostly why I'm begging you to read this little craven plea for mercy is my preternaturally fragile ego. You should be able to read one of my stories, making copious notes on each and every little error, all in preparation for the moment when, my story fully read and digested, you start typing your critique. Wouldn't that be nice, a free and frank exchange of comments? Okay, except I'm, like, totally neurotic, prone to egregious acts of self-destruction, and, really, notwithstanding how everyone feels about lawyers, is it genuinely worth it to drive me to suicide just 'cause you disagree with my syntax, or I contradict something in an ep I only watched two or three times, or I'm practicing tv medicine (you know, where someone gets shot in the chest in the third act and shows up in the epilogue wearing a chic little sling) instead of the real stuff, or I placed Cascade to the southeast of Seattle instead of where it "really" is, like, south-by-southwest). Okay, this is just supposed to be fun stuff by which I rid myself of surplus demons in between grading law students' papers and killing bad guys in my detective novels. I really don't mean any harm; this all turned out to be way more fun than I expected, and I'm just hoping you enjoy this. If you don't, of course you're welcome to go around telling everyone you know but puhleeze keep it a secret from me. I like to live in my deluded little universe in which ignorance is bliss. So let's all detach with love, and I implore you to be careful if and when you e-mail me. If you like it, feel free to gush -- it sustains me when nothing else can. If you don't like it, either lie (I am majorly gullible) or go forth and be fruitful but try to keep your disapproval from me. If you say something nice, odds are I'll keep writing, but if you type at me cross-eyed, I'll haunt you when I die. 'Kay? Thanks, I love ya, and buh bye.
Oh, and a special thanks to all the terrific ff writers who share their incredible work and thereby inspire me, all the ts fans who've helped me become almost computer literate, and the people who've dared to walk on eggshells and offer commentary couched liberally in praise. Their numbers aren't exactly what you'd call legion, but I really do adore each and every one of them (and you guys know who you are), and not in a phony, eurotrashy air-kiss kind of way, but in an eternally indebted, autographed- copy-of-the-book kind of way. Thanks, guys. ^[1]

Gafiated

Sharongafiated sometime around October 1998.

The following comments are from: What Happened to Sharon?, post by Blair Kennedy at alt.tv.sentinel, October 7, 1998 (308 posts)

She was flamed off the internet. It seems a lot of people objected to her particular brand of Blair torture so she packed up her dollies and went home. Too bad. She was one of my favourite writers as well.

Not just flames, but *hate* mail.
Really, I don't understand such things. If you don't like her style or her stories, all you have to do is not read them.
[snipped]
Sharon's stories might have been hard to read, but RL can be even more horrific.
Mick C.
P.S. - IMHO Sharon's "Ellipsis" was one of the best death stories ever done for The Sentinel"

She pulled her stuff off the 'Net for some reason.
I guess nobody gave her much respect. Not to mention that her stuff *was* volatile and deranged.
The only reason I checked her pile of stories was to see what new atrocities she would visit apon (spelling?) poor Blair.
And believe me, she could a do enough stuff to make Blair go back to the therapist a thousand times over.
Her first series of stories I liked, but anything after that was utterly gross.
Well, that's my opinion about why Sharon pulled her stories of the 'Net.

Don't worry, most of us are just as lost as you are. Poor Sharon. Is there any chance of showing her that we're not all ogres and trolls? I've been fortunate enough not to have been flamed very often (a good thing considering my ego's a lot fragiler than I make it out to be :) but I have great sympathy for those who have. Especially for something like fic--a lot of work goes into writing, and to be rewarded so negatively for your troubles...All the worse when it affects those of us who *do* like it, denies us the opportunity to tell her so and her opportunity to hear it...for me, this obsession is fun, a way to relax and enjoy and entertain. I left X-files fandom in part because it could be vicious, mean to people because of random opinions, and that's not fun as far as I'm concerned; how can you take your pleasure from destroying someone else's?
Which is why I'm still enjoying TS so much...the show's diverting, and the chars are amusing to play with, and GM especially is great to watch--but most of all the people here (that I've encountered) are friendly, fun folk. I wuv you guys! =) It's sad Sharon ran into different crowd. Any way we make it up to her?
Pity she left before she found the ng...

I wrote Sharon an e-mail about a month ago asking her why she was no longer writing fanfic. She replied that it was more from the lack of positive feedback than from flames. I'm not sure if I believe that though, since it doesn't explain why she removed her existing stories.
Her stories were very dark and violent, but they all contained warnings at the beginning, so noone was being taken by surprise here. I enjoy a dark, angsty story sometimes; and, believe me, I've read novels that were much worst than anything Sharon has written.
I wish I had saved her stories, but, unfortunately I didn't. She told me that she was going to be away for a couple of months, but when she got back, she might start writing again. Maybe we can talk her into e-mailing her stories to us.

Not meaning to be nasty about this--I consider Sharon an excellent writer, though her stories were too twisted for me to continue reading--but there is a segment of fanfic writers out there who regularly threaten to stop writing, or even to do themselves injury, if they receive the slightest negative comment or just don't receive the amount of praise they think their writing deserves. What happens is, these writers complain and threaten in some public way, they immediately receive dozens of pleas not to stop and lots of sympathy over the bad treatment they have endured, and they withdraw the threat. After a while, people get tired of seeing the same threats and they stop responding. The writers then either start behaving like adults, or more often, take their toys and go home. To the best of my knowledge, Sharon has chosen to do the latter. If I'm wrong, and she really did take her stories down because of hate mail, then I apologize for misjudging her in this instance. But knowing what I do of her behavior in the past, I am inclined to think my interpretation is correct. She's still a damn good writer, though. And she'd be even better if she'd stop giving Blair those impossible-to-survive bodily and/or psychological injuries. Just MHO, of course.

I agree totally. I read a lot of Sharon's work, and enjoyed it, for the most part (except when she gave Blair permanent injuries that significantly altered his character). I did, however, have to take her in doses :-) Her stories were intense, and always held my interest, but I like Blair too much to see him permanently changed for the worse. But, that's my choice - to read or not to read <grin> I was saddened to see her go, though, because now I can't read the remaining stories at my leisure when I'm feeling particularly morbid :-)

After being unable to find Sharon's stories when coming back online after an extensive (read lengthy) computer repair process, I asked around and a list sib on Senad responded that the mail was getting so bad that *she* had been going though the feedback mail for Sharon.
The term "hate mail" was not used lightly. :(

Why am I sticking my nose into this business? Mostly because I hate to see people being slammed when they aren't around to defend themselves. If Sharon were posting to the newsgroup, I probably wouldn't have said a word. Her stories weren't something I would want to read everyday but no one was making either. There are one or two authors who still have stories on the net that write such dark plots that I feel the same about them. But, again, no one is forcing me to click on those sites.
I hope that Sharon returns to us some day. But I understand if she decides that she doesn't want to do that.

The Fic

References

^ Redhawke

[1] Redhawke

[1]

Fan
Name:	Sharon (F Kaffka, Fiona)
Alias(es):
Type:
Fandoms:	The Sentinel
Communities:
Other:
URL:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
Contents 1 Gafiated 2 The Fic 3 References

Sharon (Sentinel fan)

Gafiated

The Fic

References

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