I know that this is a controversial subject. However, hundreds of tributes, expressions of sorrow and a wide gamut of expressions of grief have emerged from the entire fandom around Brokeback, and among the fans of Heath Ledger, since hearing of his sudden death. However, I am aware that open discussion of the future of fan fiction is very much affected by it, and that more than a few authors, as well as many readers, have felt uneasy about the subject of Real-Person Slash, fan fiction stories about Heath and Jake in a sexual relationship.
I myself wrote one, very reluctantly, a series of drabbles that speculated on the process Heath went through in "becoming" Ennis, and its affect upon him, and the possibility that he would have battled attractions to Jake as Jack, and was haunted by the character's secret desires. My very first reaction, within minutes of hearing of Heath's death, was the need to remove that story from where I posted it in the Brokebackslash community. A few other authors announced their intention to put their RPS stories on temporary or permanent hold, and many readers expressed mixed emotions - some feeling as though they wanted to keep the stories as a memento, and others that they could not bear to read them.
But because discussion has been largely quelled in other forums, I thought it was important to give the readers and the authors here a forum to express their own feelings about the future of RPS fiction, and also about general slash fiction if they wish. I have very strong feelings that writing any new RPS stories is disrespectful to the dead. Others feel completely differently about it. However you do feel, please feel free to express your opinion here, and be mindful of our policy of No Personal Attacks.