I started writing fan fiction, as an experiment, a couple of years ago in conjunction with some online role playing I was trying at the time. Many of the roleplayers had selected characters from a couple of different fan fiction fandoms (ones I did not follow), and I waded into it slowly. When I became a Brokeback Mountain fan, I found some fan fiction stories and, being a novelist, decided to try my hand at finishing the tale for myself.
Being a babe in the woods with regard to fandom and its peculiarities, I was bewildered and amazed at the range of attitudes and reactions I had to my story about Ennis moving on to find a new life, and I discovered for the first time, an active, engaged, and interested audience. I also discovered what I first identified as a sort of popularity competition amongst fan writers for the fan audience, but upon deeper consideration, I see as a kind of orthodoxy, as in established religions.
This orthodoxy sets an expectation and rewards those authors who follow certain step patterns in the plot of a retelling of Brokeback Mountain. To the extent that the author "hits these marks" will determine the breadth of the audience and its enthusiasm, since this orthodoxy has grown out of the collective emotional need for finishing the story in a certain set manner. I also believe that the orthodox expectation is far more plot driven than character driven, and that the plot, here, dictates the characters' believability.
The result of the established plot orthodoxy is that due to the high approval given to orthodox conformity, the amount of deviation in plot becomes less and less (rather than more) as time goes on. As a result, the most widely read stories are the ones who meet the highest number of marks in the orthodox plot, and those who deviate from them will be read less, or by a specialized audience looking for "that type of story."
This is what I have observed among popular BBM fan fictions as orthodox plot elements:
1) The story must be AU - it must not end in Jack's death. The threat of the tire iron (imminent death) must be mitigated in some way or avoided - so that Jack will not die in the course of the au tale as well.
2) Jack develops more courage to confront/deal with Ennis, forcing the issue of their relationship with him
3) Jack makes a proposal as part of forcing the relationship issue
4) Ennis balks at it (or accepts it first and complications arise, or he balks after a time delay)
5) Jack gets a chance to punish Ennis for 4), or has a crisis or complication of his own, thus leading to pain and suffering for Ennis (this is critically important. Ennis MUST suffer at this phase of the story.)
6) Ennis goes through "the torments of hell"
7) A reconciliation or rapprochement occurs between Ennis and Jack, Ennis is contrite, and they THEN live happily ever after.
In reading a variety of AU, Canonical (where Jack dies) and original present time stories which preserve only the characters "Jack and Ennis", the audience enthusiasm and commentary seem to correlate to how many of these plot marks are hit by the author.
I have posted this to open discussion, because while I am pretty confident of my observations, here, I still don't understand why, or how, this has evolved in the few months since Brokeback Mountain was released.