oh yes I have had trials and tribulations. Those of you who caught up by reading a hundred chapters at a time may have seen the occasional "Note from the Author" and a few reassurances I put in my Livejournal in response to user questions, because a very large controversy arose over "Taking Chances" and "Looking for Answers" after chapter 27 or so of TC was posted.
The controversy apparently arose because I was the one of the first authors to do a detailed treatment of Ennis's life after grieving for Jack, and becoming involved in a serious sexual relationship. It broke absolutely new ground. There were a few other fics that were not well advertised, and got poor reviews. Considering that I didn't start this fic until 6 months after Brokeback came into theaters, and well after people began to write fan fictions, this might be surprising, and I had no idea I was writing something that might be considered by some, controversial. I myself thought that rewriting the ending of Brokeback mountain was in some sense rather scandalous, and could not imagine doing so, and I wrote a short fiction in 9 chapters entitled "A Warm Wind Blows" about Ennis wasting away with grief and developing a fatal cancer, only to find as he nears death, that Jack is there waiting for him and content to wait a while longer for him to have a more fulfilling life and to give him back a hope of living, knowing they will be reunited.
When I finished that story something else began to niggle at me but I could not still, imagine changing the end of BBM just because I wanted Jack to avoid the fate Annie Proulx had given him, and that is when I conceived of the idea of Ennis doing research to find out about the Queer World and encountering the denizens of one of Wyoming's first gay bars, a private club started by a mover and shaker in the most progressive town in Wyoming. Little did I know that for some... this plot was "fightin words." And the controversy intensified to the point that I was really quite hurt and bewildered.
"The Laramie Saga" has been called (politely) "MovinOn!Ennis", and impolitely "Ennis the Gay Blade" and "Ennis and Who?" and "Leather-Gay Ennis" , and I have been accused of writing something less elegant than Harlequin Romances, and "dancing on Jack's grave." At the same time, there grew quiet but nonetheless more visible group of people who wanted (and needed) for me to write, and to continue, the saga, and so I did. I don't begrudge others their own alternate-universe fics about Ennis and Jack, and I sympathize with those who aren't interested in reading about anyone else with Ennis. But there has to be a reason why so many people respond to this story... there has to be a reason why sometimes I get 50 or 60 comments a day, and why I get heartfelt confessions from people who say they finally felt relief from the dreadful pain opened up in them from watching or reading "Brokeback Mountain" when Ennis found love once more after the tragic death of Jack.
Topic: Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll (Read 3109270 times)