As you can tell from my story listings, I cut my teeth in fanfic in the Farscape fandom. I read all kinds, though. I've been known to visit X-Files, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Equilibrium, Iron Man, Twilight, The Mummy and probably a few others I'm not thinking of right now.

Things that'll make me back out of a fic:
-Work that looks like it was typed in a fevered frenzy and posted without a re-read. (And yes, some of my earlier stories look scary. I wrote them when I was working graveyard shift, and then typed them up in the morning after. I cringe when I see them, but don't have the oomph to go back and fix them.)
-Stories that use prompts to tell me things instead of show me, ie saying *flashback* as a header instead of writing it in a manner so I can tell it's a flashback.
-Stories that confuse "sex" as "love", and do nothing to show an emotional connection
-Stories that were obviously written by someone with a 13 year old mentality. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against young writers. There are several here that have blown me away with their skill, their depth and their artistry. But if I open it up and feel like I'm listening to one of the kids in my sunday school class tell me about their week, I'll back out.

I love a story that forces me to keep clicking "next chapter". I love a story that makes me respond to it on a physical level- my heart beats fast, I get all warm and gooey inside with a mental 'aww', or even makes me want to cry. I love a story that makes me think about it after I've closed it out. I love a story that transplants me into that world. And mostly, I love fanfiction that makes me feel like the story on my tv/in my book/on the movie screen never really ended, and this is an extension.

Fanfiction is my guilty pleasure that I do not indulge much anymore. I've always loved to write, but I never had any confidence in myself. It wasn't until I started posting my Farscape fanfiction that people outside my family and circle of friends read my work. I was scared and nervous, but the response was overwhelming. Then a very kind person offered to beta for me, and I began to learn how to let other people tear apart my work to make it better. And I grew as a writer for it. She invited me to join a writer's group called The Farscape Fluffy Bunnies (google it, there are some fantastic writers there) and through that group I made lifelong friends and expanded the circle of people who taught me how to be a better writer. And then came the delusions of grandeur.

I started working on my original fiction again. And I started trying to sell it. Because of fanfiction, I took a leap I might never have tried otherwise. I self published one novel (It's called Dreamwalkers: The Gathering, check out the coverwork at Amazon :) You'll learn where I got my handle from), and my first professionally published novel (titled Ever Together) will be released as an ebook on March 13, 2012, and I'm working on more. I would never have done so without this medium.

I owe much to fanfiction. :)

Update 04/11/12 Ever Together by Margie L Miller is now available at your favorite ebook seller! Woohoo!