Filing off the Serial Numbers

Every so often, a new, old, or would-be writer reads a story that grabs their imagination and won’t let go. Many, many of these writers attempt to exorcise the demon by writing fanfiction, some successfully, some not. Those who are successful eventually face a choice: they can continue writing fanfiction about the story (or stories) they love, they can start writing (and hopefully publishing) completely original fiction, or they can file the serial numbers off their first love and call the resul...