What was your first fanfic like? Do you love it? Hate it? Did you finish it and post it somewhere? Or is it still stuck in your head? Over on Gatchfanfic, I claim Senior Composition as my first fanfic, because it's the first one that I wrote, had beta'ed, and actually completed. But my real first fanfic is a disaster. I've written five subsequent stories In that arc - Rebuilding, Rock Bottom, Revelations (those 3 are posted), and Reinstatment and Recovery, which I'm polishing up. But it makes me sad that the first fic - The Trouble With Jason - starts with such promise and then peters out. I'm not sure if I just have a mental block with it now or if I am still not a good enough writer to pull off what I want to happen. So ... how was your first time?

Hmm my first BOTP fanfic I wrote long before I knew what fanfic was, as a kid, on paper by hand. I'm not sure I have it anywhere around. It was probably terrible, but heartfelt. My first BOTP/Gatch one once I was aware of this beast called fanfic was after having watched some subtitled Gatchaman. I wrote it for Bird Scramble back when I was in university. Actually, I can't remember which story I wrote for them. (But I found my mags and keep meaning to comb through them.) I remember I started one where Ken had to be pulled from the team because of episodes of missed time, where he couldn't at all account for where he'd been. Turned out he'd been sucked into some Galactor pilot brainwashing thing. I remember I had to put blue paper around it, heh. I keep meaning to dig that out and add it to Gatchfanfic and consider finishing it. Over the years, I've noticed I really like mind control themes.

My first fanfic was "...And Their Stupid Dog", which is posted at Gatchfanfic. It was in response to UnpublishedWriter's challenge to rewrite a silly Gatch episode so that it makes sense....well, it was originally going to be in response to her challenge, but my sarcastic nature wouldn't let me do that to The Puppy Episode! (I tried, oh how I tried!) Believe it or not, that was also the first time I even considered writing fanfic. Before that, I'd been exposed to fanfic via some Trekkers and Whovians (a sorry lot who wrote even sorrier fic, I'm sorry to say!) It wasn't until I'd read the unstereotypically good fic at Gatchfanfic for a while that I decided to give it a try. And the rest, as they say, is history!

The first fanfic I ever wrote, for any fandom, was in January 2008. I'd long been reading fanfiction for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Harry Potter but it was only after I became obsessed with Gatchaman in late 2006/early 2007 (and watched all the ADV dvds) that I started reading all the Gatch/BOTP fanfiction that I could find... and then eventually I decided to try to write one myself. "Springtime in Utoland" was the result, and it was the first piece of fiction of any kind that I'd ever written (barring some poetry for high school English classes). I also think that, having finished my dissertation in 2007, I was actually feeling some writing-withdrawal, and the idea of trying fiction -much more creative and less dry than 16th C English history- seemed especially appealing. I neither love it nor hate it -the fact that I finished it and that it seems to be fairly coherent was enough for me, at least then. I actually wrote the whole thing in only about 2 weeks, but I had a lot more free time then. Sigh.

The first one I wrote was really a ficlet, answering the 'dark and stormy night' challenge on the BOTP ML. But it was super short. So I consider my first 'real' fic to be the Discovery/Recovery/Reconciliation trilogy. That's still not long compared to my current fics, but it sure felt like it was! And yes, they're all posted online.

Okay, wow. Um, I've been writing fanfic over 10 years now, starting in the HP universe. My first fic is actually still a WiP, but officially on hiatus with the hope of being finished some day. My first BotP/Gatch fic is incomplete and lost on a dead computer, so officially my first one is a complete one-shot posted at GatchFanfic. I am in the slow process of rewriting that first one and even planning sequels for it, but it is a long slow process since I have another story or two that have precedence over those. But I guess I've been developing stories based on characters ever since I was little acting them out on my own or with friends and now just playing them out in my head seeing if there is a bigger story there.

The first fic I ever wrote was a three-paged BotP-universe nightmare battle sequence when I was thirteen. Yes, thirteen. I burned it shortly thereafter, it was that Godawful. Don't ask. Trust me, it was. God. Awful. There were others, and they too got a Viking funeral. It wasn't until I was eighteen when I finally got my hands on Gatchaman material, and it was then that ideas between the two versions started to mix and gel in my mind. My first "published" fic was Regrets in 1994.

My first fanfic was written back in the bad old days of the GML, back in the mid 90s. At that time the prevailing mood of fanfic being posted was very dark and there was lots of rape and horror and trauma, and I (among several other first-time fanfic writers) found myself writing something along the same lines because I'd never read any other fanfic and so thought that was just how it had to be. We all know that getting that first fanfic out there is scary, yes? And the GML was a savage place, completely unmoderated and attacked on a regular basis by trolls who were never removed, and frequently hosting fierce email battles between passionate fans of the series with differering viewpoints. At the time, it was pretty much the only online communication resource the fandom had. I should just clarify here that I don't think that there's anything wrong with writing horror and angst, a lot of those fics were very good indeed and really added to the fandom and individual backgrounds of many characters from the series. They became fanon. There are lots of fanfics out there with characterisations, motivations, and sympathetic treatments (particularly of Katse) that are based on plotlines and origins explored in those stories. It's just that there ceased to be a balance, and as time went on every fic posted seemed to be full of everyone getting raped and tortured and being mind controlled and living in twisted mental agony for the whole of their sorry, anguished existences. I'm probably not remembering this accurately but that's how it seemed at the time. However, I realised long before posting anything that this really wasn't what I wanted to create in my head. Reading what someone else had thought up is quite different to getting into the mindset of thinking it up yourself. So my first fanfics are long gone, and we should all be happy for that My first fanfic that I enjoyed writing has never been posted. It was a huge crossover taking Gatch into the Star Trek universe and I'd also been reading a lot of Anne Rice at the time so it had vampires too! I enjoyed writing it but reached a point where the story just ceased to work (no surprises there!), and I couldn't get past that, so it never got finished.

First Fanfic - A Night To Remember, inspired by a 2 second clip from a 30 second "Romance" compilation of Gatch clips posted on youtube. The clip itself was taken from Gatch F, which at that time, I hadn't seen, but I wondered what had been going on, and what they might have been saying and it just went from there. As for liking it or not, I do think I took the whole thing too far, and perhaps should have stopped after the first chapter, but it's there on Gatchfanfic for all to see, and I've no intention of changing it now. If I must pick a favourite, then it's Love on the Godphoenix

First Gatch fanfic I wrote is called, "Mrs. Matsumoto's Roses..." Started it last fall, and it sits in a word file going nowhere. Tried to imbue it with some knowledge of Japanese culture as well as a few ghosts. It is mainly from the POV of some Utoland survivors after the initial war with Galactor, and another one looming on the horizon. Might look at it again over the summer.

meridianday: As much as I adore angst/horror, there's plenty of room for sweet, funny, etc. Every once in a while even the most dedicated angst-o-phile needs to crawl up out of the dark and into the light.

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I only recently started writing fanfiction, in fact I only started WRITING 5 years ago after decades of feeling inferior in that ability. Before that my stories were all created in my head. I am sure those stories have grown through the years from when I was a teenager to now. I do know the stories have deepened and become less Mary Sue oriented, in that I was involved in every storyline although usually the team were rescuing me in one way or another. Or I would write about some friends and I who were playing in a band and the team would see us playing somewhere and decide to join in on our "jam session." Or when I went on vacation, they would appear in the campsite, or cabin or room, beside us and enjoy my vacation time as well.

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Wishing good news for you, SJ!

Hoping everything goes your way on Monday SJ!

Wishing you all the best SJ

Do you know, it was so long ago, I cant remember which one it is? Ive since branced out into various fandoms...I hope to do more gatch one day but am busy at college ...Writing Odyessy fic...

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Thanks, everyone for sharing your stories! It's so fun to read them. SJ, I am so glad that things are looking up for you and I hope that you continue to feel better each day.

Ive never committed a Mary Sue. I have no idea what that says about me

I've never written a self-insertion ... I'd have to do some analysis to decide if I'd written something with a Mary Sue character though. I don't think I have. I did a lot of my early writing on an Apple IIe, so most of that is long gone except for the stuff I have printouts from. I did print some of it out. How I've kept it so long is beyond me.

Self-insertion can be fun, and can come off well if done tongue-in cheek. The trick to making sure that neither self-insertion or OCs become Mary Sues is to make sure that the characters are well-rounded.

Originally posted by amethyst The trick to making sure that neither self-insertion or OCs become Mary Sues is to make sure that the characters are well-rounded.

I enjoy giving my characters huge flaws/problems a little too much

Yipes! SJ, that sounds terrible...glad your skin is being treated and this scare will all be a thing of the past for you! Being fair skinned like I am really sucks...when I was younger, I would burn on purpose just so I could have some color (I was...and still am jealous of people who tan!)! I'm keeping a close eye for anything unusual...it seems like so many people are dealing with cancer now! As far as first fics go...there may be some who remember my first timid writings...I can't remember for sure, but I *think* my first fic was "Dysfuctional Family Outing" (back in 2006)...where the team is ordered to do some "team building" to build some trust between them before their first mission.

SJ: Yikes. Glad to hear it's healing well! I'm also fair-skinned and I grew up in FL, and burned way too much. My grandmother and my cousin both had skin cancer issues so I try to keep that in mind. These days I'd much rather be pale than risk it.

SJ, my best friend died of skin cancer when I was 11, so I completely support your message. I'm glad your treatment is working! As for Mary Sues, it's a tough line. I've never intentionally written a Mary Sue, but certainly I've projected myself onto a number of my characters. As for whether or not I've crossed the line, who knows? No one has accused me of it... yet....

Best wishes for a good recovery, SJ! It sounds like the worst is over now -and I hope it stays that way.

SJ, I tried to post yesterday, but then my laptop decided it no longer wanted to connect to the internet. I had to go an entire afternoon and evening without being able to connect. I am taking my laptop in this morning as soon as the store opens, meanwhile I have managed to beg a friend to let me use their computer this morning. Meanwhile, SJ I am sorry to hear about your problem and that it took so long to get a diagnosis. But I am glad you have found a treatment that will be successful. I will keep my fingers crossed that you do not have to undergo any further treatments. Skin cancer can be a nasty thing - my Grandmother dies of the results of it several decades back, when skin cancers were just becoming recognized as a problem.

What a great topic!!! Like a lot of other people here, I wrote my first fanfic as a kid, before I knew that fanfic existed. My first published BoTP fanfic was "Status update", and I have to thank TJ again, who wrote the first review and encouraged me to comtinue! I had never considered writing smut, until inspiration struck with a Jason pic that led to "A fic for a pic", and I had never considered inserting myself in a pic until my path crossed EW's, and, as she says, the rest is history A big hug to SJ too!

Originally posted by Daniella T My first published BoTP fanfic was "Status update", and I have to thank TJ again, who wrote the first review and encouraged me to comtinue!

And I'm so glad I did! Look at the great pieces you've written since then!

Originally posted by Transmute Jun

Originally posted by Daniella T My first published BoTP fanfic was "Status update", and I have to thank TJ again, who wrote the first review and encouraged me to comtinue!

And I'm so glad I did! Look at the great pieces you've written since then!

I'm glad to hear all is well now SJ

When BotP first came on, I used to tape the episodes on a cassette and then write them up, inserting OCs. Then I started writing original stories somewhat based on episodes, with the team being older. As per my MO, Jason met a woman and ended up marrying her. I still have them and read them once in a while, but they're, shall I say, very corny and horrible. My first posted fanfic was Sacrifice, in 2005. Took forever to finish.

Originally posted by Becky Rock When BotP first came on, I used to tape the episodes on a cassette and then write them up, inserting OCs.

I also wrote the episodes up! We didn't have a VCR, and I did try taping an episode to a tape recorder cassette (still have it!!!!!!!), but didn't like it very much. So the next best thing was to write them up immediately after the show. Then I wrote my favourite ones up in a "book" format (handwritten but bound and illustrated) and gave it to my friends to read. Did you tape yours on video or audio cassettes?

Old audio cassettes. Hadn't even seen a VCR at that time. The cassette player eventually died and I regretfully tossed the cassettes.

For years, the only BotP connection I had was a single episode - Strike at Spectra - that I taped when BotP was rebroadcast on cable in 1984 or thereabouts. I had seen the episode when I was 9 and I knew I wanted a copy of it.

Originally posted by jublke For years, the only BotP connection I had was a single episode - Strike at Spectra - that I taped when BotP was rebroadcast on cable in 1984 or thereabouts. I had seen the episode when I was 9 and I knew I wanted a copy of it.

Isn't it funny how today we have access to almost everything telly-related, whereas when we were kids each episode was a "one-off", you watched it on TV and then it was gone? Or, at most, kept on audio cassettes? Still, I think this is one of the reasons BoTP struck us so deeply: we had to watch each episode with undivided attention, and then try to remember it in order to write it down and create fanfic. Ok, enough philosophising from me...

I have had countless dreams where I was channel surfing and desperately trying to find a re-run of BOTP. I don't know why it never occurred to me to audio tape the episodes! I think I was too busy practically trying to memorize them.

I am with you as well Chris. I never even considered audio taping the episodes, and I am trying to remember if we even had a VHS machine when I was watching BOTP. If we did I again never even considered taping the episodes. As far as I was concerned the show would ALWAYS be on so I could see it when ever I wanted. I we extremely disappointed when it disappeared on me. That is when I began creating my own Universe. So I guess in some ways I am glad I never recoded the series or that it stuck around until I got tired of it, because then I would never have created my AU.

I used to think that too, CD. When suddenly one day it wasn't on, I was devastated.

I saw Strike at Spectra during BotP's first U.S. run in 1978. I had just gotten my first pair of glasses, so I was certain that this was Jason's problem too. But there was never a resolution to all the drama in that episode, so I became convinced it was a 2-parter and I had somehow missed the second part. When BotP re-aired on cable when i was a teen, I was going to figure out what was wrong with Jason once and for all, which is why I recorded the episode. I think it was the first thing I ever put on a VHS tape. (Somehow, I missed G-Force Defector both times - I didn't see it until a couple of years ago.). Of course, my long-awaited resolution didn't exist in the Sandy Frank universe. For me, BotP ends with Strike at Spectra - I could never figure out how things could just magically go back to normal after that one.

Originally posted by Daniella T

Originally posted by jublke For years, the only BotP connection I had was a single episode - Strike at Spectra - that I taped when BotP was rebroadcast on cable in 1984 or thereabouts. I had seen the episode when I was 9 and I knew I wanted a copy of it.

Isn't it funny how today we have access to almost everything telly-related, whereas when we were kids each episode was a "one-off", you watched it on TV and then it was gone? Or, at most, kept on audio cassettes? Still, I think this is one of the reasons BoTP struck us so deeply: we had to watch each episode with undivided attention, and then try to remember it in order to write it down and create fanfic. Ok, enough philosophising from me...

I think you're on to something. It was different back when you only had one chance (most likely) to see something, so you had to make it count. One thing I found, though, in recent years when I was able to rewatch BOTP for the first time since the late '70s, was that I "remembered" some scenes with Jason that, I've now realized, do not actually exist -I can only think now that they were the products of my imagination and that, in the years that followed, I couldn't tell so well anymore which memories were real and which were just my daydreams. But an aside, on the topic of TV before the days we could easily record it: I was talking today to a work client who owns a used bookstore but used to be an elementary school teacher in the 1960s and 1970s, and she was telling me about a time when the teacher of the class across the hall from her would shut her classroom door and pull all the window curtains closed at the same time, every afternoon. Eventually she was able to find out that this teacher was so completely hooked on the TV show "Dark Shadows" that she would watch it on a TV every afternoon in her classroom, along with her students!

Originally posted by lborgia88 One thing I found, though, in recent years when I was able to rewatch BOTP for the first time since the late '70s, was that I "remembered" some scenes with Jason that, I've now realized, do not actually exist -I can only think now that they were the products of my imagination and that, in the years that followed, I couldn't tell so well anymore which memories were real and which were just my daydreams.

That totally happened to me too! I rewatched BOTP and was shocked when an episode I was _sure_ I'd seen just wasn't there. I had to wonder if I'd somehow merged a memory from another show.

I saw BoTP again on DVD in 2003 -- for the first time since 1981, except for a brief instance in 1985 when I was abroad and the TV there had re-runs. You can imagine how I felt, I was almost crying from emotion, it had been such an important part of my childhood. Then I went online and found that on ebay, I could get all the eps (at the time, only the first 20 or so were on DVD, it was before the big box set came out) -- and, incidentally, searching on the internet for BoTPs DVDs is how I stumbled upon BoTP fanfiction! I have in mind a short essay on this, which when I get my courage up, will publish on Gatchfanfic -- on how BoTP affected me as a kid. BTW, there's a great essay already on this on Gatchfanfic, called "Dual citizenship", highly recommended!

Originally posted by ChrisW

Originally posted by lborgia88 One thing I found, though, in recent years when I was able to rewatch BOTP for the first time since the late '70s, was that I "remembered" some scenes with Jason that, I've now realized, do not actually exist -I can only think now that they were the products of my imagination and that, in the years that followed, I couldn't tell so well anymore which memories were real and which were just my daydreams.

That totally happened to me too! I rewatched BOTP and was shocked when an episode I was _sure_ I'd seen just wasn't there. I had to wonder if I'd somehow merged a memory from another show.

Or for me it was an episode which I thought must have been a two parter turned out to be only a one parter. There must have been an extremely looooong set of ads which made it feel like an entire day passed.

A friend and I had fun coming up with a ridiculous crossover universe. Never mind the details. My first 'official' fanfics were some bits that I wrote while thinking up my AU. 'Rescue Mission' was one of my first completed ones, but the first one I ever posted was 'Zark.'

Originally posted by clouddancer

Originally posted by ChrisW

Originally posted by lborgia88 One thing I found, though, in recent years when I was able to rewatch BOTP for the first time since the late '70s, was that I "remembered" some scenes with Jason that, I've now realized, do not actually exist -I can only think now that they were the products of my imagination and that, in the years that followed, I couldn't tell so well anymore which memories were real and which were just my daydreams.

That totally happened to me too! I rewatched BOTP and was shocked when an episode I was _sure_ I'd seen just wasn't there. I had to wonder if I'd somehow merged a memory from another show.

Or for me it was an episode which I thought must have been a two parter turned out to be only a one parter. There must have been an extremely looooong set of ads which made it feel like an entire day passed.

Or was it an episode that especially drew you in with its story and got your imagination going, such that in your memory it seemed too "big" to not be a two-parter?

Originally posted by Daniella T I have in mind a short essay on this, which when I get my courage up, will publish on Gatchfanfic -- on how BoTP affected me as a kid. BTW, there's a great essay already on this on Gatchfanfic, called "Dual citizenship", highly recommended!

Aw, thanks, Daniella. Dual Citizenship is one of mine. You can find it here: http://gatchfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=1283

Originally posted by lborgia88

Originally posted by clouddancer

Originally posted by ChrisW

Originally posted by lborgia88 One thing I found, though, in recent years when I was able to rewatch BOTP for the first time since the late '70s, was that I "remembered" some scenes with Jason that, I've now realized, do not actually exist -I can only think now that they were the products of my imagination and that, in the years that followed, I couldn't tell so well anymore which memories were real and which were just my daydreams.

That totally happened to me too! I rewatched BOTP and was shocked when an episode I was _sure_ I'd seen just wasn't there. I had to wonder if I'd somehow merged a memory from another show.

Or for me it was an episode which I thought must have been a two parter turned out to be only a one parter. There must have been an extremely looooong set of ads which made it feel like an entire day passed.

Or was it an episode that especially drew you in with its story and got your imagination going, such that in your memory it seemed too "big" to not be a two-parter?

Perhaps that is it LB. It was the first episode I actually feared that Mark had been killed since the rest of the team were not with him to provide support/help - despite Zark telling us he was okay, which is what he claimed just as we went into ads. Of course if I happened to "tune out" Zark's words because he was on the screen then I could understand how I missed his assurances that Mark was safe.

Besides which, why would we ever believe Zark???

True! In the "Invasion of the Space Center II" episode, Zark keeps saying that everyone has been evacuated, but then we see that there are still people there. I don't trust his credibility! CD, was the episode you remembered as a two-parter the "Panic of the Peacock" one?

You are correct, LB! That is the one I thought was a two parter - and where I remember Mark being in a situation all by himself, with none of his other teammates nearby to help. I think it may also be one of the few episodes where when Mark IS off on his own we do not see events through his eyes.

Originally posted by jublke

Originally posted by Daniella T I have in mind a short essay on this, which when I get my courage up, will publish on Gatchfanfic -- on how BoTP affected me as a kid. BTW, there's a great essay already on this on Gatchfanfic, called "Dual citizenship", highly recommended!

Aw, thanks, Daniella. Dual Citizenship is one of mine. You can find it here: http://gatchfanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=1283

Wow! I was writing that post while at the office , and didn't bother to check the author on Gatchfanfic, thanks for adding and congratulations once again -- I LOVE that piece!