Not so very long ago, I was introduced to the phenomenon that is Newsies, and became quite taken with the character of Dutchy in particular (well, I've had this latent Ivan fixation since my first Roundhouse episode, and seeing him again brought it all back). Jenna mentioned to me the subculture of Newsies fan fiction and since I am a writer by trade, I thought I might try some as an exercise. But further than that, we began to dare each other to write racy fanfic- the kind you'd buy in a supermarket checkstand. I'd never attempted it before, but twenty pages into the story I had to admit it was a lot of fun. The task of developing believable characters was pretty daunting, but I think I managed to make them come across as actual people who may have existed during the time period.
Along the way, a few things happened that I hadn't banked on. Jenna and I spontaneously started crossing our characters- I don't know how it happened, but suddenly Dutchy was Blink's best friend (and Claire's as well) and pretty soon we were writing parallel scenes and correcting each other's mistakes. Which brings me to the second part of the serendipitous happenings: I actually started to care about my characters. It ceased to be fan fiction as Hans and Marie developed personalities that had little or nothing at all to do with Newsies. At this point, Jenna and I came up with the idea to compile her story "The Offers of a Lifetime," its sequel, and "Mr. Jamison's Lessons" into an actual publication-ready romance novel- perhaps to help finance college. This means of course that some drastic changes need to be made. All but the most obscure Newsies references are being deleted as I type this...of course, we will leave a few in there for you to find when the book comes out!
This brings into question the matter of copyright laws. Obviously, no publisher is going to like the idea that we have previously posted these stories on the web in any form, we realized. Neither are they going to take us seriously if they find that we began it as fan fiction. Therefore, the stories have been removed to be revamped and developed into a full-scale saga.
Oh, and besides the legal quandaries (man, I do love that word), there was one other thing. The Triumvirate sent Ivan a birthday card this month, letting him know that we have the website and inviting him to check it out. Now I maintain this other fan site, and once upon a time the person for whom the site was created visited it and got really, really embarrassed. And that particular site was tame compared to this one. On the off chance that Ivan does come to the site, I really wouldn't want him reading my R-Rated Dutchy Fan Fiction and knowing that these thoughts came out of watching a character in Newsies who had two lines. Basically half my reasons for removing it have to do with him and with preserving as much dignity as someone with a fan site can preserve.
There is still hope for those who missed the last chapter of the story, or those who have heard great things about it and want to see it. Just because it isn't in the public domain does not mean that I won't let you look at it if you ask nicely. Email jsliese@mtholyoke.edu and I'll send you directions for viewing it. Please do not go around telling other people how to look at it; I want to be able to know who's been looking at it. This is as close as I feel I can get, legally, to publishing it on the web for all to see. We'll update you when the book is finished and let you know the title when it goes to print so that you can look for it. You won't be disappointed- I promise.