Apologies and Moving On...

(Sorry the reply is so late- I read this back when you posted it, but then I traveling back to school and my summer class started, so it was a busy week.)

I want to thank you a lot for being willing to consider what the other commenters and I had to say, and to at least somewhat change your opinions. I know that your beliefs mean a lot to you, and it was never that I wanted to change your values, but rather that I wanted to express to you that at least some of us who write non-canonical pairings in our stories have values too, and that they don't conflict with yours nearly as much as you think. I know that I value characterization and storytelling in my own writing just as much as you do- I just have a different definition of what constitutes accurate characterization. It may surprise you to hear this, but I do understand where you were coming from on some of this. I get as tired of bad shipping fics as the next guy- I get tired of the people who do slap random characters together that make no sense. I get tired of stories that are about a romance and absolutely nothing else, I get tired of stories where every single character is paired together or is suddenly gay, and I get tired of feeling like I'm reading the same scene or story over and over again just with different names because someone didn't pay any attention to the traits and little quirks that define the characters they're writing about. Trust me, I get that. However, some of the most beautiful, heartbreaking, and skillfully written stories I've ever read were also about non-canonical pairings, either solely or as one element of a larger plot (that generally includes other kinds of relationships, like the ones you mentioned, as well). The generalizations that you and many others have made about shipping fics do exist for a reason, but they're still just generalizations. As to your comment about how most shippers "have to admit" that we misconstrue dynamics between characters- maybe we do. But any part of any work can be interpreted in a way the original author would find inaccurate or incorrect, not just relationships, and as I've said before- relationships change over time, for the better or worse. They can grow, change in dynamic, or fall apart, and in my own experience, there is much less of a concrete line between platonic and romantic relationships than you think. It all depends on, like you said, how the author creates that sequence of events to make it plausible, and I'm glad that you've changed your mind and are willing to at least consider that.

I also wanted to apologize for saying that there should be another fanfic CV, and clarify that I never meant that you should be replaced or anything. Someday in an ideal future, I still think it would be good to have more than one, to have a variety of fandoms and tastes represented. With fanart, you can look at it and not know the characters, but still see whether or not it's a good and creative piece of art, and with original literature, all readers are on the same footing in terms of background knowledge, but fanfic is a whole different animal. I know it's really hard to get through and appreciate a fanfic (as well as to know how close or far from the canon it is) if you don't know anything about the source material, and therefore have no idea who, when, where, or why anybody is. XD Since you're currently the only one, I hope (like one of the other commenters below), that you will be able to represent a diversity of fandoms outside of those with which you are familiar. It probably won't be an easy job, but despite our disagreements, I can tell that you're dedicated enough to do it well.

Thank you for posting this, and good luck! I hope we can speak again- perhaps more cordially next time.