Thetalee's Adventures in Fanficing

In Take My Hand, and in Hold Steady, Hold Steady, I tried my best to just skim over those bits where I could, because I assumed "it's fanfiction, they've watched the show, they know what happens, I don't need to include this."

Except.

I remember getting at least one comment (I can't find it now) complaining about me skipping over the factory rescue from Buck Begins in Take My Hand. Which was whatever.

"They've watched the show," I said to myself. "They don't need me to rehash it here."

Except.

Do you know how many other comments I get that make it clear my readers haven't watched the show? How many comments are people out-and-out saying they get everything from the fanfics and don't watch?

I have the choice of skipping over the bits that don't change, and causing confusion when those details are suddenly important - I didn't include Bobby's s7 plot with Amir in This is a Life, and I'm surprised I haven't had readers questioning Bobby's sudden change in behavior. Or what Athena was doing off-screen during the second-to-last chapter. - or including those scenes and cringing the entire time, doing my best to find bits to change without altering the details that I'm including it for.

(Buck might be there instead of Bobby, but Hen's still hurt and the surgery's still the same. Athena still confronts the lab director so we know everything's locked down for the forseeable future AND that the virus is possibly aerosolized, and while I might be able to just give a quick recap of what's important in the narrative, there's only so many times I can tell the reader that Important Plot Detail happened with the characters and not show it before I start calling myself a hack writer.)