Alternate Ending to Catharsis

Alternate Ending to Catharsis is a Bodie/Doyle story by Anne Higgins. It is also referred to as the "Catharsis redo."
It is a responsefic to Catharsis, and it was written without the original author's knowledge.
The story was posted to CI5 List where it generated much discussion. The story was also discussed in a general fashion on Virgule-L and other private mailing lists. When the original list owners discovered that fans were discussing the stories on other lists, all discussion regarding responsefic was banned at CI5 List.
When this responsefic was posted, it was preceded by the explanation that if a story was edited and not intended as malice, it was acceptable to post such a fic on the CI5 list. The list owners made a point that responsefics written without permission only applied to fiction written by fans who were not current list members of the CI5 List (as that would be "in poor taste"), as those members were easy enough to contact, but for others, going to the trouble of obtaining their permission was not required.
==Its Relationship to "Consequences" and Other Sequels==
Some fans do not feel the story qualifies as a stand-alone sequel like many of the Consequences stories as it was created with the intent to rewrite the ending of "Catharsis". This point of view argues that even if most of the Consequences stories were written because the reader didn't like how the story ended, none of the sequels started 3/4 of the way through and replaced the original ending of the story. These fans also pointed out that none of the "Consequences" sequels erased the rape, and many were sequels that picked up just before the end to "Endgame" a story that nullified Bodie's and Doyle's deaths. In another example, "Before the Time of Crossing," magically gives Bodie a month or so to interact with Doyle's ghost in order to allow Bodie to come to terms with Doyle's death. This shows that there was a wide range of when and how the writers of the Consequences sequels continued the story, making the comparison of Catharsis redo and the Consequences sequels difficult.Comments sent to Morgan Dawn in Nov 1996, posted anonymously with permission.
==It Generated Its Own Sequel, and a Change in Listrules==
In December 1996, a Christmas "pressie" story called A CI5 Christmas Tale was written in response to the responsefic and posted anonymously to the CI5 list. The story saw Bodie and Doyle being punished with scut work for objecting to an superior officer's alternative ending to an incident report. It then offered two endings - one sweet that ended with Christmas carols and the other grim, ending with Christmas carols and death. Some fans confused this second story with Higgins' original writing exercise.
While Higgins eventually posted her alternative Catharsis ending under her own name, the author of the " CI5 Christmas Tale" was never revealed. Because the story offered meta commentary on responsefic, a topic that had been banned by the list admins, members struggled to discuss the story, and it sank into obscurity.
It did prompt the CI5 list to amend their rules to require that death stories involving the deaths of Bodie, Doyle or Cowley taking place before or during the story to be clearly labeled when posted.Morgan Dawn's personal notes, accessed Feb 3, 2015.
=="Alternate Ending to Catharsis" Was Discussed on Virgule-L and Other Mailing Lists==
It was during this time that Morgan Dawn brought up the subject of responsefic on Virgule-L. She did not mention any specifics regarding the story's title, author, or provenance:In fact, the identity of the story's author would not be revealed until two months later when Higgins posted a message to the CI5 List and revealed she was the writer.
===September 1996===
===November 1996===
===December 1996===
 
==References==
Category:1996 Fanfiction‎Category:Slash Fanfiction
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