Drawerfic

Drawerfic is fan fiction that is never shown to other fans, or that is only shown to a few friends (and then it may be also called a "pass-around" or "underground story"). 
Drawerfic is rarely later posted online or published in a zine. 
The term refers to the idea of "keeping stories in your desk drawer."
Sometime in the 2000s, a zine ed asked for submissions and mentioned the hidden stash she figured many fans had: "Here’s your chance. I know nearly all of you have a story hiding somewhere at the back of your desk drawer, in your computer files, under your bed... that you’ve only shown your closest friends."MKASHEF Enterprises 
It is usually understood that drawerfic was written primarily because it appealed to the author; the author themself recognizes that its audience is narrow, and the quality may not be high. Some drawerfic, however, is written by highly accomplished authors and isn't publicly published for other reasons. 
Not drawerfic but related, are fanworks by fans who wrote underground fic under pseuds, feeling that the content was something they did not want connected to their fannish or real names.
==Why So Much K/S Drawerfic?==
Many people wrote "drawer fic." K/S was the first slash to make it to publication in part because there was so much of it. K/S was independently discovered thousands of times, so was much more likely to make it all the way to publication than slash that was only discovered once. 
 
==Fans Explain==
In a 2004 interview, Fern Marder, talked of the drawerfic she'd written with Carol Walske: 
In 1980, a fan said:
In 1981, another fan looks back on very early Star Trek: TOS drawerfic, as well as Harry/Johnny (from Dirty Harry) fiction. 
In 1984, a fan explained that true drawerfic was only for yourself: 
In 2006, one fan had a different term: 
==The Prevalence of the Private==
In 1981, a fan speculated on the maturing nature of Starsky/Hutch fiction. In 1981, the only slash zine that had been published was Forever Autumn, yet it was clear that many fans had already read a lot in this genre: 
==Before the Internet==
In 1985, a Starsky & Hutch fan explained: 
==Examples of Some Drawerfic==
* The Ring of Soshern, written in late 1967 or early 1968 by Jennifer Guttridge. It is the first known narrative to describe a slash relationship between James Kirk and Cmdr. Spock in Star Trek: The Original Series. Intended as a pass-around only, Guttridge did not learn of its publication in the 1987 fanzine Alien Brothers until decades later.
* A Wee Bit O' Scotch, a 1969 drawerfic that was later published in a zine
* And the Stars Shall Weep, a 1976 Star Trek: TOS fic
* Mirror Conspiracy, a 1977 Star Trek: TOS slash Mirrorverse fic
* When Universes Collide, a 1978 Star Trek: TOS parody 
* Purple Banana Underground Stories, an early example of RPS
* The Brass Bed, pre-1982, a S/H story
* The Lease on Unit at 1027 ½ Ocean Avenue, an early pass-around Starsky & Hutch story by Marian Kelly
* Green Plague, an extremely early pass-around K/S story
* "Continuity Theory" was a 1974 K/S story outline by Mary Manchester see A 1980 Interview with Leslie Fish 
* pretty much all RPS in the 1970s and 1980s
* Moon Silver, the 1980 Star Wars story that was part of the beginning of the controversy that circled around the Open Letter to Star Wars Zine Publishers by Maureen Garrett
* Time Lord from UNCLE: The Grandfather’s Death Affair
* The Literate Dinosaur from 1989 or before, a Starsky & Hutch gen fic.
* and obviously, many, many fics that have been lost to the mists of time...
==References==
Category:Fiction Writing
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