Derbyshire Writers' Guild

The Derbyshire Writers' Guild (also DWG or Dwiggie) is a large non-selective archive for Jane Austen fanfiction & fan poetry suitable for young teens. Founded in 1997 at The Republic of Pemberley and 1998 as an independent archive, it is one of the oldest Austen archives on the web and is probably the largest open-access archive. It includes both close-to-canon works and modern AUs & other canon-divergent works. The site also provides discussion forums. DWG remains active as of January 2014.
==History==
See also Bits of Ivory
The Derbyshire Writers' Guild was founded by Ann Haker. It states its date of foundation as 3 February 1997, which refers to the archive located at The Republic of Pemberley (which was later renamed Bits of Ivory). Ann split from RoP around March or April 1998, and moved the DWG to a separate host, initially at Spring.net and later at Austen.com. The new version of the DWG included many but not all of the works previously archived at RoP.
The RoP Bits of Ivory archive subsequently allowed only works that are set in the Regency era and are close to canon. 
Jane GS believes that: "DWG spun off from RoP and provided a place where there were far fewer rules associated with sticking to the canon."Reading, Writing, Working, Playing: The Democratic Genre: Canon, Fanon, and Hornblower (accessed 28 January 2014) Aja comments "...when I was in the fandom there *was* tension between the academic side of the fandom and the fanfic writers, because the fic writers, especially the AU and modern retelling writers, were seen as derailing the community. This was actually why Pemberley eventually stopped hosting fanfiction and the DWG was formed way back in the day."bookshop: Response to query by calvinahobbes (accessed 28 January 2014)
In 2012, Aja said: "
===Split from Austen.com===
DWG was hosted at Austen.com until 2010. In May 2010, the DWG discussion boards & later the fiction boards moved to their own domain, dwiggie.com, and the site split from Austen.com.Derbyshire Writers' Guild: How does this place work? (accessed 27 January 2014)Dwiggie: Welcome to DWIGGIE.COM (accessed 28 January 2014) The stated reason for the move was that high traffic on the boards caused downtime at Austen.com; Margaret D explains:
Austen writer & blogger Mags documents a dispute ongoing on 21 April 2010 – a week before Margaret D's quoted post – over content belonging to Austen blogger Laurel Ann being reblogged without attribution by the owner of the Austen.com domain. Mags states The ladies from the Derbyshire Writers Guild, which shares the austen dot com domain, were as disturbed by this situation as the rest of us. ... So many thanks to Crystal and Margaret from the DWG for intervening!AustenBlog: Sounds like this is a job for the Cluebat of Janeite Righteousness (UPDATED) (accessed 28 January 2014)
The Austen.com index page states:
==Culture==
Members are known as "Dwiggies". DWG is intended as an appropriate site for children and young adults. As with many online Austen spaces, the use of real names is strongly encouraged. Adult posters are required to use their real name or a real nickname. Children are encouraged to use an alias that resembles a real name.Derbyshire Writers' Guild: Contributor Guidelines **PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING** (accessed 27 January 2014)
==Forums==
Stories & poems are posted at the DWG & "A Novel Idea" forums, where readers can give feedback. The "Tea Room" hosts Austen-related discussion, including longer discussions related to posted fanworks; "The Baronetage" allows authors & readers to post profiles. There is also a chatroom. The message boards moved to being hosted by Phorum in June 2008; archived posts are available back to that date. The discussion forums are moderated by Margaret D.
==Archives==
The Jane Austen archive hosts fanfiction & fan poetry for all Austen's works. It is split into the "Epilogue Abbey", for canon-era stories that are fairly faithful to the original, and the "Fantasia Gallery" for modern AUs, historical AUs set in other periods, and stories with fanciful elements, or more irreverent stories. 
All stories archived have been first posted to the DWG message boards and are required to be suitable for young people (early teens or even younger), roughly G to PG-13 in rating. Although the vast majority of content is gen or het, there is no restriction on content; at least one archived story is m/m slash.Profanation of Our Joys by Malini Archiving is performed manually by the archivists.
As of January 2014, there are 1535 works in the Epilogue Abbey (completed & WiPs) and 751 completed stories in the Fantasia Gallery. Works are not separated by source novel in the story listings, but a search engine enables search by novel. The great majority of works are for Pride and Prejudice (over 2,200); approximate stats for other Austen novels (including many crossovers) are as follows: 
*Persuasion 160 
*Emma 150
*Mansfield Park 110
*Sense and Sensibility 100
*Northanger Abbey 55
*plus a handful of juvenilia including Lady Susan 
A sister site, "A Novel Idea" hosts stories by members in other fandoms, predominantly The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, as well as a lot of original fiction, particularly Regency and modern romances. 
===Authors===
A partial list of prolific authors includes:
*Allison OM
*Alyson L
*Amy I.
*Ann R 
*Annie
*BethW
*Cecilia
*Cindy C.
*CK
*Coleen V.
*Cosima
*Crysty
*Elisa
*Elizabeth Hooton
*Genette
*Hannah
*Heather F
*HLeigh
*jancat
*Jennifer H
*Jennifer Lynn
*jimmyhk
*Jose
*Kara
*Katharina
*Katharine T
*Kathy
*Linnea Eileen
*Lise
*Mags
*Malini
*Mari A. 
*Mary Collette
*Meg E
*Nerin
*Renee B
*Robin H.
*Shemmelle
*stacy
*Susan Kaye
*Suzanne O
*Sybil
*Tabbi W
*Tamsin
*Tanisha
*Ulrike
==Reviews==
The site is widely known and is recommended in most Austen links lists. 
===Outside Fandom===
DWG is often mentioned in mainstream media. It was discussed by James R. Kincaid in the New York Times in 2000, in a review of Julia Barrett's Sanditon completion.Kincaid, James R. (2000) You Jane? New York Times (accessed 28 January 2014) Pamela Licalzi O'Connell, again in the New York Times, discusses the differences between the two main online archives in early 2000:
DWG is also discussed in several academic studies of fanfiction, including Sheenagh Pugh's book, A Democratic Genre: Fan Fiction in a Literary Context (2005). Amanda Gilroy, in "Our Austen: Fan Fiction in the Classroom" (2010), compares DWG's critique favourably with that seen on FanFiction.Net:
==References==
Category:Jane Austen
Category:1990sCategory:2000sCategory:2010s