User blog:Serene Girl/Memories of iCarly Fanfics (That No Longer Exist) - Part 2

3. Just a brief reflection :

A short while back, I saw the first chapter of a new story posted on FanFiction.Net, with a very unusual premise.

In this fanfic, Freddie was being beaten and physically abused by his mother, something that he had kept a closely guarded secret from his friends. Despite his best efforts, however, Sam found out what was happening to him.

I was intrigued by this story, and quite curious to see where the author was planning to go with it. Unfortunately, shortly after the first chapter was posted, this story disappeared from the website.

I don't know why, but I've always wondered if if had something to do with this one review that was posted on the first chapter. I won't remember its exact words, but it said something like :

"Seriously, Freddie? Everybody over the age of ten who watches iCarly knows that it's SAM who's abused by her mother. Freddie?"

The possibility does occur to me that the author might have become discouraged after reading that, and gave up on that premise. If so, I think it's very sad. As I said earlier, one of the great things about fan fiction (which that reviewer didn't seem to understand) is that writers have the freedom to explore new ideas that the television show either can't or chooses not to. The reader just needs to be open-minded about such ideas. Unfortunately, some people can't even keep their minds ajar, let alone open.

This fanfic had an interesting premise, and might have become a good story ... but we'll never know, because one guy just had to be a jackass about it.

4. A former classmate of mine used to be part of a small, very informal gathering of aspiring writers. Often, a small group (usually three or four) of their members would collaborate to write a story together, with each member offering ideas and short drafts. One person would then take all of these and combine them into a single working draft for the story (subject to the approval of the entire group).

A few of their members (including my former classmate) were fans of iCarly, and actually worked on a few fanfics for the show. I honestly don't know if any of their fanfics actually reached a conclusion, although they did seem to have some good ideas, in my opinion. I only ever saw a few drafts of scenes from their planned stories (which my classmate had shared with me), and he actually asked me not to talk about most of them with anybody else (at least until their stories were done).

There are, however, just a few small memories of these stories that I believe it would be okay for me to post here, because they involved drafts that my classmate indicated it would be okay for me to share with other people. (He talked about them quite openly with others, anyway.)

One story was set several years after the iCarly gang had graduated from Ridgeway. As an adult, Sam had become a private investigator ... which, in my opinion, fits well enough with her personality, but as a practical matter, I'm not really sure how it would work. After all, Sam spent several years with her face plastered across millions of computer screens, as well as all of the fan magazines, posters, etc. that you would expect for a popular web show.

So she couldn't exactly do undercover work reliably, now could she? But, never mind that.

I would just like to share with you one bit of dialogue (which I found rather chilling) from this story. Basically, Sam was heading to meet up with Carly and Melanie. As she was walking up the stairway to Melanie's apartment, Sam was suddenly attacked by a large, masked man who nearly strangled her.

Fortunately, Sam's attacker was scared off by the unexpected approach of the building's superintendant, who then helped Sam into Melanie's apartment. While Carly ran to get some water for Sam, the following dialogue ensured :

'Melanie : [Sighs]'' You know, Sam, if my super hadn't shown up when he did, you could have been killed. I don't like to say, "I told you so," but when you said you were going to be a detective, I did warn you how dangerous it could be.'''

[Sam looks up and glares daggers at Melanie.]

'Sam : [Through gritted teeth]'' Sis, listen to me. When that guy attacked me, he said a lot of stuff that I didn't understand at all. But one thing he said that did come through loud and clear ... Just before he ran off, he whispered to me, "Consider this your one warning, Melanie."'''

'[Melanie's eyes widen and she turns slightly pale. Sam rises from her chair, and as she speaks, her voice rises as well.]'

'''Sam : Mel, the reason that guy attacked me is because he thought I was you ! He's after you!'''

I never found out why, though. My classmate talked about this story a bit, but wouldn't tell me what he was planning for it. I just thought it was an interesting premise, regardless.

Another story they were working on involved an escalation in the feud between Sam and Freddie. In the opening chapters, it was explained that the two of them had lately been fighting with each other a good deal more than usual, their tempers becoming oddly frayed over the most trivial things. It came to a head one night, when their regular webcast was brought to an unexpected halt as Sam and Freddie had a blow-up that turned unusually vicious and personal. Freddie stormed out of the studio, and after Carly made a futile attempt to calm her down, Sam angrily left as well.

The next morning, Spencer discovered Freddie, unconscious and beaten to a pulp, in the Bushwell Plaza stairwell. After taking Freddie to the hospital and alerting his mother, Spencer grimly went to the iCarly studio to tell Carly, Sam, and Gibby what had happened.

This is just a small fragment of the dialogue, but it gives you a basic idea of this scene :

Gibby : [Hesitantly] Sam, where did you go after the show last night?

Sam : Home.

Carly : Was your mother there?

Sam : Yeah, so?

Carly : Passed out drunk, I suppose.

Sam : It was after ten o'clock, so that's kind of a given.

Carly : [Bitterly] How convenient.

Spencer : Carly -

Sam : What exactly are you implying, Carls?

Carly : I think you know what I'm implying.

Sam : [Pause] Now, wait just a second ...

Well, I think it was kind of obvious what Carly was thinking. In this scene, Sam vehemently denied beating up Freddie, but it wasn't clear whether Gibby or Spencer believed her. The writers kept tinkering with the dialogue in this scene, but they never seemed happy with it.

Unfortunately, the story was never finished, so I never did find out what actually happened. There was one scene, however, that strongly hinted that Sam was telling the truth, that she wasn't responsible for the assault on Freddie ... but it also hinted that she knew something about the events of that night that she wasn't telling the others.

One of these days, I have got to make a point of getting back in touch with my former classmate, to see if they ever got far enough with that story to post it on FanFiction.Net, or anywhere else.

Anyway, that's about it for this. Some folks might wonder what the point of this blog was. Well, really, there was no point ... I just didn't want these fanfics to go quietly into oblivion without anybody even knowing they existed. Each of them was, in its own way, quite interesting, at least to me, and I am genuinely hoping that their authors will eventually see fit to bring them back out again.