I usually write things that amuse me, with an eye toward amusing my readers. But occasionally, my muse will grab me by the throat and won't release me until I write something. The few WHAMmy stories I have written have been at my muse's insistence. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to write when your muse is strangling you? No wonder my stories are so short.
) edit: I meant to mention that if another author had written my WHAMmy stories, I probably wouldn't have read them, since I generally avoid reading WHAM-fic.
My Todd stories (
Echolalia and
The Diagnosis ) are especially near and dear to my heart. I wrote them with the hope not only of entertaining the audience, but also of raising their awareness about autism and autism-related matters.
Of course, having said all of that, I'll admit that I'm a FDK junkie. As such, I will sometimes discard, or at least think twice about writing, something I am certain would not be well received. A case in point: I have an idea for a story that I have decided will probably never be written. It takes place about 300 years into the future. Clark failed in his attempt to keep Nightfall from hitting earth. The apocalypse happened, and Lex proves to be the saviour of humanity; the only survivors being those who had entered his 'ark.' The story would take place in a history class and we would hear a history lesson which epitomises the old saw about history being written by the victor. (For example, Lex would, basically, be sainted and Superman would be made out as a horrendous villain and the destroyer of humanity). I think the story could be interesting, but I think it would be so poorly received that I'm not going to go to the effort of writing it.
Joy,
Lynn