I thought James was a two syllable name because the "iz" sound at the end sounds like an extra syllable...whoops.

That's an interesting way of doing it, Toku, and actually does seem to fit with how you tend to say these things, doesn't it? Huh...

On the subject of fanfiction... I am not at all the one to make a case for fanfiction existing as a deep form of expression. Everything I write using someone else's characters is highly subject to being absolute crack, with various degrees of sexual... blatancy (as opposed to innuendo) because LOLSEXISFUNNY. That being said, I, of course, have no problem with it. In fact, I think that even the humor that comes from fanfiction is something unique, that you can't get anywhere else. There's a lot you can do with established characters that becomes entertaining simply -because- the audience knows who those characters are, something that's harder to do with original characters. Plus, since fanfiction is, by default, non-canon, any sort of concern about continuity or realism gets to be thrown out the window--in an original work, these things matter more. It's why I though Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog wasn't quite as amazing as everyone kept saying it was: it was funny at times, but the humorous elements of it were so absurd that its characters and setting couldn't support being serious.

That being said, I do avoid most "serious" fanfiction. Once in a while there are some that are good, and fill in blanks left by the original work, or exist separately enough that it's not an issue. Sometimes they exist within the scope of the original in such a way that the serious aspect just plays off of what you already know happens. However, I feel like some fanfics that try to be serious and put the characters in entirely new situations outside their original story are bordering on creating sequels, when the original work is usually designed to end a certain way for whatever reason. It's a mixed bag.

Anyway, I dunno, my personal philosophy tends to be that once a character has been through hell within the context of their story they deserve a little outrageous fun (which, incidentally, may entail putting them through a rather less lethal version of hell), and that's sort of why I write mostly absurd stuff. I mean, I tried doing a few serious fanfics once upon a time, but I feel too limited and too imitative, I think. If I just go ahead and transpose the genre into "complete insanity," it feels a lot more free to do whatever I want and just have fun with it.

And Homer, Plato (honestly, Plato is a total Socrates fanboy), and the rest notwithstanding, I really don't see fanfiction as an important subset of fiction unto itself. I don't think it's without merit, but that's because I think there's merit in something just being fun. Yeah, there's a lot of junk out there too, but that's because there are more people who think they can write than actually can. Not an ideal situation, but possibly better than the reverse. Who knows, maybe some of them will figure it out eventually, and be filled with self-loathing upon looking at their previous works like the rest of us.