2. Would you (or any other ambitious fan-fic readers know of a story in which Miss Piggy's background was explored a little? That's not a dead give-away for anything just an idea I was tossing around, but it seems like what would be a fairly common one. Since I've already started an idea and then found out someone had done the same thing already, I wanna make sure that if it ever materialized I wouldn't be stealing anything from anyone. So yeah, that would be helpful
.
Well hold on now. I need to get up on my soapbox while my nose is still functional (thanks to the steam from a lovely hot shower).
Just because one fanfic writer puts an idea out there doesn't mean every other fanfic writer has to abide by that, or can't explore it in a different way. Heck, the
same fanfic writer doesn't even have to abide by their own ideas from previous stories! In tales not posted on MC, I've had Piggy growing up on a farm with a mother she doesn't like and her father having passed away when she was young. In other stories, I have her discover that her father wasn't really dead after all--nor was he quite the wonderful person she'd always remembered. I've written stories in which Skeeter exists, and stories in which she does not. I've had stories in which Scooter was being raised by his uncle, and then ran away from home because his uncle was going to send him to a military boarding school. I've had stories in which Robin has lots of siblings and his parents, Jimmy and Leaper, are divorced. I've had stories in which Robin was an only child and his parents had passed away.
I don't know of any stories on MC exploring Piggy's past, incidentally. I know Leyla (a member who hasn't been around in AGES, unfortunately) had plans for an intricate story looking into all of that... but even if that story had been posted, that wouldn't prevent anyone else from looking at Piggy's past in a different way. I know there's a story somewhere looking into Fozzie's past, but that wouldn't stop me if I someday decided to actually write and post the idea I once had for Fozzie and Kermit to start on a road trip in search of Fozzie's dad. ReneeLouvier has a whole series exploring Scooter's past and establishing him with a particular love interest, but that's not to say someone else can't create other characters for him to date or give him a different back story--in fact, several people have, and I have plans to do so as well (someday, maybe).
The bottom line is, write what you want to write, regardless of what others have written before you. Personally, I
love seeing different ideas about the Muppets' families, and how they got to where they are, and why this and why that and why the other thing... Heck, part of the reason I abandoned my old Flippersteps series is that I kept coming up with other ways I could have done it (which is why I have documents with titles like "re-flipperstep" and "re-re-flipperstep" and "re-flip," not to mention all the other stories I have of "how the Muppets got together" and/or "the previous love interest Kermit had that keeps him from committing to Piggy").
And if you want to borrow ideas from other fanfic writers on MC, that's generally okay, too. It's nice if you ask permission first, but as a whole, most of us don't mind, with or without permission. (I certainly don't mind you using Jimmy and Leaper, and I'm pretty sure Beau would agree.)
And now I'm getting congested again, and I think I've made my point anyway... So I'm going to put my soapbox away now and get myself some hot tea.
Edit: Ziffled several times over! But I was right--Beau doesn't mind other people using Jimmy and Leaper.