The Creation of Plausible Fanon

kelliem posted a rant in her LJ today expressing her frustration with a bit of fanon she sees creeping into ever more dS stories--namely, RayK as a smoker. I started to reply in her comments, realized I was getting long, and decided to post this here. I hope it goes without saying that I'm writing this not to argue with Kellie, whom I greatly like and respect, or to disparage her rights to her beliefs and opinions. But her entry gave me occasion to think about ( the ways in which we justify fanon... )