This is the part of our site dedicated to telling anyone who happens to end up here about us. Who we are, what we do and the story behind the ‘Pit’ itself.

     Back in the (Australian) summer of 2001 a young Aussie rekindled her love of Whose Line is it Anyway and The Drew Carey Show by devoting a large chunk of her time to re-watching all the old episodes and excitedly taping the newer ones. It was during this period that with the encouragement of a good friend she wrote her first fanfiction called: ‘Drew Carey’s 13 Ghosts’, which flopped abysmally.
     Not one to be discouraged, the young Aussie started another story called ‘Mochrie’s 11’ and much to her surprise it was a hit. Following hot on the heels of M11 came ‘Downunder and Backwards’ followed closely by ‘Back Downunder.’ It was during this period that a plucky young American artist decided to leave a review.
     This mere pointing out of the young Aussie’s stupidity led to a friendship born on critiquing each other’s attempts at legible writing and discussing Greg Proops naked. Countless e-mails passed between the two with such helpful lines as "The beginning was mind numbing’ and ‘have you ever heard of something called grammar?"
     Soon the Aussie suggested writing a story that involved their two female characters from individual fics. This too proved fruitful for the girls, however it was around this time that fanfiction.net, who had so loyally served them (between frequent down periods and upgrades), decided to ban all ‘real persons fic’ and Whose Line writers, like many others worldwide, were outraged.
     The Aussie and the American were furious and decided they had better seek another outlet for displaying their work. So in early June 2002, the young American set about creating a website. There was some fierce debate about what to call it but when it came down to it, it was Greg Proops’ love of the word ‘fondue’ and the humour it suggested that won our nubile minds over.
     Since its rather startling beginnings, the Pit has undergone a number of changes. Including the addition of the front page, a log, music and the move from fanfiction to general fiction as its main selling point. The most notable change and one that created a whole different audience, was the inclusion of Australian comedian Paul McDermott as a main character, his acceptance into the midst of things has been remarkable. In its short history, the Fondue Pit’s highest point came when as a drastic measure to garner more publicity, reviews and fans, the owners threatened to fondue Paul McDermott. It was a rather childish stunt but also proved to be incredibly entertaining.
     While the main purpose to display their talents as fanfiction writers has wavered slightly in favour of showing their talents as a serious writer and artist, the Fondue Pit is still something that both the Aussie and American are proud of. It’s given two nobodies the chance to be somebodies (in their own bedrooms at least) and has proven the best tool to showcase their talents, get feedback and bring back the art of the double entendre.

     Born, raised and financially backed in South Australia, twenty-four year old Kirsty Adderley has been writing longer than anyone can actually remember. Although she clearly remembers when she was about six having to explain to a teacher that she’d written a story about a turtle all on her own, her parents had not been involved and it wasn’t her fault the other kids were stupid. Since then, she has progressed from turtle stories to dog stories, then news stories and news stories on dogs.
     Kirsty, also know as ‘Harriet Monroe’ (which was a name she created only to discover sometime later there really was a Harriet Monroe and she was a poet), studied journalism, public relations and media only to discover she had a soul and couldn’t go through with it and after graduating moved on to greener pastures. Well, more patchy yellow pastures really but if you need to be a neurotic, anti-social freak to be a writer than that’s just fine by her.
     Her hobbies include watching television, reading quality literature (trashy romance novels and true crime), eating copious amounts of chocolate, and Pilates because it makes her feel less guilty about the amount of time spent sitting on her arse.
     Important factoid: She loves her cat more than any human being.

     California based twenty-one year old Michelle Brady has wanted to be an artist since she was 7 and thanks to a mix of obsession, natural talent and hours spent staring at naked people she’s quite apt with a charcoal pencil and a sketch pad. Not only that but since the creation of not only this but her own site (http://www.oocities.org/mooseleenie/) has honed her graphic design skills as well.
     Michelle (no Brady Bunch jokes please) is affectionately known as ‘Gnome’ for reasons that we’re not entirely sure of but rest assured it has nothing to do with a fetish for little people or a penchant for fishing rods. Come autumn the webmistress will be a graphic design student at a California State University unless it all goes horribly wrong and she ends up doing chalk drawings for cash in the street.
     Her hobbies include injuring herself in absurd ways, disowning her family, obsessing over the Monkees and shamefully getting sucked into bad reality television in an attempt to avoid the previous three.
     Important factoid: Michelle won a cash prize for a poster she created advertising ‘The Fondue Curdles.’

 

Fondue Pit