Comic Fan-Fiction Authors' Network
| Archive | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Comic Fan-Fiction Authors' Network |
| Date(s): | 1996 - 2002 |
| Archivist: | Kielle, Sevenall ("Chief CodeMonkey") |
| Founder: | Kielle |
| Type: | Hubsite, Fanfiction, Fanart |
| Fandom: | Comics |
| URL: | http://members.aol.com/kielle/cfan.htm (original link, defunct)
http://www.subreality.com/cfan.htm (defunct) CFAN on Wayback (2002) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Comic Fan-Fiction Authors' Network (CFAN) was a hub of activity for comic-book based fandom. The site was created and maintained by Kielle. CFAN went online on August 17, 1996[1], and closed to updates on May 22, 2002.[2] As of June 16, 2003, only a small selection of links were accessible[3] and following Kielle's death in September 2005, the site fees were no longer renewed and by May 31, 2008 CFAN was not cached by the Wayback Marchine[4].
It joined the FEF April 20, 2001.
CFAN: The Beginning
Q: How long ago did you get into fan fiction, and how long after that did you start CFAN [Comic Fan Authors Network]?Kielle: Five years ago, I think, when I was still dating Greg, and CFAN happened not long after. Six months, I think.
Q: Why?
Kielle: Well, at the time, there was only one archive… there was a.c.f-f and Hawk's archive, where everything was archived. That went down. At the time, a couple of authors had a mailing list going, and everyone on the mailing list was panicking because there was nowhere to store stories. I didn't know HTML then and every one else who did said, "Hey, why don't we start mini archives?" I volunteered, [and] said, "I could learn HTML, I'll learn it real quick and link the pages together." It just kinda went from there.[5]
CFAN's role in fandom
CFAN became a central hub for comics fanfiction in the late 1990s to the early 2000s. The site began on aol.com and was transferred to Kielle's own domain, subreality.com in April 1999. It was the place to find comics fanfiction archives and at its height provided links to approximately 700+ comics fanfiction archives[6], as well as mailing lists and newsgroups. Multiple genres of comics were included: Marvel (with separate lists for X-Men comics fanfic), DC and Image, as well as smaller companies and web pages containing discussion about fanfic as well as fanfic criticism, resources, support groups and fanfic 'magazines'.
As well as providing a central listing of comics fanfic, CFAN also linked to the Subreality Café, SC Round Robins, comics art work and a number of interactive pages. Needless to say, it became practically a full time job for Kielle and her team of helpers. In May 2022, Kielle announced she would no longer be updating the site, although it would remain accessible. Among her parting 'gifts', she provided a master list of index fanfic posted to the site as of December 2001.
CFAN: The End
5/22/02: *sigh* Let's face it. After six+ years and several attempts to revitalize CFAN, my heart has quite simply gone out of it.Let me stress that I am NOT taking this site offline! It offers an huge array of useful resources, and if you want me to change something, well, I'm not going anywhere. :) Neither am I saying that I'll never update it again, just that I don't know when or how extensively. So I've decided it would be more fair to simply admit it than to leave you (and me!) wondering.
In short: For now, so long and thanks for all the fic. [7]
Notable Links
At the time it was no longer being updated, CFAN contained links to the following: (*denotes an external page)
Fic Resources
- The Fanfic Links - links to the various archives collected by CFAN, sorted by genre, mainly.
- Full Archive List - alphabetical list of archives.
- FicIndex 2001 - every story and author linked to CFAN as of November 2001.
- The Syleguide - suggestions and hints including common spelling errors and grammar.
- The Fanfiction Glossary - glossary of terms related to the internet, fandom, and fanfic.
Art Resources
- CFAB* - Comicbook Fanart Archive huBsite, maintained by Glockgal and Quincunx
- COM - Court of Miracles, a fanart archive maintained by Kielle
- The Gallery - a yahoo mailing group for fanart discussion
People
- Author's Spotlight* - interviews with fanfic writers and artists by Trisha Lynn.
- Beta-Readers - a list of fans available for beta-reading and their specialties.
- Conventions - a list of the various in-person conventions at the time, including DexCon.
- Journals & Blogs - a list of various blogs/journals belonging to comics fanfic writers.
- Who's Who - fanficcer photo gallery.
- Who's Where - a submission form for those wanting to meet other ficcers, along with a search option.
- Writer Directory - list of fanfic authors, including notable works/otherwise and email addresses.
Opinions
- Accolades * - a site intended to collect the winning stories of the CBFFAs (incomplete)
- CBFFAs - the awards (and award shows) from 1998 to 2002
- IMHO * - fanfic review column by Dex Farkin.
- Review Archive - a list of fanfics reviewed, with their authors and reviewers.
- Shade's Reviews * - fanfiction reviews by Shade, listed by character.
- Ruby Raspberry * - a watchlist of bad actors in the fanfic arena, created and maintained by Moyra
Interactive
- Challenges - alphabetical list of writing prompts/challenges suggested by the fanfic community
- Egoboo Central - list of places where feedback could be left
- Get Archived! - list of archives accepting submissions, but genre and rating
- Mailing Lists - list of fic author mailings lists, plus general lists by genre
- New Stuff - Dreambook set up for the purposes of archivists and writers to make announcements of new content.
- OTL * - comic fanfiction mailing list.
- Personality Study - "just for fun" study of the type of personalities who write or enjoy fanfic.
- Scratching Post - a system of message boards for various fanfic-related topics.
- Special Days - a list of comics fanfic "special days" plus an option to submit author birthdays.
Just For Fun...
- Adoptions
- Bad Writer! - the collected submissions to the Bad Writer! section of CFAN, which was borrowed from Bad Kitty and Bad Horsie lists. The Bad Writer! list included sections on:
- Section #1 Writing
- Writing In General
- Character Abuse
- Favoritism
- The Details (plot, spelling, etc)
- Procrastination
- Submissions/Posting
- Section #2 Online
- Internet Addiction
- Email/Correspondence
- Socializing
- Round Robining
- Section #3 Reality (?)
- Neglecting Real Life
- At The Comic Shop
- Dealing With Mundanes
- Section #4 Readers Only
- Bad Reader!
- Section #5 Archivists Only
- Bad Archivist!
- Section #1 Writing
- Bits and Pieces -
- Hosted Elsewhere Online
- The Fanfiction Glossary - created by Trisha Lynn
- The Subrealicon Homepage - created by Trisha Lynn
- Subreality: The Gathering - created by Nute and Co, link not archived
- Hosted at CFAN - various pieces taken from ACFF, RACMX, OTL, discussions on the ICQ/IRC channels #subcafe and #fictalk and emails from 1997-1999-ish.
- Hosted Elsewhere Online
- Comic Geek Code - based on the Geek Code and created in October 1997. Best to go check it out for yourself.
- Ficcer Purity Test - how much of a CFAN community member are you?
- The Name Game - a game combining fic titles with their authors as a full sentence.
- Never Said - things that fanfic writers, canon characters and fictives never said, dated November 1998.
- Nostalgia 1997 - an unfinished list of most of the comic-related fanfic online as of April 1997, with comments by the authors.
- Say What?! - selected quotes from fanfics and randomly "overheard" in chat.
Only the following sections were available after Kielle closed the site on June 16, 2003:
- Bad Writer! -
- Bits and Pieces
- CBFFAs (1998-2002) - links to the Comic Book Fan-Fiction Awards winners and award shows, where applicable, from 1998-2002.
- Comic Geek Code
- Ficcer Purity Test
- Messageboards - links to the various message boards in play for discussion, sharing ideas, rants, round robins and everything in between.
- Nostalgia 1997
- Poll Results - the results in various chart form of the CFAN polls that were posted on the main page. Not all of the results were archived by the Wayback Machine.
Gallery
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References
- ^ CFAN: The FanFic Webpage is UP! alt.comics.fanfiction google groups, August 16, 1996
- ^ Comic Fanfiction History Project (Accessed Sept. 11, 2009)
- ^ So Long and Thanks for All the Fish - CFAN Main Page, Jun 16, 2003 (via Wayback)
- ^ Wayback Machine, May 31, 2008
- ^ Spotlight on. . . Kielle! (with special guest Laersyn) (Accessed Sept. 11, 2009)
- ^ Based on a count of archives listed on the page as of Jun 2, 2003 provided by the Wayback Machine.
- ^ CFAN's last update as archived at Wayback
| Related Concepts, Fandoms, Terms, Fanworks | |
| See also | Subreality Central, Kielle, Subreality Cafe, Common People Warehouse, Outside The Lines, CBFFA, CFAB |