Dannell Lites

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Fan
Name: Dannell Lites
Alias(es): Lindsey Nuttal (?)
Type: Fanwriter
Fandoms: Batman, Blade Runner, DC Comics, Frisco Kid, Highlander, Legion of Super Heroes, Marvel Comics, Nightwing, Smallville, Star Wars, Teen Titans, Vertigo, X-Men
Communities: OTL, ACFF, Offpanel.net
Other: 1953-2002
URL: Her fiction on Offpanel
Her fiction on The Fanfic of Dannell Lites
Fiction and art at AO3
geocities page, archive link
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Dannell Lites was a prolific fan fiction writer in many (at least 30, according to AO3![1]) fandoms, and friend to many online. She had over 300 stories online in a number of different archives and specialised in the characters that "haven't been written to death[2]". Her online persona was a Good Ol' Southern Gal and Southern Belle, down to the Rogue-like accent she wrote in when communicating with friends. Her fandom life dates back to the 1980s, where her name appears on the list of Nolacon members in 1988.

She collaborated with Kerithwyn Jade on the Sea and Sky series and with DarkMark on the Superman story "The Great Confrontation".

... I've worked with a collaborator. In this case, it was the late and much-missed Dannell Lites.

The storyline was cued by the five or so "Superman of 2499" stories that Mort Weisinger ran in the Superman titles circa 1965-66, and the fact that the Legion of Super-Heroes had to go back to the 20th Century to find a Superboy to recruit for their group, even though there was at least one descendant of Kal-El living in the 30th. Why was this? I dreamed up an answer, and seeded clues to it in a couple of stories. Then I got down to writing the story itself.

But I wanted input from a different source, one of the few persons in fanfic I knew I could work with. Dannell was one of the few ficcers in my age group. She knew what I did, and she could write about as well as anybody in ficdom. We both admired each other's work and got along together. So she agreed to collab with me on the story, and I think it worked well.[3]

She also wrote 2 fics for The Dracoverse "Draco Draconis" & "Heavenly Babysitter". Over a hundred of her stories can be found on the AO3 page set up by her friends from the Offpanel website care of the Open Doors project; others can be found on her own account at Fanfiction.net, the Fan Fiction Archive via the Internet Archive, and the site a cousin of hers set up after learning of her death, and of her online life.

Dannell passed away on September 16, 2002.[4] In the words of her friend and co-writer, DarkMark:

Dannell was a fan from my generation. She knew about as much about comics as I did, and that says something. She was also one of the few writers good enough for me to consider collaborating with...most of 'em didn't have the knowledge or quality that she possessed.

I never met Dannell in the flesh, but inevitably, when I called her, I'd rack up a fifty-dollar phone bill. We'd talk and talk and talk, in the manner of two people who have found out they're from the same tribe. I'm gonna miss her laughter, her friendship, her character insight, and her existence.

There's not a whole hell of a lot else to say. "The Great Confrontation" will go on, as a solo act. And in her memory.

Gonna miss you, kid. But we won't forget you. Goodbye.

"Dannell Lites", darkmark's Livejournal, October 21, 2002

And from Alara Rogers:

Dannell was a good writer-- I was particularly a fan of her Magneto work, and at one point she was prolific enough to revitalize the Magneto Mailing List all by herself, but she also made a name for herself writing fic in the DC universe. She was also a very prolific feedbacker. If Dannell saw a story by a name she knew, or about a character she liked, she would comment on it. Half my comics fanfics on fanfiction.net have reviews by her on them.

"In light of the recent tragic news" - alara_r's Livejournal, Oct 22, 2022

But the last word should come from kerithwyn:

Dannell was endlessly encouraging. It's not at all exaggeration to say that I literally never would have thought of writing fic of my own without her. I'd also be lying if I said we got along perfectly all the time; truth is, I'd hardly spoken to her at all in the months before her death. My mistake, and my loss.

I still get feedback for Dannell's stories, occasionally, and once in awhile spam from her email address. Ghosts in the machine. But I'm determined that this archive of her work will remain available in perpetuity (or as close to as any of us can guarantee, at any rate), regardless of whether I continue writing or not.

This isn't meant to be maudlin, just the marking of an anniversary.

Thanks, Dannell.

Dannell Lites Archive - Profile - AO3

Awards

CBFFA

Prosh Awards

  • 1999 - Best Author Overall

Damn Fine Awards

  • 2000 - DFA Best Batman 2000; Best Drama 2000; Best One-Shot 2000: "Letting Go"

[Following her death, the DFAs instituted the Dannell Lites Memorial Award as a category, starting in 2002]

X-Day

Golden Orgasms

Notable Works

Archives/Zines/Collections

Zines

As Contributor

Archives

As Archivist

As Contributor

Further Reading

References

  1. ^ Dannell Lites Archive - Fandoms - AO3
  2. ^ "Autobiography", The Fan-Fiction of Dannell Lites
  3. ^ The Great Con Goes On at DarkMark's Fanfiction Free-For-All! (August 13, 2005)
  4. ^ "DM, Rivka Jacobs on the Magneto List found out this info", comment by Alara Rogers to DarkMark's LJ, Oct 23, 2002
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