Fan Writer
| Synonyms: | fan author, fanficcer, fic writer, fen writer |
| See also: | bard |
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In media fanfic fandom, a fan writer is a person who writes fan fiction. The term is used to distinguish writers of fan fiction from both writers of original fiction and professional authors, although the three categories overlap -- many fan writers also write original fiction, and some are professional authors. A 2015 google search for the term showed that it was still in use[1], though in many discussions online fic writer, fanficcer, writer, or author may appear more frequently.
In science fiction fandom, the term is much broader and includes writers of non-fanfic sf fiction as well as nonfiction writers. A category for Best Fan Writer was added to the Hugo Awards in 1967. Professional sf authors such as John Scalzi have won the Fan Writer award for their unpaid blogging. It appears that no one has ever won a Hugo for fanfiction[2]; in 1974 two Star Trek fic writers were nominated, but this generated controversy. According to Fancyclopedia,
The category recognizes fan writing as distinct from professional writing. The latter is fiction written for pay. Fan writing is generally non-fiction (though fiction is eligible) written for pleasure (or egoboo) and not for pay. It can be about SF or about fandom or, really, anything that fans enjoy reading. Fan writing historically appeared primarily in fanzines, but it is definitely not limited to fanzines and today is probably more likely to be found on the web.[3]
References
- ^ For example, fuckyeahfanficflamingo used it on March 22, 2014 on Tumblr.
- ^ Following the links from Wikipedia's list of fan writer winners and nominees does not uncover anybody who won for fanfiction, though some pages only explained that the winner wrote for fanzines--that they wrote nonfiction is implied. (Accessed 31 January 2015.)
- ^ Best Fan Writer Hugo Category - Fancyclopedia 3, Archived version