No News Ain't Necessarily Good News
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | No News Ain't Necessarily Good News |
| Creator: | Cheree Cargill |
| Date(s): | October 1990 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Wars |
| Topic: | fanfiction, The Same Old Story |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
No News Ain't Necessarily Good News is an essay by Cheree Cargill in Southern Enclave #27.
The subject: "Are repetitious and overworked storylines bringing about the death of SW fanfiction, and why aren't people coming up with something fresh?"
Some Excerpts
1. Luke agonizes over his fate as Darth Vader's son and wonders if he, too, will fall to the Dark Side. 2. Luke trains everyone in the known galaxy to be Jedi, beginning with Leia and Han. 3. After they are married by Chief Chirpa or some other Ewok potentate, Han and Leia spend their wedding night in an Ewok hut, during which they (a) declare their undying love for each other and (b) confess to some terrible secret in their pasts. 4. In First Trilogy stories, Luke and Leia are born and are separated at birth by Obi-Wan who (a) agonizes over his fate, (b) agonizes over the Jedi's fate, (c) agonizes over [fill in the blank]. 5. Luke and Leia's mother (usually named Ariana or Ariel or Ariadne or something similar) agonizes over losing Anakin to the Dark Side and/or having to give up Luke, after which she dies or commits suicide. 6. Obi-Wan takes Luke to Tatooine to be raised by Beru, who is either barren or has just miscarried, and Owen, who—according to secondary sources—is Obi-Wan's brother and who hates him for some unspecified reason. 7. In Third Trilogy stories, Han and Leia now have children, all of whom have latent Jedi powers which Luke wants to develop and which Han adamantly opposes. Luke also has generally found the love of his life in a beautiful, Force-filled lady whom he has trained as a Jedi, and they have a brood of little Jed-ettes, all of whom are named Ben or Yoda or Anakin or Beru or some combination of all of the above. 8. One (or more) of the major characters dies and we are lovingly treated to their respective lives flashing before their eyes in slow motion and with every last bit of angst that can be wrung from the subject
I do not believe that there's nothing new to write about. Even well-worn story ideas can get a fresh infusion with a little creativity. And what ever happened to good old-fashioned romance and adventure? If you need inspiration or just want to see what I mean, look up any story by Martie Benedict in just about any SW zine you care to mention from the "Golden Age". Martie retired from SW fandom a few years ago after turning out a truly staggering amount of fiction. She passed the torch on to Cypher, who doesn't produce near the amount of material that Martie did, but who writes in very much Martie's style and with just as ranch vigor and joy—and does it with a created character, too!
I am very much concerned by the overtones of doom and gloom that seems to have settled over fanfiction during the past few years—it all seems to be death and destruction and Darkside. I want to encourage all the writers out there to open up their imagination and let it soar—be daring, be creative, be outrageous! Let's have some fun with this universe, the way we used to! Artists—let your whims soar as free as the Falcon. Open up new worlds to portray the characters in. Would-be editors out there—just because TREMOR and WOOKIEE have become megazines, don't think you can't compete. Let's see some new zines out there!