Romancing the Fan: Romance and Xena Fan Fiction

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Title:	Romancing the Fan: Romance and Xena Fan Fiction
Creator:	J.C. Wilder
Date(s):	October 1998
Medium:	online
Fandom:	Xena: Warrior Princess
Topic:
External Links:	Romancing the Fan: Romance and Xena Fan Fiction: 1, Archived version; Romancing the Fan: Romance and Xena Fan Fiction: 2; Romancing the Fan: Romance and Xena Fan Fiction: 3
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Romancing the Fan: Romance and Xena Fan Fiction is an essay by J.C. Winter. The essay was posted in Whoosh! in October 1998.

It was written using twenty-eight fan interviews done for the Xena Whoosh! Interview Series (See "Twenty-Seven Grilled Bards and One Reviewer") and was posted before the fourth season of the show began.

Introduction

Beyond the television series, the Xenaverse on the World Wide Web currently contains more than two thousand stories written by over five hundred fans. I began to contribute to the growing number of stories a year and a half ago and am continually amazed by the community of which I am a member. Why do we write Xena fan fiction? How does an audience and reader feedback, made possible by the Internet community, affect the creative process? This project provides some answers and suggests more questions.

Twenty-seven Xena fan fiction authors and one fan fiction reviewer participated: Lunacy, Baermer, B.L. Miller, Bat Morda, Bongo Bear, C.N. Winters, DJWP, Della Street, Ella Quince, hobbes, Jenbob, Joanna, Katrina, L Graham, L.N. James, Lyssa, Marie E. Costa, Missy Good, PB, Paul Seely, Puckster, Quest, sHaYcH, S.L. Bowers, Tim Wellman, J.C. Wilder, Wishes, and WordWarior. You can read their complete survey-interviews in this edition of Whoosh! under the title, "Twenty-Seven Grilled Bards and One Reviewer: Rare, Medium and Supertoasty". The interviews are the heart of the project. This article is similar to a study guide in relation to the interviews, so I encourage you to go there and take a look.

We are individuals who share the common activity or hobby of authoring Xena fan fiction, but our differences are evident, and not all the participants necessarily agree with the premises stated below. In preparation for this article, I reviewed more than three hundred and sixty stories. The number of stories per author ranges from two to thirty-four, with an average of thirteen. Constraints of time and space do matter in the Xenaverse and unfortunately prevented the participation of more bards, but this sample is a significant representation of the population of Xena fan fiction writers.

The central premise my research demonstrated is that the majority of Xena fan fiction is romantic. That is the case because:

(1) the show itself is unusually romantic in both a classic (romantic adventure) and not-so-classic (romantic friendship, latent lesbian themes) sense;

(2) while Xena fan fiction authors may not always have enjoyed involvement with romantic fiction, the majority of them do now; and,

(3) the readers of Xena fan fiction reward romantic writing more often than any other type.

[Author's Note: The romantic relationships that Xena and Gabrielle have had with men have been too fleeting to consider central to the show or the theme of romance for the purposes of this project.]

Topics

The essay is posted in three parts:

Romancing the Fan: Romance and Xena Fan Fiction: 1, ^{Archived version}

Romancing the Fan: Romance and Xena Fan Fiction: 2

Romancing the Fan: Romance and Xena Fan Fiction: 3

• Introduction
• Xena and Gabrielle: The Relationship/The Show
  • Setting the Stage: SINS OF THE PAST
  • Author Thoughts on Romance
  • Romance by Firelight: CALLISTO
  • The Soulmate Story Arc
  • Death, Resurrection, and Kissing: THE QUEST
  • Romance, Even in the Third Season: ONE AGAINST AN ARMY
  • More Third Season Romance: SACRIFICE II
• Some Creative Dynamics: Romance Rules
  • Inspiration
  • Fan Letters
  • Wooing the Reader
  • Honing Writing Skills
  • "Alt"-ness
  • "First Time"
  • Popularity of Romance
• More Stats
• Final Thoughts on "Why Write?"
• Conclusion
• Biography