Talk:Historical Fanworks

This page has been started because there are clearly fanworks that fall outwith the purview of two pages we already have, Historical AU and Real World Events in Fanworks. The former article is for a specific subtype of AU in which the characters have been shifted out of their canonical timeframe. The latter is for fanworks that include recent events. "Recent" is admittedly a hazy concept, but the examples given in Talk:Real World Events in Fanworks suggest that World War II is more or less the cut-off date.

So what we're looking at here are fanworks based on sources for which history (WW2 or earlier) does not fall outside canon. Such stories can require specialized research (which is not to say that all fan authors bother).

Offhand, I can think of two particular types of source for which this is true.

• First, historical fiction. Fanworks based on such sources are canonically set in historical times. For them, it's a modern setting that would be the AU.
• Second, SF/fantasy that canonically spans centuries, e.g. a lot of vampire fiction, and other types of immortals (e.g. Highlander). In this case, fanworks are not necessarily set entirely in an historical period, but might alternate between past and present events.

I'm not sure how to structure the page. Ideas? Comments? --Greer Watson 13:08, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

As far as the types go, historical fiction can be split into canons that were produced at the time of the period depicted and canons that were produced treating the time depicted as historical. Also SFF can include time travel like Doctor Who or anything else that uses the A Connecticut Yankee in Kind Arthur's Court plot.

There is also Historical RPF which crosses over a lot with FPF and the FPF canons. Is The King's Speech fanfic RPF?

As far as format goes, I took a look at the Age of Sail page, and the way it's structured might help some, although it doesn't delve too deep into the accurate vs. fantasy divide. I'm not sure I'd put WWII as the cutoff. Wouldn't most people consider MASH a kind of historical fandom, or XMFC, where for a lot of fans the setting is well before they were born? Actually a section on one fan's history is another fan's formative years might be interesting on this page.--facetofcathy 15:35, 14 August 2011 (UTC)