Writers create own sequels
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| News Media Commentary | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Writers create own sequels |
| Commentator: | Lesly Mayhue |
| Date(s): | March 5, 2002 |
| Venue: | Toronto Star |
| Fandom: | Multifandom, Harry Potter, Star Trek: TOS, Xena: Warrior Princess, Britney Spears mentioned in the article |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Writers create own sequels is an article about fanfiction. It introduces an audience to the concept of fanfiction, talks a bit about its history, and how to find fanfiction online, referring to site like Writers University and Sugar Quill. This article is different from some at the time because the author freely admits to writing and reading fanfic themselves.
Excerpts
Fanfic is fiction written by fans about famous people or about charac- ters that were created by someone else. The majority of works are devoted to fantasy, animé or science-fiction (Xena, Star Wars), though real-life teen idols like Britney and 'N Sync also have their share. Cancelled TV shows such as Quantum Leap and Lois and Clark live again thanks to the imagina- tion of loyal viewers, and one-season wonders like Starman (remember that one?) are plucked from obscurity and given new life. If you can name a fan- dom, chances are there is fanfic for it.
Creating fanfic may be the ultimate form of hero worship (unless you count stalking). There is no money in it, though it's obvious a great deal of thought goes into much of the work out there. It's done largely in fun and admiration, but also to connect with other fans and their heroes.
Fanfic has exploded with the advent of the Internet, bringing it to a wider audience and offering instant "gratifi- cation" and feedback from fellow ob- sessives. It has also encouraged more people to write it, and to do as good a job as possible for fear of being "flamed." If you have the motivation to write a piece, you will have little trouble find- ing a place for it on the Web. All genres are represented: humour, angst, miss- ing scenes (what happened in part of a book that fans may feel the author glossed over), crossovers, alternate universes, absurdist, slash (involving same-sex relationships) and more. The quality ranges from sublime, true-to- character works of art to poorly writ- ten tripe riddled with inconsistencies