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Fan fiction

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Fan fiction (alternately referred to as fanfiction, fanfic, FF or fic) is a broadly defined term for fiction about characters or settings written by admirers of the original work, rather than by the original creators.[1] The term usually applies to works that are not commissioned and unauthorized by the owner/creators and publishers of the original and usually (but not always) works which are not professionally published. Fan fiction is defined outside of original fiction, which exists within its own discrete, professionally published universe, and therefore, as long as it's related to the subject, can be completely outside of canon works within that universe.[2] Most fan fiction writers assume that their readers have knowledge of the canon universe (created by a professional writer) in which their works are based.

History

Before about 1965, the term "fan fiction" was used in science fiction fandom to designate original, though amateur, works of science fiction published in science fiction fanzines, as differentiated from fiction that was professionally published by professional writers, but this usage is now obsolete. Modern definitions of the term exclude such entirely original writing from the category. Today, "fan fiction" writers are those who use characters and situations already created by other writers in order to develop their personal and preferred views of the story.[3] For example, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling has spawned an extensive fan fiction subgenre, in which the characters make choices and enjoy an afterlife that Rowling herself did not create, or deviate from the plotline of the actual books at a certain point, allowing a different route to be traveled.

The magazine, Spockanalia, is the first known contemporary form of any type of fan-written stories.

Fan fiction as it is now understood began at least as early as the 17th century, with unauthorized published sequels to such works as Don Quixote.[4] Older precursors include the Epic Cycle supplementing the works of Homer and the various re-tellings of King Arthur's tale which spread around Europe from the 8th century AD onward.[5] (For example, there were no fewer than four continuations by other hands of Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval.) The turn of the 19th century saw parodies and revisions of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland by authors including Frances Hodgson Burnett and E. Nesbit. In addition, there were several fan-authored versions of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. In the 1920s and 1930s, fans of Jane Austen wrote stories based on her characters and published them in fanzines. In 1945, C. S. Lewis adopted certain elements from J.R.R. Tolkien's then largely-unpublished legendarium (mostly Númenor, there spelt Numinor) and incorporated these into the last novel, That Hideous Strength, of his Space Trilogy. (Given that Lewis and Tolkien were personal friends, this could be seen more as an "homage").

However, the modern phenomenon of fan fiction as an expression of fandom and fan interaction was popularized and defined via the Star Trek fandom and fanzines published in the 1960s. The first Star Trek fanzine, Spockanalia, was published in 1967 and contained some fan fiction.[5]

In 1970, Mary Ellen Curtin, a Princeton University graduate[6] researched the authors of various Star Trek fanfics, and her results showed an outstanding 83% female as opposed to 17% male writers.[5]

Both Listproc and Usenet were invented in 1980, allowing public Internet-based gatherings of fans, and wider distribution of fan fiction; the internet as a whole would later become the most widely-used method of publication of fan fiction.

In 1981 Lucasfilms Ltd. sent out a letter to several fanzine publishers asserting Lucasfilm's copyright to all Star Wars characters and insisting that no fanzine publish pornography.[5] The letter also alluded to possible legal action that could be taken against fanzines that did not comply. Later that year, the director and legal counsel of the Official Star Wars Fan Club sent fanzine publishers a set of official guidelines. Lucasfilms supported fan publications contingent on their upholding these guidelines.[5]

The Gopher protocol was invented in 1991, and hosted some early fan fiction archives, but it has since been replaced by the World Wide Web, which was created a year later.

Fan fiction has become more popular and widespread since the advent of the World Wide Web.[7] Many archives such as The Gossamer Project, which focuses primarily on X-Files fanfiction, were created, hosting specific sorts of stories, or stories for specific fandoms. In 1998 FanFiction.Net came online.[5] At the time of its initial creation, it accepted any sort of writing, original or fan fiction. It has since separated its original fiction section to another website and banned several subgenres, including explicitly sexual stories (referred to as "NC-17" before the Motion Picture Association of America chose to enforce its ownership of the MPAA ratings system), real person fiction, and stories featuring song lyrics (the latter two in order to avoid legal problems, including copyright infringement for unauthorized use of lyrics).[8] This ability to self-publish fan fiction at a common archive, and the ability to review the stories directly on the site, became popular quite quickly.

As of 2005, teenagers born between the years 1985 and 1992 made up the majority of fanfiction authors.

FanFiction.net now hosts millions of stories in dozens of languages, and is widely considered the largest and most popular fan fiction archive online.[7] LiveJournal (founded in 1999) and other blogging services played a large part in the move away from mailing lists to blogs as a means for fan communication and the sharing of fan fiction; although much fan fiction today is published to archives, it would be impossible to tell whether more or less fan fiction today is posted directly to blogging services than to fan-fiction-specific archives.

Writer Statistics

Research conducted in 2005 on the age of teenage writers on Fandominion.net concluded that teenagers born between the years 1985 and 1992 make up the majority of fanfiction authors on that site. However, ages can range from ten-year-old children to sixty-year-old seniors. Fandominion.net is not a representative sample, and this research does not take into account that older fanfiction authors typically obfuscate age information that teenagers freely provide.[9]

Fan fiction writers are 80% female, according to Mary Ellen Curtin. "Dudes only appear occasionally," she says, and after studying fan fiction since 1960, she just "can't understand why boys aren't doing it."[10]

Style of Writing

Fanfiction is easily distinguishable within 5 different types. A "chaptered fic" is written in a similar manner to traditional serial stories, with each chapter released separately as it is finished. Chapters may take anything from a day to several months to be updated and often remind readers of their place in the story with each new installment. Most archives allow authors to upload individual chapters sequentially under a single title with a main link to the first chapter, and each chapter easily linked to via a drop down menu.

A drabble is traditionally a vignette exactly 100 words in length. However, when a story is referred to as a drabble, it often is a short scene or idea that does not tell an entire story, or a story at all. It is simply a reflections of a moment in time, somewhat similar to a character sketch.[11] Other short forms of fanfiction include oneshot or twoshot, in which the story is only one or two chapters long, respectively.[12] Oneshots can also be expanded into longshots, which are one-chaptered stories that are considerably longer than most chaptered stories.[13]

The fourth style of fanfic writing is known as a songfic, where authors take the lyrics of a song and, with the song as inspiration, construct a piece of writing around the lyrics. Usually this is done by quoting lines of the lyrics, while writing original pieces relating to the nearby lyrics.[11]

The last, and final major form of writing is known as alternative universe (often abbreviated as AU), in which the author deliberately alters the original setting of the story, thereby creating an entirely new world. This happens when a story transplants familiar characters into situations totally different from canon.[11] The purpose of creating alternate universes are to answer potential "what-if" questions. These can be created by fabricating a crossover,[14] an alternate timeline,[15] or altering the nature of the setting or characters, among other methods.

Reviewing and interactivity in the online era

Unlike traditional print publication, the internet offers the option of giving and receiving instantaneous feedback.[16] Reviews can be given by both anonymous and registered users of most sites, and sites are often programmed to notify the author of new feedback, making them a common way for readers and authors online to communicate directly.[17] This system is intended for a type of bond between the reader and the writer, as well as helping the author improve his or her writing skills, enabling him or her to produce a better work next time.[18]

Since many such sites do not automatically moderate these systems, on such sites the systems are often abused and used to send flames, spam or trolling messages. For this reason, many such unmoderated systems allow the author the option of receiving only "signed" (non-anonymous) reviews, and many sites that sport such systems feature the suggestion to reviewers that they take the opportunity to give the author some constructive criticism.[8]

Recently fan fiction has seen greater use of the forum format.[19] Built around message board systems, stories are posted on threads with feedback interlaced and immediate. This style of fan fiction is more interactive but also can be a distraction since the stories and comments are between each other. Additionally, blogs, which typically allow entries to be sorted by topic with the additional option of receiving commentary on each entry, are also a somewhat popular choice for fan fiction postings. These communication methods make fan fiction sites and blogs useful affinity spaces as writers are able to take readers' feedback and improve their skills and abilities as writers. This informal learning is a side benefit for many fan fiction authors, some of whom eventually attempt or go on to writing professionally.

It is often considered wise in fan fiction circles to acquire the aid of a "beta reader," sometimes shortened to "beta," whose responsibilities are roughly those of a professional editor to a commercial author—with the exception that the "beta" is most commonly a volunteer who works without pay and on a casual basis and communicates through E-mail or private message systems.[20] Writers are discouraged in some circles from posting fan fiction that has not at least been checked for grammatical, spelling, consistency and plot errors by a beta reader.[8][21] In late February 2008, FanFiction.net set up an area of their site that contains a list of authors willing to "beta" other authors' "fic."[20]

Legality of fan fiction

Main article: Legal issues with fan fiction

Due to the modern definition of fan fiction as derivative works, there are many legal issues involved with fan fiction, most prominently (but not exclusively) arising under United States copyright law.[22]

Several prominent authors have given their blessings to fanfiction, notably J.K. Rowling. Rowling said she was "flattered" that people wanted to write their own stories based on her characters.[23] However, Anne Rice has consistently and aggressively prevented fan fiction based on any of her characters (mostly those from her famous Interview with the Vampire and its sequels in The Vampire Chronicles).

Subgenres

Fan fiction is now found in a variety of subgenres, with writers specializing in each. Fanzines have been published, and websites can be found, specializing: by star; by TV show, book(s), or film(s); by genre of the underlying material (such as mystery/crime, western, etc.); by sexual content ("gen", slash, etc.); or by type of story: crossover, "AU" (alternate history within the context of a particular fandom), or romance (for the "shippers"). In some cases, these will be combined, generating specialized zines or websites dedicated solely and specifically to, e.g., crossovers involving the Buffyverse; lesbian erotica about Xena; etc. It is expected that these specialized sites will continue to grow in popularity, just as the fiction fanzines did before them.[citation needed]

For common terminology relating to fan fiction, including some specialized subgenre terms, see the sub-article Fan fiction terminology.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fan fiction.

References

  1. ^ "Fanfic-definition". The Free Online Dictionary. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  2. ^ Schulz, Nancy. "Fan Fiction - Literature". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  3. ^ Tancer, Bill (2007-08-30). "Life after Potter, Bonanza and Gunsmoke". TIME Magazine. Retrieved 2008-04-24. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ "Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda". Retrieved 2008-04-24. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |published= ignored (help)
  5. ^ a b c d e f Hale, Laura M. "History of Fan Fiction". Fanfic Symposium. Archived from the original on 2008-01-20. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  6. ^ "Mary Ellen's E-mail". {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  7. ^ a b Ellen, Mary. "Fanfiction.net Statistics". Alternate Universes-Fanfiction Studies. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  8. ^ a b c "Fanfiction.net Guidelines and Rules". Fanfiction.net, archived by Google. Retrieved 2008-04-25. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Merlin, Missy. "Dr. Merlin's Guide to Fanfiction (Page 2)". Firefox. Retrieved 2008-05-07.
  10. ^ Gray, Lisa. (2008-03-21). "The fangirl's crush". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-05-07. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ a b c "The Fanfiction Glossary". Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  12. ^ "Fanfiction Terms - O". Harry Potter Fanfiction. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  13. ^ Lyxie (2007-12-16). "Highmoon, Zelink Longshot". Fanfiction.net. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  14. ^ "The Art of Seeing". Retrieved 2007-03-08.
  15. ^ Hieirulesall. "You Don't Belong Here". Retrieved 2007-04-26.
  16. ^ Moonbeam. "Fanfiction Terminology". Angel Fire. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  17. ^ "Fanfiction.Net Review Form". Fanfiction.net. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  18. ^ Merlin, Missy (2007-09-13). "Dr. Merlin's Guide to Fanficion". Firefox. Retrieved 2008-05-07.
  19. ^ "Fanfiction.net Forums". Fanfiction.net. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  20. ^ a b "Fanfiction.net Beta Writers". Fanfiction.net. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  21. ^ Siubhan. "Bad Fanfic, why Beta?". Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  22. ^ Waters, Darren (2004-05-27). "Rowling backs Potter fan fiction". BBC. Retrieved 2008-04-24.

Further reading

  • Hellekson, Karen, and Kristina Busse. Fan fiction and fan communities in the age of the Internet: new essays. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2006. ISBN 0786426403.
  • Jenkins, Henry. Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture (Studies in Culture and Communication). New York: Routledge, 1992. ISBN 0415905710.
  • Lawrence, K. F. (2007) The Web of Community Trust - Amateur Fiction Online: A Case Study in Community Focused Design for the Semantic Web. PhD thesis, University of Southampton. (URL retrieved on 20 August, 2008)
  • Pugh, Sheenagh. The Democratic Genre: Fan Fiction in a Literary Context. Bridgend, Wales: Seren, 2005. ISBN 1854113992.
  • Karen Joy Fowler. Wit's End. Puntam, 2008. A novel about a mystery writer who constantly battles fan fiction about her famous detective.
  • Fanfiction.net the largest fan fiction gallery on the internet
  • FanfictionFork.com the newest fan fiction 'Choose your own adventure' on the internet
  • Fanfics.org A large fan fiction archive
  • [1] A new fanfic site which has 2 kind of forums: english and romanian (the official language is english, of course); you can find there nice fanfic categories.


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