Here’s a roundup of stories on the age of fan fiction that might be of interest to fans:
- It’s been called different things such as the Golden Age of Geekdom; “This is the Age of Fs: forums, fan fiction, fanboys and fangirls who can forever watch and dissect their beloved canceled series on DVD.” Hitfix declared us to be living in the Age of Fanfiction. “We live in a time where copyright means very little to younger people, and it’s not just because they want free movies or free music. More than that, they want to be able to play with the amazing toys that they’ve been given by filmmakers and comic book writers and TV creators, and they want to do so without the constraints that copyright creates…What’s been truly bizarre, though, is the way the mainstream has slowly headed in the same direction, and without anyone noticing it, we seem to have handed over our entire industry to the creation of fanfiction on a corporate level, and at this point, I’m not sure how we’re expecting the pendulum to ever swing back.”
- Certainly an increasing number of professional creators either have themselves been fan fiction writers, or have traded in its traditions after establishing themselves, thus bringing new approval for the genre. “This high-profile outing for one of literature’s most maligned genres finally shows that fanfiction is a worthwhile literary pursuit. Though this respectable end of fanfiction has always been around in books like the brilliant Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, or Susan Hill’s Rebecca prequel Mrs de Winter, the current literary trend seems to explore retreads of another author’s story.” In some cases, the authors are even creating the stories in response to fans as in the case of a recent crossover between Dr. Who and The Middleman.
- Past Links Posts have featured the use of fan fiction in the classroom but libraries have also long featured it. This has primarily been used with teens in writing workshops, but it also shows up in resource guides such as this page at the Internet Public Library, which discusses the Archive of Our Own. As this Canadian library book review points out many librarians are aware of fan fiction practices so it’s not surprising they’re a good source of information on it.
If you write fan fiction, why not write about it in Fanlore? Additions are welcome from all fans.
We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!
Submitting a link doesn’t guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.