Links Roundup for 21 October 2011

Here’s a roundup of stories on fandom and creator interactions that might be of interest to fans:

  • A video column on Interactive TV Today featured an interview discussing fan fiction and fan communities with Scott Walker, co-founder of Brain Candy LLC. They discussed slash fiction (with some misunderstandings), crossovers (confused with AUs), how the TV series Supernatural incorporated fan ideas in the series, fan fiction as a training ground for writers, BNFs, Fair Use, commercializing fan fiction versus crowd-sourced storytelling, and establishing a “path to canonicity” for fan writing.
  • By contrast, a piece in The Observer suggested that there is already too much commercialization involved when it comes to our favorite fannish texts. “As with junk food, so with books, films and TV, the current trend is to give people what they think they want, rather than to leave them wanting more.” Citing various texts such as Inspector Morse and Star Wars, the author notes how disappointing a concrete explanation for things can be. “It’s like with a magic trick: you’re desperate to know how it’s done but, when you find out, the mundane truth usually disappoints and undermines your enjoyment of the illusion.”
  • A reverse example of going “behind the curtain” is the new documentary Comic-Con Episode Four: A Fan’s Hope, which was reviewed as part of the coverage on Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. This documentary, directed by Morgan Spurlock and produced by Harry Knowles. Stan Lee and Joss Whedon, follows five fans in their particular quests at Comic Con San Diego, such as becoming an illustrator or creating costumes for the con’s Masquerade. The documentary has not yet been released for sale.

If you’re a fan fiction writer or a con-goer why not contribute your perspectives to Fanlore? Contributions 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.

2011-10-21 admin
News of Note , , ,
  1. Dafna commented: A couple of points on the Observer link -- one, it's two months old, which is slightly odd. Two, it's worth noting that the article in question was written by David Mitchell, himself an actor in a long-running TV show and the subject of a not inconsiderable amount of RPS fic.
    • Claudia Rebaza commented: That's interesting to know about Mitchell. Yes, links can sometimes be weeks or even months old by the time they get included in the posts. Part of it is just the backlog of posts being prepared, and in other cases it may depend on how the particular news item came to our attention.