- NYU’s student newspaper decided to feature fanfiction with a particularly local angle — fanfiction set on its campus. “Remember when you were waiting for your acceptance letter? Whether NYU was your dream school or just your safety, you’d catch yourself longing for the city, dreaming of the day when you’d leave your home for the magic of New York…You weren’t the only one dreaming. In fact, some would-be students have dedicated hundreds of pages to their NYU-centric fantasies. So focused are these writers’ efforts that NYU Fanfiction has swelled into its own thriving—if slightly inaccurate—genre.”
- Australia’s The Monthly article on erotic fan fiction nights is somewhat inaccurate as well. Author Linda Jaivin says, “My three co-readers had chosen to write about real people, a subgenre of fanfic that got its start along with the first boy bands.” She also speculates that her concern regarding derivative works might be age related. “I raised the question of copyright and fanfic with Eddie Sharp, host of the erotic fan-fiction nights. He dismissed my concerns: “I can’t think of anyone my age” – he’s 30 – “who would be upset.” He characterised the “attitude shift” towards copyright as “a generational thing”.
- People have apparently been reading about fanfiction at 50,000 feet. Following a feature in American Airlines, Choose Your Own Adventure, KLM’s inflight magazine, Holland Herald also featured a story on it and both had an OTW connection. In the former, board member emeritus Francesca Coppa attempted to clarify the ethos of fanfiction writing, something which was expressed much better in the latter piece. “For [writing workshop founder Lisa Friedman], fan fiction is a ‘marginalised’ genre in its infancy, comparable to the graphic novel before it found widespread acceptance via the publication of Art Spiegelman’s 1991 Holocaust memoir Maus. “In any case,” she observes, “it’s kind of amazing how much skill it takes to work within someone else’s parameters, to attune oneself so acutely in matters of style and character.” Joanne Harris agrees with the latter point, and draws a comparison to the traditions of fine art: “All young artists used to copy the Old Masters before they were allowed to develop their own style, and fan fiction is the modern equivalent,” she says.”
What unexpected places have you found fanfiction in? Write about it in Fanlore! Contributions are welcome from all fans.
We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, podcast, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent OTW Fannews post. 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.