Saturday, March 01, 2003

Fanfriction by Matt Pierce Why fanfiction? That?s the question that was posed to me recently while having a conversation with the almost legendary Alex Cook. If you don?t know, Alex is the designer and owner of digitallymystic.com, a one-stop shop for over twenty fanfiction sites. These aren?t links, mind you, but the actual sites themselves, making digitallymystic a massive presence in the non-commercial comic book fanfiction genre. Conversations with Alex over the last few years normally go like this: I insult him. He insults me back. I inform him of an idea, he threatens to maim one of my body parts should I lose focus on something I?m already committed to. Then we discuss the idea further and see if there?s something worth making of it. Usually I get his seal of approval that it is indeed a cool idea. And then I do nothing about it. Recently Alex asked me if an idea I had for X-Men fanfic was possible to tell as original fiction instead of fanfiction. I told him that it wasn?t because it wouldn?t have the benefit of established continuity or the presence of familiar characters necessary to attract readers. That?s when my dilemma began. Had I just admitted that I was tailoring the idea to reader reaction and not to whatever would make it original and therefore completely my own? Was that the lure of fanfiction and at the same time, its curse? So why fanfiction? That was the question I set out to answer and I knew I couldn?t do it alone. posted by Jason Kenney Saturday, March 01, 2003 - - Post a Comment Comments: