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Fiction Corner

Fan Fiction

Have you ever seen a movie or television show and thought "I know what needs to happen next." Or read a book and thought of how the characters would react if you put them in another situation? Welcome to the world of Fan Fiction.

Fan Fiction takes existing characters and/or settings and puts them under your control. The characters already have history and personality, the terrain is already mapped. Think of it as playing with someone else’s chess set, instead of hand-carving your own pieces and making the board yourself.

The Internet contains a whole lot of fan fiction:

Newsgroups
alt.fiction.original
alt.[insert title here].creative

Web sites
This web site has links to collections of fan fiction based on anything from Star Trek to Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
http://members.aol.com/KSNicholas/fanfic/index.html

There are also fan fiction mailing lists and FTP sites.

Fan fiction isn’t the soft option in storytelling. You have to come up with an idea that the scriptwriters haven’t thought about. Your setting is pre-defined, not yours to mould at will. The characters already have a healthy set of quirks and instabilities. Some have a complex history that shaped their present attitude and personality. You need to know these characters well to write a good story for them.

At the end of the story you have one of two choices. Either you "put the toys back in the box" and leave the characters and setting as you found them, or you leave them changed by your events. Star Trek is a good example of the first choice. Rarely do events in one episode affect the entire cast or setting. Babylon 5 and the X-Files both have a long running story arc which demands that your story be slotted in at an appropriate point.

Once you’ve written it, what then? You can send it to a mailing list or newsgroup, and be prepared for feedback. You can send it to a fanfic archive. If you meet the entry criteria, you can enter the Star Trek "Strange New Worlds" contest.

Take a look at some fan fiction based on a show or movie you like. See if you can come up with something interesting, and get writing!

Drabble of the Month
Another gem from Ian McFarlane of New York, on the color Red.

Red

"Sir Chevalier", I inquired, "Please tell your fans why you’ve decided to exclude the color red from your masterpieces." The painter turned and said "Monsieur, I refuse to sully my hands with an entity that evokes the shade of a war torn sky, the rage of discontented youth and the image of lovers in torrid heat. Who wants to sully their eyes with the haze of communistic flags and the vicious bite of McCarthyist mad dogs? With all due respect sir and apologies to the appropriate bards, I see a red door and I want to paint it black! "

The Drabble theme for August is water (due July 15th), the theme for September is timetables or schedules (due August 15th) and the theme for October is night (due September 15th).

Send your Drabbles to me at: drabble@technologist.com

June Contest

The closing date for the June contest has been extended to the last day of July. Details are in the t-zero June edition, and the winner will receive a copy of Writers' Software Companion (valued at $89 US).