AtoZChallenge 2015: F is for Fanfiction
Hello one and all and welcome to day 6 of the AtoZChallenge 2015. At Wittegen Press we are introducing some of the ‘why’ behind our books. Today Natasha Duncan-Drake will be talking about her book The Machine and why fanfiction is significant.
I love fanfiction. I have been writing it since before I knew there was a word for it and reading other people’s since Sophie first handed me some of hers. When I discovered fanfiction communities online, it changed my life. Many fanfic writers are wonderful people and many of them are editors, writers, librarians and teachers in real life and they are more than willing to pass on their expertise to writers willing to accept it. I honed much of my craft thanks to them, in the fanfic arena.
I still write fanfiction from time to time and The Machine actually started out as a real person fanfic in the figure skating world with sci-fi elements. It languished, unfinished, on my hard drive for years and then, there we were doing the Giveaway Games 2012 where we gave away a new short story/novelette/novella every day during July. I was desperate for good stories to post 🙂 . Thus I went delving into my old folders.
I changed all the names, changed the professions of some characters, the nationalities of others, wrote out some all together, slightly altered the setting, rewrote huge swathes of it, finished what had never been written and The Machine was born.
Thinking about it, it might have been quicker to write a completely new one from scratch, but I really liked what I had of the plot 😉 .
So, yes, fanfiction became original fiction and I really like how it turned out.
Do you read fanfic? Have you ever delved into AO3, which is the best fanfiction site around? (If you would like to see my fanfic is is available under my pename Beren on AO3).
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The Machine by Natasha Duncan-Drake
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Louis Hayes is a world renowned figure skater and Rafe used to be his biggest rival until his knee gave out. Now Rafe reports on the event and he’s trying to avoid interviewing Louis when things take a turn for the bizarre. When men with guns surround Louis and then start flying through the air like they are attached to elastic Rafe wants to duck and cover, but soon he’s being kidnapped by a Louis he no longer knows who seems to be able to read his mind. One wrong move could mean Rafe’s death, but he can’t believe Louis has become a monster.
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I’ve never written fan fiction – well, except a role playing adventure based in Discworld when I was little, that might count. I can see how it would be a good way to cut your teeth in the writing world.
I think it counts 🙂 It’s a great way to make friends, share fandom love and to improve writing skills, because fandom is full of people who are more than willing to give helpful advice. It cured me of epithets which has to be a good thing for a start 😀
I have a friend who writes really wonderful Buffy fan fiction!
Good luck with the 2015 A to Z Challenge!
A to Z Co-Host S. L. Hennessy
http://pensuasion.blogspot.com
Yay for Buffy 🙂 I’ll never forget when I used to work in an office full of guys, when one came in so shocked because he’d found Buffy fanfic and she had been “doing explicit things”. I had to try very hard not to laugh because, well, I write that sort of thing 🙂
I haven’t written any fanfiction, but a friend did and he let me read it. What I did do, after reading or seeing something I enjoyed, I would day dream adventures in those worlds because I didn’t want to leave them.
~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee’s Muffin Commando Squad
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author
That right there is fanfic, you just haven’t got to the point of writing it down 😀 I blame Empire Strikes Back for my hurt/comfort needs – I was at an impressionable age when I saw it. 😉
I’ve never personally written fan fiction, though I enjoyed reading the fan fiction written by some of the other young women on my estrogen Who lists (mailing lists for young female Who fans). They were really cute, fun, sweet stories, but I would’ve felt self-conscious writing one myself.
The all-time worst fan fiction I’ve ever read, which many other people rightly vote the all-time worst, was “The Angel of Death,” a revolting romance with “Dr.” Josef Mengele. I can’t even begin to describe how offensive and disgusting that story is!
Um … wow, that does sound rather challenging! I think that would firmly be under the title of ‘if you want to write it, fine, but don’t make me read it’.
I’ve been in fanfic-land for a very, very long time now and very little shocks me. I write and read everything from gen to NC17 and there are some incredibly talented authors writing it. Some of the best work I have ever read has been fanfic.