Good article about fanfiction from Time Magazine

[Meryl]

There's a very good article in the current Time Magazine about fanfiction.  For once, it's not condescending, just the facts, ma'am.  

The Boy Who Lived Forever by Lev Grossman

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2081784-1,00.html

Right now fan fiction is still the cultural equivalent of dark matter: it's largely invisible to the mainstream, but at the same time, it's unbelievably massive...

[Monika]

There's a very good article in the current Time Magazine about fanfiction.  For once, it's not condescending, just the facts, ma'am.  

The Boy Who Lived Forever by Lev Grossman

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2081784-1,00.html

Right now fan fiction is still the cultural equivalent of dark matter: it's largely invisible to the mainstream, but at the same time, it's unbelievably massive...

yes, I agree - a good article. And it sure is very "invisible". I wrote an article on fan fiction during my studies in journalism and there wasn´t a single one of my class mates who knew what fan fiction was (and this was a very informed crowd). I just love everything about fan fiction - the non-commercial aspects of it and that creativity just seems to ooze out from so many people

[Jeff Wrangler]

That was very interesting to read. Thanks for finding it, Meryl!

Imagine that. Who'da ever thunk that fan fiction actually began with The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?  

And doncha just love that comment that some fan fiction is better than the original?  

Seriously, I found the discussion of "ownership" to be very thoughtful.  

[Meryl]

yes, I agree - a good article. And it sure is very "invisible". I wrote an article on fan fiction during my studies in journalism and there wasn´t a single one of my class mates who knew what fan fiction was (and this was a very informed crowd). I just love everything about fan fiction - the non-commercial aspects of it and that creativity just seems to ooze out from so many people.

It's kind of amazing how invisible fanfiction is.  Unless you're in a fandom and know where to look, it just doesn't come up.

[Meryl]

Imagine that. Who'da ever thunk that fan fiction actually began with The Man from U.N.C.L.E.?  

Or with the Aeneid?  

And doncha just love that comment that some fan fiction is better than the original?  

It's true in many cases, I think.  For instance, I don't think Stephenie Meyer (Twilight) or even J. K. Rowling are known because of their immortal prose.  

Seriously, I found the discussion of "ownership" to be very thoughtful.  

Yes, it's nice to know some of the legal specifics and some of the judicial thinking on it.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Yes, it's nice to know some of the legal specifics and some of the judicial thinking on it.

Reminded me of our own Louise getting her "cease and desist" order. 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Or with the Aeneid?  

I should perhaps go back and reread that section of the article, but. ...

I was under the impression that characters such as Achilles and Patroclus and Hector and Aeneas "existed" before the Iliad, and stories were told about them, so that you might be able to make the case that the Iliad itself was a type of fan fiction, but I could be wrong about that.

[MaineWriter]

It was a good article and I enjoyed it. It made me think of our "heady" days in fanfictiondom here at Bettermost.

L

[delalluvia]

Or scary days of fan fiction here. 

Excellent article.  Even the writer of the article was scared to mention any movies/TV shows except for those that have already given their blessing to fanfic.

I find it ridiculous that the authors who do not abide fanfic don't like it because they feel it's 'intrusive' or its 'taking their kids away'.  These authors PUT THEIR STORIES OUT ON THE MARKET FOR SALE and now they whine about other people taking their characters and running with them for their own private enjoyment?  They need to watch their irony meters.

And then there're the ones who say 'invent your own characters'.  Oh, really?  I bet I could pluck plotlines from THEIR books which were done earlier and better as well from earlier authors.  How about they follow their own advice?  The article pretty much chides them by coming out and actually saying that.

And lastly, I loved how there are fanfics about the bible.  Wouldn't it be a kick in the head if that's what some of the early books that were considered or even put in the bible are?  And someday, thousands of years from now, someone will find one of these fanfics and decide it's a 'lost book' of the bible? 

[Meryl]

Or scary days of fan fiction here. 

And lastly, I loved how there are fanfics about the bible.  Wouldn't it be a kick in the head if that's what some of the early books that were considered or even put in the bible are?  And someday, thousands of years from now, someone will find one of these fanfics and decide it's a 'lost book' of the bible? 

Scary indeed, and all too possible. 

[Luvlylittlewing]

Or scary days of fan fiction here. 

Excellent article.  Even the writer of the article was scared to mention any movies/TV shows except for those that have already given their blessing to fanfic.

I find it ridiculous that the authors who do not abide fanfic don't like it because they feel it's 'intrusive' or its 'taking their kids away'.  These authors PUT THEIR STORIES OUT ON THE MARKET FOR SALE and now they whine about other people taking their characters and running with them for their own private enjoyment?  They need to watch their irony meters.

And then there're the ones who say 'invent your own characters'.  Oh, really?  I bet I could pluck plotlines from THEIR books which were done earlier and better as well from earlier authors.  How about they follow their own advice?  The article pretty much chides them by coming out and actually saying that.

And lastly, I loved how there are fanfics about the bible.  Wouldn't it be a kick in the head if that's what some of the early books that were considered or even put in the bible are?  And someday, thousands of years from now, someone will find one of these fanfics and decide it's a 'lost book' of the bible? 

Scary days of fan fiction here?

[Monika]

And lastly, I loved how there are fanfics about the bible. 

I love the idea of pairing up Jesus with Judas myself

[Jeff Wrangler]

I love the idea of pairing up Jesus with Judas myself

I'm sure there are "slash" stories out there about Jesus and John. Even the gospels refer to John as the disciple Jesus "loved."

But, indeed, Judas could well be an archetype of the spurned lover. 

[Sason]

Very good article.

The funniest thing ever is that there is Tetris fan fiction!   

But there is one very important group missing in their list of "Top 10 Offbeat Fan Followings"...   

[Meryl]

But there is one very important group missing in their list of "Top 10 Offbeat Fan Followings"...   

I hadn't seen that!  But I think maybe we're lucky not to be on that list.  Some real nutballs there. 

I wouldn't mind checking out the Janeites, though. 

[Sason]

I hadn't seen that!  But I think maybe we're lucky not to be on that list.  Some real nutballs there.  

No we don't want to be mixed up with nutballs!   Horror!      

[Meryl]

No we don't want to be mixed up with nutballs!   Horror!      

Let's face it, there are nutballs, and then there are real nutballs.   

[Sason]

Let's face it, there are nutballs, and then there are real nutballs.   

Oh, I see. The real nutballs are on that list. That's very comforting to know.   

[Marge_Innavera]

I love the idea of pairing up Jesus with Judas myself

Frank Yerby wrote a fanfic novel about Jesus and Judas called Judas My Brother; don't think it was a "pairing", though.

http://www.amazon.com/Judas-My-Brother-Yerby-F/dp/0803742894

[Marge_Innavera]

Let's face it, there are nutballs, and then there are real nutballs.    

Scary days of fan fiction here?

Yes indeed; though not just here.  Speaking of "nutballs", I had a few unpleasant communications from a few of them back then. A lot of people might have had their first experience with hate mail around that time.    

My two favorite quotes from the Time article:

Fan fiction is what literature might look like if it were reinvented from scratch after a nuclear apocalypse by a band of brilliant pop-culture junkies trapped in a sealed bunker. . . . [Fanfic writers are] fans, but they're not silent, couchbound consumers of media. The culture talks to them, and they talk back to the culture in its own language.

Jean Rhys published Wide Sargasso Sea, which retold the story of the mad wife from Jane Eyre, and Tom Stoppard staged Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which borrowed two bit players from Hamlet. In her 2005 novel March, Geraldine Brooks filched the absent father from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and took him on a tour of Civil War battlefields. March  won the Pulitzer Prize.

[serious crayons]

I love the idea of pairing up Jesus with Judas myself

Frank Yerby wrote a fanfic novel about Jesus and Judas called Judas My Brother; don't think it was a "pairing", though.

And Jesus Christ, Superstar, while not a "pairing" (if I understand the term) explores a close relationship between Jesus and Judas and is deeply sympathetic to both.