Talking about fan fiction

Photo comes from this entry.

Funny how I talk so infrequently about fan fiction on this blog and yet I participate in fandoms by writing fan fiction.

All blog entries mentioning fan fiction. Yeah, there's not much.

Wikipedia sez:

Fan fiction (alternately referred to as fanfiction, fanfic, FF, or fic) is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator. ... Fan fiction, therefore, is defined by being both related to its subject's canonical fictional universe and simultaneously existing outside the canon of that universe.

I have been reading and writing fan fiction for more than ten years and I ... don't much write about it. Prior to this blog post, I didn't even make a habit out of telling people that I consume this stuff.

And then I find out that people like Neil Gaiman and Matt Smith [yes, THAT ONE] write fan fiction. And that Gneil, at least, has no problems with people writing the stuff for his work; the same goes for, hmm, the last time I looked J. K. Rowling didn't mind so much, either....

I know that there are serious legal issues with this stuff; I know there are fandoms in which fan fiction is actually Not A Good Thing; there are authors who actively ban it; and yet the fans keep going, producing reams of stuff in the process.

Wish I knew why.

Informal straw poll time.

Fan fiction: yea or nay?

Do you write or read fan fiction?

If the answer to the above question is yes, what fandoms?

That's all. Thanks for your time, dears.

Music to scribble madly away to

Related posts:
New/Old Fandom and NaNoWriMo status report
"I want to know what it's like to live // I want to know what it's like to love"

This weekend's been an emotional roller-coaster guide. On Friday I received some long-awaited news regarding my English-teaching job, and went to bed giddy.

Yesterday was spent doing something rather odd in celebration: it has to do with my hair. Pictures or it didn't happen, of course, and I'll be doing that as soon as I get enough decent light.

And now today, well, I've been talking and bracing myself for it for the better part of three weeks or so. September 12! Today is Mizu Natsuki's graduation day from the Takarazuka Kagekidan. I will probably post some photos from her final night when they come out. [That will be a spectacularly T__T entry all around, I think.]

And so to the title of this post. The other thing I've been doing is writing away. Sure, it's just fan fiction. And yet there is still an undeniable rush of creation, of spinning and weaving, and knowing that people like the work afterwards.

When I write stuff I like to listen to two or three songs, non-stop, over and over again. Which means that I am really no different when it comes to the community of scribblers at large. The music serves to capture the "air" or the "spirit" where the story was conceived, and helps create a place of concentration for the writer to keep at it.

So here are my current songs to write to.


The opening theme to the Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations OVA, "Synchronicity". Performed by Makino Yui, otherwise known as Sakura's voice actress.


The ending theme, "Saigo no Kajitsu". Performed by Sakamoto Maaya.


This one's a bit of a blast from the past: the opening theme of the anime series Vandread, "Trust". Performed by Salia. This version is a fan-made composite that includes video from the opening and the ending of the series's final episode, set to the entirety of the song.

So, what are your favorite songs right now?

Fandoms at Random: Inception Dreams

Related posts:
Fandoms at Random: Doctor Who Ramblings
Inception, in on the ground floor
Inception: Rapid Review, No Spoilers



Two weeks after, I'm still sunk deep in an Inception daze.

I still want to see the movie again and will likely buy a DVD the instant it comes out.

I'm kind of surprised at myself and how this movie has pretty much sunk its fangs into my head and won't let go. It's like the characters succeeded in insinuating themselves into my mind for the sole purpose of encouraging me to dream, to write, to be creative.

Granted that I'm writing fan fiction, the whole creativity thing could be just a delusion I'm suffering, but I don't want to be woken up just yet. I mean, I am just one among the legions of fans and writers and artists who've totally fallen in love with the film. There's a right huge bunch of us, and it's an amazing feeling to be swept up with this crowd.

What a nice crowd the fandom is, by the way - we have different interpretations, we 'ship different pairings, we have differing styles and approaches to the way we create - and we're all actually still getting along. Thank goodness for that. This makes me inordinately happy, actually - I'm tired of being in fandoms that periodically tore themselves apart over some insignificant quibble.

If only we could all meet in dreams and squee happily together for a moment. That would be an incandescent memory for me.

[Oh, and before anyone asks, I'm with John Scalzi on this one: I do not want to see an Inception 2; I am vehemently against the very idea. Filmcritic.com column here.]

In closing: Boy, I can still remember how my heart thumped in shock when the famous musical cue [you know the one!] hit, partway through this track....


From the Inception movie soundtrack by Hans Zimmer: Track 01, Half Remembered Dream.