My current favorite mystery writer writes fan-fic. Her name is Laurie R. King and she writes the Mary Russell novels. Guess who is a major character? Why, it’s Sherlock Holmes.
Another enjoyable series is the Stephanie Barron Jane Austen books. Fan-fic!
I’ve written tons of fan-fic, at least to one way of thinking. I’ve put other people’s characters into my poems. I have a series of six sonnets based on nursery rhymes. Ta-da! Fan-fic. Old Mother Hubbard doesn’t meet with such a great fate in my sonnets.
I write novels. Know who the characters are based on? A mish-mash of real people and fictional ones. Right now, I have a character who is part my sister, part Monk, part Charlie Eppes, and all mine.
Art is always about reflection, reaction, and interpretation, just like life. Borrowing, stealing, parody, pastiche, originality, freshness–all subjective. And for some of us, it’s all unimportant. Was Lloyd Alexander ripping off Tolkein? Maybe. Don’t know for certain. Definite similarities. But it doesn’t affect my enjoyment of his books. Prydain is exceptional work. How about Terry Brooks? I don’t see some of the similarities others see, but it doesn’t affect my enjoyment of his books. Dude sucks.
Art changes, but never leaves its past in the past. It’s impossible. Once things break out of their boxes, it’s hard to stuff them back in.
Oh dear. Now I’ve gone and mentioned Pandora in a way her inventors didn’t intend. Fan-fic!
Polycarp,
I learned about Lois McMaster Bujold’s early experiences with fanfiction from the book Dreamweaver’s Dilemma: Short Stories and Essays Framingham, MA : NESFA Press, c1995. My impression is that the book in question was only published in a limited number of copies, and that most of it had previously been printed elsewhere–but I don’t know for certain as I borrowed the book from my local library, which is no longer my local library ( I have moved).
In an essay inside that book, she describes much the same events as Scott Plaid’s quote does, with more emphasis on the fact that she was first exposed to science fiction through Star Trek (The Original Series, obviously) as a teen and she and her friend Lillian Stewart made up stories and even briefly “published” a fanzine (may not be the word she used) based on Star Trek. Many of her early works featured Captain Kirk interacting with a tall, red headed woman.
That is the extent of my memory.