Genre: Fan Fiction

Idea Prompt for 10/18/2009.

THE SOURCE: A recent trip online to idly surf among Star Wars stories created by fans. This genre is called fanfic (short for ‘fan fiction,’ of course).. My first introduction to it was about 10 years ago when I came across a subgenre of fanfic called MiSTings, inspired by the format of Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

WHAT WAS I THINKING…

This genre is mostly the province of diehard fans of a fabulously popular film or TV show. But I think it’s a genre that even a serious writer, even one with little exposure to pop culture, should dabble in.

Yes, there’s no money in it, but there is a lot of passion, which is what your writing should always have anyway.

IMAGINE…writing another episode of the original short-lived Star Trek series.

Whatever cultural touchstone you have a passion about, you can write a story based on it. You needn’t fear of being sued for copyright issues, because you’re under the radar and under the protection of “Fair Use.”

…THE POSSIBILITIES:

Star Trek – Write a story about one of the characters in any of the series, or create your own new spinoff show.

Harry Potter – There’s a whole wizarding world to be explored, and many opportunities to fill in gaps in Rowling’s history.

Disney – Far less of this than you would think, in part because Disney doesn’t much appreciate amateurs handling their properties.

THE EXERCISE: Write a two-character story in the sub-genre called slash fiction, which refers to the slash that comes between the two names in a couple. Slash fiction most often refers to homosexual pairings, though it could be applied broadly to any couple.

For example, in the Star Trek world, the most popular pairings are Kirk/Spock and Capt. Janeway/Seven of Nine.

NOTE: If you’d like to develop these Ideas further, just leave a Comment and share your work.