| When some fans get really infatuated with a anime series' cast of characters,
they show their love by writing stories about those fictional worlds. The
rise of anime and the Internet has been matched with the number of people
who enjoy writing fan fiction about their favorites. T.J. Hamilton was
one of the fanfic authors at an AWA panel on Sunday. Others on the panel
included Keener Barnes, John D. Farber, Cindy Toler, Corrine Hopwood and
Ken Arromdee, |
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| Barnes comes from Birmingham, Ala., which might seem to be more of
a football hotbed than a home for anime fandom. Yet he spends a lot of
time writing Ranma fan fiction. Fanfic authors gravitate toward stories
based on the most popular anime series because that's what they know the
best. Fanfic authors hope that people who enjoy the anime will appreciate
their stories - and they worry that the readers won't like their new tales. |
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| Only the most intrepid authors try writing tales in the worlds of shows,
such as Miracle Girls, that haven't been commercially released in the U.S.,
Hamilton noted. Even when familiar with a series, fanfic writers must decide
if they'll stay in the area of animated story lines or take the characters
into new areas - from comedy to melodrama, for example. "A lot of die-hard
people think they dishonor the original work if they don't make it just
like the original," said Hamilton. He did wonder about people who add new
Sailor Scouts to their Sailor Moon stories - or make Ranma part of that
cast. |
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| For web users: this is a book, a common form of distributing fanfic
in the 1980's, before large numbers of people had modems. Hamilton noted
that most anime fans are also computer users, and that lead to the rise
of online fanfic. Online publishing make it easier for people to post their
fiction on Usenet newsgroups or on web sites. That also makes it easier
to find someone who can take a dispassionate look at a story and tell the
author if it's good or laced with flaws. Hamilton said fanfic writers should
find others to review their stories. If not, writers need to walk away
from their stories for a couple of days, then return and see if their work
makes any sense. |
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