Calling all experts! Fanfic-question me!

[mariole]

At last, an area of my expertise! I'm going to be moderating a panel at this year's local speculative fiction conference. The topic is: Fanfic! As a courtesy to participants, we like to get the mod questions out to the panelists early so they can think about it

Comments

[rabidsamfan]

Is it a general discussion? I suppose you could ask about how the internet changed the size of the audience (and composition). Hm. Favorite archives, favorite tropes, etc.

Definition of a drabble. (That might get some fireworks, though.)

Has fanfiction saved the short story?

Does feedback make that much of a difference?

Don't touch Marysue if you can avoid her. Repeating the problem just makes the wank worse.

What age do the youngest writers seem to start? What age did the panelists start, and which fandom were they writing for? Was it a school assignment? Did they know about fanfic before they wrote it?

Sounds like fun!

[hawkmoth]

Grammar and spelling count! Learn how to correctly punctuate dialog. When in doubt, look it up.

(Yes, that's my inner-English teacher talking.)

[singeaddams]

I'm another one that wonders about age discrimination. I've seen some very mean-hearted shit leveled against every single age group and it might make for an interesting topic to discuss who has it worse and why.

Also, is fanfic finally being regarded as a 'legitimate' hobby or is it still a shameful pastime?

[claudia603]

I would love to see something discussed about fan fic writing versus original fic writing, and how people who do both navigate both worlds, as well as people who choose fan fic writing over original fic writing and why, or vice versa. I know I'm not making that very coherent but I am VERY tired in the brain right now, lol, but I think you can probably see the jist of what I was asking about...:D

[baranduin]

+1 on this one.

[lovethosehobbit]

Oh this is so perfect!! How about this...
'do you think ff is a plagiarizing of the subject? Or do you think of it as a form of compliment for ff artists to write about that universe?' You already know my answer...