Thursday, November 16, 2006
Big Name Fans: How They Arise and Common Reactions
The purpose of this paper is to begin research on the phenomena of Big Name Fans (which may occasionally be abbreviated to BNF or BNFs) in internet fandoms. This article will discuss the formation of BNFs, as much as the origins can be traced down, and common reactions among other fans as relating to the BNF phenomena. This is an area of the internet and online community that has not been looked into with any depth, so it is this writer's goal to shed some light on the actuality.
Fandom Origins
Any essay dealing with an aspect of 'fandom' needs to begin with a definition of fandom and deal with its origins. According to the Wikipedia article on fandom, fandom is a subculture of like-minded fans, characterized by a feeling of closeness within the group. These fans may meet together at conventions for their particular area or engage in other activities, such as clubs or meetings, to strengthen the feeling of closeness; some fans may also engage in "cosplay" or dressing up as a particular character. Its roots lay in science fiction, and the Oxford English Dictionary has traced its roots back as far back as 1903.
Each series, sport, or novel -- whatever fans have latched onto to expand upon -- exists within its own "universe". A fandom's universe encompasses its characters, unique terms, languages, and/or places. On some occasions, series creators may add fan created stories or characters into the official universe, such as the expanding novel universe of Star Wars. These novels, written by well-known professional authors, have been licensed by George Lucas to be official continuations of the movie series. The difference between these authors and fan writers lies in the fact that these authors, such as Timothy Zahn and R. A. Salvatore, have established themselves as published authors, producing bodies of work that is not limited to fan creations. Additionally, they have been paid for their works.
Likely for as long as fandom has existed, singular names have shown out as important or better known than others. From the 1930s, August Derleth could be considered a Big Name Fan to expand and create upon H. P. Lovecraft's original writings, eventually coining the title "the Cthulhu Mythos", which still stands today for the entire body of work, encompassing both Lovecraft's and Derleth's work.
If we fast-forward forty years till the 1970s, the original Star Trek series spawned a cult following, leading to the creation of "fan fiction", where fan writers produce stories expanding up the universe of the series. These stories were published in fan magazines, or 'zines, and distributed at conventions.
Fanfiction, and by the same terms fan art, falls into a grey legal area. These works are made without the express consent of the original creator and are not officially sanctioned, but no profit is made from these fans' creations. Often, as long as a disclaimer is presented with the story, avowing that the fan creator (or fanficcer) does not own the material he or she is borrowing from, many companies are willing to ignore them, as the creation of fanfiction tends to boost sales. (Exceptions to this include Fox Television and Viacom, who have issued cease and desist orders to fans.)
In order for a company, individual, or network to win a cease and desist order, they must first prove that the fan creations are hurting sales. This is difficult to do since fanfiction helps to boost sales. To avoid this difficulty, companies therefore put pressure on the fan creator's internet service provider (ISP), which in turn could shut off the fan or give them warnings to remove the content, to relieve liability from themselves. Again, however, few companies pursue this, as fanfiction has been shown to help sales.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Runaway
Series: Hunter's Path (The du Prebeau Chronicles)
Characters: James, Claudia
Word Count: 1,000
This had to be the strangest wedding she'd ever been to, including her best friend's and her younger pseudo-brother's, and it hadn't even really started yet! She'd heard of weddings where the bride was lost or in the back too busy crying to come out, but never one where they misplaced the groom. It was a whole species of weird... and yet also par for the course since she'd tossed in her lot with this odd group. At least no one had asked her where James was or to help in finding him as of yet; she'd hate to see their faces when she refused.
The whole idea of this wedding was just not sitting well with her. It hadn't from the minute the Council had proposed it months ago. She'd repeatedly made her opinions known on the matter, though she'd certainly not been as vocal about it as James - and neither of them had gone on the record about the biggest reason it bothered them. She had made it very clear to Antony, however, that the only reason she was present was because she'd promised James quite some time ago (Had it really been nearly two years already?) that if he ever ended up in a tux, she'd be standing next to him in one as well. And since James was currently MIA, she was standing outside the church in the white tux Gypsy had picked out for her, trying her best not to laugh as most everyone rushed around frantically trying to find the missing groom.
Something tugged at the back of her coat as she shifted to stand more comfortably. More than likely it was a branch from the bush beside her, but it was her job to be paranoid, her job to jump at shadows, and she happened to be damn good at her job. A hand on the gun holstered inside her jacket, she started to turn when a very familiar voice behind her whispered, "Don't. It's me."
She first stiffened then relaxed to lounge back against the building as she had been before. "Everyone's looking for you, boytoy," she returned softly.
"Which would be why I'm hiding." He sounded so tired. She wanted to slip in the shrubbery, wrap herself around him, and never hand him over to that idiot the Council had picked for him.
She rolled her eyes, the only sign of the amused exasperation she felt that she would let herself show. "Gypsy's frantic." She'd never admit it, but she'd been starting to get rather worried as well.
"I'll call her in a bit." She could hear him sigh, and maybe that next sound was him slouching against the building. "I'm not doing this. Let's get out of here."
Now that was the best idea she had heard in a while. For all that they were supposed to be keeping an eye on her (whether to make sure she didn't vanish as well or to see if James would show up around her, she wasn't sure), it was fairly easy for her to slip away through the same bushes he'd been using to hide. It probably shouldn't have amused her quite so much that the car that sat waiting was the white limo Christian had hired, driver behind the wheel patiently waiting with the engine idling.
She followed him into the backseat, pulling the door closed while laughing like she hadn't in what felt like a few forevers (Sometimes it surprised her how much she'd relaxed since she'd come to live here; she felt more and more like a human being every day.), and grinned at James where he sat beside her. "So what's the plan, boytoy?"
The car was moving, so obviously he had some kind of an idea of what to do next. He was working on loosening his collar as he said, "I'm going to have to get out of the city for a little bit. No one's going to be really happy about this, especially not Rose."
"I am," slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it. Not that it really mattered; they both already knew that.
"Well, we're a minority of two." He paused and relented. "Maybe three or four: I know Gypsy and Romeo weren't very thrilled with this whole idea. Nevertheless, I'm still going to have to get out of here for a bit. Want to go to Vegas?"
"Vegas?" She felt like a parrot, echoing the word back at him. "What would we do in Las Vegas?" She started freeing herself from the tight collar as well and pulled the cufflinks out of her shirt before tossing her jacket across the back of the seat.
"Have you ever been to Vegas?" She shook her head as a negative. "We could pawn the tuxes, use the money, take in a show, get married, gamble some..."
She abruptly sat up straight. "What was that?"
"Take in a show?" She shook her head again. "Gamble?"
"Between the two."
"You don't want to?"
"Did I say that?" This time when she shook her head, it was in amusement. "That has to be the most ass-backwards proposal I've ever heard." He shrugged. "About typical for you, though."
He rolled his eyes at her, pulling off his jacket as well. Two years working with her as an Enforcer had done some rather nice things for his body, she decided. Not that she hadn't appreciated it before... Prior to today, though, she'd thought she was going to have to eventually give him up to that simpering idiot Rose, so she'd made a point of not thinking too hard on the matter. "Why do I put up with you again, hero?"
She didn't put any thought into her next movements (That seemed to happen a lot around him, she'd noticed.) and moved to sit straddling his legs. "Because I'm the only one who can give as good as she gets around you. Now shut the fuck up and kiss me."
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
This is weird
Test
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anything but that