This past spring I wrote a 25,000-word fan fiction story. It’s inspired by a Marvel comic book from the eighties. I have no idea at all why I did it. I wasn’t eager to write a fanfic, about superheroes or anything else. The urge just came to me out of the blue.
In my previous blog I wrote shorter fanfics inspired by movies and TV. (Here’s an example.) I did it then as a means to generate material for the blog. Often, I cared less about whether or not a given movie was any good and more about what I thought or experienced while watching it. Also, posts like these were more creative than a thumbs-up or thumbs-down review.
My point is, I’ve never had a strong yen for fanfic for its own sake. This felt different.
I put off my monthly flash fiction activities. I treated it like an original piece, working hard on voice and arc, even though these are well-established characters decades old and I couldn’t deviate from the published plot. Basically I filled in the gaps between plot points, writing scenes that could have happened within the main story. I don’t know how most fanfic is done. This is how I did it.
I don’t have anything against fanfic, yet a part of me can’t help but feel guilty because it’s not original work. It’s not something from which I can ever profit.
The writing gurus say no writing is ever wasted. My friends have told me I have no reason to feel guilty if it was something I enjoyed. And I do like the way it turned out. I just wish I felt more comfortable about it.
I did start an original while participating in the long version of Jami Attenberg’s 1000 Days of Summer event. I had hoped I’d have enough for another novella, but I may have to settle for a short story (not a flash). Still, at least I have something to work with.
Reading culture
Two years ago, there was a documentary on the PBS children’s show
Reading Rainbow called
Butterfly in the Sky. In May I saw it for the first time, on Netflix.
I didn’t need much encouragement to read as a kid. In second grade I memorized a book for a storytelling competition. My parents encouraged reading. Later I discovered comic books.
I watched Butterfly for LeVar Burton—as a Trekkie, of course I had interest, but I also knew this show was an important aspect of his career.
He looked like an excellent host, empathetic to kids and full of eagerness to instill the value of reading in them. (He was also game to do whatever stunt the producers needed him to do!) RR was empowering to the kids who “reviewed” books and grew up to have careers where a love of reading plays a part. And RR meant so much to the people behind the camera who made it.
Writing gurus have said how reading for pleasure is not valued as much as it could and should be these days. Maybe there should be a RR for adults?
Writing culture
Recently I heard a writer podcast in which one of the hosts stated she has revised published work of hers because cultural language has changed.
She had published her first book in 2017.
I found her choice disturbing. If she felt the need to do that, why couldn’t she have added a disclaimer to her books without changing any of her text? Her work would’ve been better served as a teaching aid for her audience, to show how culture has evolved. To alter printed words because some people think differently now means not learning from the past.
Long ago, before I even thought about being a serious writer, I read this quote from
Jamaica Kincaid, a
Guggenheim Award winner, recipient of three honorary doctorates and an author honored by the Paris Review as recently as 2022, among her many accolades:
Would that more writers kept this in mind these days. Myself included, of course.
International writing culture
I haven’t discussed writing traditions in other countries before, but when I saw this on Facebook, I thought it was worth a mention.
A Brazilian writer friend recently visited the museum in Ilhéus, Brazil, devoted to
Jorge Amado, a world-renowned author from the mid-twentieth century. Inside, there’s a mold of his right hand.
According to tradition, she said, whoever places their own hand in the mold either becomes a famous writer or wins the lottery, something Amado’s father did.
I suppose winning the lottery could help one become a famous writer…
Miscellany
This year’s twentieth anniversary edition of
The Dark Pages is now available. I have a piece in it about the movie
The Maltese Falcon and where one can find aspects of it in real life.
I haven’t been part of the writing team for long, but I’ve enjoyed contributing. Editor and publisher Karen Burroughs Hannsberry has put out a good publication.
———
Speaking of other countries, I got a kick out of this Facebook post from a different writer friend (and huge
Outlander fan) who recently traveled to Scotland,
and this photo, from a FB page devoted to funny signs (ignore the improper grammar):
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