Fan Fiction
Contents |
Introduction
Fan Fiction (can be referred to as fanfic, FF or fic) is a story that is created by a fan of a particular TV show, game, book, or movie, involving the characters and/or storylines from the original source. The most well-known Fan Fiction site is FanFiction.net [1]
Categories
There are five main types of fanfiction.
A "chaptered fic" is written in a similar manner to traditional serial stories, with each chapter released separately as it is finished. Chapters may take anything from a day to several months to be updated and often remind readers of their place in the story with each new installment. Most archives allow authors to upload individual chapters sequentially under a single title with a main link to the first chapter, and each chapter easily linked to via a drop down menu.
A drabble is traditionally a vignette exactly 100 words in length. However, when a story is referred to as a drabble, it often is a short scene or idea that does not tell an entire story, or a story at all. It is simply a reflections of a moment in time, somewhat similar to a character sketch. Other short forms of fanfiction include oneshot or twoshot, in which the story is only one or two chapters long, respectively. Oneshots can also be expanded into longshots, which are one-chaptered stories that are considerably longer than most chaptered stories.
The fourth style of fanfic writing is known as a songfic, where authors take the lyrics of a song and, with the song as inspiration, construct a piece of writing around the lyrics. Usually this is done by quoting lines of the lyrics, while writing original pieces relating to the nearby lyrics.
The last, and final major form of writing is known as alternative universe (often abbreviated as AU), in which the author deliberately alters the original setting of the story, thereby creating an entirely new world. This happens when a story transplants familiar characters into situations totally different from canon. The purpose of creating alternate universes are to answer potential "what-if" questions. These can be created by fabricating a crossover, an alternate timeline, or altering the nature of the setting or characters, among other methods.
Tomb Raider
The Tomb Raider series has resulted in the publication of a great deal of fanfiction over the years, taking elements from both the games and the movies. According to fanfiction.net there are currently over 600 stories posted under the category of Tomb Raider. Post-The Angel of Darkness continuations are the most common stories, boasting two C2 communities of content. [2]
Authors Of Note
Katie Fleming
Katie Fleming is a Tomb Raider fanfiction writer. She currently has her own website [3] with regular competitions including her current 11 Fan-Fics. A twelfth is being written at the moment. On the Tomb Raider Anniversary DVD she said: "I started writing stories for me, but if other people enjoy them, well that just makes it a whole lot better." Her inclusion on the DVD caused a lot of controversy in the fanfiction community, many of whom felt slighted that Eidos ignored the contributions of other, more accomplished authors active in the fandom. [4][5]
Ostercy
Ostercy is another author who has left his mark on the Fan Fiction community. [6] Ostercy also become embroiled in yet more controversy by likening Nazi-rhetoric [7] to the owner of Tomb Raider Forums after said owner interviened in a campaign [8] to discredit the work of Katie Fleming, a move later endorsed by Eidos. The remnents of that argument and associated actions were in part responsible for the closure of Croft Codex [9], formerly a respected haven for Tomb Raider fan-fiction authors.
External Links
Katie Fleming - Award Winning Tomb Raider Fan Fiction
Ostercy - Long-term contributor to Tomb Raider fiction.
Fanfiction.net - The Tomb Raider section of fanfiction.net.
Planet Lara - A large archive of Tomb Raider fanfiction.
Tombraidergirl.com - An archive of English and German fanfiction.
Guns and Grapple - A collection of interviews and guides to TR Fan Fiction
