YALSAlit08

Fandom

Session: Fandom, Fan Life, and Participatory Culture -- Liz Burns & Carlie Webber 

Liz Burns: wrote own early fanfic about Battlestar Gallactica & Star Trek meeting, "Liz"-like character, scifi con in college

Now Liz likes Buffy and is obsessed with reading what people write about Twilight (but not Twilight itself)  

Carlie Weber: fan cred began 6th grade with DeGrassi Junior High fanfic while home sick, attended con as Deanna from ST Next Gen
  
Fandom 101, different forms of partipication -- involved w/ movies, tv shows, games, books, but esp. teen books for this session  

"Fandom is the best friends you've never had" 2 live, talk about a part of a book that you enjoy -- might never otherwise meet  

Until recently, college-educated women in 30s most into fanfic, but Harry Potter involved teens in fandom  

When did fandom begin? With Star Trek in 1960s? But as long as they have been enjoying stories, there have been fans  

Internet allows for exponential fandom connection explosion. Can participate anywhere - online, f2f in cos - "you're not alone"  

Fan comes from the word fanatic, fandom plural the fans which come together, live journal (LJ) blog of choice for fans  

Canon -- the original work, cons -- conventions, 'zine a collection of printed fan stories, fan art, printing costs shared  

Levels of fandom - 1st step find the book u love, 2nd buy official guide, 3rd buy unofficial guide, 4th essays about book  

Then you buy the jewelry (etsy), make your own jewelry, go to the (Twilight) prom, Meyer's website content supports book 

Fandom gone too far -- don't your baby Renesmee  

Fandom cannot exist without participation, community, dedication. Libraries have meeting space to host meet-ups for fans

"Almost every book had a fandom"...shows AMC's Madmen characters on Twitter http://twitter.com/peggyolson  

"Wearing" your fandom, crafts, orig. art (esp. in manga/anime), cosplay, video -- Potter puppet pals 

Student write fanfic in schools when they use characters and narrative as a springboard for creative writing assignments  

Archive -- post fanfic, Beta readers -- editors who check canon facts -- Mary Sue -- any original character dropped into fanfic  

Is a character a Mary Sue? 3Qs to ask Smarter than Hermione? Prettier than Jenny? Weirder than Luna? 

Ship -- relationship (romantic), both a noun and verb. Slash is about same sex couples, ("&" means not romantic relationship) 

fanfiction.net largest fanfic site -- free, anybody can upload any story (some junk), which authors allow for fandom listed here  

skyehawke.com -- invitation only, emphasize quality over quantity, not as many fandoms ++ supernaturalville, twilighted sites  

helping teens to improve writing -- pov, verb tenses, character continuity, etc. Holly Black, Meg Cabot used to write fanfic!  

This is legal -- if no money changes hand. No publishing on demand! Makes crafts, but don't sell them online  

WSJ article about costume and what can and can't be done "Why Dora the Explorer Can't Come to Your Kid's Birthday"  

More often than not, fandom promotes the original work rather than undercutting the author's revenue stream  

HP "Lexicon" lawsuit -- encyclopedia can't be printed, but website treated as a nonissue 

Some fun (legal) things -- recreating book covers, modifying them (LOLBook Covers), "Great & Terrible Tea Party"  

Recipes derived from books (HP Polyjuice Potion Punch on epicurious!), what would Harry read? Book debates (Breaking Dawn)

39 Clues, Hunger Games interactivitiy provided online -- requires the same dedication and re-reading as fandom  Nerdfighter tour -- publisher realizes John Green fandom, own vocab. -- discussion guide on Paper Town includes Nerdfighter qs