Fan-Fiction
Hi, Melissa, everyone. Thanks for having me.
My road to publication actually started off as a hobby. Although during my college days I wrote children’s stories, it wasn’t until 2002, when I bought Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Fantasy Lover, that the writing bug got me. I was captivated by the Dark-Hunter world Sherri had created. So one night I visited Sherri’s website. Immediately I was curious about her chat-room and, once inside, two very special people (Mo and Mama Lo) drew me into Dark-Hunter role-play and writing fan-fiction.
Fan-fiction is stories about characters, people, settings, and worlds that are written by super-fans of the original work/shows, etc, rather than by the original creator. These fans can’t get enough of their fixes and write about them.
The practice of writing fan fiction has been popular since the mid-sixties, when sci-fi fans couldn’t get enough of their favorites. The only difference today is, with modern technology and the Internet, there are now fan-fic hubs where you can share your stories. My youngest daughter has written both Justin Beiber and Twilight fan-fiction.
Some authors/creators support—or at least tolerate—the hobby, others vehemently oppose it. I totally understand the reasoning behind their dislike of fan-fic, monetary issues and feelings of personal violation are probably involved, along with a sentiment that can be translated to, “Come on, seriously? Not smart enough to write your own stuff?”
I wrote official Sherrilyn Kenyon Dark-Hunter fan-fic until Sherri’s critique partners (Tasha and Mama Lo) encouraged me to pursue my own original stories and worlds. I wrote two years of fan-fiction. It was a wonderful learning experience. I learned a great deal about characterization. Writing fan-fic was practice for me. It was that novel shoved under my bed that every author is said to have.
Personally, I’d be honored if people read and loved my characters and stories enough to write about them. I’d be truly flattered if I were ever popular enough for people to play in my worlds with any frequency. Conversation and word-of-mouth sells books. As long as the original authors are the ones making money and earning a living from their worlds…it’s cool.
To find out more about my very own worlds please visit my website.
Melissa Lopez
www.melissa-lopez.com
Journeys of Love Every Woman Needs To Take
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