Fan Fic vs Real Stories

Student writing is often directly inspired by the films and books they enjoy. While useful as a starting point, these works can seem derivative, stale and unconvincing.

Summer Skin is a novel that fulfils the conventions of a romance novel, but departs from the basic storyline in several ways. Using Summer Skin and several other popular books/films as examples, the author deconstructs stories and illustrates how the students’ own experiences can be used to turn fan fiction into something more unique.

Topics:

• Basic plots
• Juxtaposition – old story, new world
• Characters – wants, conflicts, flaws
• Structure – short story/novel