Publishing Pathways: from FanFiction to my own Fiction

I wrote FanFiction steadily from 2002 to 2009; for Buffy, Once & Again, Mercy Thompson and Twilight especially. Twenty-four stories amounted to 391, 522 words all up. My longest FF piece ran to 184,402-words, with 112 chapters. I wrote FanFiction from age 15 to 22 and it was how I found a way to my own voice and the stories/themes that mattered to me… and now I’m a published author and literary agent. I’m here to assure students that this is a totally legitimate form of writing and storytelling, and “mimicking” is just one way that many authors come to find their own voice and unique point-of-view.

FanFiction exists in a lot of “legitimate” media forms –

- Television shows often operate with a creator who then appoints staff-writers and a “showrunner” to write scripts and manage the series. Essentially; someone leaving other writers in charge of their characters and universe (prime example is also George RR Martin leaving a good chunk of Game of Thrones original storytelling to showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss of the television series)

- Film adaptations are a FanFiction of the books/plays/ideas they’re based on.

- Going all the way back the Brothers Grimm, who wrote down the oral-stories of women and inserted their own morality clauses … until Disney came along and put their own spin on even those stories with their movie adaptations.

Topics Covered

* What is FanFiction?

* History of FF

* FF really is all around

* My publishing journey

* What FanFic taught me – and can teach you