CM: "What
do you think of fan fiction? Have you ever written any?"
Susan Shea: [long pause… then calls] Lana? Justin? Nicolas? Do any of you
know what fan fiction is?
L: OMG!
J: Grandmom, why would you want to know?
N: Yeah, Grandmom, Justin won’t even let me look at it.
Me: Why not? What is it about?
L: It’s written by fans of a book, what alternative endings they might
want.
J: [laughs] But it gets weird.
L: Gross. My advice is do not look it up on Google.
N: Justin won’t even let me look it up.
I’ll look it up now for you, okay?
Me [quickly] No, don’t look it up…why can’t he look it up?
L: OMG! These fans write extreme stuff about, you know, what characters
would do. And it gets really, really strange. Gross. Trust me, Grandmom, you
don’t want to read most fan fiction.
N: I just want to see it once.
J: No, Nicolas. Trust me, you don’t.
Me: So people take a story, like Harry Potter, and make Harry do weird
things? I thought Harry already did weird things.
J: Not this weird. The so-called fans go crazy and write about evil stuff.
Me: You mean like Pride and Prejudice
and Zombies? It’s a real book and I know the guy who wrote that. So, is
that fan fiction?
[J and L snort in unison] Much worse. And none of this stuff would be in a
book. It’s on YouTube.
N: I just want to see it once,
Justin.
I retire from the discussion, having decided “gross” and ‘weird” may be
code for “sex,” the “fans” in question are either internet trolls or warped 15-year
olds, and that my answer to the Criminal Minds question of the week is: No. I am confident that other Minds will have so
much more to say about this than I do.
But here’s a link to what I thought might pass for fan fiction until Justin
told me this is actually funny and doesn’t make the Harry Potter characters do
something…well, gross and out of character.
Ha! This is a fun post and a great way to start off the week's discussion. Looking forward to what others say!
ReplyDeleteLove it and I'm with you, Susan. I had no idea what fan fiction was.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, too funny! I think you've said it all Susan. I think I'll have to invent something.
ReplyDeleteHad to rely on another generation for help. I did ask them while we were driving back from SF the other day. Too funny!!
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