As you may know from my little bio at the (viewer's) right of the main page, or from the bios I've included in my books, I got my writing start in fan fiction. My biggest contribution to the genre, so to speak, has been in Star Trek. I’ve created more than two dozen stories featuring original characters, and even a few with cameos by canon characters from the five Trek TV shows. Some have featured only the characters we’ve seen on screen. I’ve also written one novel-length story for the Twilight Saga and am in the midst of a second, I’ve written stories for Smallville (most based in the early seasons of the show), and I’ve written at least one short story for Harry Potter.
I still hold a great love for writing fan fiction and plan to write more in the future—I’ve plans for a lot more Star Trek plus some tentative Supernatural and Doctor Who. I just haven’t had much time for fanfic writing recently as I’ve put a lot of work in the last eighteen months into beginning and promoting my professional writing career. It has not been the easiest road, but when I check my sales report and see that I’ve sold some books, and when I see that email from Amazon saying that I’ve got royalties coming…it’s all worth it. Sure, it would be great to have the backing of a publishing house—to be able to make use of their marketing department to get myself out there more—but publishing my books on my own, no matter how difficult, has been infinitely rewarding.
Just think about it, though… If my favorite TV shows make the list of Kindle Worlds (the name of the fan fiction project at Amazon), I could be doing even more of what I love—writing—and making even more money at it! The royalties for Kindle Worlds titles are only going to be around 35%, but that’s better than nothing! And I’d still be writing professionally, whether it’s fan fiction or my own original works.
Right now, none of the series I’ve already written for are among those taking part, but then the entire list hasn’t been posted yet. It is a great hope of mine that they will be added so that my excitement over this development isn’t all for naught. If you hadn’t guessed already, I really do love to write fan fiction. I once read someone’s opinion that writing fan fiction displays a lack of imagination and originality, but I don’t think that’s true at all. To me, you have to have an imagination to write any kind of fiction at all, and especially if you’re writing fan fiction. With fan fiction, the work is almost harder (if you’re using established characters) because not only do you have to find a way to make the story your own and not a carbon copy of the original writer’s work, but you have to find a way to keep them true to their established character traits. That’s not always easy. Some of us would like certain characters to act differently, or to be interested in someone else. There is so much thought that has to go into a fan fiction story, much more than people realize.
Anyhoo, I just had to write this post and tell you all about the exciting news. Fans of shows and books such as Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries, and Gossip Girl—just to name a few—who enjoy writing their own stories featuring their favorite characters will probably enjoy knowing that in the near future, they will be able to publish their stories and legally make a little money doing it.
To read all about the project, go here: Amazon Media Room. Also take a look at this article: Kindle Worlds for Authors.
Congrats ! Keep up the great work! I can't wait to read more of your Trek fan fiction,
ReplyDeleteWell, Trek fanfics will continue to be posted at TOT11F when I get them written, because Star Trek is not on the list of participants. I hope some day it will be. I just had to share the news because it is very exciting regardless. Perhaps if I watched any of the shows already signed up, i might be inclined to write for them as well.
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