When Harry

r.

Met BellaFanfiction is all the rage. But is it plagiarism?Or the perfect thing to encourage young writers?

Remember when Harry Potter invited Bella Swan to Hogwarts's big dance?

And Ginny Weasley and Edward Cullen both went ballistic?

Fans of the Harry Potter and Twilight sagas know that that's crazy talk.

After all, these fictional megastars aren't even in the same series. Still, it's a

^ tantalizing scenario to consider. What if Bella decided to dnmp her

handsome hunk of a vampire? What if Harry transferred to her school, Forks High, in rainy

Washington State? What if...?

Welcome to the world of fanfiction, where fans cre-ate stories using characters, setting.s, and events fromtheir favorite books, movies, or television shows. Putanother way, a known author or scriptwriter creates a"sandbox" full of characters and story lines and his fanscan't wait to "play" in it. In fanfiction, all offstage eventsare possible, whether they take place before, during,or after the established action. That means that PercyJackson can finally take on a pack of werewolves—oneof the few menaces he hasn't tackled in Rick Riordan'sbest-selling series—or Star Trek's Scotty can beam upWolverine and Professor X. While fanfiction may seemnew, it's actually old. According to a recent article inNewsweek (www.newsweek.eom/id/195963), when"Miguel de Cervantes was slow to produce the secondvolume of'Don Quixote,' an anonymous author wrotehis or her own continuation of tlie saga to much ac-claim"—and that was way back in 1614.

Why are people so eager to write (and read) fanfic-tion? The answer is simple: they want more, more,more, Chances are, at some point, youVe written fan-fiction—j'ou ¡ust don't know it. Remember the timeyour English teacher asked you to write a letter fromMercutio to Romeo or to rewrite a scene from 'The

Great Gatshy from Daisy's point of view? That's fanfic-tion. You piit your own spin on somebody else's story.

A few years ago, Géraldine Brooks wondered aboutthe father in Louisa May Aleott's Little Women. Brooks's"what if?" resulted in March (Penguin, 2005), a lookinto the lives (and loves) of Meg, Jo, Beth, and AmyMarch's parents. Using someone else's characters orplot doesn't mean the resulting work is less worthy thanthe original tale or than a story created from scratch.The committee that awarded Brooks the 2006 PulitzerPrize for March sure didn't think so, And neither didthe hordes of enthusiasts who turned Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and 7.omhies (Quirk, 2009),a retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, into aninternational bestseller.

Why is it all rigiit for Brooks and Grahame-Smith toprofit from a previous story when writers of fanfictioncan't do the same with, say, Megan Whalen Turner'sThe King of Attolia (HarperGollins, 2006)? Plain andsimple: copyright. Not only do authors legally own theircreations, but they also own the rights to any derivativeworks. Since Little Women and Pride and Prejudice aren'tunder copyright—they're in the public domain—it'sfine for Brooks and Grahame-Smith to romp around

By Elizabeth Bums and Garlie Webber

www.slj.com AUGUST 2009 Sctíool Library Journal 27

in Alcott's and Austen's sandboxes andmake a decent buck doing it.

Still, some authors can't resist riff-ing on copyrighted works. In 2UÜLlawyers for Alice Randall successfullyargued that their client's novel TheWind Dojie Gone i Houghton) was aparody of Margaret Mitchell's Gonewith the Wind (Macmillan, 19^6), De-spite souie objections from Mitchell'sestate, Randall's novel was published.And earlier this year, Swedish novelistFredrik Culting made headlines whenhe attempted to publish 60 Years Later:Coming Through the Rye, a spin-off of|. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye(Little, Brown, 1951). Not surprisingly,the fiercely protecti\e Salinger suedin June to stop pnblication of the newbook. Although Coking's lawyers ar-gued that 60 Years Later was a parodyof Salinger's classie and, therefore, "fairuse"—which doesn't rcqnire an authorto seek permission from the originalwork's copyright holder—a judge issueda temporary restraining order barringpublication of the controversial book.

What does this mean for young fan-fictioit writers and for those of us whowork with tliem? Is it time to retainthe top law firm in town? Breathe easy.Luckily, there are many excellent on-line resources that address these copy-right issues. A good place to start is theChilling Effects Clearinghouse, a jointproject of the Electronic Frontier Foun-dation and various high-powered lawschools, including those of Har\ard andStanford, Another excellent resource tocheck out is the Organization for Trans-formative Works {transformativeworks.org). It's run by members of variousfandoms, including Rebecca Tushnet,a lawyer wbo wrote "Legal Fictions: Copyright. Fan Fiction,and a New Commoîi Law" (www.tushnetcom/law/fanficar-ticle.html), one of the landmark articles ou the topic. To keepyou and jour teens out of trouble, we reeonimend that youobserve a few basic ground rules. First, don't try to sell yourfanfietion stories. Second, if the original work's antlior asksyou to remove a story you've posted online, just do it. And in atwist on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule, as long as youaren't trying to profit from your writing and the work's originalcreator hasn't objected, it's fine to keep yonr story online.

There's no denying that fanfietion has a bad rep in someschools. For starters, it's frequently dismissed as being poorlywritten and derivative. F aufiction is a waste of time to read and

Fab Fanfic SitesThe Archive at the End of the Universe (www.the-archive.net)

While multiple fandoms are included in this members-only archive (anyone can read

It, but only invited members may post), it's quickly apparent what inspires most fanfic

writers: books, books, books. The archive also hosts original fiction.

Chilling Effects Clearinghouse: Fanfietion (www.chiliingeffects.org/fanfic)

What's iegai? is it OK to do that? I didn't go to iaw school, and I don't understand this

legal mumbo jumbo. Get your questions answered at this legal guide to fanfietion.

copyright, and trademark, it's a joint project of the Eiectronic Frontier Foundation and

severai iaw schoois, including those of Harvard, Stanford, and Berkeiey.

Fanfics.org (fanfics.org)

A gênerai fanfietion site that covers books, movies, anime, and more.

Fanfiction.net (fanfiction.net)

Want to find out just how many different fandoms there are? At fanfiction.net. you

can find stories for almost any movie, book, TV show, or game you can imagine. The

best (and worst! ) thing about this site is that anyone can post a story. There's a lot of

quantity here, but the quality is often questionabie.

FictlonAlley (www.fi ctionailey,org)

The iargest Harry Potter-only fanfietion archive on the Internet, FictionAlley is known

for its strict ruíes concerning speliing, grammar, and adherence to the Harry Potter

canon. All stories are vetted by actual humans before they're posted, and these guys

won't hesitate to send fies back for editing it their standards aren't met.

MediaMiner (www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/series.php)

Anime and manga are fiying off library shelves-and. of course, anything that

popular is bound to inspire fans. Readers who crave more of /Varuto-Masashi Kishi-

moto's superpopuiar manga series-should head here!

Skyehawke (skyehawke.org or archive.skyehawke.eom)

A limited number of TV, book, and movie fandoms are covered by this site. Whiie

the gênerai pubiic can read the fanfietion, authors may post by invitation only, and

quaiity writing is encouraged.

î^llighted (www.twilighted.net)

Whether it's making Team Jaeob happy, filling in Bella's baekstory. or exploring

Edward's history, this Twilight fanfietion site is the place to go.

a bigger waste of time to write. Why read it when you can readthe original? say the naysayers. Teens should be encouraged todo their own writing, rather than regurgitating someone else's.After all, don't we want them to be creative? But critics of faufic-tion are often blind to its benefits. Fanfietion helps to developwriting and reading skills, and it's just as legitimate a hobby asknitting or collecting postcards. Pins, unlike writing somethingfor a school assignment, it's fun to create fanfietion. Writingand posting fiinfiction also enconrages ¡jositive interactions andfeedback among folks who might not otherwise meet. In fact.the genre requires an active community to survive.

As for the accusation that fanfietion saps kids' creativity,that's a lot of you-know-what. Yonng writers can actual!) be

Z8 School Library Journal .-AUGUST 2009 www.si.com

more creative (and less stressed out) when they don't have toinvent everything. Creating original, believable characterscan be the toughest part of writing—and using existing char-acters allows fanfiction creators to concentrate on other areasof writing, such as pacing, style, and plot.

What if a fan-generated story is poorly written? Well, ev-erybody needs a good editor. In the world of fanfiction, edi-tors are called beta readers, and it's their job to correct errorsin grammar, spelling, characterization, plot, and dialog. Thebetas also make sure that writers get their canon straight."Canon" refers to the facts and events portrayed in the sourcematerial: When is Percy Jackson's birthday? What do Herm-ione Cranger's parents do for a living? It's not unconnnon forinexperienced fanfiction writers to insert a new character intoan original work—one that's usually a smarter, more tragic,prettier version of themselves. When these characters are fe-male, they're called "Mary Sues"; their male connterparts areknown as "Cary Stus." Beta readers can help budding writersavoid those embarrassing gaffs. {For a list of other essentialfanfiction terms, visit us online at slj.coni.)

If yon're encouraging kids to write fanfiction or creating ityourself, here are some dos and don'ts you'll want to follow:

Don't send your story to the author. No, really. While someauthors are flattered by fan stories, others, notably Anne Rieeand Nora Roberts, are not. Fanfietion writers should under-stand that they're writing for themselves and for other fans.Even if an author is supportive of fanfiction, she won't readyour story for fear that a fan can claim he created an Idea thatlater appeared in the anthor's pnblished work.

Do promote fanfiction as a form of expressing thoughts andanalyzing a book. Knowing how to craft a five-paragraph ex-pository essay is important, but writing fanfiction often en-conrages readers to be persuasive in more creative ways. Ifyour kids are convinced, for example, that Sirius Black didn'tdie when he fell through the veil in the Department of Mys-teries, can they write a believable story about it?

Don't charge money. Yes, it takes work to write great fanfic.Bnt if you choose to play in someone else's sandbox, do it as alabor of love. Remember, the original copyright owner is theonly one who is entitled to make money from his work.

Do hold fanfiction to the same standard as original writ-ing. Fanfietion writers need to know about editing, sentencestructure, grammar, and spelling.

Don't post your story on your library or school Web site.Some authors encourage fanfiction, and some publisherssponsor fanfietion contests to promote new books. Others areappalled that someone is tinkering with their baby. Encour-age students to post their stories in archives, like FictíonAlley,or on fanfiction sites, such as Twilighted. The people who runthose venues know the ins and outs of sharing fanfietion.

Are you eager to promote fanfiction at your library? Thenyou'll definitely want to let kids know about some terrific on-line resources like the Harry Potter Lexieon (www.liplex.info/tinieline.html) and the Weasley Family Tree (www.hp-lexieon.org/wizardsAveasley.html). For slightly older devotees of Bellaand Edward, there are two cool sites they won't want to miss:

Twilighted Teens {www.twilightedteens.com) and IwilightedFonim {www.twilighted.net/fonini). Another very good way toget kids excited about fanfietion is to host a program abont lx;tareaders, where yon discuss the right and wrong ways to copyeditanother's work and how revision ean strengthen a story. Sincebeing a beta is abont being a good editor. F.nglish teachers are atenific resource in structuring this type of program. Or take a tipfrom the C. Burr Artz Public Library in Frederick, MD, and theGroton (CT) Public Library, which offer aspiring teen faEificticnwriters simple how-to programs to shaqx;n their skills aiul sharetheir stories.

Anyone can post fanfiction on the Internet {which is boththe form's greatest strength and greatest weakness), and thatmeans it ean be hard to find quality fanfietion. A great wayto practice research skills, including evaluating sites andmaterials, is to host a "finding fanfietion" program online.Hold brainstomiing sessions in which kids try to fignre outthe most effective search strategies. For example, is it best tospell fanfietion as one word or two? Do yon need to put "fanfiction" in quotation marks? And what about searching for"fan fie"? Will that yield a lot of hits? If you discover a sitethat claims it has "The Year's Best Fanfiction," does it? Whatstandards is it using to determine the best?

Now that you know that "canon" is the term used to de-scribe the souree material on whieh fanfiction is based, whynot have a program in which people create a written eanonfor others to use? Depending on the original work you'reusing, it ean inelude family trees, maps, school schedules,floor plans, and time lines. Have nmltiple copies of the booksyon're using available, plenty of paper, and Post-its for takingnotes, and see what types of resonrees can be put together.

Contests are always loads of fnn because they give teens achance to strut tlieir stuff For the past two years, the Milton(NH) Free Pnblic Library {www.niiltonfreepnbliclibrary.org/fol_projects.htni) has hosted a "Fun Fan Fiction Contest"—winners were announced, and prizes were handed out at thelocal high school. The Harris County {T'X) Puhlic Libraryalso offers a fanfiction contest, and this summer the CrandRapids (MI) Public Library's summer reading program hasincluded a "Harry Potter Faufic Contest."

You may even want to try our opening seenario with yourteens: What would happen if Harry Potter and Bella Swanwent out with each other? See what your kids eome np with.Who's telling the story? Is it Harry? Bella? Hey, maybe it'sDraco Malfoy... with a lot of nasty eoniments added to themix. Have a beta reader figure out how to reconcile the twoseries' distinct time lines. Explain that while it's tempting tointroduce the violet-eyed exchange student Serena, to helpCinny get a grip, Serena is a "Mary Sue." Enjoy your kids'creativity and hard work—and, most of all, have fun!

New Jersey librarian Elizabeth Bums (lizzy.bums@gmail.com)blogs about books, movies, and TV shows at "A Chair, a Fire-place, and a Tea Cozy" {yzocaet.blogspot.coin). Carlie Webber{carliebeth@gmail.com) wrote about teen magazines {"TheOriginal Handhelds") in our May issue.

www.sjj.com AUGUST 2009 SdiooJ Library Joumal 29