I woke up early this morning and enjoyed the latest chapter of Ruthless by Ed Calkins over a cup of coffee.
I've not read much fan fiction, hardly at all, and never had any real reason to do so. Furthermore, I have no idea if Ed has ever read or written fan fiction. Nor did I ever consider what other authors think of it (I paused here to do some online searching on the topic).
When Ed and I had our virtual meeting on July 11 (which was supposed to be a real lunch), Ed shared details of his progress, asked some questions, told me how he continuously refers to the "drop or blood" trilogy during his writings, and then spent a couple hours sending me updated writings, which, if we had met in person, he could have handed off to me in less than three seconds.
And then on my birthday, he sent one more chapter to me, the latest, which I had not yet read and which I I enjoyed to the point of laughing out loud.
This chapter, Much to do about nothing or What to do about Glorna ....the complete chap, so swiftly placed me right into Staked! I didn't immediately realize it. I was just "there."
Now if Ruthless is in the category of "fan fiction," it's controlled fan fiction at its best. Ed isn't wantonly writing this novel; he's writing it because a fan requested I write it, and I refused, saying only Ed could write this story.
Ed doesn't want to write anything I won't approve, even though I'v assured him the fictitious Ed Calkins is an unreliable narrator and can't be trusted.
But it does show that, once an author breathes life into a realm and its inhabitants and then shares it with at least one other person, it ceases to be solely the author's realm.
Yes, the author owns the copyright (unless the author foolishly gives it away), and the author has a certain amount of legal protection against other writers making a profit from that realm.
However, when an author invites a reader into the story, the story takes on its own life in that reader for no reader can engage with a story without engaging with story's world and the story's people in a very personal way.
Fan fiction, no matter where the fan writer takes the story, is a connection so strong to the initial story that the fan writer is compelled to write the parts the fan writer wishes the author had written.
Even if the author cringes at the result, fan fiction is really one of the highest compliments a reader can pay to an author.
And when the fan writer expounds on a story that's reads SO RIGHT to the author, the enjoyment is immense.
On a practical level, it's free marketing. Wherever fan writers share their works are readers waiting to read them. They, too, might want more - and find the original books.
OK, this note has turned into more than "quick."
Maybe words simply aren't adequate to explain the feeling this author feels when she reads an expanded version of her story by another writer, a story with characterizations and settings so true, it pulls me right back into my story.
A decade ago when Sarah first started the BryonySeries website, she wanted a separate author page, and I pushed back (and won).
I felt (and still do) that the BryonySeries is more than just a single book by a single writer. I envisioned other writers contributing to the series.
That model has begun with The Adventures of Cornell Dyer chapter book series.
It's expanding with Ruthless.
From there, who knows where this can lead?
Illustration by Kathleen Rose Van Pelt for "Bryony."
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