My 15-year-old daughter danced into my bedroom the other night, glowing with joy. "I've gotten three comments on my story and I only just put it up!" she said. "And they're all really positive!"
The background - Nadia has been an avid www.fanfiction.net reader for at least a year, following the best fanfic authors of her favorite manga/anime/game series. (See this post for her early attempts at educating me in the ways of fanfiction) She's been writing stories since she was 7 years old, although in recent years most of the creative activity has been going on in her mind, with little actually getting written down.
But a week ago, Nadia finally got a free account with fanfiction.net, allowing her to make comments on stories and, most importantly, to upload her own stories. And she did, getting feedback right away. Can there be a more luscious feeling for a writer? People read her stories - people who care very strongly about the universe she writes about - and liked them! This is pure ambrosia.
I went on www.fanfiction.net myself for the first time recently. What a revelation! When I was a kid, I used to imagine writing about all the Peanuts characters, inserting myself into their world - so of course I looked in the Comics section. Sure enough, there are 121 stories currently posted, positing Linus/Sally ("Lally") or Charlie Brown/Peppermint Patty romantic pairings, philosophical discussions between characters, and more. Woah! It was all I could do to keep from reading every single ficlet and drabble.
Then I looked up Books. Oh. My. Freaking. God. Whether your thing is The Forest of Hands of Teeth or The Five Little Peppers And How They Grew or Saddle Club, you'll find fans who were compelled to write stories based on them. Obsessive, addicted, creative, possibly insane - these crazed writers are My People.
Nadia writes and reads about the Kingdom Hearts universe, by the way. Which are manga/anime based on games. Why a fantasy-reading kid writes about this when she could be writing stories based in, say, the Song of Ice and Fire world, I don't know. But she is completely motivated to write more stories. And that ROCKS!
I am VERY tempted to try a Peanuts fanfic. But I can't put myself in - that is apparently gauche. So - perhaps Charlie Brown will finally fly his kite successfully, kick that football, and ride a convertible into the sunset.
Good for her! For years my younger sister would only read fan fiction and I had to assure my parents that she was actually reading! Now that she is 16 she has moved on to Dessen and the Georgina Nicholson books, but I know she checks in every once in a while.
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