Fan fiction: Sci-fi fanaticism, fan-based thievery, or legitimate storytelling? Photo by flyzipper.

What is fan fiction?

Geoffrey Chaucer Image courtesy of W ikimedia.

Miguel de Cervantes Image courtesy of donquijote.com.

© CBS Studios, Inc. Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Internet Web Site Rankings as of December 2008 Information courtesy of compete.com. Website Ranking Google 1 Fox News 131 Barackobama.com 1,078 FanFiction.net 1,572 Creative Commons 5,402 Whitworth Home Page 72,463

Legality Image courtesy of scienceagogo.com

"J.K. Rowling's reaction [to fan fiction] is that she is very flattered by the fact there is such great interest in her Harry Potter series and that people take the time to write their own stories ... Her concern would be to make sure that it remains a non-commercial activity to ensure fans are not exploited and it is not being published in the strict sense of traditional print publishing." - Rowling’s spokesman from the Christopher Little Literary Agency

“ I do not allow fan fiction. The characters are copyrighted. It upsets me terribly to even think about fan fiction with my characters. I advise my readers to write your own original stories with your own characters. It is absolutely essential that you respect my wishes.” - Anne Rice, author of the Vampire Chronicles series

80% of fan fiction writers are girls. Photo by badbrother.

Why write fan fiction?

Top 10 Fan Fiction Categories *as of 19 Jan. 2009 Information courtesy of FanFiction.net. Category Genre # of Stories* 1. Harry Potter Books 386,470 2. Inuyasha Anime 84,625 3. Twilight Books 57,808 4. Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime 46,635 5. Lord of the Rings Books 41,670 6. Kingdom Hearts Games 39,975 7. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV 33,712 8. Digimon Anime 31,016 9. Dragon Ball Z Anime 30,081 10. Sailor Moon Anime 28,335

Photos by jisc_infonet and thewind, respectively.

Photos by jisc_infonet and thewind, respectively. Rough Draft

Photos by jisc_infonet and thewind, respectively. Rough Draft Beta

Photos by jisc_infonet and thewind, respectively. Rough Draft Beta Final Story

Photos by jisc_infonet and thewind, respectively. Rough Draft Beta Final Story Fan Fiction Community

Photos by jisc_infonet and thewind, respectively. Rough Draft Beta Final Story Fan Fiction Community

Photos by jisc_infonet and thewind, respectively. Rough Draft Beta Final Story Reviews Fan Fiction Community

Photo by flyzipper.