A World Beyond Twilight

Posted by Saluki in Stray Thoughts with Saluki | 0 comments

What is it about the Twilight series that has taken the fan fiction community by storm?  At a glance, there are 1,168 Southern Vampire Mysteries, 1,049 Vampire Academy, 305 Vampire Diaries, and 482 House of Night fan fictions in the book category on fanfiction.net.  What’s the count for Twilight?  119, 730 and that’s just one category, folks.

There are websites dedicated solely to Twilight fan fiction (Twific), one of which has over 4,000 stories.  There are Twilight fan fiction awards and contests by the dozen.  I’ve even read scholarly articles about the phenomenon.  But still, I can’t quite wrap my mind around what makes Twilight so unique.  What makes us what to write about Bella and Edward over Sookie and Bill or Stephan and Elena?

I suppose it is the unique connection we’ve formed with the characters. The Cullens are more than just characters in a book; they are like family.  We’ve read the books so many times that we know the quirks, habits, and mannerisms of each character by heart.  Our heads are full of ideas about how we think the series should have ended or what the Cullens are doing post BD.  Sometimes, we want to write all human fic, and it is easier just to plug in characters that we already know than to create them from scratch.  All of these things motivate us to boot up our laptops, pour out our ideas, and post them for the world to see.   Of course, I haven’t even accounted for all the people who simply read Twific.  I have to admit, up until very recently I both read and wrote only Twific.

When we came up with the idea of MVF, we were all adamant that our fan fiction archives include all vampire series.   I knew there was other fan fic out there, but I had never had any desire to read it.  Admittedly, I am a relative newbie in the vampire world, so part of my problem was not wanting to read any fan fic before I read the actual books.  Now that I have read several series, that excuse doesn’t hold much water.  So, this week I sat down and wrote Blue Bloods one-shot.  It was difficult to slip into a new series at first, but once I started writing, the characters spoke to me just the same as Bella and Edward do (FYI check out Wicked Wednesday’s next week if your interested).

That got me thinking.  What if all of us who read or write fan fic tried out just one new series?  Pick your second favorite vampire series and take a stab at writing fan fic or just jump on the web and find what fan fic is out there and give it a read.  I’m sure there are talented authors with great stories just waiting to be discovered.  And, what better way to both challenge yourself as a writer and expand your reader base.  You might even get someone interested in reading Twific who hasn’t in the past.  Just imagine what we could do to the vampire fan fic genre – it could be epic, if we would only break out of our comfort zone and give it a try.

Since we all need a nudge now and then, let me be the one to push you off that cliff.  Today, and periodically over the next weeks, I am going to spotlight a non-Twilight fan fic.  The next step is all up to you, click the link, read, and review.

Today, I have chosen “The Gift: A Sookie Stackhouse Story” by Sibyl_Vane.   Set after D&G- What if Sookie was given the gift of removing her “disability”? Would she be able to live a normal life? Would she be able to pry herself from the clutches of Vamp politics? This story offers an alternate life for Sookie and explains how she achieved it. Is she really happier?

So, will you join me in expanding your fan fic horizons?  Let me know in The Lair.