A friend of mine recently had to write a review of a website dedicated to publishing. She choose the archive and the messageboards. She also gave me permission to post the review here.
For those of you who are fans of the Lois and Clark series, this is a site for you. Lois and Clark FanFic is a site dedicated to the writing and ‘publishing’ of Lois and Clark stories. Anyone from teenagers, to english professors, to scientists, to stay at home mothers can write stories of Lois and Clark. There is no money involved and everyone issues a disclaimer. The characters are property of Warner Bros., but the ideas are strictly the property of the writer.
FanFic is fiction with borrowed characters. There are many different kinds of FanFic, and each is sorted into its own category. The web site was founded by Rhen Brink, who compiled stories into an index for people to view. Then, a new board was created where people could post their stories and make comments about other works.
The web site also offers guidance and critiquing for those who wish to post their stories. Many of the writers work with a Beta Reader, who reads the story as the author writes it, and edits it for content and technicalities. Anyone can write and submit a story for ‘publication’. One must e-mail the story to the site where a general editor goes over it and sends it back. One then approves and FanFic loads it onto the site. Every year there are rewards called Kerths for the best FanFic in different categories.
This site has a large audience and supply of writers. There are currently 2,247 stories dedicated to Lois and Clark with 8 new stories on Nov. 16, 2003. I have never been a fan of Superman, but the extensive organization and community of writers supporting each other did catch my interest.
Nqoire
