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Spin a yarn Fans not happy with the original endings try to pen imaginative sequels

Your interest grows each day; you imagine different scenarios, a dozen different endings. And finally, dissatisfied with all this, you decide to pen a sort of sequel yourself. You adopt the characters and spin an imaginative plot. In which case, you would have written – Fanfiction.

Fanfiction, says the Wikipedia, “is a broadly-defined term for fiction about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creators. Fanfiction usually describes works that are uncommissioned and unauthorised by the owner/creators and publishers of the original and usually (but not always) works which are not professionally published.”

Which is a clinical way of saying that you, a fan of a movie, book or work of art, are so enamoured by it that you are unwilling to let go of the experience, and go on to create your own situations and stories involving characters already well established.

And in so doing, you create a world that is only marginally similar to the original. In many respects, it is your own interpretation of what it actually is. A whole new dimension; another universe.

Sadie Sailers, who writes Fanfiction mostly based on the movie “Ice Age”, says Fanfiction allowed her to work on her own voice and writing style without having to worry about creating original characters and settings. “I work a lot with plot concepts in my Fanfiction.” “Ice Age” caught her attention, she reveals, “because of the characters themselves, such diverse personalities in the cast and yet, they all work so nicely together.”

Diane Kovalcin, a chemist by profession and another inveterate Fanfiction writer, never thought of herself as one. “But one day, I was bitten by a story idea,” she says, of her attempts at writing stories based on “Star Wars”. “I was discussing a story with others and came up with an idea that they claimed would never work. I’m one of those who love a challenge. So I wrote the story and it was well-received. Before I knew it, I was writing a lot.”

Then again, reader reactions matter a great deal. When a story of yours, posted on a forum, garners positive feedback, the joy can place you right in the seventh heaven of delight. “My stories get a lot of hits and readers leave me nice reviews telling me they enjoyed them,” says Dorothy A Winsor, who writes about “Lord of the Rings”. For many, it’s a way of conquering Writer’s Blues – and using it as a practice ground towards better writing. Their ultimate aim is to graduate to original fiction – but they need a lot more time and confidence to attempt it.

“I have written original fiction,” says Alicia Fishbaugh, a student who writes Fiction on the hit movie, “High School Musical”. “But it’s much harder because I have to develop the characters and make sure the reader understands them fully.”

Not for everyone, though. Diane, for instance, will not consider the idea. “It just doesn’t interest me somehow, not when I have a whole universe to explore in ‘Star Wars’.”

Indian writers are slowly, but surely beginning to catch up, attracted by the fantasy element. With India’s wealth of mythology, it’s easy to incorporate myths and legends into Science Fiction, giving rise to exotic and intriguing tales.

For these imaginative people, the words The End simply don’t exist.

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