Fanfic: A Shady Area

Credit to Kate Beaton

You know fanfiction. You’ve heard it in whispers from the grimier corners of the internet and you’ve heard that it’s poorly written, explicit sludge hatched together by greasy nerds and manic fangirls frothing at the mouth.

I humbly beg to differ.

Fanfiction is often shot down as being the uninspired work of slimy fangirls, but can we talk about the amazing fact that it even exists? No one is paid or asked to write it, it’s just created for the love of it as a tribute to the impact the original work had on its audience. Someone somewhere watches or reads something and it sticks in their brain and stirs into their imagination, switching on a light that was not there before and setting the creative process in motion.

It’s the ultimate compliment to the creator—one day, hopefully, I shall be published, and I’ll lie awake at night wondering of somewhere in the world my characters and story are rolling around in a reader’s mind, soon to come out again in a piece of creative expression.

The Simply Perfect Adventures of Mary Sue

There’s a girl we’ve all come across at one time or another. She lives next door,is average in every way but simultaneously stands out from the crowd and attracts the attention of every major character she  breathes the same air as. She is ridiculously beautiful, intelligent, talented and spins the entire plot, however implausibly, on her dainty little finger. She seems to have it all but is the most hated character type in any fan circle… and her name is Mary Sue.

It’s a strange phenomenon, saturating many genres of literature, especially things aimed at the YA audience and fuelled somehow by magic… but not that strange when you think about it.

First of all, some people may not know who Mary Sue is. Let me explain. It’s perfectly simple.

But not as perfect as my artwork