OTW Fannews: Fanwork Inspiration

• ComicBook.com recommended that readers check out the Five Best Fan-Made Superhero Series & Short Movies. "In case you didn’t notice, Comicbook.com is really into covering fan-made films and web-series. YouTube and increasingly-intuitive technology has made it easier than ever for passionate fans to share their own tales about superheroes, video game characters, or whatever fictional realm that’s captured their imaginations. It’s fan-fiction for the 21st century, and never has it been more abundant and impressive. This year marked a rather significant turning point in fan-made films with Nightwing, a YouTube series that scored almost $35,000 in Kickstarter funding for production costs. What resulted was one of the most highly-produced fan series to hit the Internet so far."
• The inspiration mentioned in the above article was evident when Patton Oswalt discussed the effect Star Wars had on him. "I could imagine that these characters would go off and do other things, have other adventures. I'd draw cartoons of what this one guy in the cantina went and did after that scene…you felt there were all these little stories happening after you'd left these characters, all these other avenues to explore. It was like Fisher Price's My First Fan Fiction, and that had never happened to me with a movie before."
• The Tyee suggested that January would instead be a good month for people to hunt out popular fanfic online, even if they shortchanged the number of online archives. "Boy bands aren't your thing? Well, you're in luck then since Wattpad also publishes stories about celebrities and Harry Potter characters. Or you can find tales more to your taste at any of more than a dozen of these online writing communities. Start with two of the largest ones: FanFiction and Archive of Our Own."
• Fanworks aren't just inspiring viewers and fans but future academics. Mass Live highlighted the accomplishment of a local student who is a recipient of the "prestigious Marshall Scholarship for study in United Kingdom." Student Tess Grogan is "interested in instances of transgressive violence in children’s and young adult literature as well as alternative systems of justice and responses to this violence. She is interested in the implications of 'genderswap' fan fiction – pieces written by fans of books or television that reverse the genders of the primary characters."

What sources have you seen as fanwork inspiration? Write about them in Fanlore! Contributions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, podcast, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent OTW Fannews post. Links are welcome in all languages! Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a Fannews post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.