Fanfiction Survey How old are you? 35 How old were you when you first started reading/writing fanfiction in general? reading about nine years ago; writing for myself/fun since I was about 12, to post only about two years ago Do you ever feel your interpretation of the books has been affected by fandom? 'affected' is perhaps too strong, but I felt it most strongly with OotP where I was unhappy about seeing characters that had been fleshed out in excellent fanfics as mere stereotypes. I don't think it would have bothered me as much without reading fanfic. Do you openly share your participation in fandom, or only with certain people? Or do you keep it a secret entirely, except for people you see online? two or three people in RL know - I'm not good at hiding my obsessions from close friends. Did you ever write/read fanfic for any fandoms before Harry Potter? X-Men (comics), Highlander, BtVS, some Star Wars What other fandoms do you write/ read fics for, if any? read: rare BtVS, occasional Star Wars; I've written one BtVS piece Have you ever written a crossover? one HP/BtVS, one (abandoned) ST/SW What about an Alternative Universe? no Were either/both challenging, or did you find either/both easy? I found crossovers easier (and more entertaining) to write, but not engaging enough to hold my interest What do you think of original characters? some of my top favourite fics have quite a few OCs, but in general I tend to avoid them out of fear of Mary-Sueism; when I'm nudged to read them, I usually enjoy them quite a bit (the good ones, that is!) Have you ever read an exceptionally good original character? oh, yes (see two rows down...) In your opinion, what is the difference between a good original character and a "Mary Sue"? a good OC is human and adds to canon, a MS is idealised and tries to dominate it, perhaps Have you ever read any exceptionally good OC's? (Feel free to name some!) Minerva McTabby's Julius Marvolo and his circle in 'Two Worlds and In Between' (HP) and Xie in Das Tier's 'Nomad' (Highlander) Has any fanfiction you've ever read personally affected you? emotionally affected? yes, certainly, quite a few of my favourite stories do that - in fact, whether something affects me or not is one of my main criterias of determining 'good' stories Have you ever written a fanfic based on a real event you or someone else experienced? hm... I used some childhood memories for Hermione's home life in 'Censorship'; and borrowed some aspects of a RL relationship in 'The Cat and the Star' Have you ever written an original story based on a fanfic idea? no How about the reverse? does a fanfic that grew out of a RP-plotline count? I borrowed the dynamics of the two 'Trinity'-plots from one What do you think of the movies? fun to watch, easily forgotten Do you think that the movies and marketing are a good thing, or do you think they take away from the books? I don't mind the movies because they don't spoil my images of book canon; I do hate merchandising with a venom, and would rather have no movies than be exposed to the marketing Finally, back to fandom. What are some advantages and disadvantages of fansites and fanfiction? advantages: you can read about your favourite fandom while you wait for new 'official' material to appear; you can share and discuss your writing and others'; disadvantages: it steals your life :) Do you think it has taught you anything? writing; plotting; criticising; accepting criticism Finally - have you changed since you first started writing? I probably had more of a life before :). But I might have a little more self-confidence now :) CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!
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