Two weeks ago, in the wake of the hacker collective Anonymous shutting down U.S. government and Big Content websites in avowed revenge for the U.S. Attorney General’s taking down the upload service MegaUpload, I asked my Twitter followers (only half
[META] I Am Acafan, Here Me Roar?
“I”, meaning whom? I am Lisa Schmidt, writer, thinker, debtor, and life traveller, and this is my introductory post. I’m very pleased to be joining the Organization for Transformative Works, truly. I am one of those academic types who
[META] I am Mary Sue! Pheer me!
The most recent issue of “Transformative Works and Cultures” featured a fascinating interview with Paula Smith, the fan writer and editor who coined the term “Mary Sue” in 1973. Anyone who writes fan fiction that includes original characters in any
[META] Fanlore wants you
By Rachel Barenblat Fanlore is a wiki for, about, and by fans. Our aim is to preserve the many-threaded history of fandom. Here’s how we describe ourselves: Fanlore is a multi-authored website that any fan can easily contribute to. We
[META] Accent Memes, Brit-picking, and Other Perpetually Fascinating Phenomena of Internet Linguistics
Let me get this out of the way right now: I once lived in fear of Anglophilia. This fear has had serious consequences, such as, for example, preventing me from reading the Harry Potter books, and, until a few years
[META] Fandom as a “high context” culture
Stranded cheerfully at home in the snow this week, all university and public school classes cancelled all around me, and thus without my reference books, I’m writing this in brief and from memory, based on a topic that grew out
[META] TWC, style, and meaning
Thanks to the recent release of the 16th edition of the venerable Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), I redid the in-house style sheet for Transformative Works and Cultures, just in time for the production team to start work on the
[META] Fan fiction as play
Our guest blogger this week is: Susanna Goodin, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Philosophy Adjunct Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies University of Wyoming ~~~ No other type of writing does what fan fiction does: It allows the writer to play.
[META] Genre shift?
When I started reading fan fiction, around 2002, I ran across fan fiction of all ratings right away. I had vaguely heard of fan fiction and ‘zines as far back as the seventies, but I had never read any or
[META] Existing settings, existing characters
We are all familiar with the elements of fiction: plot, character, theme, setting, point of view. When a writer decides to set a story in San Francisco in 1980, or in Bonn in 1950, or in her home town the
