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F is for 'Fanfiction'

Wikipedia says, “Fan fiction or fanfiction is a type of fictional text written by fans of any work of fiction where the author uses established characters, settings, or other intellectual properties from an original creator as a basis for their writing.” Although in most cases, writing fanfiction is more than a hobby, there are a few authors for whom it remains a hobby. 

Harry Potter has spawned a lot of fan fiction. ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ comes to mind. Quoting again from Wikipedia, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a 2016 British two-part play written by Jack Thorne based on an original story by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Thorne. Previews of the play began at the Palace Theatre, London on 7 June 2016, and it premiered on 30 July 2016.” I remember reading terrible reviews of this book long back, but since I haven’t read it myself, I can’t really say what it is like.

Sherlock Holmes has also attracted legions of fans who continue to pen adventures in his name. I recall reading Sherlock Holmes in Japan by author Vasudev Murthy. He has also written Sherlock Holmes: The Missing Years- Timbuktu and others. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Vasudev Murthy and hearing him talk about his book Sherlock Holmes in Japan in 2013. Read my blog post on the subject here.




Agatha Christie stretched the life of her fictional detective Hercule Poirot to an estimated 120 years, but his avid fans will not let him die. There are numerous authors producing Hercule Poirot cases even now. A favourite ploy of fanfiction writers is to discover lost manuscripts after the original author has passed away. Another is to develop minor characters from the original works of eminent authors into heroes. Do you know of anyone who has tried to emulate the great bard?

People both read and write fanfic as a hobby. Some people pursue it as a profession. There are bound to be several groups on Facebook that cater to the reading and writing of fanfic. I’m not a member of any. Are you?

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  1. A Hundred QuillsApril 6, 2020 at 10:31 PM

    I'm not particularly easy trying fanfiction but I enjoy reading it nonetheless.
    Sonia from https://soniadogra.com

    ReplyDelete

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