The Fanfiction Forum E-zine ~ December 2008
Wrapping it up
mistysakura
It's the last issue of the Fanfiction E-zine for the year, and we have a bumper issue for you! 2008 has been an eventful year indeed. It saw the introduction of the Fanfiction Hall of Fame, with its first two worthy inductees, mr_pikachu and Gavin Luper. Writing Sprints were also introduced, and saw great popularity thanks to their spontaneity and (at times) silliness. Following darktyranitar's resignation, a new mod is being chosen -- hopefully there will be some surprises in store. Fanfic traditions, such as the Trivia Game, e-zines and writing contests were also maintained in 2008; in particular, the 2008 Silver Pencils were a success, with Dragonfree claiming the coveted Awards Award. But there's plenty more to 2008! Thanks to member suggestions, the 2008 Golden Pencils have been overhauled, and nominations are underway. Hopefully, we will also be reviving Project SS (what is Project SS, I hear you ask?) and making preparations for a TPM poetry anthology. Thanks to all for a great year, and Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/non-denominational consumerism extravaganza.
This issue brings to you:
Conversations with the Stars ~ PancaKe
Lady Vulpix
~ Poetry Spotlight: Trap~
Gavin Luper
State of the Art ~ What are our writers up to?
Lady Vulpix
To Be a Master
mistysakura
Enjoy!
Conversations with the Stars ~ PancaKe
Lady Vulpix
Lady Vulpix: How long have you been writing?
PancaKe: Gosh. Since as long as I can remember.
Since I was a little kid, I was like "yeah I'm going to be an author!"
Lol, I used to make up book titles, and pretty much plagerize. I'd make up all these story titles for Goosebumps, but I'd call them like something else lame, like "Scary Shivers" or something hahaha.
Typical 6 year old stuff.
Lady Vulpix: Plagiarism is typical 6-year-old stuff? That's an interesting concept.
PancaKe: haha.well - it was pretty much plagerism. although you could call it fanfiction LOL.
I'm not sure how goosebumps fanfiction works though ^__^
Lady Vulpix: You can write fanfiction of just about anything. Take some aspect of it (the world, a set of characters, the physics, etc.) and build from there. I guess you could write fanfiction of one of the stories from Goosebumps.
Copying the plot, now, that's plagiarism.
PancaKe: haha I pretty much copied the plot just gave it a new title. I was such a clever 6 year old
Lady Vulpix: Hehe.
So how did you evolve from plagiarism to fanfiction?
PancaKe: I don't know. I guess I went from copying and slightly tweaking goosebumps titles when i was sixx, to coming up with my own ideas and writing stories in year 3 and 4.. so I would've been like 7 - 9ish... and then I got really into Pokemon when I turned 10, and it was a great thing to write about! Ahhh so many stories that I handed into school written about pokemon! :]
Lady Vulpix: Really? How did your teachers react to them?
PancaKe: Some were great ; they gave me like A+++ and stuff. Although now I know that's not a real mark, it was still fun to recieve.
There was a point where one teacher said we weren't allowed to use other ideas from things... that made me so mad. So I just used all the Tekken characters and hoped I wouldn't get caught. LOL.
But she asked me "ummm did you copy this from somewhere?" And I was like "well I got ideas for characters from a game..." which is TRUE... but I don't think she was crazy about it. haha.
Lady Vulpix: Heh. I bet that must have been annoying. But it's good to know how to create your own worlds too, isn't it?
PancaKe: Yeah. Although in some of my stories I still borrowed worlds from here and there! Haha. I think at the end of the day, regardless of whether you borrow the worlds or characters names etc, they eventually become your creations.
Lady Vulpix: Hmm... that could be interpreted in different ways. In a way, it makes sense. In another, it sounds like stealing.
I assume you meant the former, right? Or are we exploring the dark recesses of PancaKe's soul? ;-)
PancaKe: haha. Perhaps we are. ^_^
Maybe everything I've ever created is a form of stealing from thousands of other stories and combining them into one. Which, in a sense, is what I feel like I'm doing every time I write. But that's okay. Appropriation, not plagerism
Although I do feel rather evil now. Mwahahaha
Lady Vulpix: Hehehe.
Still, your stories must be more original than you give them credit for. Otherwise how do you explain the success of Lapras Valley High and its variants (and even spin-offs)?
PancaKe: Like, yeah. They are original to a certain extent. But everything is only original to a certain extent. Nothing is original anymore. There have been werewolf legends around for centuries. It's not like I invented those, or pokemon. And I guess I gathered inspiration from other stories such as Harry Potter, random anime's, etc.. Liked the sound of Sweet Valley High as well , so turned that
into Lapras Valley High. hahaha my secrets are out!
And all in all, the ideas of LVH came from the RPG that we had. It was such a fun RPG, I barely remember it or how it went. I just remember that I liked some of the ideas and things that happened in the RPG and I was like, yeah I'm going to write a story about this.
And it kinda took a life of its own from there. Yeah
Lady Vulpix: Speaking of Sweet Valley High... I've heard of a few people who took a while to read LVH because they were afraid there was a connection.
PancaKe: LOL are you serios? that is the funniest thing ever. Oh goodness. Were you one of them by any chance?
Lady Vulpix: Hehe. No, I wasn't. I first heard of LVH from a third party and heard such good comments that I felt I had to read it.
PancaKe: awww *blushes*
I reread it the other day. I laughed so hard at all my stupid speling errors. And all the things that I was into when I was a kid, I could see in that story (like skateboarding).
Lady Vulpix: Have your tastes changed much since then?
I recall you mentioning that a room filled with Christian skaters was like heaven to you.
PancaKe: Yeah. I got over skateboarding pretty quick - probaly when i realised i couldn't do it!
LOL. I'm still a Christian. But the whole skating thing was a pretty big phase.
Lady Vulpix: And you're not threatening people with eternal damnation anymore, right?
PancaKe: HAHAHA i wasn't very gentle back then.
Being gentle is something I'm defently working on.
Lady Vulpix: You have made another strange achievement. You've interrupted stories and started reposting them from chapter 1 at least twice while still maintaining your readers interested. How did you do that?
PancaKe: I have?! LOL!
Lady Vulpix: You don't remember? O_O
PancaKe: Are we still talking about LVH?
Lady Vulpix: Both LVH and Full Moon.
PancaKe: oh.
LOL full moon.
Yeah. I am STILL attempting to write that
It's my focus for NaNoWriMo.
But I get the feeling it's just not going to work.
I'd love it to. I really would. But Maybe I should just move on and get some new ideas . haha
Lady Vulpix: Really? I thought I'd never get to see how it ended!
PancaKe: haha I'll write it just for you
Lady Vulpix: Aww. ^_^
PancaKe: yeahh lol haha im still laughing about full moon. i wonder where my original copy of that went.
but anywya
Lady Vulpix: Back to the present (or at least more recent past), what inspired you to write Hunted?
PancaKe: Hmmm...
Hunted is a two part story - mainly inspired by force i guess.
It was an assignment for Writing Fiction.
Lady Vulpix: A course I wish I could take...
PancaKe: And I was sitting there in class, and the idea kind of just, came to me? I had been toying with a few ideas, but this one arrived and I was like "here we go!"
Oh its really good. It was my favourite subject!
Lady Vulpix: I can see why.
PancaKe: and yeah I dont know... I sort of wanted to experimetn with the idea of the bad guy ...
cos we had to write from two perspectives. so I didn't want it to be "mwaha i am the evil guy" vs "i
"i'm the innocent person"
i wanted each person to rightfuly be the good guy in their own eyes... does that make sense?
Lady Vulpix: It does, and I think you've done a great job in that respect.
PancaKe: And yeah. that and once i shared my ideas, all my uni friends were like "GO WATCH HEROES" and so i watched episode one and was ike "ahh interesting."
awww thanks gabbi!
Lady Vulpix: I say what I think. As for Heroes... it did remind me of that. That would explain the powers.
How did it feel to come back to TPM after such a long absence?
PancaKe: Fantastic!
Because I had been trying to come back for a while. But my account got banned cos it got hacked or something. I bitched about it on msn to Andy and he fixed it for me! And yeah. Gosh it feels different, yet the same. Like coming home after a long period of time.
It's hard to explain. It's like, a community. A sort of family (not to get too mushy) but you grow to just know and accept these people. And there are people on tpm that i've known or seen around for years and it's awesome to come back and either get to know them better, or just go back to the way things were.
Yeah. So long answer short - it's great.
Lady Vulpix: Would you say many things changed on TPM since you left?
PancaKe: Ummm...
Some things have, some things havent. Activity has decreased, but that has been dropping since 2005 , so that wasn't a major thing I noticed. Some people have changed, there are few new faces, ...
All in all, the majority is still the same though. It's really quite refreshing. I feel like we've all grown up together
aww here i go getting all mushy
Lady Vulpix: :-D
PancaKe: yeah
I like that I came back and everyone was like hey sup you!
I never had any enemies which was nice. Although, I don't have a fierce enough personality to have enemies on tpm. :]
Lady Vulpix: You never know... there are people who will just point at the first person they cross paths with and make him/her their enemy.
But yes, you've always had a good reputation on TPM.
How did it all begin anyway? Now it feels like you've always been an important part of the community.
PancaKe: Haha. Really? I never really felt like an important part of the community outside of fanfic.
I enjoyed reading and writing, and so i stayed there. I've never really had opinions as such, and so I didn't really have anything to say in misc or any topics to post etc. So I kind of just always played nice and I'm not really sure why people think that i'm an important part. I'm not complaining though! haha It's nice to hear that , it really is but like, I never really did anything to earn it