Guys: It’s time for the big reveal.
I’m getting Scarred published: in it’s entirety!
I don’t know much about it other than it’s going to be published by Sulis International Press, located in Los Angeles, California. I don’t know the cover page, the length, or when it’s coming out, but that information will be released as soon as decisions are made!
Thank you for following me so far and I hope to see you follow me as I keep working!
If you’ve ever been around the book-ternet, or if you are a die-hard fan of anything, chances are you’ve heard the word ‘fandom’. And in a fandom, there is likely to be fan-made content. Today we will be tackling a rather controversial subject: fanfiction.
Fanfiction can get a bad reputation sometimes. People can write some really nasty stuff, or some really graphic stuff, or some explicit stuff, and it’s 100% understandable if that’s why you choose to stay away from it.
But there is definitely an appeal to writing and/or reading it.
So, why is there such an appeal? There are three main topics I’m going to be discussing. First, the lack of fear of being ‘unoriginal’, secondly, the intrigue in continuing or adding to a story or a series of stories in your own words, and thirdly, the creative liberties associated with fanfic.
A lot of authors struggle with wanting to be ‘original’ and wanting to put their own unique twist on their stories that they choose to tell.
The good thing about fanfiction is that it allows you to let go of that fear.
On one hand, it does that because most of the base characters, base setting, base plot is already there. So writing fanfiction about these characters and places that people have already invented by default makes it unoriginal. And by writing and labelling it as fanfiction, everyone understands that while you may have written the words, the inspiration and names of things, and everything along those lines is from somewhere else.
On the other hand, people love to talk about specific tropes, or specific stylistic devices and preferences that are used, both in fanfic and in other forms of media. Some examples of this can be hurt-comfort, in which one character is hurt either physically or emotionally, and another character is comforting them in one way or another. Another example could be an AU or Alternate Universe, in which two or more characters are in a setting that isn’t from the original story, such as fantasy characters in a high school.
People like tropes because of many reasons, but one of the main reasons is because of the emotion it can make you feel. People who read fanfiction have already been attached to these characters and stories, and they want to see them in other situations, and read more stories with them.
These tropes have come into being and are recognizable because these people are writing more and more stories with these different events and things happening, and people enjoy them. So if you want to use a lot of tropes and are worrying if it’s ‘unoriginal’ … well, they’re tropes for a reason. People read things with these tropes in them for a reason.
Now onto my second point, which I touched on a little bit above, but it’s the fact that people who are attached to characters, where their stories may have ended, or maybe there’s a lot of time between books/movies, etc, people want to follow more stories with these characters. Live in the world that their favourite author has created. They want to go on emotional journeys with them for the first time again. They want the feeling that they had the first time they read the book and met the characters and their struggles.
But this time, fanfiction goes more in-depth and allows you to experience that which the authors have not yet written about.
My final point is that fanfiction isn’t limited to canon. Canon refers to things that the author/creator has explicitly stated are true in a fictional reality. For example, in the Star Wars universe, it is canon that Luke Skywalker comes from the desert planet of Tatooine.
But with fanfiction, you have the privilege to change, or add to, the story in any way you want. You can make Luke a regular high school student in California, or you can make Darth Vader turn good before the end. You can make anyone fall in love in any way you want. Add new planets, new aliens. And these are just some of the many, many possibilities that you can write about.
People who are unsatisfied with certain events, or didn’t like how the book/movie/show ended, or who wanted to see specific characters together, they have the freedom to change it (maybe not the original version but through the fanfiction they write, there’s the possibility of for a brief moment having the story turn out the way you want it to.
So there we have it! My thoughts of why fanfiction is so appealing and what makes it so interesting as a concept or as a form of media.
Do you read or write fanfiction? Do you agree or disagree with my points? Are there reasons that I may have missed? Let me know in the comments below, and subscribe (if you feel so inclined!)
Life is a story. How will you write yours?
Until next time,
Catherine Khaperska
Today I am going to be writing about my story as a writer and my story in the publishing world specifically. This story takes place over the course of several recent years and is not finished yet! If you want to read about my humble beginnings as a writer, let me know and I will gladly share that!
But this story begins with the first COVID-19 quarantine in March of 2020.
My friend and I were bored. For the sake of my friend’s privacy, they will remain unnamed. Our school work was coming in once a week, all at once, so we’d be spending the whole day working to get it done, then all the rest of the week would be a mindless, repetitive routine of staying home, not being able to see anyone outside of your household, and worrying about the whole pandemic thing going on.
So my friend suggests that maybe we should write a novel together. Something to keep us occupied and to keep our heads from turning into mush.
Of course, I said yes. And soon it became a daily routine that every day, in the evening, for an hour or so, we would call each other on Skype and talk, and write, and joke, and we both got things done and grew closer as friends.
And over the course of six months, March to August, we had finished fifty thousand words. We were twelve at the time. It was a great achievement for the both of us.
That was when I suggested that maybe we should send it in to a publisher. My friend said ‘okay’, so we researched publishers until we found one that we both liked and that was local. We sent our cover letter and first three chapters to Nevermore Press, a small publishing company located in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
Now all we had to do was wait two months.
On schedule, two months later, on November 2nd, 2020, came our reply. We were super excited. This was our first experience with publishing, and this would be the first serious email that would determine the future of our novel.
The email came from Ernest “Ernie” Hadley, the co-owner and editor from Nevermore Press. He congratulated us on completing our novel and told us that while he couldn’t publish our book just yet, he was willing to work with us on revising and editing our manuscript.
We were ecstatic. You’d expect us to be disappointed that our book wouldn’t be published, but it was completely the opposite. These publishers, who had seen many adults send their work in, who had many more years of experience with writing than we did, still were willing to put effort into working with us! At this point we would’ve been thirteen years old.
We accepted and were a hundred percent willing to work with these publishers. We knew very little about what was going to come out of it, but we were excited to see where it would take us.
After the text was edited and all seemed to be in order, we were beginning to think more of where the book would go after that. Would it be published? Would the editing be the end of our correspondence?
We were told that there was going to be a collection of stories published in a book, and the proceeds would go to support the SSPL (South Shore Public Libraries) Bookmobile project, which we were very excited about. A Bookmobile is basically a library on wheels for rural communities. It would be the first time our names would be in print next to our work!
Plans were put on hold when, in April 2021, Ernest, or “Ernie” as we called him, passed away. We were devastated. After months of work, and getting to build a relationship with him and Nevermore through our work, we were so, so upset to hear of his passing.
At this point we understood that Nevermore was going to be going through some major changes. So we took a long, long break from writing together. It wasn’t until July 2021 that we decided to email Annie, Ernie’s wife and co-owner of Nevermore Press, to ask what our next steps would be. We learned that the ownership would be transferred to Jayme Spinks, who had been working as production manager before Ernie’s passing.
So we emailed Jayme and were told that they wouldn’t be able to work with us to publish our book. However, the first chapter would still be published in the SSPL Bookmobile collection fundraiser, and we would be notified when it came out.
That seemed to be the end of our correspondence. Me and my friend began a second book in the series, but our writing period was much more sporadic as we got busy with school and what meagre extracurriculars we could do as the pandemic went on.
I kept writing. My friend unfortunately gave up the project last year. We agreed that I will take full ownership of the project, and I am grateful that I had the experience of working on it together. I love the characters we’ve created and I am still incredibly proud of what twelve-year-old me was able to accomplish with the time, resources, and experience I had. I am still working on it in hopes that it will eventually get published.
I was sending my book to other publishers, trying to see who would pick up the project. I got very little replies, but was determined to get my debut novel out there.
In October of 2022, the night of my school’s Haunted Halls Halloween event, I got another, unexpected email from Jayme. Turns out, the SSPL Bookmobile fundraiser book was finally out, and I was invited to the book launch! I could barely contain my excitement.
The book is called ‘Inside’, and it is an anthology full of stories from Nova Scotian authors, specifically around the South Shore and Lunenburg area. There is really no feeling quite like seeing your name in print on a book cover, or inside one (get it?). I don’t think I can ever get used to that feeling.
Now here we are in 2023. I have many plans for Scarred. To quote Ernie:
“”As an editor, you hope somewhere along the line you’ve helped save someone’s career. These two are writing at a level beyond their age and I really hope they stick with it.””
I’ve stuck with it. I’m still sticking with it. I don’t plan to stop writing, ever. Without Ernie’s and Nevermore’s help, I likely would not be where I am today.
If Scarred does end up published, the first page will read:
“For Ernest Hadley. Thank you for seeing the potential in Scarred and thank you for your dedication to working on this project.”
Until next time,
Catherine Khaperska
Catherine Khaperska 