Fan Fiction

Last evening Seumas and I watched 'How did Sherlock Holmes Pave the Way for 50 Shades of Grey', on the PBS Idea Channel, on YouTube (I know, I can barely understand that sentence myself).  Anyway, it was about fan fiction, something I think very little about, and admittedly, not very highly of either.  In his piece, Mike states 'in order to understand the fan fiction writer, we must become the fan fiction writer'.
This thought must have been swirling around in my head on the way home today.  I was in the middle of telling Alasdair (and Beatrix I suppose, but I may have already bored her to sleep by this point) yet another Super Mario Bros. story.  This one just so happened to be about Bowser trying to sink the Staten Island Ferry so that he could have all the cars on board for himself to race a la MarioKart.  Almost every car ride we take these days starts out with some such story request.  'Mommy can you tell a Lightening McQueen story (or Too Tall Gang story or Robocar Poli story)?' I then start 'Once upon a time', and he interjects 'Not too fast,' and I repeat 'Not too fast' because if I don't he keeps repeating 'Not too fast, mommy' with increasing agitation until I do.

Well, I'm sure you can see where I'm going here, but half way across the French Fry bridge, the realization struck me: 'Oh my god, I am a fan fiction writer'. Well, perhaps a failed fan fiction writer.  Fan fiction writers bring worlds back to life, trying to stay true to the laws of the universes created by the original authors.  I try to do this too.  I try to make sure that every detail is true to the universes created by John Lasseter and Stan and Jan Berenstain, and although I cannot understand a word of Robocar Poli, I put in an effort there too.  But every once in a while I dig myself into a big, old imaginary hole and I can't think fast enough to get out.  But then I realize, I don't need to stay true to that universe, I can push outside its bounds.  And most of the time I get away with it.  I'll admit I have taken things too far a few times, and the believability quotient of my stories has dipped below the three year old threshold... 'mommy, how did Lightning McQueen kick the soccer ball?'  And sometimes what makes a story most unbelievable to a three year old really demonstrates the things that are most important in their three year old universe.  I once told a story about Francesco Bernoulli, only he had wings and was flying around Bear Country.  He was even going to take Brother and Sister Bear for a ride through the skies.  But my yarn was called into question, not because of the flying race car in the Berenstain Bear's world, but because I was sending the bear cubs on this adventure without their mommy and daddy.  That was where I crossed the line.

Mike from PBS says fan fiction is 'considered amateur, poorly constructed and exciting only to dedicated fans'.  And in my case, I couldn't agree more, especially the part about the dedicated fan.