Sara's 10 fanfics

I, Artemis, is the first chapter of Artemis, Lady of the Hunt, a fanfic story based on Greek mythology. Centering on Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting, the author begins with a short back-story; giving insight into how the other Gods view Artemis. Through the premise of a winter solstice meeting of the Gods, Artemis then offers her personal bias on each one of them, from Apollo to Hades. This gives the reader an insight into the psyche of the character by her opinion of others. Although slightly tiresome to read a personal opinion on an assortment of characters, they give vital information for which the rest of the story rests on. The ‘everyday’ life of a Greek God is played out, including power plays, friendships, and feelings of insecurity and anger as strong as any humans.

Quarantine is a short piece of crossover fanfiction between the worlds of The Mighty Boosh and Red Dwarf. The majority of the work is a dialogue between the two main characters of The Mighty Boosh, Howard Moon and Vince Noir. It is only revealed at the end that they are on the spaceship of Red Dwarf, which is the only Red Dwarf mention in the story. However, the dialogue is well-written and stays accurate to the characters, while managing to be humourous.

The Wind is a piece of fanfiction about the movie Almost Famous, from the point of view of main character Penny Lane. It incorporates the lyrics to the namesake song by Cat Stevens, to an inner dialogue of the character, musings as she lives her life as a rock n roll ‘band aid’. The lyrics fit well into the ‘flow’ of the story, giving extra significance to words following them. The dialogue is written as a flow of consciousness, making it easy to relate to. The author captures the tone of the movie and the character of Penny Lane, through well-realised language that combines her whimsy and emotions.

Animal Farm Journal Entries and Poem is a fanfic piece based on the novel Animal Farm. It includes three journal entries from the point of view of the character Benjamin, a poem about the events of the novel, and a diary entry from the point of view of the character Moses. The poem is a well-written overview of the events of the novel, however both the journal and the diary are too jarring to read, and would benefit greatly from some editing by the author. Too many linking words take away the impression of trains of thought, which is what they are supposed to be. The hand of the writer is too evident in the crafting of the words.

Fidelity is a fanfic inspired by the author’s belief in the bible. A dentist’s waiting room is the catalyst for a Christian and an atheist to have a conversation about religion, faith and evolution. It is written from the point of view of the atheist, with a short introduction of the Christian observing the atheist in the office. The woman’s evolutionary beliefs are challenged by the disheveled Christian man, who is hinted at as being an angel. The author gives a good sense of who the characters are by well-observed description of how they interact. Whether a reader’s beliefs align with the character of the atheist or the Christian, it is a well-observed story that gives food for thought.

Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare is a fanfiction based on the movie (500) Days of Summer, focusing on the two main characters having a chance encounter three years after the movie concluded its story. The movie ended with Tom, heartbroken over ‘girlfriend’ Summer’s decision to end their unconventional relationship, start to rebuild his life after the discovery that Summer is to be married, and also shows the potential for a new relationship. This fanfic captures the slight awkwardness of their first encounter since then. The author manages to say a lot about the relationship with little information, and the characters come to life quite vividly. The development of the character of Autumn from scratch, who only appeared in the movie briefly, is very well done, and contrasts nicely with the character of Summer. However, this work could use some editing in the non-dialogue parts, to make it flow better.

Inevitable is fanfic about the television show Green Wing, and shows characters turning up hung-over the morning to work after a big night. The author captures the very particular comedic tone of the show surprisingly well, with surrealist elements shown through this mainly dialogue-based work. However, the way the work is laid out, with lots of singular lines, with a lack of commas to give rest to the reader, gives it a rushed tone that could be augmented by some editing. It does however; suggest the author would have adeptness for script-writing.

Sense of reality is based on the television series Black Books. It is the first chapter in a series about what happens when the characters of Bernard, Manny and Fran accept an offer to take part in a reality show, filmed at the Black Books shop. The author has a habit of following most lines of dialogue with descriptions of what the characters are doing or feeling, taking the focus off the dialogue, which is where the potential for humour lies. It takes on narrative structure like a book, or some kind of drama. However, the artistic license is well-used to express the spirit of the characters from the show, humour or no humour.

Glue is a short and snappy piece of writing about the IT Crowd. It involves an incident in which the character of Jen returns to the basement to find her workmates Moss and Roy have had a mishap with some superglue. It is a short piece of writing about an incident, and does not contain extraneous information apart from the dialogue, which puts all the more focus on the funny dialogue. Editing down work seems to be a hard skill to master, but it is very beneficial to works based on television shows.

The Switch is based on the television series The Mighty Boosh. It is the first of many chapters following the main characters as they go on a magical adventure, reminiscent of an actual episode. This work is extremely well-written and engrossing, balancing both abstract and concrete descriptions which bring it vividly to life. It is written in such a way as it could be a book, or a very detailed script for filming. All aspects of this fanfiction are great.