• Fan films tend to be a particularly difficult and time consuming type of fanwork given their collaborative nature, whether they are animated or live action. At least for some gamers though, the best sort of fanwork is that which creates new games, though having projects shut down after so much time and effort are always a concern. Perhaps this was why the site EuroGamer had to clarify an earlier story that suggested Microsoft was barring fanworks from utilizing Halo content. "The majority of everything the community makes currently is fine, as long as they are not basically running a big Halo-based business or using Halo as if the IP was its own property. That isn't a change to our policy, simply a clarification and update of the dry legal language, and as we've mentioned, even that 'new' language was actually updated months ago. We don't have squads of lawyers waiting in the wings to go after folks making machinima, or showing off their skills in Halo."
• Discussions such as these, which focus on content owner permission, tend to crop up with other fanworks as well, such as this take on a brand designer's house sigils for Game of Thrones. "Crescenzi's finished product, which comprises some 42 crests on a poster, is undeniably beautiful. However, he is selling them as prints, which somewhat alters the project from being a labor of love to a vehicle for profit. That makes us very curious to see GoT author Martin's take on them, as he is famously prickly about fan fiction, particularly where it concerns profit."
• Yet fans, too, can be concerned about focusing on creators, even when discussing other fanworks, such as this one on podfic vs. written fanfiction. As one fan quoted by the Daily Dot stated "'I wonder how the fic author feels about the fact that the podfic is apparently oh so special and famous (with the fic itself being apparently unimportant compared to the reader's performance)'.” Meanwhile, "Fans of podfic, feeling battered by arguments likening them to unoriginal plagiarists and bad cover artists, rallied with a podfic appreciation meme, where appreciative readers and other podficcers could praise podficcers in comments. "
• Another often unappreciated fan creation, albeit usually outside of fandom, is slash. At least one site though, After Elton, decided that it should be celebrated. "We were blown away by the internet explosion that was the Ultimate Slash Madness Tourney, and it occurred to us that a regular weekly column on the subject of slash might be a great fit for AfterElton. The name for such a column was easy: The Shipping News. The only catch was who to write it?...Even after reluctantly eliminating a dozen impressive submissions, we we're [sic] still left with five great people we wanted to work with. The happy solution we came up with was a weekly column penned by a rotating roster of slash experts." And the appreciation wasn't only by the AE site. As one of their contributors noted in the inaugural column, "Can we just take a moment to appreciate how many celebrities pimped their show's fave pairings in the AfterElton Ultimate Slash Madness Tourney? In addition to Misha Collins, Colton Haynes and the rest, we had John Barrowman and David Hewlett urging their fanbases to vote. Gone are the days when fans were on one side of canon and creators, producers, and actors were on the other."
• At least one fanwork that definitely got a place of honor recently was the AO3, which has had its kudos icon memorialized on a user's skin. Consider us chuffed!

If you're a slash lover, a fan film maker, a gamer, or have your own OTW-related tattoos, why not put together an entry on Fanlore? Contributions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, podcast, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent OTW Fannews post. Links are welcome in all languages! Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

Here's a roundup of fanfiction stories that might be of interest to fans:

• Two writers recently were concerned about our interests in imaginary (or at least imaginary to us) relationships. In The Guardian columnist Eva Wiseman noted the thin line between fanfic and gossip reporting and asked "As fan fiction goes mainstream, isn't it time to recognise how important daydreaming about the stars has become in our day-to-day lives?" Meanwhile at xo jane Kate Conway is concerned that being addicted to relationships as depicted in fanfic is causing her real-life problems. "A lot of this is my age, too. I’m still pretty young and I recognize that I’m definitely still pretty immature. That sort of long-lasting, across-the-universe, sci-fi-style love is the stuff of legends, and in your late teens and early twenties, isn’t that what everyone believes they’ll be? The mortal trappings of ordinary relationship problems can seem so dull by comparison."
• Media scholar Henry Jenkins hosted a four-part interview with the authors of the new book Fandom at the Crossroads: Celebration, Shame and Fan/Producer Relationships which included a discussion of hurt/comfort fanfic. Explaining why their approach included observations at fan conventions, author Kathy Larsen stated "One of the things that’s missed goes back to the idea of fan shame. You see it enacted at fan conventions where the actors are present – fans policing other fans, voicing their disapproval when certain fan practices are mentioned to actors. The fan fiction questions, for instance, are almost always booed. At one convention we attended someone had posted rules of behavior in the women’s room on all the stall doors. Fans want to get close, but they also want that gaze to work in only one direction for the most part. This isn’t something you’ll necessarily see if you’re only looking at fan interactions with other fans – or even fan reaction to fan/producer encounters posted online."
• Certainly any shame about writing fanfiction is diminishing as one author after another is quite publicly drawn from the fan ranks to get big publishing contracts. Teen writer Abigail Gibbs felt it was the way to go. "Writing via the website meant her work was shaped by her fans and Abigail says there are huge advantages to writing in this way. 'It allows you to build a fan base and to prove that your book is marketable and that it will sell and for me it's sped things up massively,' she said. 'It went from the deal to publication in two months, so yes, it’s definitely changed publishing for the better.'" Something she didn't mention arose in both an interview with NPR's three-minute fiction winner and an interview with E.L. James. "James talks about what happens when a hobby becomes a juggernaut and there's no way to get back to what was personal and fun, writing freely. 'It's really upsetting,' she says. 'I miss it enormously, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to do it again.'" Contest winner Carrie MacKillop, gave this advice to new contest participants: "I knew that there were already over 6,000 people that had entered. And I didn't think anyone would actually read my story. And I really wrote it from the heart with the idea that no one would read it. And that was a really effective thing for me to just go for it."

If you write from the heart, whether or not anyone reads your work, why not write something for Fanlore? Contributions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, podcast, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent OTW Fannews post. Links are welcome in all languages! Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

The Links Roundup posts are getting a new name! The Communications Committee has been using the #OTWFannews hashtag for them at Twitter for a while as it's a more distinctive name for the series and a clearer name for their content. OTW Fannews is meant to be a selective look at discussions of fandom, and issues affecting fans, in both traditional and non-traditional media venues. It also includes interviews where OTW staffers and volunteers have taken part, or discussions of the organization appear.

Here's a roundup of women in fandom stories that might be of interest to fans:

• CNN's Geek Out! blog ran an excerpt from Rob Salkowitz's book on the commercial side of pop culture. "Many of today’s best online comic and fantasy-genre news sites and discussion groups were started by, and remain powered by, women. Today, there are increasing numbers of proud girl geeks of all ages; I count myself fortunate to be married to one. Crowds at conventions and even some comics stores now reflect a much more equal gender balance. As for the comics industry itself, not so much." He concluded that the future of comics was likely to favor women. "Typically, female comics fans who speak out on this issue from a feminist perspective are roundly and rudely shouted down, sometimes from the podium. It’s hard to imagine a more self-defeating strategy for the long-run health of the industry. Women today are the loudest and most compelling voices in fandom; young girls are making some of the most popular self-published comics. Decades from now, Twilight will be fondly remembered (or ironically inflected) nostalgia for millions of middle-aged women, some of whom will be able to look back on the shared communal experience of sleeping out for days at Comic-Con and having had the time of their young lives."
• Tracey Sinclair at Fanboy Unleashed wrote about a recent round of geek credential checking and declared "There seems increasingly to be the idea that there is some level of arcane knowledge required to be a ‘proper’ geek, but only, of course, if you have a vagina. Nobody’s calling the guy dressed as Thor a fake – hell, it wouldn’t matter if he couldn’t spell Thor, nobody would think to question that he belonged there. But there is still an ingrained suspicion that girls aren’t really geeks – or, if they are, they should look a certain way, and dress a certain way. Dare not to fit into a category you had no input in defining, and you’re a ‘fake’." Writing for the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Aisha Sultan makes it clear that this treatment is not limited to geek fandoms or to adult women.
• Certainly women tend to get little support from content creation companies. While Ashley Eckstein's Her Universe company provides a stereotypically feminine product -- fashionable clothes -- her observation of the sexism behind the dearth of such material was all business. "'I think we are now starting to wake up and say 'no, we don’t want to deal with this anymore' and if we do speak up, people will listen and it’s becoming more accepted to like sci-fi from a social standpoint,' said Eckstein. 'We finally opened our mouths.'...According to Eckstein, a number of companies told her that female fans just aren't interested in and don't buy science fiction and similarly themed merchandise...'We said we'll prove you wrong,' asserted the actress, 'and we did.'"
• Some people seem to feel that if they can't stop the presence of women, they can stop voices supporting them from being heard. The Daily Dot reported that Sam Killerman's Gamers Against Bigotry website was hacked. "Where 1,500 people once pledged to curb their sexist, racist, Ableist, and homophobic language during gaming, hackers have inserted NSFW images like Goatse. Killerman said he’s been unable to restore the pledge page permanently, but users are continuing to sign it in the gaps between takedowns." Fortunately, panels at conventions are a little harder to disrupt, such as the Sexism in Anime Fandom panel at Otakon (no transcript available).

If you've been a woman in fandom, share your experiences at Fanlore! Contributions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup. Links are welcome in all languages! Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

The PBS production OffBook has created a new video about the spectrum of fannish behavior and motivations, and it features discussion from board members Francesca Coppa and Naomi Novik. The 7:20 minute video explores the diversity of fandom, the way its fanworks may challenge dominant views expressed in mass media, and fair use and its meaning for fans. The segment concludes with "Fandom lets many more people have a voice, and it lets many people tell stories that would otherwise not get heard." (No transcript available)

This video was released within days of two other discussions about fandom and society:

• Brett White writes in Comic Book Resources about women represented in comics and the vital role of women in fandom: "Women engage in fandom to levels that men do not. When women get behind something, their sheer numbers and passion force it into the mainstream." To that end he believes that "I want other people to be inspired. I'm a white male...I had my heroes who 'looked like me' and that I could identify with or aspire to be. I want girls to have that chance too. And as much as I want boys to see women as equals, I want girls to know that they don't have to identify with Disney Princesses or Really Cool Disney Channel Starlet if they don't want to. They can identify with Wasp and Invisible Woman or Kitty Pryde. They can be Stephanie Brown or Batwoman or Black Canary. They have as many awesome superheroes as their brothers do. Everyone needs female heroes as much as male ones."
• Richard Just wrote in The Daily Beast that as American culture becomes increasingly politicized and polarized that sports fandom may be a neutral meeting ground, and thus a vitally important space for discussion and common cause.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup. Links are welcome in all languages! Submitting a link doesn’t guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.