Monday 28 January 2013

NEW YEAR-NEW LOVE WRAP UP...and new challenge announced - WE LOVE LOVERS!

Hello my lovelies!

First off a big thank you to all who participated in RFW's first Challenge of 2013, New Year-New Love. This challenge was about moving forward; leaving a relationship or life that wasn't panning out, and opening our MC to the realm of possibility. I admit when I came up with this concept I was thinking along the chic-lit lines of boldly re-entering the dating world and taking all the opportunities by storm.

I was more than a little impressed with the unique directions the authors ventured into: a couple of life after death renewals, a death as a new beginning, a warning to avoid death with a new life abroad, acceptance of the inevitable, a trip to the past to view the beginning, and a few totally new and unexpected beginnings.

Overall, I think each entry reached the goal of forward movement, as even when our characters were looking into the past, they were learning from the experiences and committing to a new future.  Well done on capturing the theme.


Moving forward into February's Challenge, I'm sure you can guess RFW will be looking for true romance. But not just Any romance; we want you to write a fan-fiction involving your FAVORITE romance couples. As examples: Heathcliffe/Kathy, Rhett/Scarlett, Edward/Bella, Christian/Anastasia, Mr Darcy/Elizabeth, Rick/Ilsa, Jack/Rose, Katniss/Peeta...ad infinitum.

Some of you may be asking "what the heck is fan-fiction?"  I had to do a little research to familiarize myself with this writing style myself. According to Wikipedia: "Works of fan fiction are rarely commissioned or authorized by the original work's owner, creator, or publisher; also, they are almost never professionally published. Because of this, many stories often contain a disclaimer stating that the creator of the work owns none of the characters."

Media scholar Henry Jenkins explains in his article on Transmedia Storytelling: The encyclopedic ambitions of transmedia texts often results in what might be seen as gaps or excesses in the unfolding of the story: that is, they introduce potential plots which can not be fully told or extra details which hint at more than can be revealed. Readers, thus, have a strong incentive to continue to elaborate on these story elements, working them over through their speculations, until they take on a life of their own. Fan fiction can be seen as an unauthorized expansion of these media franchises into new directions which reflect the reader's desire to "fill in the gaps"

The Urban Dictionary describes fan fiction as: ". . when someone takes either the story or characters (or both) of a certain piece of work, whether it be a novel, tv show, movie, etc, and create their own story based on it." (Perhaps think of the many takes on the Cinderella story.) And as: "Fiction written by fans for other fans about the fandoms that they like. Usually the author takes the characters and/or the setting of the fandom and writes a new or continuing plot."



FEBRUARY CHALLENGE



For February's Challenge, your hosts invite authors to write up to 1000 words of fanfiction involving your favorite romance couple from TV, movie, literature or historical accounts. Remember; your post MUST include a credit/link back to the original author/creator of the characters. Your link can be: a movie/book trailer, link to a purchasing site for the novel, magazine article or other author interview in which the characters are described by the originating author, wiki or IMB article; or anything that gives full credit to the creator.

Do your own research on fanfiction if needed, (the most famous recent example is Shades of Gray which is a fan fiction piece based on Edward and Bella from Twilight),  but aside from the linking requirement and 1k word count; anything goes, well...nearly anything.

If you have further questions regarding this prompt, leave a comment on this post, as it may help others who are wondering about the same thing. Of course, you are welcome to email Denise and Donna any time.

Have fun with the WE LOVE LOVERS challenge. The linky will open tentatively Wednesday, February 6, and close Sunday Feb 17 (Aussie time).



7 comments:

  1. I hope this proves to be a fun challenge for everyone.

    .....dhole

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  2. January 29th, 2013
    Dear Denise, Donna and other RFWers!
    I had never heard of 'fan fiction' until I read the submission rules for a writing contest: They did not want any fan fiction at all!
    I have decided which author and novel to use as a starting-point for my text. I am continuing my Swedish-theme; so my pair of lovers may not be that well-known to the greater English-speaking world. But the novel I have chosen has been translated into English a second time as late as in 2009. Can anyone guess who the author is?

    Hope I can get it done on time!

    Best wishes,
    Anna

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    Replies
    1. That sounds fabulous Anna. No, I cannot guess, but even if the characters are not that well known, they will be from a novel you enjoy, and characters not of your creation. It will be awesome Anna. I look forward to reading your efforts :)

      ........dhole

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    2. My guess is the Steig Larsson books?

      Just goes to show how much I know about Swedish authors. But these books I loved and own.

      I have to give this one more consideration, but once I get it in my head, something usually pops out! :)

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    3. Thanks for your encouragement, Donna! I will include a summery of the original story to help you all understand why I think we need to finish these lovers' story.

      Very good guess, Yolanda! Steig Larsson's books have recently been translated into English and are available now, as you have confirmed.

      I said that this novel has been translated a second time in 2009. (Actually this latest English translation is the third or fourth translation.) The first time it was translated into English was in 1894, not so long after the original Swedish was published in 1891.

      The author of this novel received the Nobel Prize in Literature 1909. Since 1992, this author's portrait is featured on the Swedish twenty-kronor-bill. (Sweden still has the krona; it never went over to the euro after joining the European Union.)

      A silent movie was made of this story in 1924. It was the debut for an actress who became a Hollywood legend.

      Can you guess now?

      Best wishes,
      Anna

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    4. Woo, you've got me guessing Anna!

      Delete
  3. Interesting theme this time. I will put my thinking cap on and see if I get inspired...

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