Is the fan force stronger?

Over at Livejournal, the hotbed of fandom-as-I-know-it (Sorry, TFN) writer Keith R.A. DeCandido posted an interesting entry about the difference between fan fiction and tie-in (licensed) fiction, aka profic. Much of the fanfic community weighs in in the comments, and the result is a rarity – a “reasonable, civil discussion about the merits and/or lack thereof of fanfic,” to quote Kelly. And defensive fanfic fans, please note that “superior” is in quotes before knee-jerking.

Yearning for more? The folks over at Making Light had a truly epic discussion of fanfic (874 comments?!?) in the wake of last year’s Lori Jareo brouhaha.

But I wanna write a Star Wars novel!

It’s an infrequent yet irritating occurrence: Fan shows up on Star Wars novel forum saying they want to write a novel. Old fans sigh, roll our eyes, and tell him or her it’s not easy. Established authors. They call you. Write your own stuff, or fanfic, if you’re so set on Star Wars, etc, etc. One lucky fan on TFN gets replies from comic pros John Ostrander and Randy Stradley. Turns into a pretty interesting conversation.

Years and years ago, Corellian trilogy author Roger MacBride Allen wrote an article on this very subject. It’s still worth reading.