Posted on by Dunc

Your fan fiction is not going to be published

Literary agent Colleen Lindsay was submitted a Star Trek novel. Her advice:

Do not EVER – under any circumstances – send an agent a query for a novel based on someone else’s characters or world. Just don’t.

As for this poor, ignorant person, I give them 1.5 Jareos.

For more on the subject, I refer you to several of our own professonals: Rodger McBride Allen, Karen Traviss, and Abel G. Peña. You might also want to check out Keith R.A. DeCandido’s post on the difference between profic and fanfic.

6 Replies to “Your fan fiction is not going to be published”

  1. However, if you want to write for TV, writing a spec script is so similar to writing fan fiction, I don’t know why this isn’t brought up more. If you have a script for an episode for Buffy, or Stargate, or Star Trek or Doctor Who, and it’s GOOD, you could catch the eye of a producer looking for new writers.

  2. I’d guess it has something to do with TV writing generally being more collaborative than novel-writing…?

  3. If you read the WGA magazine, many times writers will say they got their start writing fan fiction and then put those same stories into screenwriting format as a calling card to get their feet in the doors at “The Simpsons,” “Lost,” “Heroes,” “C.S.I.” and so on.

  4. That’s a really good point, Bonnie, never thought about it like that before. And to Star Trek’s credit, they had an open submission policy for The Next Generation — I can think of at least one episode (“Yesterday’s Enterprise”) which was done off a fan script. Obviously, some time has passed since then… but you really can’t fault Trekkies for still believing they’ve got a shot at getting their fanfic published.

  5. But what if we write the fanfic, then change all the names/places to original ones? ;)

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