Fanfic – short for fan fiction – is anything written by one author that is playing in another author’s universe.  Fanfic exists for everything: cheap genre fiction, reality TV, classic literature, Broadway musicals, real people.  Hell, Chaucer’s Troilus and Cressida had published fanfic spinoffs back in the way way back. 

A huge part of fanfic is wish fulfillment: taking ownership of or inserting oneself into a story.  This results in a lot of slash fiction.  Slash fanfic focuses on relationships, and let’s stop beating around the bush, sex.  Lots of sex.  Not all fanfic is slash, but it is unsurprising, given Fanfic After Dark‘s title and 11pm start time, that our 5 authors start – and finish (ha!) – here.

There’s a bit of me that likes the politics of the design: the simple staging and podium reminiscent of readings from ‘legitimate’ authors.  Even better, though, the chairs for the authors waiting for their turn to read are at the front as well, letting the audience watch them react to each other’s stories.  Given the explicit content of the stories, watching the authors respond – with hilarity, incredulity and wonder – is the best part of the night. 

First story of the night is from Sasha Tilly, who offers some Sweet Valley University fanfic.  Like what I remember of the Sweet Valley High books (I only read part of one – they just did not capture my interest), the plot is completely non-nonsensical.  It is unashamedly pornographic; basically a random series of increasingly debauched — but always naïve and joyful — sexual encounters with character names dropping.  Given the reactions of some of the young women in the room, though, Tilly is picking those characters well.  It’s silly and fantastical (or maybe phantasical?), and gets the crowd warmed up nicely. 

James Nokise offers what might be the most bizarre fanfiction ever as the second reader.  His Drake-ula combines the plot of Bram Stoker’s Dracula with pop culture references (Mina Minaj! Bwah!) and somehow also manages to critique the spread of misogyny in both Gothic literature and hip hop culture.  The mash-up creates some delightfully goofy WTF moments, such as Little Jonathan having to defeat the Carpathian sisters – Khloe, Kim, and the other one – by swiftly marrying and then divorcing them, or Taylor Swift being bonked by a giant wolf penis.  It’s strange and surprising and weird and kind of great. 

Jean Sergent offers what might be my favourite reading of the night – a short story detailing one very special night for Mrs Danvers, the creepy housekeeper from Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca.  Having waded through that interminable excuse for a Gothic psycho-thriller in university, I’m pleasantly surprised by Sergent’s story. 

The scope is quite small compared to the stories before – a grieving Mrs Danvers’ walks down a hallway past the portrait of her dead mistress (in the employer sense) to a bedroom, where she has an encounter that allows Mrs Danvers and Rebecca’s ghost to become mistresses in the sense we’re all thinking of.  The writing tone matches the original, and Sergent’s use of architecture and weather as metaphor for Mrs Danver’s passion is exquisitely Gothic. As is her reading.

Sergent’s husky voice embraces every sensual turn of phrase – and there are many.  Her story and performance are genuinely sexy and exciting.  AND the story is plausible given the world of the novel.  For me, this is fanfic at its best; taking ownership of a story and revealing the invention we all have as readers and interpreters of text; sharing that invention in a way that deepens and enriches the original story for everyone who reads the fanfic.  It’s enough to convince me to give Rebecca a second chance and see if either it or I have improved in the last ten years.

Lucas Neale comes next, with the first crossover fiction of the night, and our only first-person narrative.  His Harry Potter-Narnia-Lord of the Rings story has Harry going through the Narnia wardrobe and winding up in Frodo’s house.  Harry’s loneliness and Frodo’s unresolved yearnings for Sam lead pretty much where you’d expect.  While the writing is engaging, Neale has a tendency to mumble into the podium, and I have trouble hearing him sometimes, undermining some of the most interesting moments. 

Wrapping things up is Jennifer O’Sullivan, which makes me wonder if she’s getting any sleep this Fringe given the number of shows she is in.  Her Darcy/Wickham slash is a little uneven, perhaps because it is co-written. At times the language usage is incredible, playing up the contrast between the sexual content and Austen’s oh-so-precise witty prose.  It’s sophisticated, hilarious, and sexy.  At other times, it is just a little flat.  But her enthusiasm for this unlikely partnership is infectious.

At the end of the night, I hear O’Sullivan say, “I wrote a story!” with incredible delight, and that’s something I love about fanfic generally. The creators of these stories care, often deeply, about the things they’re writing about. Playing around with these existing creations allows people to stretch their own creative muscles. And when you take such a talented group of entertainers and storytellers and give them the toys to play with, everyone has fun. I know I did.

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