Fan authors who write pro fic?

[norwich36]

I was saying to rsadelle the other day that when I was recently in a bookstore trying to spend a gift certificate I got for my birthday, I couldn't really find anything that looked interesting to me, as I am so spoiled by fanfic actually giving me all the tropes and kinks I like exactly as I like them. I mentioned that I was tempted to buy the works of a renowned fandom plagiarist, just because I figured her stories would have a fannish sensibility so I would be more likely to enjoy them than other random genre fic. (She strongly discouraged me from doing that, btw).

In the course of that conversation, it occurred to me that it would be really handy to have a list of names of fannish authors who write pro-fic, to assist in my search for pro-fic I actually like. Does such a list exist? If not, would you mind commenting with suggestions on this post? I'm not looking for you to out authors' fannish identities--I'm sure many of them want to keep their fandom and pro identities separate--so the name they publish under is what I'm really looking for. So, for example, just say "Naomi Novik, (or "Naomi Novik's Temeraire series") not the fannish name everybody knows her by.

Comments

[ghostrunner7.livejournal.com]

Jaida Jones? I've never actually read any of her published work, but I know she's in fandom.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[yaycoffee.livejournal.com]

Is she one of the ladies behind the shoebox project? I didn't know she was a Real Author now. Totally looking her up! :-)

[jamafanta.livejournal.com]

Are you familiar with Maya, from the HP fandom? She's a pro author (see sarahtales) and her Demon's Covenant series is just gorgeous to the nth degree. Seriously, I've read it a stupid number of times. I would say her years of fanfic writing (and feedback!) gave her a serious leg up in the world of pro writing.

[yaycoffee.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest the same thing. Am reading the 2nd one now... So awesome :-)

[jamafanta.livejournal.com]

I bought the second one as soon as it came out, but the first put me in such a mess of anticipation for the rest of them that I waited until I had #3 before reading #2 :).

[yaycoffee.livejournal.com]

I've had this second one for a year... I got it Right Away when it came out, but then I bought a house that needed a lot of renovation, so I haven't read anything (I had like five shiny new books) until things have finally slowed down this summer :-) I liked the first one, but I sometimes found it a little slow-ish in parts... but overall really liked it. This second one is so much more of what I really expect out of Maya--I cannot stop laughing... the banter is FANTASTIC. Maybe it just took a book to establish world-building and such. Or maybe I just like the POV better? IDK... all I know is that I am Loving. It.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Oh, now these go up to the top of my list--thanks!

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I haven't, and these sound very interesting--thanks for the rec!

[elizah-jane.livejournal.com]

Lately I've been reading a bunch of stuff from Less Than Three Press. I think the women who run it all started out in fandom, so it's sort of original m/m fiction with fannish sensibilities. Specifically, I really like pretty much everything I've read from Megan Derr, and they have an ongoing Fairy Tale series that's pretty awesome.

[jamafanta.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yes! I agree, I love everything by Megan Derr. They've had the occasional misses by the other authors, but everything by her is golden.

[elizah-jane.livejournal.com]

Yes! I have been working my way through all her stuff. I've read a bunch of her short stories, and then I read "Bound" and the bulk of "Dance in the Dark" straight through.

I also like what I've read by Sasha L. Miller, but I've only read her short stories, so I don't know how her novels hold up.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Excellent--I will check them out. Thanks!

[askmehow.livejournal.com]

Off the top of my head, there are Sarah Rees Brennan, Claudia Gray and Cassandra Clare. I'm sure there must be so many more, though.

[...] as I am so spoiled by fanfic actually giving me all the tropes and kinks I like exactly as I like them.

This is a problem I've been having while reading pro-fic recently; I often find myself thinking, "I've seen this trope handled better in fanfic." I'm so glad someone thought to make a list of fanfic-writers-turned-pro!

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly--I hate when I'm reading a book I paid for thinking "nearly anyone on my flist who writes can do this better." And this way I'm not only finding fic I enjoy, I'm contributing to the support of fan authors. Win-win.

Thanks for the recs!

[pepperjackcandy.livejournal.com]

I believe that Diane Duane, writer of the Young Wizards series, is/was a fanfic author.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to remember if I knew that or not. I think I've read everything she's ever published.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

As it happens, this is true. :)

...Of course, at the time I'd never heard of fanfic, and didn't know that such a thing even existed. (I simply thought of it as writing.) In fact, I didn't find out about fanfic until way later, after I was eighteenish. So I guess the question that arises is kind of like the one about the tree falling in the forest where there's no one to hear. If you commit fanfic without you or anyone else knowing that's what you're doing, is it really fanfic...?

(Then again, this is possibly way too philosophical for me to attempt being until I've had some caffeine.) :)

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

That's actually a very good question, especially in the context of this post, since I think what I probably like about fanfic comes out of community norms and prevalent writing styles. On the other hand, though I am not myself a writer, I always used to imagine myself into different universes (Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.) and I imagine that's the genesis of a lot of fanfic, especially for people who don't have ready access to a fandom community, so those stories must count as fanfic, I think.

Thanks for commenting! While you are here, I have to say that The Wounded Sky is still my favorite ST novel of all time, and I also really loved the Rihannsu stories; I'm a huge fan of the Young Wizards' series; and I'm pretty sure The Door into Shadow had a pretty profound impact on my religious worldview, back in college, in addition to giving me an addiction to fantasy novels with kickass heroines.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

I'm delighted that you liked TWS! Thanks for the nice words.

...I feel compelled to say one thing in passing: that if I'm the writer I am, it's because I make a point to read something every month that I think I will not like. I've stumbled across some of the most amazing things this way. Reading strictly inside your comfort zone may leave you feeling, well, comfortable... but there's a lot "more and better waiting outside the zone."

Caffeine time now again... :)

[par-avion.livejournal.com]

Seanan McGuire / Mira Grant (same author, different series).

I've enjoyed what I've read of the Rosemary & Rue series. The books by Mira Grant are post-zombie apocalypse, which isn't really my thing, but I've been told there isn't much zombie stuff so maybe I will read them.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Yeah, zombie apocalypse isn't really my thing either, but thanks for the recs--I will check out the Rosemary and Rue series.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

Karen Healey's Guardian of the Dead.

Also: Melissa Scott, Jo Graham, and Martha Wells.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And wow, I had no idea Melissa Scott was a fangirl.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

:)
Check out last November's TWC. There's an interview with the three of them being pro, tie in and fan writers.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I only had time to skim this today, but reading what she had to say about Star Trek tie-in novels reminds me that I feel like I grew up reading fanfiction--Star Trek fanfic, precisely--because the tie-ins in the early 80s were often by former fangirls, but unfortunately when TNG came out they tightened the reins and the stories started to suck. (Dear Paramount: if you wonder why booksales went down, it is NOT because you needed pro authors, it's because you made the novels completely awful when you took away people's ability to do interesting things with the characters and plot.)

[sabershadowkat.livejournal.com]

Tory Temple (http://www.torytemple.com/index2.php). She was a fan-ficcer who now writes professional slash.

I would also recommend Elisa Vesperis' Dark Lord Seeks Friendship, Maybe More (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6149452-dark-lord-seeks-friendship-maybe-more) for a fandom-type of professional slash. It's a hoot and a half.

Both can be bought through Torque Press as an ebook or in bound copy.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the recs!