wonderful... :)
http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzkultur/0,1518,376285,00.html
Translation: (my comments are in [])
Gay Fanfiction
Harry Potter likes men
Millions of Harry Potter fans worldwide often aren't satisfied with the small doses in which new stories about their all-time favourite are provided. Many write themselves - and some turn the heterosexual junior magician into a gay youth.
What dangerous adventures must Harry Potter survive this time? Which (female) classmate will he give his first kiss? Will he manage to ultimately defeat the evil Lord Voldemort? Prior to the release of the sixth Harry Potter book [1. October for the German version] those questions are a burning issue to most of the Harry Potter fans. A vast majority of the Harry Potter fandom however couldn't care less. Instead, they imagine how Harry, finally all grown up [lol. they don't even mention chan...], leaves Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to act out his preferences in a homosexual cohabitation with his archrival Draco Malfoy.
"Draco's warm breath ran over his neck. In Harry's arms his body slowly relaxed as if he didn't want to give up that position ever again. Harry realised that this was the moment he felt more comfortable than ever before in his life." Self-evidently it's not the author of the Harry Potter books, Joanne K. Rowling, who writes such sentences. Those are written by anonymous authors who then put them online in the internet. The genre is called fanfiction, or in short, fanfic: there are millions of stories, each author has their own favourite character from books, TV shows, movies, around whom they weave their very own private phantasies. That ranges from Hamlet to Mickey Mouse, from short dialogues between marginal characters to whole novels. And for hundred thousands worldwide, said favourite character happens to be Harry Potter.
The site sugarquills.net for instance, is dedicated completely to Harry Potter. People from all over the world send their invented stories there. "For most of them it's simply exciting to write something that will actually be read and even garner reactions from online reviewers," says Jeannie Levine who brought sugarquills to life. Wannabe authors find themselves an elaborate universe with precisely defined characters: "That is a good starting point. We hope it to be a stepping stone for people who will at some point write their own stories," states the 33-year-old librarian who works at Maryland [state?] University.
Sugarquills pays minute attention to which stories remain on the site. A staff of 25 volunteers censor the stories, since many fanfic authors are matchmakers. Their only goal is to set two characters up with each other. Sugarquills censors accept this - as long as the stories don't get bogged down in drastic details. "If they fornicate on the sofa, the story's kicked out," says Levine determinedly.
Other pages are different in this respect. The whole purpose of the site restrictedsection.org for instance consists in describing where, when, with whom and, most importantly, how they do it. "I think it's not my job to determine how people get their kicks," says Vikkie Dolenga who founded restrictedsection.org in 2002. The 34-year-old customer consultant of a Chicago data processing enterprise decides that stories on the site are "erotic" and not pornographic. Restrictedsection.org counts 200,000 hits a day.
Oftentimes homosexual pairings between in fact clearly heterosexual characters are described - such as the liaison between Harry and Draco. Stories of that kind first appeared in the mid seventies: hot phantasies about a relationship between "Star Trek" captain Kirk and Mr Spock.
Of course, the inventors of those characters aren't too happy about such stories. Anne Rice for instance, author of "The Vampire Chronicles", wrote on her webpage: "The characters are under legal protection. The very thought of fanfiction about my characters totally upsets me." [that's translated back from German... I'm sure the original is out there somewhere]. Joanne K. Rowling is a little more liberal about it, as long as the stories aren't violent, blasphemic or sexually permissive. It's true that sites like restrictedsection.org have already received many C&Ds, but if they restrict access to adults over 18 via passwords they can simply continue running. "We're still there," triumphs Vikkie Dolenga, "although we'll never win an award for Best Harry Potter Story on the net."
--original article by Giles Hewitt, AFP.
Translation: (my comments are in [])
Gay Fanfiction
Harry Potter likes men
Millions of Harry Potter fans worldwide often aren't satisfied with the small doses in which new stories about their all-time favourite are provided. Many write themselves - and some turn the heterosexual junior magician into a gay youth.
What dangerous adventures must Harry Potter survive this time? Which (female) classmate will he give his first kiss? Will he manage to ultimately defeat the evil Lord Voldemort? Prior to the release of the sixth Harry Potter book [1. October for the German version] those questions are a burning issue to most of the Harry Potter fans. A vast majority of the Harry Potter fandom however couldn't care less. Instead, they imagine how Harry, finally all grown up [lol. they don't even mention chan...], leaves Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to act out his preferences in a homosexual cohabitation with his archrival Draco Malfoy.
"Draco's warm breath ran over his neck. In Harry's arms his body slowly relaxed as if he didn't want to give up that position ever again. Harry realised that this was the moment he felt more comfortable than ever before in his life." Self-evidently it's not the author of the Harry Potter books, Joanne K. Rowling, who writes such sentences. Those are written by anonymous authors who then put them online in the internet. The genre is called fanfiction, or in short, fanfic: there are millions of stories, each author has their own favourite character from books, TV shows, movies, around whom they weave their very own private phantasies. That ranges from Hamlet to Mickey Mouse, from short dialogues between marginal characters to whole novels. And for hundred thousands worldwide, said favourite character happens to be Harry Potter.
The site sugarquills.net for instance, is dedicated completely to Harry Potter. People from all over the world send their invented stories there. "For most of them it's simply exciting to write something that will actually be read and even garner reactions from online reviewers," says Jeannie Levine who brought sugarquills to life. Wannabe authors find themselves an elaborate universe with precisely defined characters: "That is a good starting point. We hope it to be a stepping stone for people who will at some point write their own stories," states the 33-year-old librarian who works at Maryland [state?] University.
Sugarquills pays minute attention to which stories remain on the site. A staff of 25 volunteers censor the stories, since many fanfic authors are matchmakers. Their only goal is to set two characters up with each other. Sugarquills censors accept this - as long as the stories don't get bogged down in drastic details. "If they fornicate on the sofa, the story's kicked out," says Levine determinedly.
Other pages are different in this respect. The whole purpose of the site restrictedsection.org for instance consists in describing where, when, with whom and, most importantly, how they do it. "I think it's not my job to determine how people get their kicks," says Vikkie Dolenga who founded restrictedsection.org in 2002. The 34-year-old customer consultant of a Chicago data processing enterprise decides that stories on the site are "erotic" and not pornographic. Restrictedsection.org counts 200,000 hits a day.
Oftentimes homosexual pairings between in fact clearly heterosexual characters are described - such as the liaison between Harry and Draco. Stories of that kind first appeared in the mid seventies: hot phantasies about a relationship between "Star Trek" captain Kirk and Mr Spock.
Of course, the inventors of those characters aren't too happy about such stories. Anne Rice for instance, author of "The Vampire Chronicles", wrote on her webpage: "The characters are under legal protection. The very thought of fanfiction about my characters totally upsets me." [that's translated back from German... I'm sure the original is out there somewhere]. Joanne K. Rowling is a little more liberal about it, as long as the stories aren't violent, blasphemic or sexually permissive. It's true that sites like restrictedsection.org have already received many C&Ds, but if they restrict access to adults over 18 via passwords they can simply continue running. "We're still there," triumphs Vikkie Dolenga, "although we'll never win an award for Best Harry Potter Story on the net."
--original article by Giles Hewitt, AFP.