Guest Post by the Author

I’ve been thinking lately about what makes a person a writer. What are the inner qualities that drive someone to sit down and flesh out their imagination into words? It’s obviously not for everyone. I’ve met people that were astonished that I’m able to craft a story with characters and worlds from nothing. Like it was impossible for them to just make stuff up. But I’m from the belief that everyone at some point in their life had this ability. I mean, that’s all kids playing make believe are doing. Making stuff up. And what are writers if not grown ups who never stopped playing make believe?

I also believe that fan fiction is the next evolution on this journey. Obviously, every writer’s path is different, but for a kid playing make believe it’s a relatively simple step to take those imaginary adventures you’re having with your favorite TV/comic/movie/video game characters and start writing them down on paper. I used to do that all the time and still have a pretty wide collection of fan fiction stories sitting on my computer.

Unfortunately, you can’t actually publish these stories because you don’t own the characters in them. There are places to share them online. Forums and online communities of fans looking for unofficial tales that expand the adventures of their favorite characters. But fan fiction doesn’t have to stop there. You’d be surprised by how interchangeable plots and characters can be. A few story details tweaked here and a few names changed there and I have myself an original work ready to be submitted to publishers. In fact, I’ve successfully done this with a few of my titles. (Shhh. I’ll never tell which.)

But once again, that’s not where a writer’s relationship with fandom ends. Every writer, all throughout their career, is continually inspired by the stories that came before them. Everywhere you look you can spot little bits and pieces of past characters and plots sprinkled throughout today’s popular tales. Some are blatantly obvious in the form of homages and references. Others are more subtle Easter eggs, only picked up on by the most hardened of fans.

For my latest novel, A Weapon’s Journey, the influences are front and center. I wrote the first draft of this story when I was thirteen and neck deep in teenage geek culture. Without holding back, I jammed as many parts of all my favorite titles as I could into one story. Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Dragonball Z, Final Fantasy, Captain America, Ultimate Spider-Man…The list goes on and on. The book is one hundred percent new and original, but any geek can read it and see where the inspiration came from. It’s been re-written and edited a million times since then, honed into something I was proud of publishing today. But needless to say, I think my thirteen-year-old self would be proud.

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