Fanfic article in this weekend's Wall Street Journal

[bironic]

So, the article isn't bad, though it hovers at the "introduction to this wacky but potentially career-kickstarting phenomenon called fanfiction" level. Jurgensen thankfully seems to have abandoned his original intention to avoid interviewing fanfic authors who write slash and other "controversial" stories, and aside from a couple of digs at the low quality of the majority of stories online, he was respectful. The highlights are a prominent profile of ladyjaida/shoebox_project and a quote from the lovely mer_duff (along with several others, including the obligatory mention of Cassie Claire).

Have to say, the newspaper purchase was entirely worthwhile if only for the accompanying illustration taking up half the cover of the Pursuits section, which includes House having a cane/sword fight with Harry Potter (in uniform and boxers with snakes on, wtf) on a beach.



I thought you couldn't read the article online without being a subscriber, so I scanned the cover art and full text for your enjoyment and put them up on YouSendIt. Turns out there's a back-end link, but who knows how long that will remain viable, and the scans include a bigger image and a bonus table profiling half a dozen writers. I've saved everything to my computer, so if the links expire just drop me a comment and I'll re-upload.

Cover art
Article page one
Article page two

There's also an 11-minute audio interview with Jurgensen that you can download for free off the home page or by clicking here (will open an mp3 file).

Comments

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

That's a very nice article, definitely a big improvement over the usual "lookit the crazies" fare. The only things that raised an eyebrow was how his wording suggested that fanfic and vidding were in any way recent developements, and that, of 'shipper fiction, only slash was inclined to be explicit.

Heh. For once my default icon is appropriate!