Kathy
Orange_Tabby_Cat

As printed in "STERN" magazine on-line and the German X-net site. 

Life after the death of a TV series

The lifespan of a lot of TV shows is limited.  But the fans will stay - a lot of shows will rise to be cult, even if they are just being shown as reruns on the television screen for years.

A community has formed on the Internet that carries on the series and gives the heroes a live after the death of the series.  "I read someone else's stories and started thinking about what stories I would like to see with those characters", says 36-year-old Donnie from the USA who has been one of several thousand authors of fanfics.

(There are links to several international and German X Files fanfiction sites at the end of this article under "Fotostrecke")

Donnie is a fan of Mulder and Scully

The authors of these literary fanfic stories dedicate their work to many different TV shows. Donnie is especially taken with the main characters of the X Files, a mystery TV show that is no longer produced.  "There are limitations on TV but if you start writing yourself, there are unlimited possibilities that TV doesn't offer", says the author who works for a company manufacturing electronic components. Donnie is especially fascinated by the characters of FBI agents Mulder and Scully, who have been investigating unexplained phenomenon and hunting aliens for nine years on TV.

Her works will probably never make it into printing

"They [the characters] have so many levels and they are known to a wide audience through the TV show. So many stories can emerge from that." Meanwhile around 75 of her works can be found on the net. Short stories of about 10 pages just as well as novels with 100 to 150 pages, or as text files with 26 to 240 kilobytes. Her stories will probably never be available as printed books. "The production company and the producer own the rights for the characters", Donnie explains. And since there are strict rules against theft of intellectual property in the US, all authors point out at the
beginning of their stories that they are not the inventors of these characters.

"Fluff" is what the authors call their trivial love stories with a wink of
the eye. Many of them try to write long stories with a plot, concentrating on a fictitious FBI cases and coherent investigations.  The fan fiction stories are classified into age groups just like movies or American program guides. G stands for no limitation, PG for parental guidance (the recommendation that the adolescent should be accompanied by a grown up).  Most stories are classified PG-13 or  R (for restricted) and NC-17. These classifications are due to sex, violence, or ribald language. Donnie's stories are usually written in the last category and she has a very simple reason for that: "In real life people go through an ongoing development - and, yes, they have sex."

Fans everywhere in the world

Through her writing the 36-year old has found many virtual friends all over the world. "I get e-mails from Argentina, Spain, Australia and Chile. One of the largest fan communities is in Germany. The TV show is not being produced any longer", she says "but there are uncountable stories that can still be told. I will write fan fiction as long as there are people who want to read it."

Verena Wolff, dpa (German press agency)