Friday, March 6, 2009

Our favourite characters, with a twist - Fanfiction


Have any of you ever been disappointed when your favourite series is over and there is nothing left to read? Have you become invested in those characters? One of my favourite pastimes when finishing a series or novel is imagining what happens to the characters after the book ends. For instance, in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, do Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy truly live happily ever after? What was it like to move to Pemberley and did Elizabeth’s family come to visit? What happened to Mr. Bingley or the rest of the Bennets?

Fortunately, I’m not the only one who has imagined what becomes of these characters. Fans often write stories based on their favourite author’s characters. When they write stories about fictional characters, or fiction based on real life figures, this is called fanfiction.

Fanfiction is defined as fiction written by fans of an original work, using the original story’s characters and settings.

So, what does our library have to offer in the way of fanfiction? I was surprised at the selection when doing a quick search. I used the subject keywords search in our catalogue and searched “characters fiction”. The results are listed here. (Not all of the items retrieved are fanfiction, but a lot of them are)

Suggested Fanfiction Books:

Mrs. De Winter by Susan Hill

The Glory Cloak: a novel by Patricia O'Brien

The Mammoth Book of Dickensian Whodunnits by edited by Mike Ashley

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

The Godfather Returns by Mark Winegardner

Finn: a novel by Jon Clinch

Thornfield Hall: Jane Eyre's hidden story by Emma Tennant

Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig

Girl Meets Boy: the myth of Iphis by Ali Smith

What Happened to Anna K.: a novel by Irina Reyn

March: a novel by Geraldine Brooks


Sampling of fanfiction for Jane Austen’s novels:

Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and prejudice continues by Linda Berdoll

The Second Mrs. Darcy: a novel by Elizabeth Aston

Mr. Darcy's Daughter's: a novel by Elizabeth Ason

Pemberley: or Pride and Prejudice continued by Emma Tennant

Duty and Desire by Pamela Aidan

An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan

These three remain by by Pamela Aidan

Darcy's story by Janet Aylmer

Darcy & Elizabeth: nights and days at Pemberley by Linda Berdoll

2 comments:

  1. I just read a review for The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet by Collen McCullough - I always felt bad for Mary. She was treated unkindly by all her sisters. Hopefully she will come into her own in this novel. The review was not good, but reviewers are not always right!

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  2. For Pride and Prejudice we also have the newly released revision of the classic: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

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