Fic: Why Fanfiction is Taking Over the World

Preying for More - Rachel Caine

My writing career was probably saved by my love of fanfiction and especially a particular TV show back in the late 1990s. 

Bold statement, I know. And I will explain. 

You know how fandoms typically become energized, then creative, then cliquish, then self-destructive? (If you didn't, you do now.) Well, there's one fandom that managed to stop at the "creative" point, and just . . . stay there, for a very long time. It was awesome, and to this day I'm still in touch with many of the fanfic writers who flourished there. 

And you've probably never heard of the fandom. 

The show is called Prey, and its thirteen (and only) episodes aired on ABC in 1998. Although it had an all-around excellent cast, including Adam Storke, Frankie Faison, Vincent Ventresca, and Larry Drake, it's probably best known as the show Debra Messing appeared in before she was launched to fame in Will & Grace. 

The show itself had an interesting premise: What if we came to know that serial killers had an evolutionary explanation? What if there were a whole separate species of human out there, with DNA significantly divergent from Homo sapiens, who were interested only in ensuring their own survival? What if they had an entire civilization and structure hiding among us in everyday life? It was . . . fabulous, actually. The whole premise was endlessly fascinating--especially when you factor in an epic Romeo/Juliet love story between a trying-to-reform assassin for the other side and the lovely (human) doctor who accidentally discovers the new species' existence. 

Unfortunately, TV viewers in general didn't agree, and Prey was yanked. Dead. Gone. 

But in this post-internet world, it isn't that easy to get rid of fans . . . no, sir. We just won't go away, will we? Granted, TV studios in particular have developed resistance against fan campaigns--all the cute stuffed animals in the world deluging their offices won't move the cold, hard numbers--but in those relatively young and innocent days, well, we believed that anything was possible. Fans with a passion had the internet, a new method to keep connected and engaged and to conduct save-the-show campaigns, and it also helped distribute an old method of continuing a lost show: fanfic. 

The Prey fandom was creatively prolific--which in some fandoms means "writing lots of really crappy stories." That's not what it meant among the Preymates. It meant writing really good stories, and lots of them. And participating in the process: editing, providing feedback and encouragement, and giving back--not just to others in the group, but to the world with charity fundraisers. 

What's even more remarkable is that these fans still communicate, and--even though there are no official DVDs of the show's episodes--still write stories. 

I should know, because I was one of those fic writers. And I still am. 

A little background first. I had modest success as a professional author (writing as Roxanne Longstreet) from 1991 to about 1996, when suddenly I discovered that my sales weren't all that a publisher could ask for, and I was (very nicely) asked to seek other venues. No problem . . . I'd gotten married, and I was able to get two more books published, as Roxanne Conrad. But right around 1998, things got complicated, because those two additional books didn't do so well, and by 1999 I was coasting along with no publisher, no prospects, and no inspiration. 

Enter Prey. Well, actually, enter Buffy, Angel, The Pretender, and a ton of other shows that became fun motivators for me, but my love affair with Prey was probably the most consistent and most productive of those lean three years. I didn't start to write fic about the show until it was off the air--mainly because the thirteenth-episode cliffhanger was maddening, and there was just . . . no more. So I wrote a story called "Bound," which essentially finished off the series. Just for my own satisfaction. And then, greatly daring, I posted it on my website, because . . . well. Because. And then I wrote a follow-up, "Extinction Event." And then I thought of another direction the cliffhanger could have gone, so I started an entirely second track of stories, starting with "Flashfire."