Fanfiction

____________________, surfing the Net and discovering the world or playing solitaire, people nowadays spend more and more time in front of a computer screen. And we note that this tendency is on the increase. Take for example a trend that has gained a large following among a class of Internet surfers: fanfiction. Do you know what fanfi ction is? Literally, it is a work of fi ction made up by a fan. In fanfi ction, the whole “game” consists in giving a personal and creative touch to a character or to the plot of a story, which is in general very well-known. You certainly know the feeling one has at the end of a novel or a cartoon: “Why hasn’t the story fi nished in some other way?”; or “I could have done better here…” ; or “If I ever write a cartoon story like this, it will not have such a boring script.”

Well, if you think your story ending is far better than the original, then you must join the “fanfi ction club”.

It has been some time now that fanfiction is part of the interaction with computers, and it works more or less like this: you “steal” a character for yourself and do with it whatever you wish. It could seem silly at fi rst sight. However, the plots created by fanfi ction writers for fi ctional heroes are funny, crazy and unusual. Stories have been created for Spiderman, the Simpsons, Captain Marvel, and many others. By far, the most common stories are the ones about science fiction. Star wars is champion in popularity. Have you ever tried to give somebody else’s story your personal touch?

From: FERRARI, M.; RUBIN, S. G. Inglês para o Ensino Médio. São Paulo: Editora Scipione, 2004, p. 279.