Starting a Fan-Fic Novel – Canon Characters
By CMTH
So you are planning to set-up a novel based on one of your favorite movies, TV shows, books or game series. You are in good company: of the 111 novels listed, at least 26, or 23.42%, are fan-fiction based. That means over a fifth of the novels here at Panhistoria have some relationship to a copyrighted franchise. And they run the gamut of source inspiration, some examples being: Alien Hive inspired by the Alien movies; Deadwood from the HBO TV series of the same name; Avatars of Darkness and Radiance from Storm Constantine’s Wraeththu novels and Forgotten Realms based on the Wizards of the Coast games.
There are obvious advantages to writing in a known "universe". You can expect that most of the writers applying to your novel will be familiar with its basic concept. For those who aren’t, there is a wealth of resources available on the internet and, of course, from the inspiration for your novel itself. In addition, you have ready-made publicity for your novel based on the popularity of the franchise. But there are also some pitfalls.
One such pitfall is the treatment of canon characters. A canon character is one created by the author, screenwriter, designer, etc. of the material you are basing your novel upon. Usually, these are the main characters within that world, but sometimes minor characters are considered canon as well. That is one of the decisions you need to make when thinking about your novel set-up: what actually consitutes canon?
Some of the existing fan-fiction novels at Panhistoria consider any character from the source material to be canon; others place a limit. The MOB at Star Wars: The Saga, for example, have explicitly limited canon to the movie and two book series. If your source universe is a hugely popular venue where many writers have contibuted over many years, such as is the case for Star Wars, it may be necessary for you to place such limits. By sticking to the core material, you make it easier for your writers to familiarize themselves with the world they will be writing in. And you are accepting the reality that, except for the zealous devotee who has sampled everything ever produced about your world, your writers are going to be mostly familiar with that core material.
Now that you have defined what is canon to your novel, it’s time to consider the next big decision: are you going to allow canon characters to be written characters in your novel? Will you allow them as NPC’d characters shared by all the writers? Or will you not allow them at all? This is a crucial decision that will influence your novel throughout its life. There are pros and cons for each decision and among the fan-fiction novels here at Panhistoria each path has been chosen.
One of the attractions of playing in a pre-existing universe is to be the character that so captured your imagination in the first place. Allowing applicants to take on a canon role can be important to recruitment for your novel. Of course, only one such writer can play any given role, so somebody is going to be disappointed at some time. The MOB may have to think about the execution of the character, as well. An inexpertly written canon character tends to grate on the nerves of all the devotees of the original material, whether they be other writers in the novel or your readership. The Firefly novel (which existed before the January snows) solved that problem by requiring applicants for canon roles to apply in character. As hard as it is to say “no” to an applicant, if your vision is really to bring to life the beloved characters of your world, you need to be prepared to deny an applicant who doesn’t quite "have" the character.
Canon characters, if written, also tend to be the main characters of your novel. Writing can pool around a handful of key players. Real Life demands are going to strike at some time or another. The novel must be able to weather the absence of a key player. Often, one or two of the main canon characters are assumed by MOB members. Usually that is a sufficient safey net: the MOB is expected to have made a commitment to the novel for an extended period. However, anyone can fall prey to Real Life. Anyone holding a key canon role should consider giving it up to an active writer if he or she finds that the commitment can not be met. The Horror Genre’s fan-fic novel Chosen specifically deals with this issue in its novel guideline by offering this advice to their applicants: If you are considering writing a major character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel or any other Buffy- and/or Angel-verse sources, please be certain you can devote enough time for such an important character. Made-up characters and minor canon characters are always welcome and are ideal for writers who cannot post frequently to the novel.
Allowing canon characters can also make one dependent on canon characters. If your novel concept depends on all the members of a star ship’s crew to be present, for example, and the MOB only account for two out of five of them, will not being able to recruit the other three adversely affect your novel? One solution is to NPC the missing members. In theory, NPCing canon characters should be straightforward to your writers. By familiarity with the source material, a canon character’s speech patterns, attitudes, looks, etc are known.
In fact, you may decide to allow canon characters only as NPC’d characters. In this way, you focus the writing in your novel on new material centering around the written characters. The addition of references to canon characters or events can be a treat in a post by sharing that common ground known by all the writers. But, since the novel’s focus is on new stories, there is the excitement of unexplored ground as well. This is the approach adopted by Bablyon Six: A New Era, as well as several others. With the exception of Avatars of Darkness and Radiance, the novels which take the NPC approach also allow written characters to interact with the NPC’d canon characters. Avatars has stated a clear focus on new material within the Wraeththu world and will only allow mention of canon characters.
How canon characters are handled in your novel is a key ingrediant to establishing your novel's voice. Whatever choice is made, it should be prominent for perspective writers and readers of your novel to see. Many novels state their preference right on the DJ, such as The Time Lords has done. Others make it one of the guidelines, such as the The One Ring whose guidelines state a clear preference for canon characters over new creations. It may also be stated as part of a Character Description thread in your Story or Planning Boards or as part of the application acceptance.
As you can see, placing your novel within a known "universe" does not take away from the need to have a clear vision of your novel’s purpose and voice. Though a crucial one, how you treat canon is only one of the decisions that you need to make.
