Sunday, January 2, 2011

Xena Fan Fiction

During my high school years a television show arose to great success. The name of that show is "Xena: Warrior Princess". It starred Lucy Lawless as Xena and Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle. The show was campy, dramatic, and comedic at times but soon the fans noticed a certain chemistry between the characters. That chemistry was named Subtext. The subtext in question was of a lesbian nature and spawned epic fan written tales of love and relationships. It also spawned what is called Uber fan fiction. This sub genre of fan fiction is where the two main female leads look like Xena and Gabrielle but live their lives differently and are even called different names.

I haven't read any fan fiction from this show in years. Yet, I find myself searching for it and reading it once more. I've started out with Conquer fan fiction. This is based on a glimpse of an alternate universe where Xena became ruler (Conquer) of the known world because there was no Hercules to stop her and remind her of her morals. Reading these stories and the others that I am planning on reading over the next few days/weeks/months reminds me of why I started writing. They also remind me of why I love fan fiction so much. With all the uncreative Harry Potter and Buffy fan fiction out there Xena stories very rarely repeat each other. Even when the writer's all use the same topic to frame them.

I actually miss the way things used to be. More often now I find the same plot almost word for word used over and over again. People of all ages have forgotten how to think for themselves. Fan fiction is not just the retelling of a story. It is taking the characters and the world they are in and finding a genuinely new angle to show off. Don't get me wrong there are some awesome stories out there still but the bad ones are out numbering them.

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