Fan fiction Fan fiction is a name given to any fictional story or material based in and around the " Star Trek " universe , that is not produced with the input of the creators or licensees who create new " Star Trek " material for Paramount Pictures . Although the most common form is in prose , similar to the various novels , it can also come under the form of scripts , poetry , reference material , games , audio recordings , and films . It is illegal to buy or sell " fan - produced " memorabilia for profit , due to the of the name " Star Trek " , in addition to the copyrights of the major names involved , being owned by Paramount . Despite this , some fans take it upon themselves to create their own versions of " Trek " on a " not - for - profit " basis . A related concept is " fanon " , a contraction for " fan canon " . Fanon is a belief held by fans that is not canon . Fanon can range from discounting part of " Star Trek " as non - canon to making up a explanation for unexplained inconsistencies such as the differing appearance of the Trill . Fanzines . In the early days of fan fiction , the easiest way for fans to read , and circulate , their works was through fanzine or folios . Some of these fan productions were even used in " Star Trek " productions , such as pages of fan - published reference manuals being used on screen as background artwork , and some were created by authors who went on to work on legitimate " Star Trek " productions . Paramount has even supported the professional publication of fan fiction through their " The New Voyages " , " The New Voyages 2 " , and " " series of books . Franz Joseph was one of the first to publish fan reference material starting in 1973 when he created and published his blueprints " Booklet of General Plans – USS " Constitution " - class " for the . His blueprints were used in a number of the early . Other creators that began with fan publications include Rick Sternbach , an illustrator for and the spin - off series , and Geoffrey Mandel , a scenic artist on , , and . Kirk , Spock , and the creation of Slash . The friendship between Kirk and Spock created a subculture of " Star Trek " fans who believed the relationship between the two to be not merely platonic , but explicitly romantic – in 1974 , the short story " A Fragment out of Time " by author Diane Marchant was the first explicitly sexual fanfiction piece featuring two men to be published in a fanzine , although they were not mentioned by name . In the next edition of that fanzine , Marchant confirmed that the two men were Kirk and Spock and wrote an essay defending the pairing . Gene Roddenberry ' s of revealed that Spock thought of Kirk as his " t ' hy ' la " , a Vulcan word meaning " friend / brother / lover . " When asked about this possibility , the actors and Roddenberry neither confirmed nor denied this interpretation . Gene Roddenberry , when interviewed for the authorized William Shatner biography " " , was asked about comparisons between Kirk and Spock and the historical relationship of Alexander the Great and his friend and sometime second - in - command Hephaestion , two men widely believed to have been lovers . He replied : The notion of " slash " as a genre – or the idea that certain relationships between two men or women in popular films , television shows , and literature are subtextually homoerotic – has since spread to fans of other entertainment media . Mary Sue . Another major concept that originated in " Star Trek " fan fiction was the idea of a Mary Sue . This was an original character , stereotypically an adolescent girl , written as if it were an insertion of the writer in some sort of wish - fulfillment fantasy . A Mary Sue character would often be exceptional in many ways , have Kirk , Spock and / or McCoy fawning over her , and save the day in some unrealistic way . In short , she would just implausibly have everything going for her and be the center around which the whole ship revolves . The name originated from the short parody story in the fanzine " Menagerie " , " " A Trekkie ' s Tale " " . Writer Paula Smith had observed the trend towards including such characters in fan fiction stories , and stirred up considerable sentiment with her lampshading of the phenomenon . Contemporary opinions on Mary Sue characters ranged from not seeing anything wrong with it to passionate hate . When deliberately invoked , the concept is subject to ridicule . The term remains widely known to this day and has spread far beyond " Star Trek " fan fiction circles , to all kinds of fan fiction and regular fiction . The definition of what constitutes a Mary Sue is very fluid , and has sometimes even be used to decry strong and capable characters intended to be likable but not received as such . The concept came full circle when Wesley Crusher became criticized for being a Mary Sue by some , because , among other things , he was serving on the " Enterprise " at an unusually young age and shared Gene Roddenberry ' s middle name . One contemporary example of the Mary Sue character would be the alternate - reality based webcomic parody " Ensign Sue Must Die ! " . Fan films and games . One of the more recent phenomena in fan fiction is the fan film . These films vary in length from short clips to full episodes , some even comprising of several seasons of episodes . In the past , production technology and cost were major limitations to amateur projects , but in modern times , films can be distributed cheaply via the Internet , and convincing visual effects can be created using home computers . Some of these productions are popular enough to have some production staff lend their support . In addition to films , a number of spinoff TOS series exist including " Star Trek Continues " , " Star Trek : Axanar " , " Star Trek : Hidden Frontier " , and " Star Trek : Phase II " . Some fan - produced games have joined into licensing agreements with Paramount including " " and the " Star Trek Simulation Forum " . The " Simulation Forum " was created in 2002 as the official chat based role - playing game of StarTrek . com , but had lost its official affiliation by late 2007 . In the mid - 1970s , " Star Trek Lives ! " was published by Bantam Books documenting the fan culture around " Star Trek " . In the late 1990s , a film , " Trekkies " was released documenting the fan culture twenty years later . Paramount and CBS have tolerated non - profit fan films , but view for - profit fan films as an infringement of their copyright . As of late 2015 , non - profit fan films were still permitted , but CBS filed an injunction against the film " Star Trek : Axanar " , which paid its producer with funds generated from crowdfunding . director Justin Lin expressed outrage at the lawsuit , with J . J . Abrams later announcing the case would be dropped and that CBS and Paramount were working on a new set of guidelines for fan films . On 23 June 2016 , StarTrek . com announced in a short letter to the public . " Axanar " producer Alec Peters responded the guidelines were too restrictive , effectively canning the project due to the limits imposed on fan film running times and budgets . The lawsuit remains pending . In , it was announced that CBS was launching a training school to enable and teach future " Star Trek " fan film makers .