The Fanzine FAQ, version 0.9

The Fanzine FAQ, version 0.9 is the FAQ for alt.startrek.creative. It was written by Alara Rogers as a guide to explain print fanzines to fans who may not have heard of them before.
==Some of the Topics Discussed==
* the legalities of fanfic
* different kinds of zines, such as APAs
* the Marion Zimmer Bradley Fanfiction Controversy
* pro authors to tread carefully around: Marion Zimmer Bradley, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey
* hints on how to go pro with writing for Star Trek
* much about Mary Sues
* some definitions such as slash, hurt/comfort...
* violating the fourth wall by sending your zines to Paramount
* zine piracy
==The Sections==
* 1. WHAT IS A FANZINE?
* 2. WHAT IS FAN FICTION?
* 3. WHAT ARE THE LEGALITIES OF FAN FICTION?
* 4. WHY WRITE FAN FICTION?
* 5. HOW CAN I PUBLISH FANFIC PROFESSIONALLY AND GET PAID?
** Novels
** Comics
** The Series Itself
* 6. OKAY, YOU'VE CONVINCED ME. WRITING TREK STORIES FOR MONEY SEEMS LIKE AN EXERCISE IN POINTLESSNESS. I WANT TO WRITE FANFIC. WHERE DO I SUBMIT IT? AND HOW?
* 7. WHERE CAN I BUY ZINES?
* 8. I'M LOOKING FOR SOMETHING WITHIN A COLLEGE STUDENT'S BUDGET, ACTUALLY. FIFTEEN DOLLARS FOR A ZINE THAT MIGHT SUCK SEEMS A TRIFLE MUCH. 
* 9. WHAT IS ZINE PIRACY?
* 10. WHAT IS AN APA?
* 11. HOW DO I GET RESPONSES IF I PRINT MY STORIES IN A FANZINE?
* 12. I'VE GOT SOME RESPONSES. SOMEONE'S CALLING MY MAIN CHARACTER A MARY SUE. WHAT'S A MARY SUE?
* 13. I'D LIKE TO PUT OUT A ZINE.
==Excerpts from the Essay==
 
"Mary Sue" refers to a kind of character that nearly everyone hates. 
Nearly everyone in the story loves a Mary Sue; it's the readers who hate
her. There are a few overlapping definitions of a Mary Sue:
a. A wish-fulfillment fantasy of the author's. The character may
have a similar name or use the author's middle name, or simply resemble the
author. 
b. A character who is young, eager and very, very good at everything
she tries to do. These Mary Sues fall into the following: "Lieutenant Mary
Sue, Starfleet's youngest lieutenant at 16 years old, beamed aboard the
Enterprise. Immediately Kirk, Spock and McCoy were all struck by her
amazing beauty. She was sweet and as innocent as her sainted dead mother
who had left her to be raised by nuns, but she could fight like a Klingon
and spoke every known language in the galaxy. Soon she proves her worth to
the crew by saving the universe with her keen superintellect and charming
demeanor, and either dies nobly at the end or ends up in bed with the
character of the author's choice, or both."
c. Any female character who upstages the regular crew.
There is a certain sexism to these definitions-- many people are willing to
brand any original character a Mary Sue, particularly if the character is
competent. Many more people are willing to brand any original love
interest a Mary Sue. Mary Sueism is not the sole province of fan writers;
Wesley Crusher is a classic Mary Sue, the one marring factor in his perfect
Mary Sueism being that he can't get girls (by the time he can, he's less of
one.) Amanda Rogers, in the episode True Q, is even more of a classic Mary
Sue-- the character was invented by high school student Matt Cory, who
wrote her to be male and had dreams of playing the character himself. As
(extensively) rewritten, Amanda is not terribly offensive as the breed
goes; her attempt to mindrape Riker gives her a dimension of flawed
humanity that many Mary Sues just don't have.
If someone calls your character a Mary Sue, you must answer these questions
for yourself:
Given the parameters of the Star Trek universe, is my character realistic? 
(If you are a 16-year-old lieutenant, you are not realistic unless you come
from a very short-lived species-- in which case your mental age is greater
than 16 anyway.)
Is my character upstaging the regular cast? If so, is he or she upstaging
*all* of them, or just one or two?
Does my character have flaws that make him or her human? (Regardless of if
they are alien)
If the answer to these is yes, no, yes (or yes, yes, no, yes), then
congratulations, it's not a Mary Sue. Laugh at your detractors and keep on
writing.
If it *is* a Mary Sue, look at ways you can make the character more
realistic. Does she have to be 16? Will 19 do? Does he have to be the
only one who can work out the equations to save the ship in time? Maybe he
can provide a key part, and Data or Geordi provides the rest? Does she
have to be so charming and sweet? Can you make her nerdy and insecure to
compensate for her 180 IQ?
Few Mary Sues are inherently unsalvageable-- it takes a bit of work, is all. The Fanzine FAQ, version 0.9, Alara Rogers,from the FAQ for alt.startrek.creative, September 10, 1994 }}
==References==
Category:1994 Meta
Category:Fanfiction Meta
Category:Star Trek TOS Meta
Category:Star Trek TNG Meta
Category:Zine Meta
Category:Meta on Usenet