Fandom

I'm comfortable with the idea of fandom. It's fun to be in the know, to be up on the jargon, the secret language of each particular fandom. It's fun to imagine oneself in the situations the characters are in, and to play around with new ones. It's human nature to admire the people who create make-believe so rich that it can accommodate even others' make-believe. Me, I'm (in my own, fairly mild way) a fan of several of these make-believe worlds: Star Trek was, of course, my first, which my mom let me stay up late to watch. (Now I let myself stay up late.) She also let me watch The Prisoner, even though I didn't start really understanding it (to the degree anyone ever does) until years later. I pretty much inhabited Narnia for several years of my childhood and early adolescence. I love the Cairo Jim books (crappy web site, great books).

Because I grew up in the US, I didn't really catch on to Doctor Who until the series was regenerated a few years ago, at which point I became an enthusiastic (though not, relatively speaking, hardcore) fan. My favorite episodes all seem to be written by Steven Moffat. He apparently writes lots of cool stuff that I can't (or don't know how to) get here in Australia without spending squillions. Mr. Moffat, if you're out there, thanks for the best Who episodes!

I'm hoping I can produce work that's rich and inventive enough to inspire a fandom. I used to think stage plays wouldn't do it, but after seeing Wicked, I changed my mind. Any work can inspire a fandom, if it's good enough. I'm not one of those snobs who sniffs at popular works that capture fandoms. I know that it's the power of a piece, not its technique per se, that attracts. And there are worse things to aspire to than writing with power.