Does Fan-Fiction ever become Fan-Reality?

Originally Posted by SOLDIER

Lately I've been tinkering with the idea of writing an X-men fanfic. I've been wanting to get back into writing, so I thought up an original story that, as far as concepts go, I'm pretty proud of.

It's always been a dream of mine to go proffesional with my writing, so I want to take the project pretty seriously. That's when I started wondering about the possible relationship between comics and fanfics.

I know when it comes to fanfics for TV shows or videogames, the odds of that work becoming something official are pretty nonexistant. But does the same apply to comics? With so many alternate universes and ever-changing writers, I was wondering if the odds for writing for the comic biz (especially a well-known series like X-men) were perhaps a little more favorable? After all, I can't imagine Marvel hired an experienced writer to produce crap like the following:

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/davisjes...Mangaprev2.jpg

But yeah, what does it take for someone to get noticed by the big name companies? One suggestion I was given was to have artwork to go along with my writing. Positive word-of-mouth was another. I'm also wondering what would be a good place to host my works other than fanfiction.net (that pond's a bit too full...and polluted).

So even if my odds are still zilch, I appreciate any information you can give me.

A few of the current writers write across mediums, like Joss Whedon for example. Your best bet (Should you want to go professional with your writing) is to offer yourself (with some samples) to an indie publishing house or a small comics publishing house and hope you get noticed from there. Yes, while the staff from Image, DC and Marvel do browse through the internet, they don't go through every email with a fan demanding such and such a story arc or even fans providing samples of fan fiction.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by SOLDIER

1. Does the same rule apply to comic series? I'm going to assume that it does, but I just want to make sure.

Yeah, it's pretty much the same.

Originally Posted by SOLDIER

2. So let's say I continue with the fanfiction idea (and I certainly would like to, because I've got some really good ideas that I'd hate to waste, plus it would be fun if nothing else). Then, sometime later, I actually hit it big with an original publication. My name actually becomes notable to other publications, comic or otherwise. Now let's suppose Marvel comes up to me and requests that I dabble in something for them.

So what happens if I were to say "hey, I wrote this fanfic a bit back, how about you take a look?". Are there any legal loopholes to keep them from considering something I already wrote and put on the internet? I'm just wondering if hosting anything in a website like fanfiction.net automatically voids that story from ever becoming something proffesional, even if the writer himself has managed to.

Well, sure, that isn't really a problem. You just have to pitch it to the editor. He won't care where the story came from as long as it's good and it's yours.

There's nowhere I can't reach.