1985
From Fan History Wiki
1985 is when we know Music based Real Person Fic is here and here to stay. Anime began to make its first main stream appearances in the United States. Slash got a name. Usenet became more influential in fandom and Mary Sue started crossing more lines.
By 1985, several fan fiction communities are writing Real Person Fic. These communities included Duran Duran and Led Zeppelin. They were not just writing gen Music fan fiction but hetfic and slash. The Duran, Duran community seemed to be in its infancy at the time. The Led Zeppelin community had been around since at least 1977. These communities were engaging in the production of fan fiction with the knowledge of the people they were writing about and many people in the music fan fiction community would not become aware of the taboo nature of their activity until they came into contact with media based fan fiction communities.
In this time period, multi-fandom fandom zines were circulating. If a fan wanted to read a story from their particular fandom, they may well have to read the story in a zine that contained stories outside their fandom. According to Langley, this would often gateway fans into other communities, creating in them an interest that would lead them to seek out the source material.
In this year, slash began to be used in the current fannish context. This would aid in bridging the gap between various communities in terms of having various discussions and aid in opening fan fiction with homosexual content up to more academic scrutiny. This would also help standardize the practice of how to write pairings, as prior to this, the & symbol and the / symbol had both been used on a regular basis to define pairings.
Mary Sue begins to cross various fannish lines. One of the first references to her, using the definition established by Paula Smith on-line happened on Usenet. This term has also crossed fannish communities and is being used in the comic book fan fiction community.
Anime began to appear on the scene more in the United States with the release of Robotech in the United States. While it would not become mainstream in the media based fan fiction communities until Sailor Moon, this signaled the start of an important trend. The earliest anime communities in the United States tended to be dominated by males. While there was some fan fiction going on, it would remain in the shadows.
The recurring issue of quality gets discussed in the fan fiction community. People acknowledge that there is some well written stuff and there is some absolute garbage. During this time period though, there does not seem to be any discussion on how to address improving quality or how to help people become better writers.
Professional authors like Anne McCaffrey have begun to become more aware of fan fiction. While some like Marion Zimmer Bradley have been interacting positively with fen for years, others feel a need to start stating their policies regarding the writing of material in their universes.
See also:
- Canon released in 1985
- Fan fiction awards given in 1985
- Fanzines published in 1985
- Stories published in 1985
- Technology innovations in 1985
- Terminology originating in 1985
