Stretching the imagination

Forget about saving Princess Leia or destroying the Death Star. "Star Wars" hero Luke Skywalker is too busy completing household chores for Darth Vader to think about saving the universe from the Dark Side.

Welcome to the world of fanfiction, where writers take existing characters and integrate them into new worlds and scenarios.

Fanfiction.net urges writers to "unleash your imagination," and they do so in categories, or "fandoms," that include anime, books, television, video games and movies.

Fanfiction followers say it serves as an innovative way to expand writing and creative skills. For some die-hard fans, it can become a lifestyle.

"Some take it too far," says Kristen Jackson, a Las Vegas Academy sophomore. "I have a friend that stayed up until early morning to read fanfiction and got into major trouble with her parents."

Affections for particular groups lead authors to become bitter rivals, battling with words and pejorative reviews called "flames." Hate mail is a common source of ammunition for the embittered writers.

"They can get so vicious!" says Steven Sha, a junior at Las Vegas Academy. "But, then again, people who construct those flames are considered tactless. It usually works out in the author's favor if they can publicly handle the hatred well."

One rivalry in particular stands out on the fanfiction site, as fans of "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" turn out the best stories they can. There are nearly 400,000 entries for "Harry Potter" and nearly 70,000 entries for "Twilight."

Jackson has twisted the fate of some "Twilight" characters, but she does not limit herself to one fandom.

"Some people stick with one fandom, but I prefer to have the freedom to write about whatever character I've become attached to," she says. "Fandom doesn't concern me."

Jennifer Schwake, an English teacher at Las Vegas Academy, says fanfiction can provide a way for young writers to dip their skills into fiction.

"Any writing exercise always proves to be a good one," she says. "If they put in the effort, it has the potential to guide teenagers and give them the tools for the essential basics of writing."

But pornographic elements find their way into fanfiction as well. Writers publish scenes that contain drugs, incest and male pregnancy through supernatural means. Sexually explicit scenes dubbed "lemons" demand that a warning label be incorporated into the story's summary. This citrus shock is a guilty pleasure many fans will not confess to having read or enjoyed.

While some authors find it creepy, Jackson laughs at the "guys who still live in their mother's basement and fantasize about animated characters."

Many writers outgrow it when they stop buying obscure CDs and start paying taxes.

"I'm sure I'll get tired of writing about another author's characters, everyone does," Jackson says. "But I'll always look back on fanfiction and think about how much my writing skills grew because of it."