A couple of weeks ago, we announced that With a Terrible Fate would be offering two panels at PAX East 2018 this coming April in Boston. Today, we’re thrilled to announce that we will also be presenting a third panel at PAX East: “Can Fan Fiction Teach Us About the Official Zelda Timeline?”
Read on for a run-down of what you can expect.
“Can Fan Fiction Teach Us About the Official Zelda Timeline?”
Thursday, April 5th, 2:00 PM, Albatross Theatre | Featuring: Aaron Suduiko, Jaron R. M. Johnson, and CJ Thomas
When people think of “fan fiction,” they typically imagine a kind of intimate and personal storytelling intended to embellish a fan’s relationship with an “official” story or series. But what if we could write fan fiction in a way that empowers everyone to understand the “official” stories in new, illuminating ways?
This is what we’ll explore in this panel: a method of writing fan fiction that can be personally fulfilling while also providing a new, analytical lens through which to view its “official” source story.
From With a Terrible Fate’s presentation at PAX South 2018. We spoke about how and why we ought to establish a “canon” of video-game storytelling.
This panel is based on Jaron and CJ’s ongoing article series, Hero of Time Project: a series in which they design and use this method of analytical fan fiction to tell a new story that bridges the gap in the Legend of Zelda timeline between Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess.
The hour-long panel will look something like this:
- For about 15 minutes, Aaron will discuss the popular conception of fan fiction, and how Hero of Time Project represents one of With a Terrible Fate’s broader principles: the ordinary practices of engaging with video games, when revised to be more analytically rigorous, can give everyone radically new ways to understand and appreciate video-game storytelling.
- For about 30 minutes, Jaron and CJ will talk about Hero of Time Project. They’ll cover what inspired them to write this fan fiction, how they approached the task of writing a story that was valuable both on its own terms and in the broader context of the Zelda series—and they’ll share some of their story’s content with you.
- For the last 15 minutes, we’ll have an open discussion with the audience. Want to discuss the value of fan fiction more? Want to argue about the Zelda timeline? This is your chance!
We’re honored and thrilled to have another venue to talk video-game storytelling with you at PAX East. We hope to see you there—and at our other two panels, too!