Vortex Article

Those of us who hang around the Fanon Portal are very well aware of the generally unsuccessful fortune of what we call "community fanons," stories written by multiple authors. Typically, the cycle of a community fanon is as follows:
 * 1) One user comes up with the idea
 * 2) That user gets a more prominent user to jump on the idea
 * 3) A blog is written
 * 4) A whole bunch of authors sign up to be a part of it
 * 5) Group participation is extremely high for the writing of the first chapter
 * 6) Enthusiasm slows down for the next couple of chapters
 * 7) The fanon dies

The project started by yours truly, known as, got a good six chapters in before it was completely abandoned. Indeed, it seems as though these sorts of ideas never work out… until now. Currently underway is a fanon called. The crossover series follows six characters from fanons across the portal being thrown into a web of parallel universes together, all to stop an evil energybender and OC * named Olaiya. The fanon boasts an impressive cast of authors, including, , , , , and. Together, they form what AvatarRokusGhost calls "their own Team Avatar." Fortunately, I was able to catch up with a few of these users to get the inside scoop!

My first priority was to find out just what it is about Vortex that gives it a new promise most other community fanons don't have. For starters, the fanon has a permanent group of select writers, which is vastly different from Our Story in which anyone could join or leave whenever. This system creates a sense of responsibility for the authors so that they're more consistent in their writing, and, of course, it ensures that there is a higher quality of writing which will lead to more readers which ultimately results in higher enthusiasm. I also discovered a second variation of most community fanons. Rather than having all authors pitch in to write each chapter as a group, an individual member of the team is assigned to a separate chapter (with the exception of the Prologue).

This means that every member of the team has to be comfortable with writing for characters other than their own. Mageddon725 seemed confident that his character, Yun, shouldn't have any problems fitting in. "I think his personality actually brings about some very interesting and awesome moments of character interaction. He really seems to mesh well with the others," said the author of. Based on my assessment, it looks like the six protagonists could easily come together and produce a fun, exciting plot.

I was particularly interesting in learning what happens when two or more authors disagree on a plot point or scene. According to AvatarRokusGhost, "Usually the authors talk it out. We've had our share of disagreements in the past. The others will mediate if it's not being resolved and it's holding back our progress." The esteemed author also noted that, for the most part, the authors have done a good job at maintaining a tight schedule, even after a period of hiatus. Speaking as someone who's on the list of subscribers, I can't wait to see how this series will unfold!

* OC stands for Original Character.