Out Of Character

As the Web widens, fan fiction is slowly leaking into the mainstream — and into mainstream television itself. Last season, a fan-fiction-like comic book was used as a plot device in an X-Files episode, and ongoing Homicide and Pretender ''"webisodes'' on NBC's official site are an intriguing corporate response to the alternate-narrative concept.

As sad as it is to report, they're also better written than the majority of fan fiction. Passion is the motivating factor in this medium, not grammar, spelling, or scintillating banter. Here's Dawson Leery entering a jewelry store in a typical Dawson's Creek fan tale: ''Looking around everything costed a bundle of money, which he didn't have, looking through the glass casing he spotted something that stood out a thin necklace with a heart hanging off it.'' At least the author didn't break the three most important rules of fan fiction: spell-check, spell-check, and spell-check.

Most fanfic authors write for one reason: feedback. But there are those who, dreaming of going legit, submit their work to publishers or to their favorite television shows. Their efforts aren't well received. ''We get tons of terrible stuff,'' says John Ordover, editor of Pocket Books' lucrative Star Trek novelization series. ''Fan writing is not the farm team for the legit novels, and should be abandoned at once by anyone who wants to be a pro writer of any kind.''

Ordover may be missing the point, though: As with so much about the Net, fanfic is about community. Jacque Whitworth, a student at Ball State University, describes the people who write the stories for her Tommy Lee Jones Fan Fiction website as ''the most creative, hardworking, intelligent, and friendly bunch of people I've ever had the pleasure of working with.'' Over at The X-Men-obsessed Subreality Cafe, members use a chat room for 24-hour support in times of personal crises. Site creator Kelly Newcomb testifies to the notion that ''for some, fanficdom can become almost a surrogate family.'' Now, why can't someone in Hollywood make a TV series about that?

Additional reporting by Zack Stentz.