Conceiving new plot twists for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" may not have quite the same effect on Western culture as, say, inserting a "wine dark sea" flourish into an epic poem. But for Jill Kirby, "good fanfic is just as good as any episode of the TV show, and often better."

On the Internet, otaku (obsessive fans) have created hundreds of anime sites, including "shrines" for favourite characters, data bases crammed with trivia, and collections of "fanfics," or fan-written screenplays for serialized shows.

fanfic [fan + fiction] Fiction written by fans 1976 Fisher Strekfan's Glossary 2 "Fanfic: Fan-written fiction." 1976 Apr 1 Halkan Council 17: 20 "I don't quite agree with Paula Smith‘s thoughts on New Voyages. Granted some of the stories aren't great literature but they do seem to be a reasonably accurate cross section of short fan fic."