We are listening to Imaginary Worlds.

I'm Eric Molinsky.

So every August I like to do something different with the format.

Like playing an interview from a previous episode that was so good, I always regretted the

moments that didn't make the final cut.

And so today I'm going to play an extended interview with Francesca Copa, who's a professor

at Mullenburg College and the author of the Fanfiction Reader.

She was also one of the founders of Archive of Our Own, a website where you can post and

read Fanfiction.

But our discussion wasn't entirely about her work, it was more about the history of Fanfiction

and why it's worth studying.

Now she was so much fun to talk to, we talked for over an hour.

So even this version is slightly edited.

For instance, I'm not including our discussion about Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes'

slash fiction, because that conversation was in the original episode almost in its entirety,

and I wanted to focus on material that ended up on the proverbial Cutting Room floor.

But if you haven't heard that episode from last fall, check it out.

It's called Fanfiction Don't Judge.

So anyway, I started the interview by asking Francesca how she first became interested

in Fanfiction.

You know, I started with Star Trek, like almost everyone, and then very quickly went to Star

Wars and the early 80s.

...