Posted 1 Nov 2007 I'm happy because my fanfiction got some surprising publicity... A few weeks ago, this girl who works for the school newspaper, The Morse Code, talked to me about fanfiction--why I write it, how I got into it, etc. I thought it was just becuase she wanted to know more about it. But then we got the first issue of the newspaper today, and I found out she was asking me for an article! In the Tiger Bytes section, the article is right there, taking up a good portion of the page... I thought the title's article was kind of cheesy, but whatever. Morse Tiger Proves His "Sir" Title is Truly Deserved Icelee Garduno Staff Writer He's a Morse Seminar student and ROTC cadet by day, but an Internet writing star by night. That is Tiger Sophomore Joshua Eria's life in a nutshell. Eria has made a name for himself on the website FanFiction.Net, first debuting as an author in the Final Fantasy X fandom back in 2004 at the age of twelve. But after taking a year-long hiatus in 2005, he returned to prominence in mid and late 2006, this time writing for the Nintendo flagship series The Legend of Zelda. After almost a year of nonstop writing under the pen name "SirJoshizzle," he has quickly become one of the most popular active authors in the website's Zelda section. "Some people write for the novelty, because it's "something to do" to pass the time," he said. "It might be kind of lame to say it, but I actually take writing fanfiction seriously. When it comes to my writing, I'm no joke. I go to some pretty extreme lengths, some most author's don't even consider going through, just to help improve myself as a writer." Oddly enough, he stated that he first got into fanfiction because of one simple reason: boredom. "It was June 2004, and I was obsessed with [Final Fantasy X]," Eria recalled. "After getting my fill of FFX fanfiction, I thought, "I could do this." So I made an account shortly after that, and well... the rest is kind of history." From 2004 he was writing fanfiction like it was his paying job. But early the following year, he mysteriously quit. "The major story I had up at that time was what I still think--and a thought that those who liked it would take issue with--really, really bad," he laughed. "It just wasn't as good as I first thought. I was thinking, "This sucks, I don't even want to look at it." So I deleted it and I took a break from fanfiction thereafter." In August 2006, he came back to the Final Fantasy X fandom he once called home with a short story, Under Glass. It was comprised of six chapters, and according to him, was published and completed in exactly two weeks. "The idea for Under Glass came to me while watching I Love the 90s on VH1," he said. "Yeah, that's kind of an odd show to watch while thinking of the plot of a romance story, but despite that, Under Glass proved to be rather successful, especially for being so short." And he was right. According to him, Under Glass garnered very favorable response among readers and received 56 reviews during its inital two-week run, plus 27 more during its lifetime. But the completion of Under Glass was not followed by a successor, but another hiatus... Until November of that year. "I remember it very clearly," he smiled. "It was over Christmas break, we just got the new Wii, and my brother was playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I was pretty bored, and the recent surge in the [Zelda] series' popularity thanks to Twilight Princess and my love for the game's Link/Princess Zelda pairing gave me an idea for a new story. So I wrote up the first chapter and posted it up on the website." That first chapter became his first non-Final Fantasy X story, Sensei. It was a runaway hit according to him and reader response. The story's initial run was from November 2006 to January 2007. In that time, it reached over 200 reviews (208 to date) and received over 19500 hits. It was even nominated on the Dot Moon website's 2007 Universal Fanfiction Open Awards in the Legend of Zelda category, alongside works by authors that have been established names in Zelda fanfiction circuits years before he even appeared on the Zelda scene. In Sensei, he also showed some Morse High School love by basing the school the characters attend directly on Morse's campus. "The school in Sensei is more or less the same as Morse, campus-wise, anyway," Eria laughed. "The Ampitheater, ROTC, Morse's the new Language buildings and the downstairs girl's bathroom are all settings in the story...Link was even an ROTC alumnus!" The second Zelda story he wrote was Charm Bracelet, whose 27 chapters were released under a span of six months from Feburary to August 2007. The story was an even bigger success; in fact, the only aspects in which it doesn't beat Sensei are hit counts and the number of users' Favorite Story lists its on. Charm Bracelet has made 308 reviews (that's one hundred more than Sensei) and over 16000 hits. "Charm Bracelet beat my wildest expectations," Eria sighed happily. "Of course with my established readerbase after Sensei, I expected Charm Bracelet to be a little bigger. I just never expected it to be such a monster." Even today, Eria is still hard at work with his current major project, another Zelda fanfiction titled A World of Lies. "With A World of Lies, I'm definitely innovating the same old romantic-humor genre that I've been writing in since since... my first story three years ago. As far as my stories are concerned, it's breaking the formula that worked for me through three major stories and almost nineteen oneshots (single-chaptered stories). It's taking on a much darker tone, and it's in a genre that I think most people never expected me to write in." Some would call it a risk, deviating from the mold that got him much success through Under Glass into Charm Bracelet, but the risk paid off. Twelve chapters have been released so far since it was first published in August 2007, and it's becoming his fastest reviewed story to date, almost reaching Sensei's review numbers in almost a month. "Last I checked, A World of Lies was at twelve chapters with 201 reviews and 5500 hits," he said. "As far as I know, neither Sensei or Charm Bracelet grew that fast." Ironically, Eria has stated that does not consider becoming a professional novelist as a future occupation. "I love writing," he smiled. "Writing is defintiely my biggest creative outlet. But I just don't think that I'll be a writer professionally when I grow up...I've actually planned to be a high school history teacher. But who knows?" Despite that, he has expressed an interest in publishing his existing work if the opportunity came across. "I don't think I'd be a writer, but I would love to see my fanfiction in a book or something," he shrugged. "I don't think that's possible though, since I'd probably be violating copyright laws since I'm using Nintendo's creations, but publishing my work would be really nice...If I could, I'd probably set up a booth at Comic-Con and sell them." Being one of the most well-known names in Fanfiction.Net's Zelda fandom proves that "Sir" honorific in his pen name is truly deserved. You can view Joshua Eria's fanfiction here at www.fanfiction.net/~sirjoshizzle Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 22 Nov 2007 im happy cause I JUST FOUND THE JACKPOT ON THE DEKU TREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 22 Nov 2007 im happy cause I JUST FOUND THE JACKPOT ON THE DEKU TREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU DID??!?!?!?!?!?!1/!?!/1/1/! Where is it!?! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 22 Nov 2007 YOU DID??!?!?!?!?!?!1/!?!/1/1/! Where is it!?! it was southwest of the deku tree i was so surprised now its somewhere in all the leaves to the left Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 22 Nov 2007 im happy cause its thanksgiving and i get to spend time with my family and watch a football game today Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 25 Jan 2008 This topic is olllllld Im happy because me and LPE are teaming up and making a game company and junk like that!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 29 Sep 2008 LIIIVE. This isn't a meaningless Topic is it? IT WAS AWESOME D:< And now hopfully it shall live again. Im happy because I almost have 6000 posts Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 29 Sep 2008 I am happy because I have a date to homecoming, the bible study that I'm leading at school starts this week, I finished reading "The Hound of the Baskervilles," and I'm going to the Music Builds concert in two weeks. Life is good! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 29 Sep 2008 Im happy for you :'D Im happy because on Tuesday, my life will once again continue. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 29 Sep 2008 I'm happy because I've finally stopped having little regrets about buying a PS3. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 12 Aug 2009 Im happy because it is revived once more! (Last time, if it dies again, oh well. I'll let it rest in peace.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 12 Aug 2009 I'm happy because I'm less hungry than I was earlier. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 12 Aug 2009 I'm happy because you're all my peons! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
