For this issue, I have again chosen a website from my favorites. This website is linked to one of the most successful movie franchises of all time, “Star Wars,” and is an excellent source of information and fan-related announcements. The website, known as theforce.net, allows fans of the “Star Wars” saga to write and read fan fiction and check when books will be released. In pre-Episode III fanworld, the site provided updates for the movie’s progress as well as spoilers. This website has polls, a podcast called The Forcecast, and many boxes linking fans to whatever they want to know.
Navigation:
This site is pretty easy to navigate. The main page is filled with links to stories, podcasts, and whatever else happens to be on the website. The first two boxes are for the latest updates. Every other box is dedicated to a particular sect of interest, like Episode Three news, information on collecting, Holonet (the Starwars.com e-newsletter), fanfilms, Star Wars TV, and much more.
Being a fansite, theforce.net has a “fanforce” link, fan fiction, and fan art. If you want to know about Star Wars video games, books, comic books, or Star Wars humor, this is your site. Most of the time, you can vote on polls like “What’s your favorite character in Episode III?” The site provides names and then tallies up all the scores. There is also a link to Starwars.com, where fans can go to see pictures and other news from the saga. Whenever you click on a category of your choice, you are taken automatically there.
Cool Features:
My favorite thing to look at on this website is the fan fiction link. Being the dork that I am, I love to read fan fiction. I love to write it too. Anyway, the fan fiction archive, housed under the link “More Fanfiction” is an excellent link to stories written by fans about all the episodes, characters, worlds, and books.
They are short stories that can be anywhere from a page to 100 pages. Although only eleven stories are seen at a time, you can easily go back as far as you want to, easily being able to read favorites from all entries. There is also the previously-mentioned podcast, which is pretty funny. There are also photos from “Star Wars” related events, like contests and conferences.
Overall:
This site is very cool, allowing fans to connect with the saga and check out things that the main website may not have.