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Fan fiction and regular fiction have the strangest relationship.

Sarah Weinman linked to a Telegraph article speculating that novelist Thomas Harris may have been influenced by his legions of fan fiction writers. For years, fan fiction authors have written about the serial killer character Hannibal Lector, writing stories about his childhood, his life outside of prison, and other fan fiction fascinations.

In a way, Harris' new book, Hannibal Rising, imitates fan fiction--filling in the mysterious blanks in the book, probing the gloomy areas that made his character so evocative and mysterious in the first place. 

According to the story, Harris avoids interviews and interaction with his fans, a move that fuels fan fiction writers to try and enter the mysterious mind of their favorite writer. Check out the Telegraph article. It's a lesson about writing, fan communities, and how they work together...

"Does Thomas Harris read 'his' fanfic? Who knows. It may be that Happy Bee just struck lucky and came up with an eerily similar overture. Strange, though...Notoriously, Harris avoids direct contact with his army of admirers and would rather eat his own brain, sautéed, than give promotional interviews. Like Lecter, he is always masked. But, like Lecter again, he plays cat and mouse with those who want feedback from him."