For decades, storytelling has been a crucial part of humanity; it was how people passed knowledge, tradition, and fundamental parts of our society forward. It was, and still is, one of human civilisation’s longest-lasting practices, and it comes in endless forms: from oral storytelling to books, movies, and plays, people have always been telling stories.
It is in human nature to be creative and imaginative, hence why it is so common to see that a singular story has endless layers to delve into. When someone writes something, they create a world within their mind that they try to execute to the best of their abilities through movies, TV shows, books, and more. When said forms of storytelling are released to the public, people often let their imagination run wild within a given limit, like imagining a different couple in a romantic movie or imagining a beloved movie character in an alternate universe. People create whole alternate universes, storylines, plots, characters, and relationships from TV shows, movies, books, etc. — this is known as fan fiction.
The concept of fan fiction is a gradually popularising idea amongst teens that has been accessible to the general public for about 40 years in the online sense. It first appeared online on web forums, archives, and FanFiction.Net. The creation of FanFiction.Net in 1998 truly introduced it to everyone, and it only grew from there. Ancient fan fiction, however, has existed since the existence of storytelling, with the earliest works dating back to Homer’s Iliad and Don Quixote by Cervantes. Adding to the narrative has been a part of human nature since the start of time. In the modern age, there has been a little more acceptance towards it, like how cult classics Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey have been accepted by the general public despite being made originally as fan fiction. All of these works have a common target audience: teenagers.
The Female Demographics of Fan Culture
It comes as no surprise that teenagers are the target audiences of fan fiction, seeing as how teenagers tend to explore the internet more than adults. Females are also more likely to be writing and reading fan fiction, with around 72% to 89% of global readers being female. Like many female-dominated fields, fan fiction is underappreciated, unrecognised, and constantly demeaned. Writing fan fiction is almost completely non-profit, so why do millions of people still indulge in it? The answer is simple: for the love of the game.
Writing fan fiction is not beneficial to anyone in a commercial sense. As a writer, you are not paid for hours of creation, and you’re not gaining mainstream recognition either — alternatively, you may even be shamed for such a hobby. Yet, thousands of people write fan fiction and share it for free on various apps and websites, some notable ones being Archive of Our Own (better known as AO3), Wattpad, and Tumblr. This creation of fan fiction is made simply to enjoy: to create alternate storylines with beloved characters, to imagine a character’s traits outside what is portrayed, and more.
As a teenage girl, why would you write? For some, writing fan fiction is an outlet for undisputed feelings and writing talent. Also, fan fiction is mainly done anonymously, so you have the ability to write freely without anyone knowing who you are. It comes with complete creative freedom and no expectations of how to write or behave — common expectations that are placed on growing girls. One can see it as a way to escape, as one may see smoking or drinking; it’s highly addictive.
Because it is done truly out of free will, fan fiction can be classified as a manifestation of sorts. Someone imagines a different story, a different relationship, or maybe even a different death for someone, and they manifest it into a piece of fiction that not only they but others can enjoy as well. It is a genre in itself — a narrative extension.
Art for Art’s Sake in a Capitalist Market
The thing about writing fan fiction is that it is as commendable as, if not even more commendable than, normal writing. Such a claim is supported by the following reasons: fan fiction has novel-length works with original stories, original plots, and sometimes even original characters. Writing fan fiction is also completely non-profitable and very vulnerable to plagiarism, leading to writers having to go the extra mile just to protect their original work. And, most importantly, it is shamed.
Fan fiction writers are shamed for liking what they like and “being delusional” enough to write about it, as if they aren’t writing a whole book with an iPad and a vision. Fan fiction readers are shamed for being creeps and weird for liking their interests “too much”, which is debatable, as not only are the subjects fictional half the time, but it also does not affect anyone in any way.
The art of the whole fan fiction world is that it is one of the only art forms left that is produced simply for pleasure. Capitalism has slowly tainted major art forms, and that is expressed in all the sloppy movies, TV shows, and books that are becoming more and more abundant in the market nowadays. From cringey shows written by people with an East Asian fetish to reused romance slop sold in the name of “BookTok”, everybody is earning an income. In this competition, real talent goes unnoticed, stepped over by big corporations that have no yearning for the art, but only for the money — it defeats the purpose of the art itself.
With fan fiction, there is no ulterior motive to create it except to enjoy the writer’s imagination in words. All you get from writing fan fiction is happiness, and is that not the ultimate goal? To do something purely for fun, for enjoyment? It is because of fan fiction that so many iconic movies, books, and TV shows have come into existence; it is time we appreciate the beauty of the human mind to create such masterpieces. It is time we appreciate one of the last forms of art left without AI’s influence before it reaches it, too.
The next time you think about fan fiction, think of all the creativity put into it. To take one thing and make a complete other — the talent behind it and the motive behind it are both worth a mention. In a money-hungry world where art is losing its relevance, fan fiction continues to strive as a pure form of art: hosting connection, creativity, and community.
Wow it’s been a while since I’ve read such a well thought out piece of writing about this topic, it has a newer approach, loved it!!!