We are taking a small detour from our usual book group structure to look at some of the pop culture going on around us. And of course: we share related books!
As we always do: grab your book, grab a beverage, and maybe get your computer warmed up because you are going to want to read this!
Today we are chatting about a very cool genre on its own, and one that has also spawned a lot of commercially published books: Fanfiction.
Wikipedia tells us: “Fan fiction …is fictional writing written by fans, based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settings, or other intellectual properties from the original creator(s) as a basis for their writing. Fan fiction ranges from a couple of sentences to an entire novel, and fans can both keep the creator’s characters and settings and/or add their own. It is a form of fan labor. Fan fiction can be based on any fictional (and sometimes non-fictional) subject. Common bases for fan fiction include novels, movies, bands, and video games.”
Fanfic has some specialized genres, in addition to all the regular genres of stories you can find in published material.They include:
- Alternate universe (AU) “What if…” fanfiction featuring characters set in a universe other than their canonical one. This can be an alternate setting such as a High School AU where the characters are in high school as opposed to their canon setting, or this can be an alternate universe of canon to reflect the author’s thoughts on events in canon. For example, Everyone Lives AU might reflect an alternate universe where no characters have died and thus differs from the canonical universe.
- Crossover Works featuring characters, items, and/or set pieces from multiple fandoms.
- Fix-fic: refers to stories which rewrite canonical events that the fic author disliked, often because they were depressing or incomprehensible.
- Fluff / WAFF “Feel good” fan fiction designed to be happy, and nothing else. The plot is usually less relevant in these types of works, as the main focus is to be cheerful. WAFF is short for “Warm And Fuzzy Feelings,” and the two terms are quite similar in usage.
- Shipping A variant of romance focused on exploring a relationship between two or more characters from the original fandom(s). It has several sub-genres, including slash (which focuses on homosexual pairings, usually of the male variety), femslash/femmeslash/yuri (same as slash, but exclusively female/female), crossover shipping (which focuses on a romance between characters from multiple fandoms), and “friendshipping” (focuses on platonic relationships).
In another context, the term “shipping” within the community may mean that a fan is heavily invested in a relationship between two characters. Writers of fan fiction often use the genre to explore homosexual pairings for popular characters who are heterosexual in the canon work. - Real person fanfiction fanfiction that stars real (usually living) people. The book After by Anna Todd, later adapted into a film of the same name was originally a real person fanfiction about One Direction member Harry Styles
- Vent: Vent refers to literature written by an author under duress or for therapeutic purposes, normally to calm themselves following a stressful or upsetting situation.
You can check out Wikipedia for more genres to enjoy!
As of March 30, 2021, the top 20 fandoms (i.e., the fandoms with the most stories submitted) on FanFiction.Net are (the figures are rounded to nearest thousand):
| Rank | Fandom | Category | No. of stories |
| 1 | Harry Potter | Books | 832K |
| 2 | Naruto | Anime/Manga[8] | 434K |
| 3 | Twilight | Books | 221K |
| 4 | Supernatural | TV Shows[9] | 126K |
| 5 | Inuyasha | Anime/Manga | 120K |
| 6 | Hetalia: Axis Powers | Anime/Manga | 119K |
| 7 | Glee | TV Shows | 108K |
| 8 | Pokémon | Games[10] | 101K |
| 9 | Bleach | Anime/Manga | 85.4K |
| 10 | Percy Jackson and the Olympians | Books | 78.9K |
| 11 | Doctor Who | TV Shows | 76.3K |
| 12 | Kingdom Hearts | Games | 74.5K |
| 13 | Yu-Gi-Oh! | Anime/Manga | 68.4K |
| 14 | Fairy Tail | Anime/Manga | 68.2K |
| 15 | Sherlock | TV Shows | 60K |
| 16 | Lord of the Rings | Books | 57.8K |
| 17 | Star Wars | Movies[11] | 56.4K |
| 18 | Dragon Ball Z | Anime/Manga | 53.7K |
| 19 | Once Upon a Time | TV Shows | 53K |
| 20 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | TV Shows | 50.8K |
How Fan Fiction Inspires Kids to Read and Write and Write and Write “One unique element of fan fiction is the community that coalesces in support of writers. The feedback writers get in fan fiction communities helps them get better.
Professor Rebecca Black learned about how helpful fan fiction communities can be when she studied English Language Learners who write fan fiction. These students felt insecure about their language skills in school, but developed confidence by practicing writing in fan fic forums and getting feedback.
“They really represented themselves as ‘I’m not a good writer,’ ‘I’m not very good in English,’ ‘I hate English class,’ ‘I hate school,’ but they would spend hours and hours writing these stories online that people were reading and giving them feedback on,” said Black, professor of informatics at UC Irvine.”
Books from fanfiction:
From Amreading.com website:
The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare
Clary is Ginny Weasley, and Jace is Draco Malfoy. The series is based on Clare’s Harry Potter fanfiction, published in installments between 2000 and 2006. While the characters are not immediately similar to JK Rowling’s creations, fandom lore assures me Clare’s interpretation of the characters was always more amusing than faithful. The Mortal Instruments introduces Shadowhunters, descendants of angels, bred to fight demons. The setting is very different to the Harry Potter universe, and since the books are a copy of a fanfiction of another book, they have definitely evolved into something separate.
Also rom Amreading.com website:
Point Pleasant by Jen Archer Wood
Can’t get enough of CW’s Supernatural? Check out this moody horror by one of the series‘ biggest fans. Monster-slaying Dean Winchester is bestselling author Ben Wiseheart. An encounter with the paranormal at the age of eight changed his life, and heartbreak drove him from his hometown of Point Pleasant. Drawn home many years later, Ben finds his life becoming entwined with that of his childhood best friend and first love, Sherrif Nick Nolan. The longing of the love story will make your heart ache, and with Supernatural placing so much emphasis on family, it is nice to see two main characters engage in a bit of lovin’.
The story itself is fantastic, with an eerie tension that will play on your mind.
- Heated Rivalry, by Rachel Reed
- Study in Emerald, Neil Gaimin
- After, Anna Todd
- Wallbanger, Alice Clayton
Jen Doyle! Former fanfic, now writing commercial books -TEN of them!
Goodreads list: Authors Who Have Written Fanfiction
Thanks so much for joining us today! We hope you enjoyed this look at a fun aspect of the reading world, and maybe found some book ideas you can enjoy. Join us next week for another look at some fun pop culture, and book ideas!