Fanfiction: The Evolution of a Fan’s Favorite Pastime
Have you ever walked away from a book, movie, or show, asking “What if this has gone differently”? Then you probably have read fanfiction at some point to answer that question. Fanfiction is a beloved part of engaging with a piece of media.
The art of fanfiction is often thought of as a more modern work. However, fanfiction has been around much longer than most people understand. The history of fanfiction is rich and full of surprises.
What is Fanfiction — A Definition
Fanfiction is commonly considered a written body of fictional work based upon another media. The works are often written by hobbyist writers rather than professionals. Fanfiction can range from short quips under ten thousand words, known as “one-shots”, or works reaching up to one hundred thousand words.
Defining what qualifies as fanfiction can be tricky. Copyright laws can create trouble for fanfiction writers, as what qualifies as fan work can be difficult to define. There have been questions raised whether fanfiction brings more attention to the original work, or is a copyright infringement. Especially given that there have been cases of entire books or series being rewritten by fans to “fix” or retell the original story. Though there is not a large epidemic of authors going after fanfiction writers, it has happened.
The best way to describe fanfiction is a fan-created written work based upon an original piece of media, that explores alternate ideas or creates content within the original work’s universe. That is a bit of a mouthful, but fanfiction can be complicated like that. After all, fanfiction has been around for a lot longer than most people believe. Understanding the history of fanfiction can also lend to understanding what all fanfiction is, and can be.
Religious Texts and Mythology
Depending on how well-versed you are in the fanfiction world, you may or may not realize there has been fanfiction created around mythologies and religions. Now, many religions have ancient evidence and preserved relics that are deeply rooted in their beliefs, such as old versions of the Bible or Quran. These texts and what has survived through believers tell us the structure of a religion. Followers of religion have been inspired by their beliefs to create, thus, creating fiction based around the structure of a religion, or even multiple.
Greek mythology is widely popular within the literary world. Whether you love the translated classics or modern-day retellings, lovers of Greek mythology have found a book from them. However, back when these myths first began, it is believed they were first told orally. When stories are told orally, oftentimes little details can change, and it spirals from there. Even when texts are translated, some details are lost in the midst. With all of these components at work, some have argued that this can also fall under fanfiction’s definition.
Another example is John Milton’s Paradise Lost, which comes a bit later in our timeline. The epic poem explores the story of Adam and Eve as well as Lucifer’s life after his fall from grace. Milton’s work takes liberties from the Christian belief system while also using his creativity to craft this story. Dante’s Inferno has also been argued as the first self-insert fanfic. The story’s protagonist is the poet, Dante Alighieri, himself, and features work from Christianity, but also parts of Greek mythology.
Shakespeare
Everyone knows the name of Shakespeare, and can probably name at least one of his plays. His plays are monumental in the course of literature’s history. What you may not know is that Shakespeare’s work often was not entirely original. So, in a way, Shakespeare was writing fanfiction for works he enjoyed.
Most of the plots, Shakespeare took from other texts or drew heavy inspiration from. Shakespeare drew from writers such as Arthur Brooke and Raphael Holinshed. Another of his seemingly favored sources was historian and philosopher Plutarch from ancient Greece.
Author Brooke for example was the original creator of the infamous story of Romeo and Juliet. Brooke wrote a poem titled “The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet”, which was then published in 1562. Shakespeare’s version of Romeo and Juliet was not published until 1597. The works have similarities, but also differences that help separate the two works. Shakespeare added characters that aid in the movement of his telling, which gave us Tybalt, Paris, and Mercutio.
Shakespeare’s works are not widely regarded as fanfiction, of course. The plays operate as retellings, however, this can also fall into the fanfiction category. So, if anyone tries to tell you fanfiction is not a true literary form, use Shakespeare as a primary example.
Star Trek
The history of fanfiction cannot be entirely discussed without bringing up Star Trek. The sci-fi series spawned fanfiction that looks close to the fanfiction people see today. Star Trek had a massive fan base, fanfiction was simply the natural consequence. Even today, Star Trek’s fandom remains a powerful force.
Since at the time of Star Trek’s debut the internet had not gone live yet, fanfiction had to be shared in other ways. Fans of Star Trek would create what are known as zines. Zines are magazines written by fans and for fans of the media. In this case, zines were made for Star Trek. These zines then could be shared by hand when fans met up. This is similar to going to a Comicon convention today, where fans can meet, exchange gifts, or purchase fan works.
Star Trek also brought the idea of shipping characters into the spotlight. Everyone has watched a show or read a book and thought “Those two are cute”, or they would be if they were not an official couple. The beauty of fanfiction is that fans can make their favorite pairs real in their work. The idea that a fan could make their favorite “ships” real within fanfiction took off.
Without the Star Trek fandom and its dedicated fans, fanfiction may not be where it is. Even fan spaces might not be what they are today. Star Trek was the launching pad of modern fan fiction.
The Launch of the Internet
The opening of Pandora’s box, the launch of the World Wide Web. The first year the internet service provider was launched was in 1974. However, the Internet became more publicly accessible with the launch of the World Wide Web in 1989. This gave us HTMLs, URLs, and HTTPs. This gave anyone with access to the internet access to anything online, and anyone.
With all this access, fans could now connect much more easily to each other. After all, now there was easier access to sharing information. Those fan-made zines could now be uploaded online and shared via the web.
Now, people just needed a place to harbor all the fanfiction they were writing in one place.
Fanfiction Websites
FanFiction.net launched on October 15th, 1998. This is the first mainstream website that provides a place for people to publish, read, and discuss fanfiction. It was the first of its kind. This website was, and still is, one of the sites used by fanfiction writers. However, the site is now rather dated, and not used as much as the two dominating sites.
Wattpad debuts next, going live in December 2006. Two years later, Wattpad also launched an app. Wattpad dominated the fanfiction space. Wattpad featured was easily accessible to writers and allowed for writers to publish easily as well. The site also allowed readers to leave comments anywhere in the fanfic, offering their reactions. It was the place to be.
However, Wattpad did soon add a paywall, and the site now features a lot more original work. This caused some upset with longtime users. The site is still vastly popular, and a good place for first-time fanfic writers to get started.
Finally, there is Archive of Our Own, also known as Ao3, launched on November 14th, 2009 as an open beta. This site gave writers yet another place to publish their work. For readers, the site offers a tagging system, which helps filter your searches down to what you want to read. So if you hate a certain trope, you can filter it right out. The site also uses an invitation system to help control the volume.
No matter what site you read or write on, there is no denying the importance of these sites. These sites can connect fans and share works all over the world. Without them, it would be difficult to find fanfic as easily as we can now.
Fanfiction Today And in The Future
Fanfiction has come a long way from what it was all those centuries ago. Modern-day fanfiction remains a great pastime for many people. People are constantly reading fanfics because with how many people are writing out there, there is something for everyone.
Now the question is, where does fanfiction go next?
Some fanfiction have developed into original works. The movie, The Idea of You starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine began as Harry Styles fanfiction. Other fanfiction has also developed into original books as well, or both.
We are also starting to see a rise in AI-generated fanfiction. On Archive of Our Own, there are just over two thousand five hundred works tagged as AI-generated. This has sparked some backlash from real writers and even poor reader reactions.
AI is as complicated as defining fanfiction, so there is no telling how far AI-generated fanfiction will go. Will websites take down those works? Will websites support them? It’s all uncharted territory.
For now, as always, most readers are going to only read what piques their interests. People are going to keep writing fanfiction about their favorite ships or creating scenarios to their hearts’ content. No matter what you deem fanfiction, there is undoubtedly something there for you.
