Fanfiction: What is it and Why Does it Exist

Wkihow.com

Institutions are the “rules of the game” that influence choices. 
     What is fanfiction and what are the stigmas surrounding it?
           
            Fanfiction is one of the biggest things that comes from fandoms. Stories that reimagine the original, artwork in the artist’s own art style; these things come in abondance with any type of fandom. The article I used is theconversation.com(What is fanfiction) by Rukmini Pande. Fandoms have a social stigma of being strange and for the queer, but fanfiction is an entirely different words. Its demographic being mostly women and the queer community, and the bad writing or content that it has all contribute to a negative social view. 

            While I’ve never written fanfiction, I do read it. When I look for it I have to spend a lot of time sorting through the badly written ones, the ones in different languages, the scarcity of what I’m looking for. But it’s worth it when you find the best one. A lot of what I read is just alternate universes, alternate endings to things, basically just using the pre-established characters or settings so that they can get on with their own plot and idea. They make stories about hardships that the author wants to write about. They create more diversity, of personality and/or identity. Rewriting a scene from the book or movie or the comic or the TV show. They want something more out of it when it’s gone, they want more out of it while it’s here. But your favorite book only has one ending, only the the scenes it wrote about. Fanfiction is there to let the story come to life in a different way, show different scenes, different characters and aspects about the world your favorite story resides in.

“Fanworks, including fanfiction and fanart, are created by fans who are invested in the source material. They seek to expand the narrative universe and share their personal creations with other fans for free.”

            Some producers encourage fanfiction, they want their fans to take inspiration from their ideas, but others don't. They don’t want their ideas to be taken an rewritten, re-imagined. Some people don’t like fan fiction because it’s gross. Slash Fiction is when the story is about the romantic and sexual relationship between 2 characters. They don’t like these stories when it pairs people, (men, women, nonbinary, genderfluid) together that aren’t actually in a relationship. They don’t like it because it’s terribly written, bad grammar, bad storytelling, total rewrite of who the characters are. These things are expecting from developing writers, though. As for slash, it’s a preference, and some people might find it uncomfortable, others might find it creative, and some might enjoy it too much. But slash is to dramas is to porn. It happens, and some find one of these types of sexaulizing/romanticizing story uncomfortable. 

“The power of fanfiction stems from the fact that it actively invites writers to break down boundaries considered “natural” in a broader cultural context – primarily around sex, sexuality, and gender.” 

           Fanfiction has always been an outlet. It can be found for free on sites like fanfiction.net, Archiveofourown.com, wattpad (which has 40 million users), and more. From stories using the setting of a book to the characters, to the idea, there’s one thing it has in common. Who writes it. “fanfiction provides a fluid space for (mainly) queer women writers and readers to engage with the various pop cultural narratives that influence their lives.” says Pande. They use fanfiction as an outlet for their writing and their need to see themselves in stories. Readers read so they can enjoy their favorite story after it’s ended, to see the characters interact with different situations, to see their own emotions in their favorite characters, to see their favorite world come to life, expand. Fanfiction is out there for those people who want more, who want something different. It’s out there for those who just want to read, who just want to write. The social stigma against the queer and feminine creates their need for fanfiction even more. They want to see themselves in these stories, but the stigmas keep that from them. Fanfiction exists because of the strong emotions they feel. 

Next up: how is the market for fanfiction changing?