The Rise of FanFiction

Abundance of Books

Fanfiction has made a significant impact on youth, literature, film, and television.  Fanfiction comes from the Igen (a generation born with the internet) out of love, respect, and inspiration (Batchelor 81). Fanfiction originated with the Star Wars franchise, people writing about the characters continuing on, or alternative options and storylines (Batchelor 81). Fanfiction now affects many different aspects and has even changed the way we few certain stories like Twilight, Harry Potter, and Star Wars.

 

Anna Todd

In a 2014 a study was done that revealed 38% of American students posting their original work online and 21% sharing fanfiction, or fanart (Magnifico 2015). In 2014, Anna Todd also published her first book, a book that originated from Wattpad. (Simon&Schuster 2019). Wattpad is a site where many write original and fanfiction pieces, Anna Todd’s After was originally a Harry Styles fanfiction. Her book received Millions of reads, which encouraged her to change a few names and publish. Her book currently has over 500 Million reads.
Another popular version of published fanfiction would be E.L James’s Fifty Shades of Grey. The book series and well-rated movies started out as a Twilight fanfiction. Again, receiving a lot of attention, and not being able to post her work on Fanfiction.net, she took it to a publishing company. (Business Insider 2015).

Many post fanfictions because it allows them to start with a fan base, instead of creating their own from scratch. Fanfiction will enable writers to develop their own ideas, which create other stories and even bring more attention to the original work. At 15, Beth Reekles also wrote fanfiction, then decided to try posting one of her own pieces. “The Kissing Booth” Received so much attention, that Netflix picked it up and released a movie, which is already working on a sequel (Seventeen 2019).

 

Reading on the Beach

Fanfiction has been making big waves for the last few years. These are only a few examples of how fanfiction has affected youth’s perspective on writing, the original literature, new movies and series and even leading to original novels like Fifty Shades of Grey. Although Fanfcition.net was founded in 1998, it has made a significant impact on society within only 20 years (Magnifico 2015).

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Abundance of Books (Photo) Retrieved fromhttps://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-wearing-brown-shirt-carrying-black-leather-bag-on-front-of-library-books-1106468/

Anna Todd (Photo) Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6278373/Anna-Todd-cancels-talk-Frankfurt-book-fair-harassed-hours.html

After. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.simonandschuster.ca/books/After/Anna-Todd/The-After-Series/9781476792484

Batchelor, B. (2012). Cult Pop Culture: How the Fringe Became Mainstream [3 Volumes] : How the Fringe Became Mainstream. Westport, Conn: Praeger. Retrieved from https://login.ezproxy.cnc.bc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=440816&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Business Insider. (2015, February 17). ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ started out as ‘Twilight’ fan fiction before becoming an international phenomenon. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/fifty-shades-of-grey-started-out-as-twilight-fan-fiction-2015-2

Magnifico, A. M., Curwood, J. S., & Lammers, J. C. (2015). Words on the screen: broadening analyses of interactions among fanfiction writers and reviewers. Literacy, 49(3), 158–166. https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12061

 

Reading on the Beach (Photo) Retrieved from https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-person-reading-book-on-beach-1730560/

Rodriguez, V. (2019, February 14). 17 “The Kissing Booth” Facts That’ll Make You So Excited for the Sequel. Retrieved from https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/movies-tv/a21238098/kissing-booth-fun-facts/