Fan-fiction as literacy
Fan-Fiction Community Rules
Looking to fill the gaps from beloved stories or rewrite endings that displeased them, fan-fiction writers have been forming communities where they can relive the excitement of their favorite franchises. From stories about young, female protégés in the Star Trek franchise to stories about the dating life of Harry and Hermione in the Harry Potter world, fan-fiction writers have been using their stories for years in order to establish a supportive community of like-minded writers and readers. With the advantage of the internet and websites like Fanfiction.net or publishing venues like Amazon's Kindle Worlds, the world of fan-fiction writing has developed considerably over the past 10 years, establishing a “social language” (Gee, 2001b, p. 718) and set of conduct codes for fan-fiction writers and readers.
The “social language” of fan-fiction is largely dependent upon support and encouragement. That is, readers/reviewers of fan-fiction consistently praise each other’s work, focusing on positive feedback. Rebecca Black (2009) termed these responses, “OMG Standards” (p. 691). She explained that, “These are a common type of review that begins with the common Internet parlance of the acronym for Oh My God! and ‘consists of enthusiastic statements of appreciation for the fiction’” (p. 691–692). Likely due to the collaborative nature of fan-fiction (i.e., writers comment upon each others’ texts and emulate how they wish to be addressed in reviews) or the focus on non-expert voices (i.e., reviewers don’t want to sound oppressive or self-righteous), “OMG Standards” allow for a comfortable and supportive writing space. And when a reviewer does see an opportunity for improvement, instead of criticizing the writer or the text, he or she tends to suggest possible changes without pushing for revisions.
Another component of the “social language” of fan-fiction is expertise in a writer’s given fandom. As Susanna Coleman (2010) noted:
[Fan-fiction writers] invest considerable time and effort online both researching the original text that is the basis for [their] fan fiction and interrupting this text as [they] write, reshaping it into what [they] deem a more satisfactory narrative and exposing this new text to other fans. (p. 96)
Fan-fiction requires a considerable amount of knowledge about the original narrative, and it requires a learned view of the original narrative’s audience. Writers must negotiate their roles as critical readers and writers in order to ensure that their narratives don’t stray from literacies of the characters from the original story. That is, a proficient fan-fiction writer wouldn’t give Robin Hood the ability to breathe underwater, but he or she may have Robin scale castle walls or write a love letter to Guy of Gisborne.
At the heart of the writing process, fan-fiction writers attempt to create stories in their own voices that appeal to other fans within their fandom, and readers respond to those stories with words of insight and encouragement. For instance, in one of the most popular stories on Fanfiction.net, writer S’TarKan (2012) wrote an alternative storyline for the Harry Potter franchise:
The war is over. Too bad no one is left to celebrate. Harry makes a desperate plan to go back in time, even though it means returning Voldemort to life. Now an 11 year old Harry with 30 year old memories is starting Hogwarts. Can he get it right?
In “Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past,” S’TarKan preserved the original cast of the Harry Potter franchise, leaving all of the characterizations the same: Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon are still mean to Harry; Ron, Hermione, and Harry are still friends; and Voldemort is still the antagonist. Instead of using the original ending from J.K. Rowling’s novels, however, S’TarKan used his prologue to create a world where the war to defeat Voldemort lasted for years. The rest of the fan-fiction told the new story of Harry’s attempt to overthrow Voldemort in a more timely fashion.
With 39 chapters spanning three years of Harry’s time at Hogwarts, “Harry Potter and the Nightmares of Futures Past” epitomizes the community relationship formed between writers and reviewers. The story has over 13,000 followers, 14,000 favorites, and 12,000 reviews. And even though the final chapter was written in October 2012, reviewers still leave comments for S’TarKan: “I usually don’t review a story until I finish reading it, but I must say - Luna’s little comment at the end was BRILLIANT” (furuba-suzume, 2014); “I hope the author will reappear and continue this. The story is really well written and thrilling. please right [sic]!” (1234Christie, 2014); and “Well, Harry can deal with dementors, right? so they should both be fine. just doing the saving-sirius-from-dementors thing earlier this time” (nightkitty555, 2014). To continue the conversation and editing process, S’TarKan even included an author’s note at the end of every chapter, where he would answer questions from his reviewers. At the end of chapter 12, for example, S’TarKan wrote “Thanks for the people that pointed out the glitch about Ron’s spell-casting being charged to Harry. I altered Molly’s line to reflect that. Every else’s lines can stand, I think.”
Responding to others’ stories with supportive and constructive feedback is seen as a common courtesy in the fan-fiction writing community, and this exchange of feedback is seen as the cornerstone of fan-fiction. If someone takes the time to write and post a story, readers of that story are expected to leave feedback. Even “good work” responses are welcomed and valued by fan-fiction writers, though more detailed feedback is always more appreciated.
Writers and readers go to online fan-fiction sites to not only share stories but also share in a community of like-minded people. Their overt goals are not to criticize or make a living from writing these kinds of stories. Instead, they write to fulfill a passion for the art and increase their skills as writers and willing audience members. As a fan-fiction writer herself, Coleman explained the level of commitment people have to fan-fiction, “We are not passive consumers of fandoms. We participate in them, reshaping them and drawing in other members of the fan fiction community” (2010, p. 97). Collaboration, therefore, is at the root of fan-fiction much like it is at the root of gaming. Both communities use a shared experience to create a new literacy, and each member in the community actively engages in the world of his or her fandom.
