Fan fiction was once a niche form of writing read by specific people, usually in fandoms of a particular movies, shows, or books. Now, as popularity has soared, with millions of fan fiction books available, the question stands, is fan fiction a legitimate form of literature?
Fan fiction is writing that expands on copyrighted characters, worlds, and plots from existing works such as, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Pride and Prejudice just to name a few. It is often dismissed as unoriginal, arguing that real literature requires originality. This could overlook the fact that there are renowned authors and books that are reimagined and inspired by previous stories. Some of Shakespeare’s plays drew on history and existing stories such as Hamlet and Pericles. James Joyce’s Ulysses reinterprets Homer’s Odyssey in a parodical and modern way.
While fan fiction utilises existing foundations, it is an outlet of creativity for fans and writers. Many popular books actually started off as fan fiction such as Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James which started off as Twilight fan fiction. After (2014) which was adapted for a film in 2019, also began as a One Direction fan fiction.
Tiffanny Wright, a 22 year old waitress and avid reader said: “I don’t see how it can bother anyone unless you’re the author. I think fan fiction is read and wrote by people who actively look for it. It might be generally romance or smut but it’s still a creative piece of work.”
The Hugo Award is an annual literary award given to the best science fiction or fantasy work. Archive of Our Own (AO3) is one of the most popular sites for fan fiction writing and ‘broke’ the internet when they were recognised by the Hugo Award and even won the award in 2019. This caused a lot of drama online as a number of people did not agree that a fan fiction website should receive such an award.
“No, I could never agree. Fan fiction has no regulation, anyone can think of a ‘new’ scenario involving their favourite characters and then write it up. It’s completely different to taking a long time to build a world and truly writing a story.” Said Heather Payne, a 29 year old copywriter.
Perhaps the question is not whether fan fiction is literature, but whether our definition of literature is too narrow. If literature is about storytelling and sparking emotional or intellectual engagement, fan fiction more than qualifies.
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