Lots of books have fans. But only some have fanfiction.
What is it about certain novels that give people a burning desire to take up the characters and create new stories?
My best friend Christina Morland is also a novelist, so we talk about books a lot. And this question is one we've circled back to multiple times over the years, partially because we've (ahem) read quite a bit of fanfic but also because it's a fascinating phenomenon. Fanficcers love a book or series so much that they write stories in that setting for free. So: Why some books and not others?
What, for instance, do Pride & Prejudice, Harry Potter, Twilight and Sherlock Holmes have in common besides being heavily fanficced?
(Mind you, there are many books for sale that put new twists on Pride & Prejudice and Sherlock Holmes because both are in the public domain. Or at least mostly so, in Holmes' case. But there's still a ton of stories about these fictional worlds on fanfic sites.)
Clearly one secret is characters people can't get enough of. But Christina's theory, which makes sense to me, is that you also need a book that leaves space for more. For roads-not-taken plots. For different romances or a lot more of the same romance. For a new point of view.
Part of what I loved about Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl is how perfectly it captured the feeling of being that sort of fan. And then she wrote the story her character is fanficcing.
Do you have a fandom you love so much that you've gone down the fanfic rabbit hole? Or do you have a grand unifying fanfic theory? Hit reply to tell me. 👀
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A few more cool & bookish things
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You made it to the end! You're awesome. (And oh hey, here are my latest books. In an America run by wizards and 100 years behind on women's rights, she resists. He's the wizard who just hired her.)
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