I fell down the fanfiction rabbit hole five years ago. Full of wide-eyed excitement I found myself explaining what fanfiction is, even when people didn't really want to listen. By the time my whirlwind romance with fandom settled into something more permanent, geek culture had boomed. Fanfiction is rarely something I have to explain anymore. Increasingly the response to 'fanfiction' isn't a furrowed brow, but an enthusiastic, "Oh yeah, I was in SPN fandom for a bit and now I write Johnlock." With the success of former fan writers (e.g. Cassandra Clare), the success of former fanfiction having been edited and marketed as original fiction (e.g. Fifty Shades of Grey) and the boom in fandoms which attract a media circus (e.g. One Direction fandom), writing fanfiction isn't as private as it once was. The shift has been rapid and intense, and those fandom stalwarts who remember the days when fic was only available in hard copy printed fanzines will feel the shift even more keenly.
The increased visibility of fandom has brought with it media commentary leveled at readers and writers of fanfiction. This post explores how that media attention raises interesting questions around the suppression of women's writing, and considers why the ability to write in a not for profit space is vital to fan communities, and to the largely female identified writers creating in those spaces.
The increased visibility of fandom has brought with it media commentary leveled at readers and writers of fanfiction. This post explores how that media attention raises interesting questions around the suppression of women's writing, and considers why the ability to write in a not for profit space is vital to fan communities, and to the largely female identified writers creating in those spaces.