Fanfic Culture - Tumblr Posts
After months of staying silent on literary discourse here on Tumblr, I finally have something to contribute.
Fanfiction is not the problem. Fanfic is a free, communal and valid form of writing which, although not always high quality, has yielded some genuinely great stories. The real problem, the reason for ‘booktok books’ and the flaws in modern literature, is fanfic being hijacked by corporations. The minute people try to make money off of it, the minute fanfic and fanfic-style stories lose their meaning. Fanfiction is written on the notes app at 3am for you and 5 friends who share your taste. It is self-indulgent, chaotic, often told through a queer and/or neurodivergent lens, and free from any pressure to be commercially palatable. The minute a few stereotypical fanfiction tropes and ideas are stolen by commercial publishers and twisted into patriarchal, heteronormative versions of themselves with no character depth beyond the romance (a problem that for obvious reasons doesn’t apply to fanfic), that is where the real problem begins.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk
After months of staying silent on literary discourse here on Tumblr, I finally have something to contribute.
Fanfiction is not the problem. Fanfic is a free, communal and valid form of writing which, although not always high quality, has yielded some genuinely great stories. The real problem, the reason for ‘booktok books’ and the flaws in modern literature, is fanfic being hijacked by corporations. The minute people try to make money off of it, the minute fanfic and fanfic-style stories lose their meaning. Fanfiction is written on the notes app at 3am for you and 5 friends who share your taste. It is self-indulgent, chaotic, often told through a queer and/or neurodivergent lens, and free from any pressure to be commercially palatable. The minute a few stereotypical fanfiction tropes and ideas are stolen by commercial publishers and twisted into patriarchal, heteronormative versions of themselves with no character depth beyond the romance (a problem that for obvious reasons doesn’t apply to fanfic), that is where the real problem begins.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk
Me when a writer I follow comments on MY story:
“GASP senpai noticed me”
“Thank you ;;-;; I love you”
“You motivate me so much”
“You have no idea what this means to me”
“Where’s that fifth chapter I’ve been waitin’ on bitch? It’s been two weeks. The blorbo is not going to put itself in the situation.”
There's really nothing quite like reading the first chapter note on a fic saying something like "I think there's maybe 2 more chapters in this" fully aware that you've just clicked on an 86 chapter behemoth that has clearly been holding this author hostage for several months