The Fan Fiction Reading Guide
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DePaul University Via Sapientiae College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences 6-2019 The fan fiction eadingr guide: the use of multimedia and comments as close reading tools Lauren Rouse DePaul University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd Recommended Citation Rouse, Lauren, "The fan fiction eadingr guide: the use of multimedia and comments as close reading tools" (2019). College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations. 274. https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/274 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE FAN FICTION READING GUIDE: THE USE OF MULTIMEDIA AND COMMENTS AS CLOSE READING TOOLS A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts June 2019 BY Lauren Rouse Department of English College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences DePaul University Chicago, IL ii Abstract This paper considers the benefits of including multimedia in fan fiction multimedia and its effects on the close-reading and critical analysis skills of readers. By completing an illustrative and cumulative case study with three fan fiction authors who are currently writing and publishing a new fiction (fic), the author was able to view the production and promotion of fan fiction and its accompanying multimedia. Additionally, this research analyzed the comments from these works through topic modeling and term frequency as well as other data analysis methods. Through both the data analysis and the interviews, several conclusions were discovered, including the conclusion that readers are able to build their skills through fan fiction and multimedia. Keywords: fan fiction, close reading, comments, multimedia, data analysis iii For Susan, Robin, Jane, and Haley I am your biggest fan. iv Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my committee, without whom this thesis would have never happened. I am indebted to my advisor, Dr. John Shanahan, who sparked my interest in digital humanities and pushed me to pursue this topic for my thesis. I am also extremely grateful to Dr. Paul Booth for his support as a reader and to Dr. Ana Lucic for her assistance as both a reader and a data analyst— both played decisive roles in assisting me with this thesis. Without all three of these scholars, I would be lost in piles of data and literature. I wish to thank various fans for their contribution to this project, especially the participants who the chapters are on. I had the greatest pleasure interviewing you all for this project and thank you immensely for your contributions. I hope that I have done your works justice. I would also like to thank all those who reached out via reddit with the intent to be included in this study. Your bravery to share your work with a complete stranger is unmatched. I would like to extend my gratitude to Nicole Huff for her assistance in editing this thesis, as well as other tutors and administrators in the DePaul University Center for Writing Based Learning (UCWbL), specifically Erin Herrmann, Associate Director, as well as Rachel Larrowe, Sam McKinney, and Hannah Thornby. Nicole and her colleagues were places of inspiration, motivation, love, and laughter. I would also like to acknowledge the various fan studies scholars who gave me advice and acted as resources for this thesis, including Katherine Anderson Howell, Emory James Edwards, Sarah Ford, Dr. Katherine Morrisey, and Dr. Henry Jenkins. v Finally, I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of my parents, Robin and Susan Rouse. Their love and support has motivated me throughout all of my education and will continue to do so in the future. Their profound belief in my abilities as a student and as a person was not always realized on my part; however, they never doubted me even when I doubted myself. I thank them for all of their kindness. vi Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................................ vi Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................. 9 Vocabulary .............................................................................................................................................................. 12 Multimedia ........................................................................................................................................................ 12 Close Reading.................................................................................................................................................... 12 Webscraping ..................................................................................................................................................... 13 Literature Review .................................................................................................................................................... 13 Creating Fan Fiction ............................................................................................................................................... 27 Research Plan.......................................................................................................................................................... 29 Methods ....................................................................................................................................................................... 32 Participants ............................................................................................................................................................. 32 Procedure ................................................................................................................................................................ 34 The Interviewing Process ................................................................................................................................. 34 Documentary Analysis ..................................................................................................................................... 36 Quantitative Analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 37 Discussions .............................................................................................................................................................. 41 Chapter 1..................................................................................................................................................................... 44 The Supernautral Fandom....................................................................................................................................... 45 Writing Process ....................................................................................................................................................... 49 Current Projects ...................................................................................................................................................... 50 Multimedia............................................................................................................................................................... 52 Fanart ................................................................................................................................................................ 52 Mood Boards ..................................................................................................................................................... 53 Interactions with Readers ........................................................................................................................................ 54 Discord ............................................................................................................................................................... 54 vii Comments .......................................................................................................................................................... 56 The Future of Fandom, According to Ruby ............................................................................................................. 57 From a Reader’s Perspective .................................................................................................................................. 58 Comment Analysis ............................................................................................................................................ 61 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................................................