Fanfiction: a cultural practice How is fanfiction represented?

- ‘Isn't it time we gave the art of remixing stories it a little more respect? After all, it was good enough for Shakespeare.’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/24/fanfiction- deserves-more-respect) - ‘Profics’: ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ (‘Jane Eyre’), ‘Wicked’ (‘The Wizard Of Oz’), ‘March’ (‘Little Women’) ‘Pride & Prejudice & Zomies’, any number of non-canonical Sherlock Holmes stories - Issues surrounding non-professional works: - fanfic authors usually writers-in-training (Mazar 2006: 1411; Tosenberger 2008: 186) - lacking originality of characters, setting, plots (Thomas 2011: 10) - not for profit (De Kosnik 2009: 119) - derided as an artform less legitimate than music sampling, which operates on the same principle of artistic appropriation (De Kosnik 2009: 120; Lantagne 2011: 161- 162, 174) - Often focuses on romance, taking cues from (heterosexual) romance print novels (De Kosnik 2009: 123)

What social identities are associated with fanfiction? - Stereotypically written and read by adolescent girls, men-who-still-live-at-home (Tosenberger 2008: 189) - Depends on the fandom – Jane Austen fanfic often written by not-young women (Thomas 2011) - ‘Slash’ fans – deviance from heteronormativity and other norms (Thomas 2011: 8; Tosenberger 2008: 187) - Kirk/Spock  ‘/’ (pronounced ‘slash’)  murky meanings - Any uncanon pairing? Any non-heterosexual pairing (fan-preferred meaning)? Any uncanon non-heterosexual pairing? (Tosenberger 2008: 186-187) - Buddyslash, enemyslash, powerslash (Tosenberger 2008: 191) - Sfanfiction writers have gone on to write creator-sanctioned Expanded Universe novels e.g. Star Trek, , Dr Who

How is fanfiction produced and consumed? - 20th century: ‘’ (with specific mailing lists for explicit homoerotic content) (Tosenberger 2008: 188) - 1990s-now: proliferation of websites (Thomas 2011: 2; Tosenberger 2008: 189), whether archiving a wide range of fandoms (e.g. http://www.fanfiction.net/, http://archiveofourown.org/) or fandom-specific archives (e.g. Phoenixsong.net for ‘Harry Potter’ fanfiction, http://www.phoenixsong.net/; Bits Of Ivory for Jane Austen fanfiction, http://www.pemberley.com/derby/boiarchive.html) - Chapters  serialisation, plotting on a grand scale  legitimising parallels with Dickens (Mazar 2006: 1144; Thomas 2011: 8) - Moderation e.g. beta-reader services, grammar/spelling/punctuation standards, level of in-characterness (Mazar 2006: 1143, 1144) - A gift for fans from fans (De Kosnik 2009: 123; )

What mechanisms regulate fanfiction?

- Anything in the public domain is fair game, legally speaking (Lantagne 2011: 176) - Copyright law – ‘fair use’ – transformative and/or parodic values (Lantange 2011) - Creator-mandated fanwork bans (http://fanlore.org/wiki/Professional_Author_Fanfic_Policies) - intellectual property - characters are like the author’s family (esp. children) – Robin Hobb, Anne Rice - concern about explicit content in fandoms with large young-children audience – JK Rowling - encouragement of originality – George R Martin, Anne Rice - ‘…the argument that fanfiction should not be permitted because it transforms the original author’s characters mirrors the argument for exactly why fanfiction should be permitted under copyright law’ (Lantagne 2011: 175) - With zines, content was restricted to what the editors thought would appeal; with the Internet, stories about one pairing can flourish alongside pairings that appeal to readers who don’t ship the first pairing (Tosenberger 2008: 192) - Allows creative expression, particularly queer expression, away from parents/adults in authority and institutionals like school (Tosenberger 2008: 190, 202, )

Challenges encountered

- Copyright law mainly applicable only to the USA - Anonymity of the Internet paired with whatever draws a given person to a given fandom makes true fanfic writer (and reader) demographics difficult to determine - Cultural legitimacy of doujinshi (fan-created comics of Japanese manga)

References Chandler-Olcott, K,elly, and Donna Mahar. ‘ “Tech-savviness” meets multiliteracies: Exploring adolescent girls technology-mediated pactices ‘. Reading Research Quarterly 38:3 (2003). Web. May 20 2012. De Kosnik, Abigail. ‘Should fanfiction be free?’ Cinema Journal 48: 4 (2009). Web. May 20 2012. . ‘Profession Author Fanfic Policies.’ Fanlore, a branch of The Organisation for Transformative Works, 2012. Web. May 20 2012. Gregory, Mathilda. ‘Fanfiction can be an eloquent tribute – it deserves more respect’. The Guardian Nov 24 2011. Web. May 20 2012. Lantagne, Stacey, M. ‘The better angels of our fanfiction: the need for true and locical precedent’. Hastings Enterntainment And Law Journal 33:2 (2011). Web. May 20 2012. Mazar, Rochelle. ‘/fanfiction’. The International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments. Springer Netherlands, 2006. Web. May 20 2012. Thomas, Bronwen. ‘What is fanfiction and why are people saying such nice things about it?’ Storyworlds 3:1 (2011). Web. May 20 2012. Tosenberger, Emma. ‘Homosexuality at the online Hogwarts: Harry Potter slash fanfiction’. Children’s Literature 36:1 (2008). Web. May 20, 2012.