Data on Tolkien Fanfiction Culture and Practices 1st Edition Dawn M. Walls-Thumma [email protected] dawnfelagund.com April 2019 Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License Data on Tolkien Fanfiction Culture and Practices Table of Contents Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 5 License and Use ............................................................................................................... 6 Study Methodology ........................................................................................................... 7 Study Limitations ............................................................................................................... 9 Chapter One: Demographics Gender ......................................................................................................................... 10 Age ............................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter Two: Modes of Participation Reading ........................................................................................................................ 14 Writing .......................................................................................................................... 15 Commenting ................................................................................................................. 18 Chapter Three: Fandom Initiation .................................................................................. 20 Chapter Four: Multifandom Participation Primary Fandom ........................................................................................................... 23 Other Fandoms ............................................................................................................ 24 Other Fandom Types.................................................................................................... 26 Chapter Five: Sources .................................................................................................... 28 Chapter Six: Archives Author Use of Archives ................................................................................................. 30 Archive Cultures: Methodology ..................................................................................... 31 Archive Cultures: Authority ........................................................................................... 32 Archive Cultures: Social Justice ................................................................................... 35 Archive Cultures: Critical and Reparative Motives ........................................................ 37 Archive Cultures: Sexuality ........................................................................................... 39 Gatekeeping and Belonging ......................................................................................... 41 Chapter Seven: Genre Author Genre Preference ............................................................................................. 45 Reader Genre Preference ............................................................................................ 46 Genre and Demographics ............................................................................................ 47 Genre, Authority and Critical Motives ........................................................................... 49 Genre in the Wider Fic Fandom .................................................................................... 50 © 2019 Dawn Walls-Thumma Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License 2 Data on Tolkien Fanfiction Culture and Practices Chapter Eight: Tolkien Studies and Fanfiction Research and Reading among Authors ........................................................................ 52 Textual Analysis among Authors .................................................................................. 53 Research and Reading among Readers of Tolkienfic ................................................... 54 Textual Analysis among Readers ................................................................................. 55 Chapter Nine: Motives for Writing Inferential Motives ........................................................................................................ 56 Interpretive Motives ...................................................................................................... 57 Critical Motives ............................................................................................................. 58 Appreciative Motives .................................................................................................... 59 Social Justice Motives .................................................................................................. 61 Corrective Motives ........................................................................................................ 62 Communal Motives ....................................................................................................... 63 Personal Motives .......................................................................................................... 63 Spiritual Motives ........................................................................................................... 64 Motives Related to Sexuality ........................................................................................ 65 Media-Related Motives ................................................................................................. 65 Miscellaneous Motives ................................................................................................. 66 Putting It All Together: Overall Ranking of Motives ....................................................... 66 Chapter Ten: Reader Preferences Inferential Interests ....................................................................................................... 72 Interpretive Interests ..................................................................................................... 73 Critical Interests and Authority ...................................................................................... 74 Appreciative Reasons for Writing ................................................................................. 75 Social Justice Interests ................................................................................................. 76 Communal Interests ..................................................................................................... 77 Personal Interests ........................................................................................................ 78 Spiritual Interests .......................................................................................................... 78 Interests Related to Sexuality ....................................................................................... 79 Media-Related Interests ............................................................................................... 79 Miscellaneous Interests ................................................................................................ 80 Specific Story Selection ................................................................................................ 81 Putting It All Together: Overall Ranking of Interests ..................................................... 81 Chapter Eleven: The Craft of Writing Author Attitudes toward Writing .................................................................................... 85 Author Perceptions of Improvement ............................................................................. 85 Writing beyond Tolkienfic ............................................................................................. 86 Reader Perceptions of Tolkienfic Quality ...................................................................... 87 © 2019 Dawn Walls-Thumma Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License 3 Data on Tolkien Fanfiction Culture and Practices Chapter Twelve: Community Collective Creativity ...................................................................................................... 88 Communal Interests, Revisited ..................................................................................... 90 Social Needs ................................................................................................................ 91 Chapter Thirteen: Commenting Commenting Frequency ............................................................................................... 93 Praise and Criticism in Comments ................................................................................ 94 Motives for Commenting ............................................................................................... 95 Author Perceptions of Commenting .............................................................................. 97 Lack of Commenting .................................................................................................... 98 One-Click Feedback ..................................................................................................... 98 Appendix A: Survey Consent Form and Questions ........................................................... 100 Appendix B: Additional Fandoms Listed by Participants .................................................... 113 Appendix C: Data for Selected-Response