How Fanfiction Uncovered the Hidden Truth About Originality You Never Expected
The Short Of It
It may not be as important as you think
Fanfiction was where I started writing as a young person… and while I’ve moved my focus to writing original fiction, it’s a place I still visit as a reader. Being involved in this internet subculture has given me insight into reader behavior, especially toward content that is often considered “unoriginal.” And I’ve realized that originality, as a holy grail of writing, may not be as important, especially to readers, as many may think.
Readers want to read what they want to read
One joke that circulates commonly in fanfiction circles is that they love reading about the same two characters falling in love over and over again. (Um, a lot of fanfiction is romance-focused if you didn’t know.)
Fanfiction readers are also voracious readers. Another joke is that fanfiction readers will binge a 300k-word story over the weekend without realizing that it is the length of 3 (or more) standard novels.
And I can confirm from my librarian career that there is that subset of voracious readers who read the same thing over and over again, be it Harlequin romance, or cozy mysteries, or spy thrillers.
Those library readers who are in love with a set of genre conventions and those fanfiction readers who want their two favs to fall in love yet again… are a Venn diagram of basically the same readers. Or readers with the same reading habits, despite happening in different venues.
Sure, some readers like to pick among very different books all the time, whether because they crave novelty or prefer the paths of more unique literary reads. But many readers have preferences toward a certain assortment of genres or story conventions.
But… those readers still like variations on the story. That’s why they read different books or fanfictions rather than the same story over and over again. They want a similar experience, but not an identical experience.
As a writer, what I took away from this observation of reader behavior is that you shouldn’t be afraid to play in a playground that’s already been played in. If the question is… “is there…
Post Comment