Ever cringed at fan fiction but admitted that you’re kind of fascinated by it? It’s fun to diss the literary abyss of Fifty Shades of Grey or chuckle over Ryan Lochte/Michael Phelps sex (yep you read that right), but fan fiction has always been around and in fact, we’re all familiar with it. We wanted to get to the heart of what fan fiction is, why we read it and what it does for us.

For a list of recommended fan fiction from The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter universes scroll to the end.

Everything is fan fiction

Monica: I got into fan fiction because I was hooked on Lord of the Rings and wanted to know why the only female mortal character (Andreth) in Tolkien’s Middle Earth could not end up with her immortal Elven Prince (Aegnor)!

Elle: Fan fiction was the world I shared with my sister. We moved around a lot and got exposed to anime and AMVs (anime music videos, which are the video equivalent of fan fiction). When I was 13 and she was 9, she wanted to be Misty from Pokemon and I wanted to be a new “cool girl” character in Dragon Ball Z. In no time at all, we were re-working the stories to how WE wanted it with US as the stars. Fan fiction provided a safe bubble for us to crawl into and feel in control.

Joy: “Fan fiction” is a misnomer.

To me, all stories are living entities that evolve as they’re told.

I’ve read fantasy since I could piece sentences together and have been creating fan fiction collaboratively since then. I used to go hiking with my dad and brother, and as we walked through the hills we would toss a story back and forth among the three of us. As we walked past them, waterfalls grew into portals to other worlds, trolls took shape in the shadows, and the rolling hills became the backbone of great sleeping worms. We’d play off of the characters and tropes in fantasy novels we read so our stories would be substantively different depending on what we were reading at the time.

Jia Jia: Until very recently, I actually didn’t think that fan fiction was “proper” fiction. As a teen I loved fantasy (still do) and enjoyed writing it too, typically borrowing elements from the worlds that my favorite authors created, but I never considered what I wrote to be “proper.” Stuff that was published was “proper.”

Monica: Henry Jenkins says that, “fan fiction is a way of culture repairing the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations instead of owned by the folk.” Did you get owned by the corporations?

Jia Jia: I suppose so. But you have to admit, it’s easier to extend a world than to create it. And in most cases, the quality of published fiction is higher than random stuff you find online. What I’ve learnt over the years is that there’s no neat divide between “proper” author and fan writer. Everyone’s writing and trying to get better by learning from others. I appreciate the manga culture in Japan where they’re open about the fact that established authors started out as fan writers. It recognizes that creativity’s an open process, not a black box inside some genius’ head.

Joy: I agree that fan fiction is a low-pressure way to start writing—that’s how I got into fan fic proper in my teens. My friends and I were into sci-fi and fantasy. LOTR, Star Wars, and graphic novels (the twisted shit—Sin City, Transmetropolitan, Sandman, Hellblazer; though we also liked the messed-up-ed-ness of the Batman-verse). Within this group, I was never embarrassed about writing or reading fan fic—we all wrote, edited, and read each other’s stuff.

Re-writing the patriarchy

Monica: In some ways, I prefer reading fan fic to the original because I love entering the world of the novel and exploring that.

I think that women are drawn to the emotional relationships between characters and the sociological implications of the universe that surrounds it; men are more interested in plotlines and how the narrative is built by authorial intent.

As a female reader I like stories that bend the content in more playful ways and infer hidden character agendas beyond what’s mentioned in the original text.

Joy: I definitely found it empowering to evolve the story. Not just imagining new connections between existing characters, or different endings, but bodily TAKING the story and molding it to what we wanted it to be. Take a male-centric LOTR-verse and focus on the female characters. Or, like a friend in our fan fic circle, decide you want to rewrite everything with a black protagonist. Or, like another friend, make everything slash (which really effectively breaks up the hetero bias of basically all fantasy everywhere).

Monica: Did you know that Tolkien fan fic and mash-ups are almost exclusively created by women? Fantasy and sci-fi tend to be lacking in strong female characters. Fan fic lets female writers and readers re-frame narratives so we can reclaim feminine interests from a masculine text. Popular fandoms such as Harry Potter and LOTR provide fans with well known characters (Legolas has over 4 million hits on Google) through which we can re-examine and re-imagine issues such as sexuality, religion, society, gender roles and family life.

Elle: My sister and I didn’t have to re-write the female narrative so much, as most of the worlds we were interested in were drawn from shoujo manga (geared toward female readerships), so the formula was already there.

What we craved was recognition and control.

We just had to replace or insert ourselves as the ultimate female lead. For example:

Original version: school girl from modern world falls through ancient book of spells into another world, is revealed to be a long lost priestess, some dudes fall in love with her.

Our version: we fall through; it is revealed we are GODDESSES. Bam.

Romance with nuance

Monica: I find myself reading for a different vision of romance. What’s on the market caters to more stereotypical masculine tastes. I can’t find the ambiguity, emotional complexity, and exploration that satisfies me.

I’m turned on by characters that are strong, fragile, emotional, physical, ironic and candid and I want to read sensual, enjoyable, fun stuff that hits home emotionally.

Elle: I was most drawn to forbidden relationships because that meant that the love between the protagonists had to be so great they would be willing to overcome all adversity. It’s just a reaffirmation of my desire to believe in the myth of destined monogamous love and western society’s rather narrow definitions of it. I like seeing Plato’s two people form a complete soul. Having said that I like it if there are a few juicy temptations on the sidelines, for eye candy!

Monica: I enjoy relationships built on contrasts. At first glance both characters are not necessarily equal—one may have more power over the other, one may be more beautiful or intelligent. But as the story continues there’s a shift in the power dynamic and what you previously thought the other character had less of, they now have more. For instance, in Hermione and Draco stories Draco starts off more beautiful than Hermione and she’s more intelligent than him, but as the story continues she is shown to be more beautiful and he reveals his intelligence and kindness.

Sexy sex

Jia Jia: I skipped the romance part and went straight to erotica. But it wasn’t for sex—I wanted to see desire played out explicitly. I got into fan fic because I wanted to get under the skin of Vampire Hunter D. I was led to the series by Yoshitaka Amano’s beautiful illustrations for it. But the character of D got me hooked. He’s beautiful, strong, enigmatic and conflicted.Everyone wants him and is constantly tempting him with their blood/body. In the book, D never loses control, even though you know he’s tempted. I wanted to see him break.

When I read, I both identify with and objectify the protagonist. So when he succumbs to desire, it’s both a catharsis and a victory for me. Feeling both powerless and all-powerful is intoxicating.

Monica: I like erotic short stories where neither character relents. A gay elven prince who finds women and mortals disgusting is suddenly seduced by a older mortal woman.

I’m particularly into unexpected pairings that flip gender or race dynamics so you end up with something that might seem transgressive, or progressive, depending on your perspective—for example an alien genderless humanoid seducing a human male astronaut.

Elle: I read some hardcore stuff but quickly lost interest because there wasn’t enough sexual tension. The sex just came too quickly (pun intended) and I prefer a lot of foreplay. Desire is not getting what you want right away. It’s the delay of the expected with a light possibility that it might not happen to further prolong the inevitable. I enjoy little plot twists like the other really desirable dude who’s not quite as desirable as the main dude but falls in love with the same girl (e.g., team Edward v team Werewolf). So I like the antici………pation more than I enjoy the final resolution, but only because I know what the final resolution will be.

Jia Jia: The whole thing has to be written well. I find it excruciating to read badly written descriptions of explicit acts; most of the erotic D stories I read flipped between sweeping romance language and crass sexual slang—the effect was usually comedic, along the lines of, “He swiftly dismounted and carried her across the threshold. As he laid her down he felt her hand on his c*ck, guiding it toward her p*ssy.”

Joy: And you need good plot and character development. At the end of the day, I’m reading to enjoy great stories and build a world in my head so I can explore issues including but not limited to sex. And I also want to have fun.

Recommended fan fiction reading:

The Price of Freedom
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Pairing: Legolas/Eowyn
Summary: In the aftermath of the War of the Ring, Eowyn comes to the painful realization that the wounds of the heart she still bears cannot be healed by going back to the cage, however guilded, however loving the master.
Smut? Yes but of the romantic type.

The Fallout (registration required)
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Summary: Hermione learns about growing up through the redemption of Draco Malfoy.
Smut? Yes a lot of the hot love/hate variety. Slow burner but best combination of romantic story and smut.

Eden
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Lucius/Hermione
Summary: An obsession that destroys everything it touches.
Smut? Yes a lot of smut mixed with torture and lust. Imagine a fanatical racist leader falling in love/lust/hate with the teenage object of their hate and you get the idea.

The Apprentice (registration required)
Fandom: Silmarillion
Pairing: Sauron/Original Male Elf
Summary: Sauron disguises himself as a good guy to make the rings of power with the elves and gets physical with one of his elven apprentices.
Smut? Yes of the slash (male on male) kind.

Room Serviced (registration required)
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Draco/Hermione
Summary: During the war Draco and Hermione meet up for some hot action.
Smut? Short story mixed with hot smut and obvious attraction.

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