Fan Fiction and Readers

Collins, Tara. "Filling in the gaps: What is happening in the world of fan fiction." Library Media Connection 24, no 4 (2006): 36-38.

For readers looking to continue the experience of reading a favorite or particularly gripping story, they may turn to fan fiction writing.  Those who are not quite ready to leave Hogwarts or Middle Earth, or feel that some characters simply have more to say, can use fan fiction writing as a creative outlet in order to remain close with the characters and worlds they have come to know and love.  Tara Collins invites 80 decidedly "popular" fan fiction authors whose content is hosted on fanfiction.net to participate in a survey about their writing: their preferred characters, settings, and opinions on why readers are drawn to their re-imagined (and expanded) stories and characters.  She shares the results of her 30 responses in her article, Filling in the Gaps: What is Happening in the World of Fan Fiction (2006).  Much of her focus is spent on the preferences of writers' character choices, meaning, their reasoning behind choosing one character over another to lead their story(-ies).

Rather than consistently, habitually choosing the previously designated "main character" from the original works, fan fiction writers have been known to select minor characters to be the face of their creations.  Instead of having Harry be the star of a Harry Potter series fanfic, fan fiction writers may elect to tell the story from a smaller-scale character's perspective.  This is due to various factors, including the desire to be more creative with a less (officially, or "canon-wise") fleshed-out character, or even the fear of offending readers with a new (and possibly inaccurate) interpretation of a much-beloved character.  A respondent of Collins's survey confirms this with her use of a minor character in the Lord of the Rings universe, in that "[he] is a minor character but with fan fiction you can extend this.  There is little we know about [him] and because of this you can let your imagination as an author run free without going against what Tolkien wrote."  By choosing to write about minor characters and their adventures, one has less of a chance of either offending other fans of the original story, or tainting the history that has already been established.  They are allowed a creative experience without detriment to the series they know and love.

Collins's findings represent a small window into the world of fan fiction, yet presents stimulating and interesting information, unveiling the secret inner-workings of fan fiction authors' minds.  Each reader takes away something different from the stories they read, and they may choose to apply those feelings and discoveries in different ways to share that love with others.