Fanthropology - The Study of Fandom

In a widely-published story for the Associated Press, Leanne Italie wrote that Not all that long ago E L James was Snowqueens Icedragon, cranking out her sexed-up "Twilight" fan fiction online. Well, faster than you can shriek your safe word, her kinky "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy has fanfic of its very own in the same place where she first serialized her story under a different title. Italie goes on to quote many actual, honest-to-goodness fanfic writers, none of them named Henry Jenkins. Responding to this story for EW Popwatch, Hillary Busis asked, What happens if one of these stories eventually morphs into another “original” novel? Will all fiction one day be traceable back to Twilight? Is the publishing landscape destined to be clogged with imitations of imitations, each more poorly written than the last?

Another interesting 50SoG article was by Alyssa Rosenberg, for ThinkProgress: The novel, a self-published best-seller that started as Twilight fan fiction and subsequently landed print publication and a major movie deal, is essentially a conventional romance about a broken man rescued by the love of a good woman. But Fifty Shades‘ embrace of BDSM isn’t tight enough to leave a bruise, or to open up a serious conversation about power in intimate relationships.

( In other 50SoG news... )

In things non-50SoG, The Boston Phoenix had a piece on an upcoming fanfic reading: Fanfiction is a tricky thing. It can be good, it can be godawful, and it can be just plain creepy.

And, finally, in a really nice piece for Forbes, Jeff Bercovici quoted Josh Whedon on fanfic: There isn’t a better barometer of the kind of success that I crave, which is that people haven’t only enjoyed the work; they’ve internalized it. I don’t, obviously, spend all my days reading it because that would make me creepy, but it’s a huge, huge thing for me that people have taken it into their lives.

He's hooked: Yahoo Sports's Eric Freeman has written more NBA RPF, this time stories In which Metta World Peace challenges James Harden to a gunfight in the Old West, In which Tim Duncan solves a mystery in Lob City, and In which the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers fight for the future of the nation in Revolutionary America.

In an article Zillow contributed to Forbes (seriously) about the building in Seattle where Fifty Shades of Grey is largely set, a poor unnamed journalism major wrote Posted online by British author E.L. James as a piece of “Twilight” fan fiction, the trilogy of books were picked up by a small publisher out of Australia in 2011.

Alix Bryan, in a piece about 50SoG, attempted to explain: Wondering what fan fiction is? It’s basically recycled and re imagined literature. The quick synopsis is that fans extend the story lines of an original work, and develop already existing characters from a story. Fan fiction isn’t new, but it is quite uncommon for fan fiction to be published and skyrocket to the top of the bestseller list.

( More 50SoG )

On The Awl, Sarah Marshall wrote about Hannibal/Clarice, asking What does it mean when a number of women—by all accounts, happy, fulfilled ones‐pick characters like Edward Cullen or Hannibal Lecter to be their imaginary boyfriends?

( Supernatural, Avengers, Andy Cohen )

On Library Journal, Martha Cornog wrote briefly about Boys’ Love Manga: Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-Cultural Fandom of the Genre: Topics include audiences in different countries, comparison with slash fiction, fan groups and reactions, and valences of transgressive sexuality evoked in the stories.

Finally, on Metro, Rachel Tarley shared that Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch has admitted that he is well aware of the wide range of fan fiction viewers of the BBC series produce and that he's even seen stories suggesting his character is in a homosexual relationship with Watson.

For Yahoo! Sports, Eric Freeman wrote a fic In which the Indiana Pacers get in a plane crash and attempt to survive in the snow while being hunted by bears that coincidentally look like the Miami Heat. I couldn't get through it; it seemed depressingly lacking in h/c, which is the entire point of plane crash fic, yk?

Regarding the state of publishing, The Toronto Star's Greg Quill wrote Name authors and newcomers alike are finding access to Internet readers via blog sites, fan fiction and Google’s and Amazon’s self-publishing e-book platforms, which account for 10 per cent of e-books on the market. (He later defines fanfic as author-approved online “mash-ups” by fans of cult novels; so.)

( Charlene Harris, The Avengers, Sherlock )

In the University of Delaware's The Review, Erin Reilly, in 'Erotic novel puts fan fiction on literary map,' wrote that Fan fiction, a writing style generally reserved for Internet forums and websites, has infiltrated mainstream literature following the success of E. L. James’ “Fifty Shades of Grey,” an erotic adult novel that has sparked controversy among readers across the country.

( More 50SoG )

On Huffington Post, Brian Joseph Davis interviewed Jim Hanas about an upcoming evening of Say Anything fanfic reading, quoting Hanas: I'd been thinking about fan fiction and wondered what it would look like if it was taken out of genre and applied to something else. Say Anything -- and its open-ended conclusion -- seemed like a perfect launching pad for Gen X and Gen Y literary writers (so-called).

Finally, Clive Thompson wrote about the Importance of Fan Fiction for Wired's Underwire blog; Alyssa Rosenberg commented on this piece on ThinkProgress. (Fic authors - did you worldplay as a child? And do you think it's at all related to your fic writing?)

The story of the week was a widely-quoted interview of Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) by MTV's Josh Horowitz; a transcript doesn't do it justice, so here's a link.

In The New York Times, in a piece on Jenny Lawson's Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, Christopher Kelly wrote success stories have been more novelty than literary: Justin Halpern’s Twitter feed-turned-quasi-memoir, “S — My Dad Says,” or the erotic “Fifty Shades” trilogy by E. L. James, which originated as “Twilight”-inspired fan fiction.

James Bridle of The Observer observed that The transformation of EL James's Fifty Shades of Grey from free ebook to paperback bestseller shows that fan fiction communities are a potentially lucrative source of material. (Waves SGA and Sentinel h/c gen in the air.)

( More 50SofG )

International Business Times also published Bon Iver Erotica: Fan Fiction Tumblr Goes Viral, Paints Justin Vernon as Romantic Lover.

In framing a Q&A piece with erotica writer Rachael Kramer Bussell, news10.net's Cristina Mendonsa wrote She writes and edits for Harper Collins UK's new ebook website Mischief. The website helped push erotica fan fiction ebook 50 Shades of Grey into popularity, which hit the New York Times Top 10 Bestsellers List.

( FanFiction Comedy, ROFLcon III, Glee )

Finally - I don't have enough time right now to do more than link, and this is a bit outside my purview anyway, but this might get big so I figured I'd include it. LostRemote's Natan Edelsburg reported that SocialSamba launches social TV platform for fan fiction.

The Guardian's Alison Flood wrote An erotic novel that started life as fan-fiction has become the fastest-selling book of the year, beating Suzanne Collins, James Patterson and John Grisham to the top of the charts this week and prompting a rush among publishers to land a slice of the saucy action. EL James's tale of bondage and domination, Fifty Shades of Grey, sold more than 100,000 copies in its first week, its publisher said on Tuesday.

Breaking the news that men like porn too, The Associated Press's Leanne Italie wrote [some male readers] knew exactly what they were getting into, buying into the buzz since Vintage Books bought the rights, shoring up a story that began as "Twilight" fan fiction and putting it out in handy trade paperback on April 3.

On MTV.com, in a piece on whether Fifty Shades of Grey might appeal to Hunger Games fans, Amy Wilkinson wrote "I haven't actually read 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' but I confess that way back in the day, when it was called 'Master of the Universe' and was posted for free online as 'Twilight' fan fiction, I did read it," said Hunger Games Examiner's Sara Gundell. "It is a dirty, dirty story — but hey, sometimes filthy fan fiction is fun to read."

On The Washington Post's The Style Blog, Maura Judkis wrote James wrote the book as “Twilight” fan fiction, and originally put it online as a free download. As it picked up steam, it moved to a small Australian publisher, then to major publishing house Knopf, where it has since become a bestseller. The Post hasn’t reviewed “Fifty Shades of Grey,” though. Washington Post book critic Ron Charles said he tried to read it, but couldn’t continue. “Sex has never been so dull,” said Charles.

And, finally, a few pieces not related to 50SoG! Patrick Vuleta discussed copyright on games.on.net: Many works aren’t direct copies of the originals, but are clearly inspired. Most fanfic falls into this category. By writing new stories using existing characters and settings, fans create derivative works.

And, in a review of 'FanFiction Comedy' for TVNZ, Darren Bevan wrote Fanfiction, in case you're not aware of the general phenomenon, is where fans of shows take it upon themselves to pen works of fiction involving their fave TV or film characters. It's a field full of love, warmth and affection - much like the NZ stage version hosted with genial warmth by Rose Matafeo.

Blink. TIME put E.L. James on its list of "The 100 Most Influential People in the World"; Belinda Luscombe wrote Six months ago she was Erika Leonard, a mother of two who dabbled in saucy stories for the Web. Now she's E.L. James, publishing phenomenon, whose Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy has deeply stirred booksellers, Hollywood and, apparently, many, many mothers. Reading may never be the same.

Today's Jillian Eugenios wrote that E.L. James, who wrote the books as "Twilight" fan fiction, said she’s “stunned” at the success of the story. “I was amazed how popular it was. I’m still amazed,” she told TODAY's Michelle Kosinski Tuesday.

( More 50 Shades, more or less )

Regarding True Blood fandom, Vancouver Sun's Sarah Berman wrote Not satisfied with watching the vampire drama alone, true "fangbangers" orchestrate screening parties, make webisodes of their favourite characters, write fan fiction or dissect series creator Alan Ball's "anti-brunette agenda" online.

Vulture's Margaret Lyons reported that Lost's Damon Lindelof is Now Writing Mad Men Fan Fiction.

In an article on Tumblr for Daily Nebraskan, Danae Lenz wrote, of fan fiction, This is something — if you want to retain whatever is left of your sanity and free time — you should really just steer clear of. It’s a massive time suck and it honestly kills brain cells and keeps you from reading actual books. I found writing for a college paper to be much the same.

In a recap of a recent Game of Thrones episode for Rolling Stone, Helen Sloan wrote the cracking good Dormer takes lines that could come across like sleazy slashfic and reads them as promises from a people-pleasing retail politician, discussing the prospect of servicing a royal wang fluffed into action by her own brother the way a small-state senator talks to his constituents about job-creating highway-construction projects.

Finally, in a review of the upcoming Avengers (yay!) movie for The Guardian, Henry Barnes wrote A Marvel fan since childhood, […] writer-director [Joss Whedon]'s confident take on the Avengers series carries the mark of a piece of expensively assembled fan fiction, albeit stitched together with a lightness and wit that will just about carry the casual viewer through two-and-a-half-hours of comic geek nirvana. HOW DID I NOT KNOW THAT THIS WAS A JOSH WHEDON MOVIE?????

Anne Rice had nice, supportive things to say about Fifty Shades of Grey to Chicagoist's Tony Peregrin; of its fanfic origins, she said well, there are no rules—books can come out in any variety of ways.

In the New Zealand Herald News Christine Sheehy wrote that Fifty Shades of Grey originated as a work of "fan fiction" inspired by the Twilight vampire series, with chapters published on a website for amateur romance writers receiving a lot of reader attention. FTR, that's ff.net she's talking about. Research, what's that?

The Guardian's Jenny Colgan, who also couldn't be bothered to do her homework, wrote Originally evolving through online slash/fic (fan-published erotic writing at the creepier end of the internet, where Ron Weasley and Harry discover their true feelings for one another and so forth) between Edward and Bella of Twilight, Fifty Shades of Grey is now a fully realised trilogy, with Christian Grey as the pretty vampire – sorry, dominant – and Anastasia Steele as his feisty yet innocent partner.

Also in The Guardian, in an article about doomsday dating, Alice Bell wrote I was slightly surprised when a friend pointed out there are three books in Amazon's "Books › Fiction › Erotica › Global Warming & Climate Change" section. I thought there would be more. I'm sure it's a growth area. Maybe readers can think of some possible plots for this emerging sub-genre, though if you could keep the climate sceptic/scientist slash fiction to a minimum, it'd probably keep the Guardian's lawyers calmer. Honey, it's probably your lawyers writing the stuff.

And I don't even want to try to parse this one. RE the US election season, The Guardian's Ana Marie Cox wrote the claims are so over-the-top that Obama partisans will be amused as conservatives take slash-fiction pleasure in the visualisation of their most fevered dreams. Which, I thought that that was limited to Obama/Emanuel?

Finally, Helen Razer reviewed FanFiction Comedy for The Age, so we can finally find out what the darn thing is about: IT IS the sworn duty of comedians to shun the well-adjusted and well-dressed. Perhaps nowhere in the festival is this responsibility upheld with such beardy, weirdy valour than at a performance of FanFiction Comedy, an evening where well-known characters from film, television and literature are rewritten into the naughty narratives of comic writers.

Fifty Shades of Grey-related stories keep coming, but are getting more thoughtful, thankfully. One of my favorites of the week was by Forbes's James Poulos: Yes, epic poetry is back — and it’s going to continue to make billions because it’s gone viral. Instead of one old blind guy memorizing colossal tales, we’re crowdsourcing our favorite myths, characters, themes, and narratives.

The most widely-distributed article of the week was by CNN's Stephanie Goldberg, who wrote Does "Fifty Shades of Grey's" love affair between a dominant man and vulnerable young woman feel a tad bit familiar? It might if you're a tried and true fan of the "Twilight" series. Welcome to the world of fan fiction, where fans tweak or add to existing series, novels and characters -- oftentimes with a steamy twist. Contains actual quotes from actual fanfic scholars!

Huffington Posts's Alma Katsu observed the book's greatest impact may not be due to the fact that it's erotica or that its initial success came through ebook sales -- both fairly novel concepts in the staid world of publishing, to be sure -- but because of what it may mean for authors of fan fiction.

Elizabeth Minkel wrote a nice piece about fanfic for The Million: Why, when discussing fan fiction, do journalists often sound like anthropologists discovering some long-lost tribe — and a somewhat unsavory and oversexed one at that?

( More refs )

( And now some non-50SoG refs! Gamers are better than fanfic writers, graphic art meets fanfic, !Robert Ludlum, what to do when you're ficced, SXSW is also a comedy thing )

Remember that 'FanFiction' show in Melbourne? Herald Sun's Ian Royall provided more details.

A participant in an open mic event told Richmond County Daily Journal's Kelli Easterling “I love to watch movies, but I don’t always like how they end […] Fanfiction.net inspired me to create my own endings. I’m too shy to post any of my writing there though.”

Finally, TV Guide's Damian Holbrook described New Girl's Jess as The kind of klutzy, sexually reversed freakish oddity who could only exist in hipster-porn fan-fic and on TV. Word salad, yummy yummy?

It's another week dominated by the erotic Twilight fic turned bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey! Just think, millions of people are being introduced to the concept of fanfic through these articles; we could do better, but we could do worse.

The most high-profile reference was, I believe, in TIME: in "James' Bondage," Belinda Luscombe wrote E.L. James is not Leonard's only pseudonym. In other venues she's known as Snowqueens Icedragon, Icy or SQID. While James/Leonard/SQID loves romance novels, she was particularly transported when her husband bought her Stephenie Meyer's Twilight novels for Christmas in 2008. Twilight, like many other works of fiction--Harry Potter, Star Trek, Pride and Prejudice--has inspired a lot of admirers to create their own adventures for the characters. Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey started life with the names Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, the human-vampire couple in Twilight.

( So Kirsten and Rob know they have to be in the movie, right? )

The Ventura County Star's Starshine Roshell is amusingly explicit: E.L. James' erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" began as "Twilight" fan fiction, meaning the characters and a few plot points bear striking similarities to Stephenie Meyer's girl-meets-vampire love story. But James, a British first-time author, re-envisions the story with a bookish young virgin who falls for a hunky self-made billionaire who's perfect in every way. Except that he wants — nay, needs — for her to be his kinky sex slave.

( More! )

I didn't see this coming: On Publishers Weekly, Rachel Deahl wrote What's the best way to celebrate a publishing phenomenon that began its life as fan fiction? With a literary parody, of course. On the heels of Vintage acquiring world rights to E.L. Grey's much-covered 50 Shades of Grey trilogy, and Universal snapping up film rights, a satirical take on the erotica series, called Fifty Shames of Earl Grey, is now circulating among book editors.

In other news… ( Jim Butcher, meta, Game of Thrones, Hunger Games )

Finally, a piece by Daniel Ziffer in Western Australia Today on Wil Anderson mentioned that he is producing a show about fan-fiction. In the Herald Sun, Sally Bennett explains further: FanFiction Comedy, the brainchild of Heidi O'Loughlin, has been a hit on the New Zealand comedy scene since launching a year ago. It's a live take on the "fan fiction" internet phenomenon in which people write their own stories about characters in their favourite books, movies and TV shows. "This is such a big thing now," Anderson said. "There's probably more Twilight fan fiction on the internet than there is porn."

Part Two: Fifty Shades of Grey

People's Rennie Dyball gave us "Fifty Shades of Grey: What to Know About the Hottest Book Around" : "Ana" is the heroine in Fifty Shades of Grey, an erotic novel in what started as fan fiction by British writer E.L. James and that's become a huge (if not covert) hit among American women – many of whom find out about the blush-worthy book from each other.

In "'Fifty Shades of Grey' lends erotic color to U.S. shelves" for USA Today (and other papers across the US), Deirdre Donahue wrote However you categorize it — mommy porn, erotic fiction, Twilight fan fiction gone rogue, a symbol of moral decay — British writer E.L. James' NC-17 bondage trilogy has gone from e-book cult favorite to publishing phenomenon.

This was actually interesting: On Salon, in "The sexual politics of “The Hunger Games”," Laurie Penny wrote Obsessive female fandom is having a moment. First it was the “Twilight” books and tie-in vampire-chastity-fantasy films that still have women all over the world daydreaming about being brutalized by bloodsucking aristocrats. Now, just as the first film installment of “The Hunger Games” hits cinemas, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the X-rated fan-fiction novel based around the “Twilight” films, will soon be arriving in bookstores. Keep reading.

( More, yawn )

Finally, Anna Koelsch of the Duke University The Chronicle layed out what I suspect's going to come up next (but most of the press is ignoring): Many authors are concerned that James took a derivative work, made some miniscule changes, and is now making a profit. Put another way, James essentially copied the characters that Stephanie Meyers created for Twilight, and pasted them into her sloppily written erotica. This raises a few important questions, such as: Does E.L. James owe Meyers anything for profiting off of the product of her imagination? Do authors even own the characters that they create?