Abaa Booknet

What if Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy had an affair? What if the characters in Game Of Thrones were to star in an edition of Big Brother VIP? What if Katniss Everdeen were to reflect on the loss of virginity just before the next Hunger Games?

Fanfiction is literature by the fans, for the fans. A tool to explore the themes that some successful sagas don’t dare touch. They are a phenomenon unknown to the general public, but it encourages millions of people to read and write, affects the scripts of television series, has its own jargon and is the origin of bestsellers like Fifty Shades of Grey. The communities are immense and their impact on popular culture is enormous from What about Brian to Mulberry.

A fanfiction is a story written by and for fans that draws on fictional universes of other authors to explore the empty spaces of the story, reinterpret facts and characters, or create a completely new plot. “It is a text created from the needs of a reader who wants to clarify points of a story, deepen the relationships between characters, translate them to another reality …”, defines Claudia ‘Misvan’, philologist and fanfics reader.

Viko, 24, reads and writes about series such as Naruto or Inazuma Eleven and explains it this way: “I like to read and I like to imagine stories beyond what the authors tell”. She adds that “there are wonderful characters who are left without history because they are secondary” and that “it is entertaining to look for details in the canon”, the original story, “to form other ideas”. Naruto is one of the most popular fandoms on sites like Commaful and Fanfiction.net.

In her story Dormiens, author Dryadeh narrates how Draco Malfoy has become a fugitive and will have to accept Hermione Granger’s help to survive: “Hermione covered her mouth with one hand trying to hide a giggle at the sight of Malfoy’s stupefied face. It was clear that Mrs. Weasley had decided to adopt him, and she doubts that he would like it if this practically unknown woman gave him orders as if she were his mother.”

In another fanfiction, Kirschtein Dawk placed the Game of Thrones characters in Big Brother’s confessionals: “Sixteen strangers will have to live on the same island apart from all kinds of civilization. This year we have chosen Rocadragon as our favourite place. One hundred and fifty-four video cameras will be hidden all over the house. We will leave nothing to the imagination.

There are brilliant ideas, but there are also stories that can send you to the hospital. Perla Shumajer became famous on the Harry Potter forums for her unpredictable and wild prose. This fan wrote: “Harry Potter waits for a punishment, and that is to go to Snape’s office, and wait for Snape, Snape to arrive and both declare their love, be boyfriends and have sex, because that’s life.” Perla was also able to imagine sex scenes with impossible script twists.

Fan communities gather on portals such as Wattpad and AO3. They produce hundreds of stories every day. Wattpad’s 40 million users have posted 100 million texts since 2006 and read for 13 billion minutes a month. The Fanfiction.net forum has been running since 1998 and has more than two million registered users producing stories in 30 different languages. They support all types of fandoms from Young James Herriot to 3 Ring Circus.

It is common to try writing fanfiction before launching into professional literature. For Viko it is “a natural intermediate step between the reader and the writer”. Since the author “does not have to face the complicated task of designing a whole world and characters to start producing by himself”. It makes an easier path to transition. With the help of sites like Reedsy, Squibler, and others providing resources to writers, many fic writers make the transition to publishing quite smoothly after building some skills.

In addition, the fanfiction writer has another advantage: the public will read about a fiction they previously liked. It’s a convenient way to start writing and lose the fear of publishing. Literary quality is not a problem. Most authors are not professionals and the community just wants to have fun. Trial and error are necessary to keep the conversation alive and the machine never stops. It happens the other way around in the publishing sector, where a bad book can label you as a mediocre writer for years.

Harry Potter, Twilight, Glee, Doctor Who, The Hunger Games, Dragon Ball or Buffy Vampire Slayer are some of the most popular franchises, but there is fanfiction about everything from the NBA to the One Direction. Fan communities or ‘fandoms’ expand and rewrite these universes collectively for the love of art. They function like a beehive mind that produces new material, filters it and improves it organically.

“Not only are they made to please,” says Elisa McCausland, a journalist and cultural critic, “you can also change them and test them. The consumer detects a need, covers it and perfects the product. “It is normal that capitalism is happy with this tool,” adds McCausland, “it is an interesting mechanism to know if something is going to be successful, that is test version.

One of the most lucrative editorial bombings of recent years, Fifty Shades of Grey, was born as a torrid encounter between the prude vampires of the Twilight saga. The story had already triumphed with Bella and Edward as protagonists, so it only needed a few touches and publicity to sell copies as churros.

Sometimes, this perverse test serves so that the plots that triumph in the fandoms end up reflected in the canon. Princesa Chicle and Marceline, from Hora de Aventuras, are a regular couple in fanfiction environments. The scriptwriters have supported the idea on several occasions, but have never made it explicit in the series. “The fandom legitimizes that in the series and in comics the winks can move on to something else,” says McCausland.

That “something else” happened in the Nickelodeon series Legend of Korra. Fans went crazy with an unofficial romance between the characters Korra and Asami. In fanfiction jargon, these love stories are known as ‘shippeos’. The shippeos are the soul of fanfiction. Everybody likes a good ship. The scriptwriters listened to the fans and ended up introducing romance into the series. The tandem ‘Korrasami’ was born on the internet and ended up in the canon.

In one of the first academic definitions of fanfiction, MIT professor Henry Jenkins said that “it is a way for culture to repair the damage done in a system where contemporary myths are owned by corporations rather than by the people.

Reinterpreting characters and modifying popular narratives is nothing new: oral tradition stories, from the Iliad to gestational songs, had as many versions as interpreters. These icons and stories belonged to the people, but today they are the property of large media groups. The fanfiction, in a way, recovers those figures and gives them back to the people.

Writing and reading fanfiction is a rebellious gesture, but with nuances. After all, fandoms are born from the cult of a product created by capitalism. “The opportunity to hack, the possibility of meme, troleo… is resistance, but it is also consumption”, underlines Elisa McCausland, “although it is another type of consumption, intervened and resignified”.

The community itself is already something groundbreaking. Fandoms tend to be made up mostly of women. This can be seen in the approaches, the themes, the protagonists and the tone of the texts. “The mainstream culture has a masculine, white, cisgender and heterosexist look, and the fanfic is a reaction to that look, it offers an alternative”, Zelsh points out. “Women have had very little voice in literature,” says Papaveri, “it’s a way of saying that we’re here, of showing your presence in an environment that doesn’t give you anything.

Society has assimilated the male writer’s archetype and the female reader’s archetype, explains Elisa McCausland. The fact that consumption is assigned to the feminine gender has an objective: “To subtract value from it”.

The Internet turns this situation around. We live in a time of the ‘prosumer’. The boundaries between producing and consuming are blurring. McCausland explains that the subject “no longer reads, listens and assimilates information, but constructs it, manipulates it, appropriates it and resignifies it”. He adds that “many, and especially many, have used this potential to build and project themselves through fiction”.

“When one writes or reads fanfiction, one looks for something that has not been seen in the canon,” says Viko. Is that why erotic stories and homosexual themes abound? It’s not the only reason, but it’s probably one of them: “A lot is written about novels and series in which romance is very much in the background or doesn’t exist at all,” Viko continues, “and homosexual themes abound because most of the characters and the best written are men. When someone writes, they want good characters. Unfortunately, female characters are often full of clichés.

Poetry is a genre within literature that is characterized by its beautiful words and lyrical style. Many poetic devices and styles of poetry have been preserved for many centuries from rhyme schemes to types of poems (like the haiku or limerick or the tanka). On one hand, poetry is an ancient form of literature and storytelling that dates back to Homer and the ancient storytellers. On the other, poetry is a very new format that blends many modern perspectives and tastes into its words.

The blend between the olden days and modern era is actually extremely powerful and also elegant. Great poets write are able to take advantage of the structures that were presented by old styles of poetry to tell new stories and share new ideas that are important in today’s society. For example, rhyme schemes, pacing, and poetic devices have worked and still continue to work. Poetic structures also drive emphasis to certain words and certain areas. Think about something like an iambic pentameter. As a reader, you know where the down beats are and thus what words people will naturally focus on.

Or perhaps the formatting of poems. The way poems are laid out can call special attention to things in the poems. There are many tried and true ways that have worked for centuries to place emphasis and lead the reader’s eyes along poems. 

The central themes of the poems have changed over time and actually reflect what the times cared about. In ancient times, poetry often recounted the feats and feats of warriors in combat, while in the Middle Ages, romantic poetry gained importance. Today, poems focus on social issues, equality, peace, and emotions. Poetry has always been an important form of expression and thus reflects the changing times and beliefs. Poetry has become a tool over time to convey new ideas and share what people care about. At one point, it was military victories. Today, it’s the environment. Or human rights. Or equality. Check out places like Button Poetry or Youth Speaks for prime examples of this.

In today’s world, poetry is a beautiful and artistic way to express oneself and be heard in the sea of noise. While everybody in politics argues and fights. There’s fake news and contentious debates. Poetry shines through as a simple and elegant way to fight for what the people believe in. A way that is both engraved in our path, and tied to our future.

Rupi Kaur is one example of such a poet that has done well in this new age. Not only is she extremely famous for her writing, she has also positively impacted many and influenced many with her words. Poetry sites like Instagram, Commaful, and AllPoetry have given rise to new breeds of poets.

She’s certainly a controversial figure. Many have said that her poems aren’t actual poems. Others have challenged that her poems are extremely superficial and have no depth. One thing is certain, however, her poetry has touched many people and influenced many lives.

There are a number of modern self-published poetry authors as well, focusing on reaching the masses with short bite-sized poems. These poets leverage online platforms to reach poetry lovers and sell poetry books. Another controversial style and move.

Poetry is special in that way. It means something different to everybody. To some, it might be junk. To others its art. But what’s important, is that the words are touching somebody. Impacting lives. Leading to new and interesting discussions and ideas.

Because that has been poetry’s impact on history. And poetry’s impact on society today.

Writing a novel can seem intimidating to a lot of authors, but it doesn’t have to be. If you think of a novel as a collection of thousands of words (sometimes upwards of 150, 000), it seems like a mountain where you can’t even see the top – but if you learn how to approach your novel with a story outline before you’ve written a single word, it becomes a much easier process instead.

Here’s how to approach your novel or story with an outline – and why you should.

Every Story or Book Has a File

Get into the habit of giving every story or book that you start its own file or folder. This can be handwritten or it can be electronic – that’s up to you. Your file is used for recording any changes, any important plot points, any character traits and anything else you think of that builds your story.

Why do this? It’s a quick-reference guide while you’re writing your book – and it can help you have something to go back to when you aren’t sure about something. (How do you think JK Rowling kept track of the spells throughout the entire series without a single mistake?)

How to Start an Outline

Start an outline anywhere and any way you like. Some writers start out with keywords that outline important plot points or characters, other writers will write down sentence snippets or paragraphs that they would like to include in their book later.

Your outline needs to answer basic questions: What happens in this story? When does it happen? How does it happen? Why does it happen? How you get to answering these questions is up to you.

Why Outlines Are Important

Outlines are vital for fiction. Sure, there are a precious few writers who can spot an entire book’s worth of plotting without having to write anything down – but it’s likely that neither of us count as one of those.

Outlines help. They can help you to see where the plot of your book is going: This is the trick to inserting clever plot twists and coming up with a great ending.

When you see your story at a glance as an outline, it’s easier to shift things around, make major changes, insert great plot twists and come up with an ending that fits with the beginning of your story..

If you aren’t outlining your fiction, you’re tumbling around in the dark and you, the writer, has no idea where your story is really going. This can lead to the insertion of a lot of loose plot points and inconclusive side-plots.

See why you should always outline?

Notes, Notes and Notes

Other than an official outline for where you’re going to take your book when it comes to the characters and plot, it can help writers a lot to also keep a separate file or book for notes. These are notes that you write down whenever you think of something could that could work for your story.

When writers sit down to think of ideas, this in itself sometimes creates a form of writer’s block where they can’t think of a single thing. Keeping a notebook on you at all times helps to avoid this problem: Whenever an idea pops up, write it down. After a few months worth of writing down your ideas, you’ll have a notebook with plenty of ideas to refer to when you’re feeling blocked.

Always keep your notes. These can be useful years down the line, and can ensure that you literally never run out of ideas and concepts to fire up your fiction.