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Fan-fiction

Fan-fiction is a relatively new phenomenon with that can trace its roots back to the 1960's, when zines containing stories shipping Kirk/Spock in a romantic relationship (hence the name, 'shipping') began to circulate in certain circles. It has since risen to global prominence, with one of the main sites, Archive of Our Own, hosting 5.5 million works as of the year 2019. 1

A fan-fiction meme


History of Fan-fiction

Fan-fiction can trace its roots back even further than Star Trek: The Original Series. In fact, some form of fanfiction was around as early as the 18th century. In 1726, the year Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels was published, readers began to write their own stories about the protagonist going on other adventures, and so fanfiction was born. 2

A depiction of Gulliver's Travels

Rise of Fan-fiction

Fan-fiction began to gain traction with the rise of the Internet. Suddenly, authors of fan-fiction who were confined to distributing small, hand-made zines under the table at conventions and other such venues had a platform.

Now, sites like Fanfiction.net, Archive of Our Own, fondly known as Ao3 by fans, and Tumblr all host various works of fan-fiction and fan-art.

A pastel representation of the Tumblr logo

The Future of Fan-fiction

Fan-fiction has become mainstream. The best-selling trilogy of the past decade, 50 Shades of Grey, began as a work of Twilight fan-fiction.

Works of fan-art and fan-fiction are becoming increasingly popular. It is very likely that this trend will continue into the future, and that fan-fiction, once confined to underground methods of distribution, will become even more accepted and culturally prominent.

Fan-fiction: a definition







References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive_of_Our_Own


2. https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/02/surprising-18th-century-origins-fan-fiction/606532/