Fan fiction is fiction written by amateur authors who take existing stories or characters and add their own original material to create a distinct new work. For example, an author may write an original story involving characters from the “Harry Potter” series of books written by J. K. Rowling.
Writers generally engage in fan fiction because they are fascinated with a character or event and want to create a story that brings a new point of view to the existing subject. Fan fiction characters and storylines are typically taken from novels, television shows, and motion pictures. A fan fiction piece can be any length, from a very short story to a novel with many chapters.
Fan fiction writers can select any theme—for example, a love story, an adventure tale, a detective story, or science fiction or fantasy literature. The tone can be violent or sentimental or humorous, according to the author’s taste. The author may take well-known characters and give them behavioral traits in the fan fiction story that are completely different from those in the original source. Stories may also include characters the author creates.
Fan fiction is usually a hobby for its creators. Most fan fiction writers take their work seriously and carefully craft their stories. They seldom publish their pieces commercially. Fan fiction authors primarily post their works on websites devoted to fan fiction. Some websites are very elaborate. They maintain large libraries of stories and detailed indexes so searchers can locate a particular type of work that interests them. Some websites include features that allow readers and authors to interact.
The practice of creating new stories from previous literature has been going on for centuries. However, most critics consider that the beginning of fan fiction as it is known today dates back to the “fanzine” magazines of the 1960’s and 1970’s.
