Is fanfiction a genre?

By Ximena Reyes

It can be you know the term, but do you really know what a fanfic is? Many writers complain about fanfiction, because they believe that the people take advantage of their characters and histories to create a new one. Though it exists a lot of critics about fanfiction, it is known that inside the internet we can find the most active community of all history: writers taking their first steps in the profession, either as a hobby or in a professional manner.

But first, what is fanfiction? This term, shortened fanfic or fic, makes reference to fiction stories made by fans, either from a movie, novel, tv show, anime, etc. Characters, situations and backgrounds from the original history are used, although the creation of the fanfic author is also added and new characters can be created. 

Where can we find this content? On the internet, apps and websites are classified by extension, topic and characters. These communities are constantly growing; in a single website we can find up to one million fanfics written by category.

And, are all fanfics of good quality? In this type of texts we can find material from anyone who decides to write, from novels that leave much to be desired for some that end up being published and become bestsellers.  

Normally, whoever writes fanfics wants to see the character in new situations distinct from the book or movie, or it gets deeper in the story, unlike the author in the original work. In a few words,  the goal is to meet fans’ expectations. 

Most of the time, fanfiction is seen as something wrong or badly done, even like something underground, however, whether it is fanfic or not, reading is still encouraged, it all depends on one’s perspective. 

After reading this note, what do you think? Would you consider fanfic a genre within literature?  Which of our books would you make a fanfic of? Tell us in the comments!

References

  1. F. (2017). Fanfiction: ¿un género literario? Libros y Mazmorras. http://mazmorrasylibros.blogspot.com/2017/04/fanfiction-un-genero-literario.html 
  2. Lj, P. (2020). ¿Qué es un Fanfiction? – Patri LJ. Medium. https://medium.com/@PatriLJ/qu%C3%A9-es-un-fanfiction-a9942d6321ae