This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s summer editorial intern Jordyn Centerwall. Find her on Instagram at @jordyncenterwall. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
Some of the most successful books over the last few decades started as fanfiction. Fifty Shades of Grey and The Love Hypothesis, just to name a couple. The fanfiction-to-publishing pipeline continues to grow as fanfiction authors amass thousands of reads and get picked up by traditional publishers. Is fanfiction illegal though? How are these authors profiting off of the likenesses of characters and celebrities that are not their own? Here’s how fans are legally able to publish their fanfiction, some titles you might recognize, and other fanfiction-inspired books that are on the way.
What is Fanfiction? Where Does it Happen?
Let me first say, I am one thousand percent pro fanfiction. I’ve been reading stories written by fans since the 2010s. They’re more than just amateur stories. Sometimes these titles are just as good or even better than published works on the market. Fanfiction is a form of fan labor written by fan community members as a response to the original work. Through writing their own stories using characters, plot elements, magic systems, and other dynamics from film, book, television, gaming, and other fandoms, fans add new meaning to the original works. This is known as fan labor, meaning consumers are putting work into engaging in the community surrounding a work and therefore adding to the experience that other fans have as well.
There are numerous sites and apps where fanfiction populates. Some of the big names are Tumblr, Wattpad, Archive of Our Own (AO3), and Fanfiction.net. All of these have websites and mobile apps, and are free to write and read on. I remember Wattpad having some advertisements, but the dynamic has shifted significantly over the years. They have implemented a paid tier and partnerships and stipends available for writers to earn income off of writing that meets certain requirements.
Fanfiction and Intellectual Property
If fanfiction writers are using characters that they didn’t come up with, surely it couldn’t be considered original, right? Right, and wrong. Fanfiction, when done correctly, falls under fair use as protected by US Copyright law. However, there are a few criteria fics must meet in order to ensure they don’t infringe on the rights of the original authors.
Intellectual Property Law is a type of copyright law that protects creative works. This prevents people from stealing the creative ideas of others. Is fanfiction illegal or in violation of this? The answer is no, as long as the fanfiction qualifies as fair use. To fall under fair use there are several things that are taken into account. Does the fanfiction offer something new or transformative to the original? How much of the original work is used? Is the fanfiction author attempting to profit from the work? All of these are important questions that are taken into account. If a work is considered transformative, doesn’t take too much from the original work and doesn’t infringe on the market of the original author, a fanfiction may be considered fair use.
Most fanfiction writers don’t write with the intention of making money. Most do it because they love the characters and want more of them, or didn’t agree with how a certain character’s story ended. It allows fans to extend their time with these parasocial relationships as well as build community surrounding these topics. If they do end up being able to publish traditionally, many alterations must be made to the story to ensure they are not violating the rights of the original author.
Fanfiction Etiquette
As a community fans have come up with unofficial “rules” for how people should interact with fanfiction. These guidelines differ slightly from site to site, but there are a few big ones that continue to come up. Most emphasize empowering messaging, versus tearing down or being overly critical of the works. Other guidelines emphasize that headcanons (romantic pairings in the original works) are not law and that sites for fanfiction are meant to uplift stories with all sorts of ships.
The biggest pieces of etiquette surrounds protecting the copyright of fanfiction writers. This means people should not post their work on other platforms without the author’s permission and they should not try to profit off works that are not theirs. This has become increasingly debated within the subset of people who have started binding their own books.
On TikTok and other platforms, creators have gained ample followings from documenting and teaching others how to take fanfiction manuscripts and transform them into living breathing texts. A sort of blackmarket has also evolved where people are selling these editions at highly marked-up costs. The emergence of such practices led to scandal with bookish creators calling out those who tried to profit off fanfiction. However, these select few seem to be the minority. Many opted to bind their favorite fics as a way to have a “shelf trophy” or as a gift to friends.
Books That Started as Fanfiction
Here are just a few titles that got their start as fanfiction:
- The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare: This series was originally called The Draco Trilogy and was a Draco and Ginny ship. These characters changed to Jace and Clary in the commercially published series.
- Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James: James originally posted this Twilight fanfiction on Fanfiction.net in 2009 before self-publishing in 2011 with all traces of Edward and Bella removed.
- The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood: This science romance book was originally a Reylo (Rey and Kylo Ren) Star Wars fanfiction set in the modern world. Hazelwood’s work was discovered on AO3 before being adapted for publishing.
- After by Anna Todd: This Harry Styles fanfiction was originally written on Wattpad before being published. The book and its sequels have been since turned into films.
Fanfiction in the Process of Being Published
SenLin Yu wrote Manacled one of the most well known (and well written) fanfictions I’ve had the pleasure of reading. In this The Handmaid Tale meets Dramione (Draco x Hermione ship) fanfiction, Yu imagines an alternative to the Harry Potter books where Voldemort won the war instead. Yu has written many other successful fanfics, but Manacled is being adapted for traditional publishing under a new name: Alchemised.
There are many more authors who got their start writing fanfiction, even if they didn’t necessarily adapt a specific fic for traditional publishing. I think it’s wonderful that what started as a passion for so many has now turned into a career. I imagine most authors dream of getting to the point where people are writing fics of their works and that this community that emerges is something to be celebrated as long as it is used correctly.
What do you think, is fanfiction illegal? Should it be? Do you have a favorite fanfiction? Let us know in the comments below!
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