Fiction Alley: A Community Road

Like my dear friend DJ, I’m also going to take this time to proudly wave that Geek flag back and forth as I solemnly come out of the closet and admit that I, Sarah Kate, am a Shipper.

Described by Jenkins as “an unauthorized expansion of […] media franchises […] which reflect the reader's desire to ‘fill in the gaps’ they have discovered in the commercially produced material,” the fanfiction community, not small by any means, is quite the clandestine group. It isn’t often that you hear people going down the street proclaiming that they read fanfiction, but believe me when I say they’re there.

Luckily, for me and for all you other shippers out there, there exists a plethora of communities that allow us to bond and share and create together (without letting the rest of the world know about our obsession).

Fanfictions are inspired works of fiction based on previously written books, movies, shows, etc. Literally anything goes in the FF world. You can put characters together, tear them apart, change the story line, place the characters in an AU (alternate universe), create OCs (original characters), change the time frames, the age of the characters, you get the point. Actually, the only thing that makes something a fanfiction is that it either takes place in the world the author originally created or takes original characters and adapts them, because even established characters can be very OOC (out of character).

The community itself is made up of various groups of people that each have their own function. There are writers, readers, artists, mods, prompters, commenters, etc. The readers are the backbone of the community. Without them, the writers would have no one to write for and the groups would fall apart. Within the readers, there are commenters as well as those that go on their merry way not caring to criticize or comment (we still love you, darling silent readers). There are also those who comment with criticism (thank you for making us better writers), those that like to leave encouraging messages (i.e. what a cute story! Good job) and those that just like to splurge on already established writers (OMG I LOVE YOUR STORIES!!!!). You get the point. The mods (modulators) build up a fanfiction base and usually hold fests. For example, during the holidays you will often see a surge of Christmas-based stories, or during February there might be a Glompfest/Lovefest/Huggingfest where all the stories have to be sweet and endearing. The people that create these subgroups in the fanfiction world and who update the sites and post the stories that other authors have turned in to them for the competition are known as “mods.” Anyone in the fandom world can become a mod, but it usually works out if they are a previously established modulator or writer.

I could go on and on about the subcategories and individual people within a fandom, but I’m thinking you’re getting the point.

A fandom works together, in their own knowledge community. There is a vernacular that one adapts, consisting of phrases that someone outside the subject would be completely oblivious to (I.e. mods, shipper, OTP, OOC, OC, AU, PWP, . People can also join as many fandoms as they want, leave specific fandoms, change their roles, and develop alternative personalities for each function. There is a multitude of possibilities within each category.

What makes a fandom work so well as a community is everyone’s interaction with each other. A fanbase for a particular author is also something that comes to fruition in most categories. For example, someone that writes about one specific pairing (OTP) might have a ton of fans that follow them as a writer. So, not only are they following the main group (i.e. Harry Potter fandom), but they also read a specific pairing (i.e Draco/Hermione) written by a specific writer (i.e. DramioneLVR à not a real writer, but a very generic name so probably a real writer. Don’t stalk her! Actually, she might like that, stalk away!).

The community works in a way that allows us to work together and create by a “mutual production and reciprocal exchange of knowledge.” Whoever thinks that people typing away on their computers are alone and ostracized are highly misinformed and clearly need to join a fanbase.