The Fanfiction Bubble

graphic by claire evans

As a child in the early 2000s, like many others from that time, I was absolutely obsessed with reading.

The library was my safe haven. I constantly had a pile of books on my nightstand, each with a different piece of garbage sticking out of the pages marking where I’d left off. I participated in all the reading contests at my school, and completed the summer reading marathon each summer. Commonly, I would have been referred to as your classic bookworm. 

But like most children who quickly read through the entirety of their YA section of the school’s library, I slowly grew apart from my obsession. High school took a heavy toll with AP classes, varsity sports and theater. It wasn’t necessarily out of choice; I just didn’t have the time I wanted to sit and enjoy a book.

And like many young adults, this toll continued into college as well. I first began undergrad in Seattle, close to where I grew up. I hoped to become a dermatologist one day — but that dream was quickly squashed when I realized I wasn’t entirely passionate about the medical world. 

A few months and mental breakdowns later, I found myself moving to Los Angeles.

I was accepted into fashion school and, honestly, thrived in LA. I adored the structure and lessons fashion school offered, and I knew in the end — after my two years of working as a full-time barista while taking on 40 hour class load weeks — that all of it would be worth it.

That is until COVID-19 unfortunately hit.

Like the other millions of people out here in the City of Stars, my dreams of graduating and being hired immediately into the entertainment industry were — without better words — fucking squashed. The lockdown started during my finals week. I didn’t have the money or resources to fly or move back home, and I didn’t want to abandon my friend who’d moved all the way from Hawaii to live with me in LA. 

Luckily, I had landed a part-time job a few months prior that paid my bills and allowed me to work from home. To say I was thankful for that job would be an understatement. 

Also, like many others, I now had an abundance of free time. 40 hours of work per week sounded like a lot, but with nothing else to go, do or see, and since Los Angeles was so strict on lockdown restrictions, I gravitated back to a familiar hobby that I’d long since left as a child: reading. 

This time, however, it was a tad different from the YA series I would consume in a weeks’ time, or with illegal photocopies of my favorite pages from graphic novels before returning to the middle school library. 

I re-entered the world of fanfiction. 

And yes, I am very aware of the stigma surrounding fanfiction. All too aware, because the minute I told anyone about what I was reading, I was usually met with “At your age?” or “Isn’t that stuff written by horny tweens?” In all fairness, a lot of fanfiction can be very cringey, but you have to keep in mind that there is a ton of fanfiction — and I mean a shit ton.

Any TV show, any movie, any band — anything will have at least one fanfic written about those characters or in that universe. I guarantee you. Did you know there are 103 results for fanfiction about the “Property Brothers” on Ao3 alone? And yes, I’m talking about the twin guys who run the home makeover shows on HGTV.

Ao3 — AKA Archive of Our Own, considered the most popular fanfiction website — alone will typically reach 30 to 60 million views per day. In 2020, the site saw a massive spike, obviously due to others in the same exact situation I was in; it would have days that hit almost 75 million views. Fanfiction.net, another popular site that many people, including myself, began to read in the early 2010’s, will typically hit between 155 to 175 million views monthly — and they’ve been at an 8.1% decrease of traffic since December of 2021. 

A fandom’s reach is no joke either. Since the entirety of the experience is online, whether it be on a fanfiction site, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr — or even Livejournal, when it was still around — you can interact with and obsess alongside people from every corner of the world. That means that the mass of creators and viewers aren’t limited to a country or continent; anyone from anywhere can create anything. 

I remember one of my favorite fics from high school being a “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir” one-shot (a completed story that’s only one chapter) that was written by a girl my age in Peru. In the last chapter, she’d asked in her author’s note — stylized as A/N — for everyone to reply with a greeting from where they were from. The range was impressive to say the least; her 25,000 word fic about a kid’s TV show had readers from Ireland, South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong, Mexico and the Philippines. 

The ability to read, and no less write, full-length novels and series just for the sheer thrill of engaging with one’s fandom is an admirable feat all on its own. One of the longest pieces of fiction ever created is a fanfiction: “Subspace Emissary’s Worlds Conquest” by AuraChannelerChris, a Super Smash Bros fanfic. Currently, it clocks in at 4,102,217 words and was originally published in 2008. 

Any sane human would realize that consuming and creating fanfiction is an art, and one that can be easily adapted into the professional landscape. Hundreds, if not thousands, of fanfic authors (including myself), have found success in writing and publishing original novels after building up the necessary skills through writing a 50k word coffee shop AU or a multi-chap canonverse story. “The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood is a perfect example. Originally published as a Reylo — Rey and Kylo Ren from Star Wars — fanfiction on Ao3, the story now been on The New York Times Best Sellers list for 33 weeks in a row. The same can be said for other stories based off of media like “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter,” “Twilight,” or “Fifty Shades of Gray,” — which was originally a Twilight fanfiction — and many, many other fandoms. 

What I’m trying to say is that there are more people congregating in this crazy, unique and talented world than you may think. Mostly, it’s a secretive hobby. For those who write it, it’s something they might take to the grave. Stigmas like porn, sexual prefrence and immaturity contaminate the credibility of anyone in the fanfiction scene. Shame surrounds this entire community, coating it in a bubble that people are afraid to pop. But why is that? 

After being neck deep in the fanfic community for almost three years, I’d say there’s a wide array of answers: all rooted in shame. It might be because fanfiction is primarily enjoyed by women, queer individuals and anyone else who may not fit in the typical “societal box,” causing it to be automatically placed under harsh scrutiny and judgement. But everyone has their own personal reason for joining the community; whether it’s from prior judgment, younger writers who are just beginning to experiment with their writing and sexuality, or older writers (typically mothers) who feel like they’re out of place in such a fast-moving community, the bubble is safe. The bubble keeps those who may judge us, out. Popping it would mean destroying that safety, but also sheds light on the true power and talent this world truly holds.  

A story that you read or write can also say a lot about yourself; it’s not just about the kinks you’re into or the tags you tend to lean towards. It’s an intimate experience that can help define parts of your life or shine light on different views you’ve never had. It’s nothing anyone should ever be ashamed of. 

Since the pandemic began, fanfiction has solidified a permanent place in my heart. I’m not sure how I would have gotten through it without the community I’m now enriched in or without the support of other authors and readers who were going through the exact same struggles I was. It’s about time we de-stigmatize and leave behind the “cringe culture” that drags down stories that bring us happiness. Reading has once again become a safe haven for me. I am proud to write and read fanfiction. And you should be, too.