Fan fiction relies on tropes and subgenres

Explore the world of fan fiction

This guide to the genre's major platforms breaks down their strengths and weaknesses, offering an excellent primer for the uninitiated newcomers.

Fanfic can provide fans with wish fulfillment

Rather than complaining about a writer's decisions, fan fiction is interactive, providing the fandom with the opportunity to tell the story in the way they see fit. That's especially evident in "shipping," a popular fan fiction trope that's focused on the romantic pairing of characters who are not romantically involved in the source material.

Some fan fiction allows readers to place themselves in their favorite stories

One subgenre of fan fiction is called "self-insert." It's exactly as it sounds: The form takes a preexisting story and inserts a reader proxy into the world of the story, acting as a form of wish-fulfillment.

Fan fiction implies art is an ongoing, communal practice

Although some serious literary types disregard fan fiction, other academics consider it a fascinating development in art and communication, one that allows everyday people to participate in worldbuilding and storytelling.

Fan fiction is an unauthorized reinterpretation of a copyrighted story

Writers have always reinterpreted and retold others' stories. (John Milton, for example, used characters from the Bible in "Paradise Lost.") Fan fiction, though, refers to unauthorized, creative retellings of copyrighted stories intended for other fans.

If a publisher wants to sell fan fiction, they encourage writers to change key details

Historically, companies that publish popular fan fiction have their authors change a few details—like character names, settings, or other details—to avoid potential copyright violations. Many believe the risk is worth the reward, though the legality remains murky. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

One data scientist argued that fan fiction improved writing

In an academic study, University of Washington professor Cecilia Aragon found that fan fiction often teaches young writers how to craft stronger sentences and convey complex ideas effectively. Much of that comes from the larger fan fiction community, which regularly comments on others' stories, offering kind-hearted constructive criticism in what she calls "distributed mentoring."

Fanfiction proliferated on fan-made sites in the 1990s

As the internet became more accessible in the '90s, fanfiction writers created websites dedicated to publishing stories about their favorite characters. Still, the hobby was far from mainstream. As one writer from that time said, "Going to Star Trek/comic book conventions in the '80s and '90s was something nerds did. Telling people you read or wrote fan fiction put you in the super geek category."

Fan fiction is now studied at universities, including Princeton and Harvard

Some professors approach the genre as a unique form of literature that expands the boundaries of art. Comparative literature courses read the source material as well as its fan fiction byproducts, asking students to analyze the conditions that might've produced such dramatic reinterpretations.

Several bestsellers began as fan fiction

Ali Hazlewood's "The Love Hypothesis" began as "Star Wars" fan fiction. Cassandra Clare's "Mortal Instruments" series was about "Harry Potter" characters Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley. Anna Todd's "After" series was an example of "real life fiction," or fan fiction that is about real people rather than fictional ones (the books were originally based on the boy band One Direction).

Modern fan fiction exists in a legal gray area

Modern copyright law prohibits using someone's intellectual property (like a character) without their permission. By and large, fan fiction is tacitly condoned by copyright holders because it's commonly distributed for free. If anything, the copyright holders often benefit by allowing passionate fan communities to flourish.

Fan fiction has slowly become a part of mainstream publishing

In 2025, the SenLinYu fantasy novel "Alchemised," which began as "Harry Potter" fan fiction, became a bestseller after being traditionally published; its movie rights were sold for over $3M. The mainstreaming of the genre is due to a combination of factors, including publishing's interest in the hard metrics that fan fiction websites provide.

Fantasy has dozens of subgenres

“Fantasy” itself is a rather broad way of characterizing fiction. The genre encompasses many subgenres, including epic (like JRR Tolkein’s “Lord of the Rings”), dark (like Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline”), or even superhero (like your favorite Marvel or DC comics).

Fantasy is a genre that relies on the supernatural

Fantasy is a literary genre that embraces supernatural and magical elements. While the stories often follow common narrative archetypes, like a quest, they frequently take place in elaborately constructed worlds, which sometimes have their own complex physics, lifeforms, and societies.

Many believe modern fan fiction began with 'Star Trek.'

Jane Austen inspired stories that some now consider fan fiction

Sybil G. Brinton's 1913 novel "Old Friends and New Fancies" brought together characters from Austen's six major books. Other works of JAFF (Jane Austen Fan Fiction) followed in the same style. The books appealed to the budding group of Janeites, a term referring to Jane Austen superfans.

Horror stories often rely on tropes

All literary genres use tropes, a word used to describe established plot devices, character types, and themes. Horror has many of them, like the "Creepy Child" and the "Evil Mask." Some are based on folklore, like the "Deal with the Devil."

Fantasy and science fiction are distinct genres, though they sometimes overlap

Fantasy stories take place in universes where magic exists; science fiction stories take place in universes that are still grounded in the physics of our world. In science fiction, supernatural powers have scientific explanations. Think of “Spiderman”: Peter Parker gains his powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider.

One 'Harry Potter' fan fiction deals with cognitive science and philosophy

Eliezer Yudkowsky's "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" is not your typical fan fiction: It uses JK Rowling's fictional universe to wrestle with rationalist philosophy and the physics behind the magic taught at Hogwarts. The book went on to become popular in Silicon Valley, especially in the effective altruism movement.

Dystopian literature is a form of speculative fiction

The classification includes any fiction that "speculates" about how society might operate in the future or in contexts different from the present reality. The genre is an umbrella term for science fiction, fantasy, alternative historical fiction, dystopian and utopian fiction, and apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction.

Unpacking the rapid rise of romantasy, the genre that blends fantasy and romance

The subgenre—primarily aimed at female readers and sometimes bordering on erotica—has become a sensation, due in no small part to its popularity on social media platforms like TikTok. Writers like Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros harken back to early Gothic works, which similarly sought to combine the supernatural and the erotic.

Lucasfilm discouraged fan fiction that sexualized its characters

The self-published fan fiction zines of the '60s, '70s, and '80s were obscure enough that they rarely attracted the attention of the copyright holders of their source material. But Lucasfilm, the production company behind the "Star Wars" films, threatened legal action against fans who published X-rated stories and "homosexual expressions of love" featuring its characters.

'Creepypasta' is a meme that has its roots in folklore

The genre of crowdsourced, horror folklore comes from copypasta, a term that refers to snippets of content copy-and-pasted online ad nauseam. These memes' allure stems at least partly from how they seemingly rise from nowhere, with tales crafted by many hands over many iterations.

Readers discovered AI prompts in several romantasy books

In 2025, readers discovered AI prompts in three writers' texts, with one even instructing the AI bot to make a passage sound more like another romance writer. This Futurism piece digs into the scandals and how it's contributed to readers' skepticism about the genre's more prolific writers.

A guide to the romance genre's major tropes

This guide breaks down romance's most prominent tropes, or narrative patterns, used by romance writers and adored by their fans. After you learn about "friends to lovers," "marriage of convenience," and "forced proximity," you'll start to see your favorite romance reads in an entirely new light.

Romantasy fans explain why they think the genre is so maligned

Romantasy grows more popular every year, but that doesn't mean it's taken seriously as literature. Hosts from KPBS' "The Finest" attended Comic Con 2025 to get romantasy fans' takes on the genre's unserious reputation.

A comparative analysis of the romance and horror genres' overlap

Both genres aim to make their readers' hearts pound, albeit in different ways. Romance novelist Trilina Pucci argues that the gap between the two aims is much slimmer than it may seem, with some horror tropes (like a man enraged by the abuse of his wife) and romance tropes (like the subgenre of dark romance) blurring the line.

The success of 'Fifty Shades' raised questions about fan fiction and copyright

James might've revised her "Twilight" fan fiction book "Master of the Universe" before it was republished as "Fifty Shades of Grey," but studies found that the two manuscripts were essentially the same text. Some wondered whether that meant Stephanie Meyer, author of "Twilight," was entitled to royalties, though Meyer never pursued legal action.

Dystopian literature is focused on oppressive societies

The subgenre can come in many forms, but its shared traits are the way it reflects the anxieties and satirizes the utopian thinking of its writers’ societies. One of the earliest examples is Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels."

Jane Austen superfans are called Janeites

Austen has a modern fan community unrivaled by that of other novelists of her time, devoted in ways similar to more recent pop culture phenomena like "Star Trek" and "Harry Potter," with Janeites regularly donning period-specific costumes, writing fan fiction, and engaging in spirited debates about the work.

The 21st-century novel is increasingly autofictional

Although autofiction, a literary genre blending autobiography and fiction, has been around for millennia, it has become a popular mode in the 21st century. This extensive study of the genre—which analyzes works by Megan Boyle, Tao Lin, and others—argues that the form has become more prevalent because it mirrors the defining technology of the times: social media.

George RR Martin opposes fan fiction

The "Game of Thrones" author is all for fans creating their own stories, but he finds attempts to commercialize fan fiction distasteful. He's also not interested in reading it. "What I see doesn't affect me, so if you want to do it, I don't care," he said in an interview, "but please don't send it to me."

Fantasy is heavily influenced by myths, legends, and folk tales

In fantasy, anything is possible, mirroring the supernatural worlds of history’s earliest stories. The narrative voice of fantasy is often similar to early tales, too, with an affinity for the magisterial rather than the contemporary.

One writer believes fantasy is a form of realism

The literary genre has become massively popular in the 2020s, turning a previously marginal form into a mainstream concern. Spufford, a literary novelist who grew up loving books that explored fantastic worlds, argues that fantasy is so popular because it so accurately reflects the real world.

See which similes appear most often in popular fiction

Mapping fiction's imagined breakdowns of the US after apocalypse

Post-apocalyptic fiction in the US is at least a century old, and how the future is envisioned reflects contemporary anxieties and divisions. This piece examines the various creative maps birthed from the tradition from Jack London's 1912 "The Scarlet Plague," a pandemic novel set in 2073, through Stephen King's "The Stand", dystopian "The Hunger Games," and visions of civil war.

Science fiction or new technology?

Dystopian literature is no longer relegated to the page, with innovations like the Tesla Cybertruck and Meta virtual reality headsets mirroring the aesthetics of texts like "The Running Man" and "Neuromancer." In this essay, Casey Michael Henry argues that the images from these works remain while their messages have faded.

Wrestlers maintain the illusion of a fictional narrative through 'kayfabe'

Outsiders are often confused by wrestling fans’ emotional investment in predetermined matches. After all, how can you be invested in a scripted sport? That question misses a key component of fans' love for pro wrestling. They suspend their disbelief in the same way that readers of novels do.

'Daily fantasy' is a high-stakes subset of fantasy sports

The form, pioneered by platforms like FanDuel and DraftKings, uses anonymous daily leagues and large payouts, looks more like typical betting than the season-long, community-minded setup of more traditional fantasy.

Tips for writing time travel stories

Are you thinking of writing a story that involves time travel? You might want to read this guide first. It offers questions to consider, mistakes to avoid and strategies to employ to ensure you avoid paradoxes, plot holes and implausibilities.

JRR Tolkien believed fantasy literature was an entirely different world

Tolkien effectively invented modern fantasy, which often relies on an intricate universe, complete with its own languages, cultures, lifeforms, physics, and systems. When an author did this effectively, he called it “Faërie”—a sort of enchantment that transports the reader into the fictional world.

A linguist argues Jane Austen's language is what defines her fiction

While many readers love Austen's novels for their characters and their romantic plots, Chi Luu argues that many people (including literary luminaries like Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, and Ralph Waldo Emerson) underestimate how her adept wordplay, sense of irony, and memorable turns of phrase are what have made readers fall in love with her fiction for centuries.

EL James' 'Fifty Shades of Grey' was originally 'Twilight' fan fiction

The first volume in the popular erotic romance series was originally called "Master of the Universe" and focused on the main characters of "Twilight," the popular vampire series by Stephanie Meyer. After it became a hit in fan fiction communities, James removed the references to "Twilight" and changed the title. It would go on to be the fastest-selling paperback of all time in the United Kingdom and lead to additional books and film adaptations.

Why dystopian literature remains popular

Yale English professor Joe Cleary argues that dystopian literature’s continued relevance is due to a torrent of additional societal anxieties and that the streaming adaptations of dystopian classics "The Handmaid’s Tale" and "The Man in the High Castle" have expanded the genre’s popularity, introducing new audiences to its tropes.

Hockey romance novels have become an unexpected sensation

The combination was not an obvious hit, but books like "Hockey With Benefits," "Body Check," and "Puck and Prejudice" (a Jane Austen fan fiction) have grown popular thanks to a romance novel boom and an interest on TikTok. Now, HBO and Amazon are taking note with streaming adaptations. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Soaps often rely on cliffhangers, along with many other tropes

The shows are written to encourage viewers to tune in for the next episode, so they often withhold resolutions for as long as possible. This has become a recognizable trait, or a trope, for the genre. Much like other narrative genres, soap operas intentionally embrace tropes rather than avoid them.

Imagine thousands of alternate histories of the world

AlternateHistory.com has hosted fan-written "what if" timelines, discussions, and speculative fiction since 2000, making it the largest online gathering of alternate history enthusiasts, with over 10,000 active members and a wiki cataloging hundreds of user-created scenarios. Two highlights to pique your interest: what if the Vikings had settled North America? What would have had to happen for the storyline of George Orwell's "1984" to come true?

A computational analysis of Jane Austen's writing

Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln translated Austen's novels into code to analyze her diction, then published their findings in a searchable database. Users can explore all six of her novels, analyzing the unique words used by her characters and the narrative techniques she employs.

The word ‘fantasy’ wasn't used to describe the genre until the 20th century

The word—at least as a word used to describe fiction—didn’t appear in the Oxford English Dictionary until 1949. Scholars believe that’s due to the arrival of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, an influential publication, and the rise in fantasy’s popularity following World War II.

How 'Star Wars' changed science fiction

The popularity of "Star Wars" shifted the market away from the more literary, and sometimes cynical, science fiction of the 1960s and '70s. In the wake of George Lucas' space opera, publishers and studios wanted similarly optimistic adventure stories. In time, though, writers like William Gibson would react against that and, in turn, create the "cyber punk" subgenre.